Anathema (term)

This article is about the Biblical term "anathema". For related and similar links, see below.

Anathema (Greek Word: meaning 1. to be formally set apart, 2. banished, exiled, excommunicated or 4. denounced, often misinterpreted to mean accursed). There is great dificulty with this word especially since it has now become commonly associated with the term accursed. The correct broader meaning of the term is applied to someone "set apart, banished and to be considered beyond the judgement and help of the community." Unfortunately within the English language one does not find such a term. To use the term curse alone suggests dark powers and magical arts. Cursing or putting hexes on people in both the Judeo/Christian understanding is incompatible, forbidden paganistic and foreign.

In Heberew usage, an anathema is anything laid up or suspended; hence anything laid up in a temple or set apart as sacred. In this sense the form of the word is once (in plural) used in the Greek New Testament, in Luke 21:5, where it is rendered "gifts". In the Septuagint the form anathema is generally used as the rendering of the Hebrew word herem, derived from a verb which means (1) to consecrate or devote; and (2) to exterminate. Any object so sacrificed or devoted to the Lord could not be redeemed (Num. 18:14; Lev. 27:28, 29); and hence the idea of exterminating was connected with the word. The Hebrew verb (haram) is frequently used of the extermination of idolatrous nations. It had a wide range of application. The anathema or herem was a person or thing irrevocably devoted to God (Lev. 27:21, 28); and "none devoted shall be ransomed. He shall surely be put to death" (27:29). The word therefore carried the idea of devoted to destruction (Num. 21:2, 3; Josh. 6:17); and hence generally it meant a thing accursed. In Deut. 7:26 an idol is called a herem = anathema, a thing accursed.

In the New Testament this word always implies denouncement and banishment. In some cases an individual pronounces an anathema on himself if certain conditions are not fulfilled (Acts 23:12, 14, 21). "To call Jesus denounced" [anathema] (1 Cor. 12:3) is to pronounce him execrated or accursed. If any one preached another gospel, the apostle says, "let him be denounced" (Gal. 1:8, 9); i.e., let his conduct in so doing be accounted banished.

In Rom. 9:3, the expression "accursed" (anathema) from Christ, i.e., excluded from fellowship or alliance with Christ, has occasioned much difficulty. The apostle here does not speak of his wish as a possible thing. It is simply a vehement expression of feeling, showing how strong was his desire for the salvation of his people.

The anathema in 1 Cor. 16:22 denotes simply that they who love not the Lord are rightly objects of loathing and execration to all holy beings; they are guilty of a crime that merits the severest condemnation; they are exposed to the just sentence of "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord".

After the time of the apostolic church, the term anathema has come to mean a form of extreme religious sanction beyond excommunication. The earliest recorded instance of the form is in the Council of Elvira (c. 306), and thereafter it became the common method of cutting off heretics. Cyril of Alexandria issued twelve anathemas against Nestorius in 431. In the fifth century, a formal distinction between anathema and excommunication evolved, where excommunication entailed cutting off a person or group from the rite of eucharist and attendance at worship, while anathema meant a complete separation of the subject from the Body of Christ. While excommunication can be announced by a simple edict or papal bull, the Roman Catholic Church has a particular ceremony necessary for anathema, where a bishop clad in purple (the liturgical color of penitence) is required, and he is surrounded by twelve priests with lighted candles. As the sentence is uttered, the priests cast their lighted candles on the ground, to symbolize the exclusion of the anathematized group from the house of Israel.

Although anathema is the highest sanction of the church, it is usually pronounced in the form, "If anyone holds that..., anathema sit". (Let him be anathema.) Thus, the person as a person is rarely given to anathema, and a person can renounce the anathematized beliefs and be reconciled to the church.

See also: excommunication, shunning

For the British doom metal band, see Anathema (band)de:Anathema fr:Anathème nl:Anathema (Reformatie) pl:Anatema ru:Анафема