Anathema is the excommunication of a Christian from communion with other Christians and from the sacraments, used as the highest ecclesiastical punishment for grave sins (primarily for heresy or schism) and proclaimed by the Council.
It was really scary when the church was a full-fledged part of the state. In fact, the anathema was a complete disability. Like revocation of citizenship, only worse. They removed ranks and class privileges, respectively, any noble from the old enemies can spank you in revenge, and nothing will happen to him, only a fine will pay.
They deprived of the rights to all property, although, as an exception, they could leave there, say, a horse or a couple of silver coins to devour the first two months. Your children, accordingly, also lost their inheritance, so the whole family suffered.
In the Middle Ages, anathema almost guaranteed the death penalty or, if a ruler of a state such as Henry IV was anathema, a major war. Closer to the present day, so many churches proliferated that the anathema in one of them ceased to worry anyone. Luther passed under anathema from 1521 to 1546, during this time he managed to get married, have children, accumulate a mountain of chronic diseases and die from a banal stroke.
As for Tolstoy, they never announced a full-fledged anathema to him, they just wrote in the newspapers that he was no longer a member of the Orthodox Church, to which Tolstoy also announced through the newspapers that he knew about this very well and was not going to return. In general, the Russian Church in modern times more often anathematized for political reasons (Razin, Mazepa, Pugachev) than for religious reasons.
How does the Orthodox Church explain the coexistence of the phenomenon of anathema with the idea of forgiveness and the principle “do not judge and you will not be judged”? And for what can you get this anathema?
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According to the Orthodox Encyclopedia (2000), “ecclesiastical anathema (or great excommunication) should not be confused with simply“excommunication”(ἀφορισμός), which is a temporary exclusion of a Christian from the church community with a ban on participating in the sacraments and (for clergy) hold church positions. Sometimes also called “minor excommunication,” it, unlike anathema, serves as a punishment for lesser offenses, for example: theft, fornication, participation in obtaining a church office by means of a bribe, etc., does not require a council decision and does not need a council proclamation for entry into force ". Church law considers anathema as a form of punishment in the form of deprivation of "the rights and benefits that are at the exclusive disposal of the Church," applicable only to members of the church.
The word "curse" is the Russian analogue of the Greek word "anathema" (ἀνάθεμα). At the same time, the word "curse" has received an additional meaning of condemnation to eternal torment. The literal meaning of the word "anathema" consists in deprivation of church communion - not temporary, like penance, not for a certain period, but in perfect and complete. Of course, according to the spirit of the Church of Christ, such excommunication would still be subject to cancellation if the repentance of the excommunicated person took place. Statement in cases of qualified guilt of the excommunicated. Almost always, with the exception of political criminals in Russia, heresiarchs - leaders of heretics - were anathematized. As for other heretics, as a rule, when anathematized, they were not designated by name, but simply "like them," that is, those who follow the founder of the heresy, keep in touch with him. You will be excommunicated ifif you, as a priest, commit crimes both according to secular laws and religious ones.
Here is an example of anathema with the situation around Pussy Riot in theory. Although in fact there was nothing. According to Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, this episode did not receive wide media coverage, as "the girls did not have time to sing the blasphemous words." In the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the participants climbed the pulpit and solea of the temple, where for 20-23 seconds they performed characteristic "punk" movements symbolizing protest, made the sign of the cross, kneeling, and the rest of the time they tried to pronounce the words of the song until they removed by the guards. In total, staying on the ambo lasted 41 seconds. According to the church priest, there was no desecration of the altar, and the re-consecration of the temple was not required soon.
Although I met such an opinion of Archpriest Maxim Kozlov - “Anathema is not only a testimony to the church world about the guilty, but also a testimony addressed to themselves, to these unfortunate people who fell into delusion, into proud self-blinding:“Think about it! The ultimate possible judgment on earth has been passed on you. Repent of what you have done and return to your father's house, to your native Church. Strange as it may seem to someone, but anathema is also evidence of Christian love for seemingly completely lost people, anathema still does not deprive them of their path to repentance. The rite of anathema is removed from people who deeply repented and abandoned their delusions, the fullness of their stay in the Church is restored, they can start the Sacraments again, and most importantly, they again get the opportunity to be saved.
