Excommunication

EXCOMMUNICATION, an Ecclesiastical penalty, whereby they who incur the guilt of any mortal and heinous sin, are separated from the Communion of the Church, and deprived of all spiritual advantages. There are two or three sorts of Excommunication: the greater, whereby the person offending, is separated from the body of the Faithful: thus St. Paul excommunicated 1 Cor. v. 1—5. 2 Thess. iii. 6.the incestuous Corinthian. The lesser, whereby the sinner is forbidden to administer or receive the Sacraments: And lastly, that which deprives him only of the company of the faithful; whereof there is some mention made in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians. Now we command you, Brethren, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. See likewise vf. 14. And if any man obey not our word by this Epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. St. Austin¹ speaks in several places of this last sort of Excommunication. We see the practice of it in the rule of St. Benedict². Theophylact³ says, that this separation from the company of the faithful was formerly esteemed a great punishment.

The primitive Church was very reserved in separating the faithful from its bosom by Excommunication. It rarely did so, and then for very serious and very important reasons, and always with great concern. There is a distinction made between that Excommunication which is medicinal, and that which is mortal. The first was made use of against such penitents as were separated from the Communion of the Church, till they had gone through that penance which it enjoined them. The second was employed against Hereticks and impenitent sinners, and such as were disobedient to the Church. The power of Excommunicating was given to the Church in the persons of the first Pastors of it. It is part of the power of the keys, which Jesus Christ himself conferred immediately upon the Apostles, and in them upon the Bishops their Successors.

The causes of Excommunication may be reduced to three heads, Error, Sin, and Disobedience. In the beginning, the Spiritual sword was never used but in Spiritual causes; but afterwards there was a necessity of restraining the attempts of wicked men against the persons and estates of Ecclesiasticks, by censures and excommunication. The customary manner of Excommunicating in the Primitive Church was this: the faithful separated themselves from those, whose company the Apostles and Bishops had forbidden them, without obliging their superiors to proceed any farther. Afterwards the bishops made use of threatnings, anathemas, and sentences of Excommunication; lastly, to make these ceremonies more frightful, they were attended with actions capable of infusing terror, such as lighting of wax-candles, extinguishing them, throwing them on the ground, and trampling them under foot while they pronounced Excommunication, pronouncing curses against the person Excommunicated, &c.

The principal effect of Excommunication, is to separate the Excommunicated person from the society of the faithful, to take from him the privilege of being present in religious assemblies, to deprive him of the Eucharist, of attendance at the common Prayers, of the Sacraments, and of all those other duties, whereby Christians are linked in one and the same society and communion. An Excommunicated person is with regard to the rest of the faithful as an Heathen and a Publican, according to the terms of the Gospel. But it does not deprive him of any of Matth. xviii. 17.those duties which he has a right to claim, as a man, a citizen, a father, an husband, or a king, either by the law of nature and nations, or by the civil law. And when the Apostles enjoin men to have no conversation with the Excommunicated, not to eat with them, or even salute them, this is to be understood of 1 Cor. v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. & 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14. 2 John ver. 10, 11.offices of mere civility, which a man is at liberty to pay or not to pay, and not of any natural obligations, and such as are founded upon nature and the law of nations.

As to the Excommunication of the Jews, we see the practice of it in the time of Deborah and Barak, if the Rabbins in this particular are to be credited⁴. It is said in Deborah’s song, Curse ye Meroz, (said the Angel of the Lord) curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof: because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Meroz therefore was Excommunicated, say the Jews, by the sound of four hundred trumpets; Barak, who is called the Angel of the Lord, cursed him, and with him those that sat near him. But this example does not appear very proper to shew the antiquity of Excommunication. We see it in a more express manner in the time of Esdras and Nehemiah, when they Excommunicated those who would not dismiss Joseph. Antiq. l. xi. c. 5.the strange women whom they had married contrary to the law, and ingaged themselves upon pain of Excommunication, to observe the laws of the Lord.

Joseph. de Bello, l. 2. c. 12.The Essenes, at the time when they professed, engaged themselves by the most terrible oaths to observe the laws of their Sect, and when any one among them fell into any considerable fault, he was driven from their society; and he who was so expelled, died very often in some unhappy way: for by virtue of his oaths and vows, he could receive no food from the hands of strangers, and being debarred all commerce with those from whom he was separated, he was forced to live upon wild herbs like a beast, till his members corrupted, and by degrees fell asunder. It sometimes happened that the Essenes would be touched with compassion, would deliver persons out of this sad state, and receive them again into their body, when they thought that the offenders had sufficiently expiated the fault which they had committed. So much for Excommunication, its causes, effects, and absolution.

