Anathema
The word anathema has two main meanings. One is to describe something or someone that is hated or avoided. The other is to refer to a formal excommunication by a church.[1][2][3] These meanings come from the New Testament,[4] where an anathema was a person or thing cursed or condemned by God.[5] In the Old Testament, an anathema was something or someone dedicated to God as a sacrifice,[6] or cursed and separated from God because of sin.[7] These represent two types of setting apart, one for devotion, the other for destruction.[8]
For other uses, see Anathema (disambiguation).
Anathema derives from Ancient Greek: ἀνάθεμα,[9] anáthema, meaning "an offering" or "anything dedicated",[3] itself derived from the verb ἀνατίθημι, anatíthēmi, meaning "to offer up". In the Old Testament, חֵרֶם (chērem) referred to both objects consecrated to divine use and those dedicated to destruction in the Lord's name, such as enemies and their weapons during religious wars. Since weapons of the enemy were considered unholy, the meaning became "anything dedicated to evil" or "a curse".
In New Testament usage a different meaning developed. St. Paul used the word anathema to signify a curse and the forced expulsion of one from the community of Christians.[10] By the 6th century, the liturgical meaning evolved again to mean a formal ecclesiastical curse of excommunication and the condemnation of heretical doctrines, the severest form of separation from the Christian church issued against a heretic or group of heretics by a Pope or other church official.[11][3] The phrase Latin: anathema sit ("let him be anathema"), echoing Galatians 1:8–9,[12] was thus used in decrees of councils defining Christian faith.[13]
Examples include:
In 1526, the word anathema appeared in modern English for the first time and was used in the sense of "something accursed". The "consecrated object" meaning was also adopted a short time later, but is no longer widely used.[3] Its most common modern usage is in secular contexts[1] where it is used to mean something or someone that is detested or shunned.[2]
Examples include:
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Anathema". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.