Excommunication is the formal process of removing or suspending a member from a religious body or organization. In the Christian context, it refers specifically to removing someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the church. The New Testament provides several examples of church discipline, which formed the basis for later practices of excommunication.
Scriptural Basis for Excommunication
Several passages in the New Testament refer to corrective discipline within the early Christian community. Jesus taught that unrepentant sin should be addressed first individually, then with witnesses, and finally brought before the whole church (Matthew 18:15-17). The apostle Paul instructed the Corinthian church to expel a man involved in sexual immorality and hand him over to Satan “for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5). He told the Galatians that anyone preaching a false gospel should be “accursed” (Galatians 1:8). Paul also mentioned delivering Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme (1 Timothy 1:20).
These passages established precedent for removing unrepentant sinners and heretics from church membership through excommunication. The practice aimed to maintain purity within the body of believers, calling wayward members to repentance. It also served as a warning to other believers not to follow sinful examples.
Excommunication in Church History
In the early centuries of Christianity, excommunication functioned as a form of church discipline and repentance. Those guilty of heresy or serious sins like murder or adultery would be removed from participating in the Eucharist and excluded from church gatherings. After a period of penance and reparation, they could be formally reconciled to the church.
Excommunication took on more severe meanings in medieval Catholicism. Rulings by ecumenical councils formalized the process and made it an official power of the institutional church. Unrepentant sinners and heretics could be not only excluded from the sacraments, but considered outside the church altogether. The church denial of sacraments even to the dying meant excommunication posed a serious threat to salvation.
Major causes for excommunication in medieval times included heresy, violating church property, forgery, murder, and certain sexual sins. Political powers sometimes manipulated charges of heresy to punish dissent and consolidate authority. The Catholic church used excommunication against insubordinate monarchs and clerics, as well as progenitors of new movements like Martin Luther.
Reformation leaders criticized the church’s abuse of excommunication for political and financial purposes. Many Protestant churches modified or abandoned the practice altogether. Among churches retaining excommunication, definitions and procedures today typically focus on promoting repentance and reconciliation.
Purposes of Excommunication
Historically, Christian churches practiced excommunication for multiple reasons:
– To prompt repentance in the offender and reconciliation with God and the church community. Removing sacramental privileges impresses on an individual the gravity of their sin and need for contrition.
– To protect the purity and integrity of the church body. Removing unrepentant sinners serves as a warning and disincentive for immoral behavior that could corrupt other members.
– To avoid church sanction of sinful lifestyles. Since participation in the sacraments indicates union with the church, prohibiting this for offenders upholds doctrinal integrity.
– To induce sincere conversion in heretics. By detaching them from church membership, errant teachings do not infect others. Excommunication motivates turning from false doctrine.
– To affirm the reality of spiritual authority given to the church by Christ. Exercising discipline exhibits the jurisdictional powers vested in church leadership.
– To induce compliance from insubordinate individuals. Monarchs or clerics resisting church directives might comply to avoid excommunication.
Historically, these motivations sometimes led to abuse of excommunication for power, greed, or control. But biblically practiced discipline aims at redemption within the body of Christ.
Excommunication in Catholicism Today
Within contemporary Catholicism, excommunication remains a formal canonical penalty for serious sins and dissent. However, recent modifications have shifted the emphasis to reconciliation and redemption.
Criteria warranting excommunication today include:
– Apostasy – Total repudiation of the Christian faith.
– Heresy – Denial of core Catholic doctrines after baptism.
– Schism – Rejection of the authority or unity of the Catholic Church.
– Violation of the sacred species – Desecration of a consecrated Eucharistic host.
– Use of physical force against the Pope.
– Absolution of an accomplice in sexual sin.
Catholics who actively practice or publicly advocate beliefs contrary to core church teachings also risk excommunication if they persist after warnings. These include such issues as women’s ordination or rejection of Catholic moral teaching.
Automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication applies for things like apostasy, heresy, or schism once the offense is complete. In other cases, formal declaration by church authorities (ferendae sententiae) follows determination of guilt through a canonical process.
Excommunicated Catholics are prohibited from receiving any sacraments, holding church office, or participating in Masses apart from weddings and funerals. Today the church emphasizes excommunication as primarily medicinal rather than punitive. The goal is to reaffirm church teaching and inspire remorse, repentance, and reconciliation.
Excommunication in Eastern Orthodoxy
The Eastern Orthodox churches similarly view excommunication as a therapeutic ecclesiastical discipline. The purpose is repentance and purification rather than permanent banishment.
Severest forms of excommunication in Orthodoxy include:
– Anathema – A formal excommunication including curses and condemnation, typically for heresy.
– Excommunication for a specified period or indefinitely. This prohibits sacramental participation.
– Being struck from the diptychs – Omitting a clergyman’s name from liturgical commemorations. This bars him from performing priestly functions.