Maybe the clergy proceeded from the fact that what is the point of anathematizing them, if a large part of society condemned them, and they were not part of the Church and did not position themselves as Christians, therefore, will there be any influence over them anathema, in the sense of that anathema is important as an effect on the one hand, and a display of condemnation from the Church on the other. That is, here it is clear that the Church does not approve of this, why also betray anathema and generally pay attention, because historical figures whose decisions influenced states and / or historical events were anathema, and here is hooliganism, yes blasphemous, but worthwhile for such a serious kind of condemnation as anathema? And without anathema, they don't know that their act is condemned by the church and believers, parishioners, etc.? And then they got punished according to secular laws,so why anathematize when they received a punishment clearly more powerful (in the sense of understanding worldly people, and the girls themselves)?
If you also look at the rules by which they were anathematized before 1917, then according to them today, in essence, everyone can be anathematized, so I think the rules of anathematization have changed and are generally resolved within the Church. As you will see now, it is pointless to use the rules below, since many people meet these criteria, and I assume that in the Church there are now other criteria for anathema. Below are 12 criteria for anathema before 1917.
On this issue, on Orthodox resources, you can find the following:
Anathema. This ancient church term in our time is often juggled by secular journalists when they have the task of reproaching the Church for cruelty, loss of the gospel spirit, etc. Yes, and modern believers are often tempted when they hear about anathema.
It is not surprising, because starting with the Great Soviet Encyclopedia and ending with modern Wikipedia, the word "anathema" is stubbornly interpreted to us as "exile, curse." Is it really so? Commented by Archpriest Vladimir Rovinsky.
How does the Church herself understand anathema?
The point is that the Church is a living organism. The core and the Head of this God-human organism is Christ. Like any living organism, the Church has the ability and the necessary mechanisms to constantly replenish and renew itself, but at the same time, other mechanisms are needed here - the rejection of dead cells and self-purification.
So, we are all in one way or another familiar with the sacraments (in the Church they are called the Sacraments), thanks to which the Church itself grows and is renewed. These are Baptism, Confirmation, Repentance, Eucharist, Unction. And even the ordinances of the Wedding and the Priesthood play key roles in this process. The sacraments are a means of not only quantitative growth of the church organism, but also qualitative growth. And this process is called the sanctification, transformation and deification of every church member, every cell of this organism.
And what do we know about the self-purification of the Church?
First of all, let us note that the Church treats her members very carefully. Caring for the health of every cell is the main task of the Church. Here the disease state is called sin. Sin is an infectious disease, one might say infectious. It is dangerous not only for the patient himself, but also for those around him.
In the fight against sin, the first and foremost remedy is repentance. To make repentance more effective, the Church, through pastors, often prescribes to the penitent a kind of catalyst-medicine - penance.
Note that sin, like any other disease, cannot be cured without the direct participation of the patient, his good will and sincere desire to be healthy.
It happens that the disease requires not only enhanced treatment, but also the isolation of the patient. We all know the concept of quarantine. In the Church, such a phenomenon is called excommunication. Weaning is usually temporary until the illness subsides. The laity are excommunicated for a certain period of time from participation in the Eucharist, and the clergy are excommunicated from the performance of sacred rites.
As with every living organism, Church members experience cancer-like spiritual illnesses
Yes, heresies, schisms, false doctrines are quite comparable with cancerous tumors on the church body. And let no one be embarrassed that such a thing is possible in the God-human organism. This only indirectly testifies once again that the Church is alive. But like any normal organism, the Church must have its own immune system that protects it from infection.
What happens at this stage of the spiritual illness of this or that member of the Church? Firstly, under the influence of pride, selfishness, arrogance, such a member - a cell of the church organism begins to mutate, change. He is no longer able to fulfill his functions, does not correspond to his role and purpose. In fact, for the church, like any other organism, these cells are dead. But if they were just dead. No it is not!
These diseased members, secondly, begin to divide rapidly, grow quantitatively and more and more degrade qualitatively. They are able to rapidly infect neighboring cells with a disease and threaten the whole organism.
What to do? Yes, first chemotherapy, then radiation. But if this does not help, the operation is for rejection.