Our Saviour in the Gospel speaking to his Apostles, foretold, that the Jews out of hatred to him, would treat them ill, and excommunicate them⁵. They shall drive you out of their synagogues, says he to them; they shall bring you before their tribunals, and condemn you to be scourged. It is said, that among the Jews, they generally whipt the excommunicated persons, before they expelled them out of their synagogues. Excommunication was preceded by censure and admonition, which were used at first privately; but if the guilty person did not amend, the house of Judgment, the assembly of Judges, declared to him with menaces, that it was necessary he should reform. If he persisted in his obstinacy, his censure was made publick upon four sabbath-days successively, at which times the name of the offender and the nature of his fault were proclaimed in order to bring him to shame. Lastly, if he continued incorrigible, he was excommunicated. Our Saviour seems to allude to this practice, where he commands us to tell our brother his fault between him and us alone; then that we should take some witnesses with us in order to admonish him; and lastly, that we should inform the Church against him. And if after this he does not return to his duty, that then we should look upon him as an heathen and a publican.

The sentence of Excommunication among the Jews was conceived in these terms, Let such an one be in Excommunication or Separation; or, let such an one be Excommunicated or separated. The Judges, or the Synagogue, or even private persons had a right to Excommunicate; but regularly the House of Judgment, or the Court of Justice, solemnly pronounced the sentence of Excommunication. One particular person might Excommunicate another, and he might likewise excommunicate himself; as they who bound themselves under a curse, and engaged themselves neither to eat nor drink, till they had taken St. Paul either Acts xxiii. 12.dead or alive. Lastly, beasts were sometimes Excommunicated ; and the Rabbins teach us, that Excommunication has its effect even upon dogs. They believe that a man may be Excommunicated in a dream, when, while he is asleep, he thinks he sees the Judges, who in a judicial manner pronounce him so, or even some private person who declares him Excommunicated. In this case, they look upon themselves to be under the sentence of Excommunication; because, say they, it is possible that God may have Excommunicated them while they were asleep, or his ministers by his order may have done so.

They who pronounced the sentence of Excommunication, may take it off, and declare him, who had incurred it, to be absolved; provided he gives any marks of his repentance. He who had been Excommunicated, while he was present, must be present too when he is absolved. Any one who had been Excommunicated by a private person, might be absolved by a publick Judge, or by three men chosen for this purpose. He who had Excommunicated himself, could not regularly absolve himself: ten persons chosen from among the people were necessary upon this occasion. Lastly, he who had been Excommunicated in a dream, was to seek for ten men learned in the law, and versed in the knowledge of the Talmud, in order to give him absolution⁶.

There are generally three sorts of Excommunication distinguished among the Niddui, Separatio.Jews. The first is called Niddui, that is to say, Separation. This is the lesser Excommunication. It lasted thirty days, and separated the Excommunicated persons from the use of things holy. The second was called Cherem, that is to say, Anathema; this was Cherem, Anathema.an aggravation of the first, and answers almost to our greater Excommunication. It excludes a man from the synagogue, and deprives him of all civil commerce⁷. Lastly, the third sort of Excommunication is called Scammatha, and was of a higher nature than Scammatha, Excisio.the greater Excommunication. It was published, as they say, by sound of four hundred Trumpets, and removed all hope of returning to the synagogue. Some affirm, that the penalty of death was annexed to it. But Selden maintains, that these three terms, Niddui, Cherem, and Schammatha, are often times synonymous, and that the Jews never had, properly speaking, more than two sorts of Excommunication; one greater, the other less. The Reader may consult this author in his first book de Synedriis veterum Hebræorum, chap. 7, & 8.

Leo Mod. P. 2. c. 3.Leo of Modena says, that when the Rabbin Excommunicates any one, he curses him publickly; after which, not any one Jew can speak to the Excommunicated person, nor come near him within the distance of a fathom. He is not suffered to come into the synagogue, and he is obliged to sit down upon the ground barefooted, as if some near relation of his were dead; till he is absolved by one or more Rabbins, and blessed again. If the fault deserves a more solemn Excommunication, there is a meeting in the synagogue, and every one lights black torches; then when the horn sounds, a curse is pronounced against him, who has done, or shall do such a thing. To which the whole assembly answers, Amen.

2 Kings xxiiii. 11. 1 Chr. ix. 26—33. xxiii. 28. Jerem. xxv. 2.The heathens had likewise their Excommunication for great crimes, as we see among the Greeks, Latins, and Gauls: but this does not relate to our subject. We confine ourselves to the books of the Old and New Testament.

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