Excommunication is usually a formal decision of a church tribunal or bishop. But in some cases it occurs automatically, such as for striking a bishop or divorcing a spouse to remarry. Excommunicated members cannot receive communion, serve as sponsors, marry in the church, or get an Orthodox burial. But they can attend services and retain membership.
Penalties are imposed with the aim of pricking the conscience and producing repentance. Excommunication mainly serves to protect church purity and prevent corruption of the faithful. Reception of the excommunicated back into fellowship typically involves public confession and demonstrations of remorse.
Excommunication in Protestant Churches
Unlike Catholics and Orthodox, most Protestant churches do not view excommunication as a formal ecclesial penalty. They differ on whether churches even have biblical authority for excommunication.
Martin Luther retained a form of excommunication in his reform movement. But he emphasized keeping the way open for reconciliation through evangelical counsel. Other Reformers like Zwingli rejected any notion of excommunication as unbiblical.
Among Protestants retaining excommunication, policies vary significantly between denominations. Most reserve it only for rare cases involving unrepentant heresy or gross immorality bringing scandal on the church.
Where practiced, excommunication procedures among Protestants typically involve:
– Private counsel and reproof to resolve disputes informally.
– Official investigation into charges if private resolution fails.
– Congregational vote proceeding with excommunication after determining guilt.
– Public announcement and removal from membership rolls.
– Avoidance of normal fellowship to impress gravity, pending repentance and restoration.
Even while barred from communion and voting, Protestants emphasize maintaining spiritual connections to provoke repentance for reconciliation. Excommunication requires subsequent congregational action to reinstate membership.
Reasons for Excommunication
While specific policies and procedures vary between traditions, common biblical grounds for excommunication include:
– Heresy – Persistent teaching of doctrine contradicting core church beliefs. This constitutes rebellion against apostolic teachings.
– Schism – Instigating division within the church by attracting followers to new competing groups.
– Disorderly conduct – Habitual and unrepentant lifestyle breaches of church moral standards. Includes scandalous behavior like sexual immorality.
– Contumacy – Willful defiance of ecclesiastical authority after multiple warnings. This resists God-given spiritual guidance.
In cases of grievous public sin, excommunication serves to protect the reputation of the church and avoid communicating tolerance of immorality. Severity of discipline often relates to the gravity of consequences caused by the offense.
Steps Involved in Excommunication
While procedures differ between churches, biblical precedent establishes general steps in the excommunication process:
– Private reproofs to encourage voluntary repentance and avoid public discipline if possible.
– Formal judicial investigation into the facts and charges if private entreaties fail.
– Official determination of guilt for an offense meriting excommunication.
– Rejection by vote of the congregation or church court.
– Public prayer announcing removal from membership and sacraments.
– Prohibition from participating in key church functions.
– Avoidance of normal fellowship to provoke shame and repentance.
– Patient waiting and prayers for eventual restoration of the excommunicated member.
– Formal reinstatement into church membership following repentance and public confession.
At each stage, the intention is redemption through a combination of disciplinary rigor and patience in hopeful expectation of contrition.
Notable Instances of Excommunication
Numerous prominent figures throughout history have endured excommunication for their actions:
– Henry VIII – The English king was excommunicated after breaking with Rome over desires to annul his marriage.
– Martin Luther – The catalyst of the Protestant Reformation was excommunicated for refusal to recant his anti-Catholic teachings.
– Elizabeth I – The Catholic church excommunicated the English queen for instituting Protestant reforms.
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky – The famous Russian novelist endured exile and excommunication for associating with progressive radicals.
– Thousands of Chinese Catholics loyal to the Vatican were excommunicated after the Communist party formed its own church.
– Mother Teresa – All Missionaries of Charity faced automatic excommunication for attending a traditional Latin Mass.
– Fr. Roy Bourgeois – This American priest was excommunicated by the Vatican for participation in a woman’s ordination.
Though originally intended for redemption, excommunication has sometimes served as fuel for controversy and schism throughout church history. But in many cases it succeeded in stimulating repentance and reconciliation.
Receiving an Excommunicated Person Back into Fellowship
After a period of excommunication aimed to encourage contrition, steps for formal restoration involve:
– The excommunicated person approaching church leadership and expressing godly sorrow and repentance.
– Renunciation of any teachings or practices that necessitated discipline.
– In cases of heresy or schism, affirmation of orthodox doctrine and submission to spiritual authority.
– If applicable, reparation for harms caused to the church community.
– Fulfilling any penitential requirements to demonstrate sincerity of repentance.
– A public confession before the congregation acknowledging waywardness.
– Formal congregational vote to reinstate church membership and privileges.
– Celebratory prayers welcoming the person back into fellowship.
– Restoration of the ability to participate in sacraments, ministries, and governance.
– Resumption of regular involvement in the communal life of the church body.
– Ongoing discipleship and support to confirm long-term reconciliation.
The gracious reception of the contrite excommunicated member completes the redemptive process of discipline. Their turning encapsulates the biblical promise that “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7).
