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| Excommunication | |
|---|---|
| Name | Excommunication |
| Type | Religious censure |
| Origin | Late Latin excōmmunicātiō |
Excommunication is a formal censure used by religious institutions to exclude individuals from participation in communal rites, sacraments, or membership. It functions as both a doctrinal boundary and a disciplinary tool within traditions such as Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism, Methodism, Anabaptist, Mormonism, and Judaism. Historically it has intersected with political authority, social ostracism, and legal controversy involving figures from monarchs to modern clergy.
The term derives from Late Latin excōmmunicātiō and Medieval Latin excōmmunicare, paralleling usages in canonical collections like the Decretum Gratiani and texts of Pope Gregory I, Pope Innocent III, and Pope Urban II. Canonists including Gratian and Pope Boniface VIII distinguished between major and minor censures in canonical corpus such as the Corpus Juris Canonici and later the Codex Iuris Canonici. Similar mechanisms appear in Talmudic literature and medieval rabbinic responsa tied to bodies like the Sanhedrin and communities of Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardi Jews.
In late antiquity and the Middle Ages, excommunication gained prominence during disputes involving figures like Emperor Henry IV, Pope Gregory VII, King John of England, and events such as the Investiture Controversy and the Interdict of England. Councils including the First Council of Nicaea, Fourth Lateran Council, and synods of the Council of Trent codified theological and disciplinary norms. Reformation-era actors—Martin Luther, John Calvin, Henry VIII, Thomas Cranmer, and Ulrich Zwingli—adapted or rejected censure practices, while confessional polities like the Holy Roman Empire and Kingdom of France negotiated overlap with secular sanctions. Enlightenment critiques by thinkers such as Voltaire, John Locke, and Thomas Jefferson reframed excommunication within debates about conscience and toleration, influencing modern secular law in states like United States and France.
In the Roman Catholic Church, excommunication appears as latae sententiae or ferendae sententiae under codes promulgated by Pope Pius X and later by Pope John Paul II; tribunals such as the Roman Rota or diocesan tribunals adjudicate cases. The Eastern Orthodox Church uses anathema in synodal contexts exemplified by councils like the Council of Ephesus and the Great Schism proceedings involving Patriarch Michael I Cerularius. The Anglican Communion retains canonical discipline in provincial canons of Church of England, Episcopal Church (United States), and Anglican Church of Canada. Protestant traditions—Lutheran World Federation, Reformed Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church—use measures like disfellowshipping, and denominations such as Jehovah's Witnesses and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintain formal rules. Jewish communal responses include cherem and herem enforced by rabbinic courts in communities like Vilna, Salonika, and the medieval Aljama systems.
Grounds vary across institutions: doctrinal heresy (e.g., against councils like Council of Chalcedon), schism (as in disputes involving Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople), sacramental violations, clerical misconduct (cases involving Benedict Bermingham-style scandals), or civil disobedience during conflicts like the English Reformation or the Irish Church Act 1869. Procedures involve ecclesiastical courts—Holy See tribunals, diocesan chanceries, consistories, or beth din panels—guided by documents like the Pastor Aeternus and provincial canons of bodies such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or the World Council of Churches. Appeals may proceed to higher authorities including the Apostolic See, ecumenical councils, or secular courts in jurisdictions like Italy, Spain, and Germany.
Consequences range from sacramental exclusion and loss of clerical rights to social ostracism, property disputes, and civil penalties when secular authorities enforce ecclesiastical censures. Historical instances show effects on rulers—Napoleon Bonaparte, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, Louis XVI of France—and on intellectuals such as Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei, and Immanuel Kant-era controversies. Rehabilitations have occurred via reconciliation rituals, annulment of censures by papal briefs (e.g., actions by Pope Pius XI), or community readmissions in synodal acts like those of Patriarch Sergius I.
Famous excommunications or related censures include those of Martin Luther, Henry VIII of England, Galileo Galilei, Girolamo Savonarola, John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Thomas Becket, King Alfonso X of Castile, Napoleon I, Benedict Arnold-adjacent ecclesiastical disputes, and modern examples involving leaders such as Louis Farrakhan, Joseph Smith, David Koresh, Bishop Marcel Lefebvre, Cardinal József Mindszenty, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and controversies in the Sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church and clerical handling in the Anglican Communion over issues addressed by figures like Gene Robinson and Katharine Jefferts Schori. Political intersections appear in episodes like the Investiture Controversy, the Excommunication of Henry IV, and the papal censures during the Avignon Papacy.
Excommunication has legal ramifications when secular courts adjudicate property rights, inheritance, or civil status, as seen in cases in Medieval England, Canon law disputes adjudicated by royal courts, and modern litigation in nations such as the United States (First Amendment cases), Canada, Australia, Italy, and India. Socially, censures influence communal cohesion in diasporic populations like Sephardi communities in Ottoman Empire ports and immigrant congregations in cities such as New York City, London, and Buenos Aires. Contemporary debates intersect with human rights frameworks like documents of the United Nations and national constitutions enacted by assemblies such as the Constituent Assembly of France.
Category:Religious law