Category:Anathema

A*nath"e*ma, n.; pl. Anathemas. Etym: [L. anath, fr. Gr. anath, fr. Gr. Thesis.]

1. A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by ecclesiastical authority, and accompanied by excommunication. Hence: Denunciation of anything as accursed. [They] denounce anathemas against unbelievers. Priestley.

2. An imprecation; a curse; a malediction. Finally she fled to London followed by the anathemas of both [families]. Thackeray.

3. Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by ecclesiastical authority. The Jewish nation were an anathema destined to destruction. St. Paul . . . says he could wish, to save them from it, to become an anathema, and be destroyed himself. Locke. Anathema Maranatha Etym: (see 1 Cor. xvi. 22), an expression commonly considered as a highly intensified form of anathema. Maran atha is now considered as a separate sentence, meaning, "Our Lord cometh."

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Anathema - Anything laid up or suspended; hence anything laid up in a temple or set apart as sacred. In this sense the form of the word is anathema, once in plural used in the Greek New Testament, in Luke 21:5, where it is rendered "gifts." In the LXX. the form anathema is generally used as the rendering of the Hebrew word herem, derived from a verb which means

(1.) to consecrate or devote; and

(2.) to exterminate. Any object so devoted to the Lord could not be redeemed (Numbers 18:14; Leviticus 27:28 - 27:29); and hence the idea of exterminating connected with the word. The Hebrew verb (haram) is frequently used of the extermination of idolatrous nations. It had a wide range of application. The anathema or herem was a person or thing irrevocably devoted to God (Leviticus 27:21, Leviticus 27:28); and "none devoted shall be ransomed. He shall surely be put to death" (Leviticus 27:29). The word therefore carried the idea of devoted to destruction (Numbers 21:2, Numbers 21:3; Joshua 6:17); and hence generally it meant a thing accursed. In Deuteronomy 7:26 an idol is called a herem = anathema, a thing accursed. In the New Testament this word always implies execration. In some cases an individual denounces an anathema on himself unless certain conditions are fulfilled (Acts 23:12, Acts 23:14, Acts 23:21). "To call Jesus accursed" [anathema] (1 Corinthians 12:3) is to pronounce Him execrated or accursed. If any one preached another gospel, the apostle says, "let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8 - 1:9); i.e., let his conduct in so doing be accounted accursed. In Romans 9:3, the expression "accursed" (anathema) from Christ, i.e., excluded from fellowship or alliance with Christ, has occasioned much difficulty. The apostle here does not speak of his wish as a possible thing. It is simply a vehement expression of feeling, showing how strong was his desire for the salvation of his people. The anathema in 1 Corinthians 16:22 denotes simply that they who love not the Lord are rightly objects of loathing and execration to all holy beings; they are guilty of a crime that merits the severest condemnation; they are exposed to the just sentence of "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord."