Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)

Ius canonicum

SUBTLE DISTINCTION BETWEEN ‘ANATHEMA’ AND ‘EXCOMMUNICATION’ 1 5 1

St. Paul frequently uses the ‘anathema’ in the meaning of exclusion someone from the Christian community. Like the Deuteronomy 7:1-6 is in the Old Testament the clearest phrase, St. Pauls’ Letter to the Romans (Rm 9:3) in the New Testament testifies the same clarity of wording: “For I wished myself to be an anathema from Christ, for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Other relevant places:- 1 Corinthians 5:5 — “(...) you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”- 1 Corinthians 16:22 - “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed- Galatians 1:9 - “As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.”-1 Timothy 1:19-20 - “(...) By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith, among them Hymenae’us and Alexander, whom 1 have delivered to Satan that they may leam not to blaspheme.”

These cited phrases of the Letters of St. Paul sufficiently confirm that the term ‘anathema’ in the New Testament, although in a more precise form, is equivalent to the Hebrew term 'herém ’.

IV. Interpretation of ‘anathema’ and ‘excommunication’ within the Early Church

There is no doubt that the Early Church adopted the word ‘anathema’ with the similar meaning to the one which can be read in the New Testament. It signified primarily the separation from Christ, which consequently expressed the separation from the Church too. Nevertheless, it does not mean that the ‘anathema’ had exactly the same content as ‘excommunication’, even both were used for excluding someone from the communion, which did not refer at all times to the Eucharistic-communion.13 It is certain that the expression ‘anathema’ - with doctrinal and disciplinary effects - was used in the early texts basically against heretics. Regarding the ecclesiastical sources, before the 6th century is hard to make any distinction between ‘anathema’ and ‘excommunication despite the fact that the two terms were certainly not used as completely synonymous words. The ‘anathema’ appeared usually at the last section of the early conciliar canons, expressing the sanction against all those who do not accept the doctrinal or disciplinary content of the particular canon.

13 Amanieu, A., Anathéme, in Naz, R. (ed.), Dictionnaire de droit canonique, I. Paris 1935. 512 516, especially 512.