Excommunication is a measure of punishment for believers found in some religious denominations, for example, Christianity, Judaism, etc. The procedure involves excommunication or expulsion from the Church as such.
Excommunication (excommunication) can conditionally be divided into two categories: a temporary ban on participation in the Church Sacraments and the cathedral proclaimed excommunication (anathema), when a person does not have the right to participate in the Sacraments, prayers and is deprived of communication with the faithful. An anathema can only be lifted by a bishop who has the appropriate authority. Both ordinary believers and ministers of the church are excommunicated. Each denomination had its own reasons for excommunication, but the main ones were unseemly misconduct: theft, fornication, adultery, receiving or giving a bribe when appointed to a church post, violation of church rules, etc. Individuals were subjected to anathema for apostasy and heresy. If apostasy is a complete renunciation of faith by man himself, then heresy is a partial rejection by an individual of the dogmas of the Church or another interpretation of religious doctrine by him. But in any case, it was always considered a sin. In Russia, renunciation of faith was equated to religious assault and was punishable by imprisonment (penal servitude, prison or exile). The traitors of the Fatherland were also anathematized. For example, Stepan Razin, Emelyan Pugachev, hetman Mazepa and others. Since secular power defended not only the empire, but also the Church itself, therefore, any crime against the state was equated with anti-church actions, and was punishable by church condemnation through catholic anathematization. If Russian Since the Orthodox Church did not forcibly eradicate heresy, the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages became famous for burning heretics on bonfires. In Europe, such punishment was applied to people who doubted the correctness of religious teaching (in the case of Giordano Bruno) or accused of witchcraft. It is worth noting that in those days any person, by an anonymous denunciation, could appear before the court of the Holy Inquisition and be sentenced to death by hanging or burning at the stake. But any repentant sinner always had the right to absolution and the opportunity to return to the bosom of the Church. After all, the sinner is excommunicated not for the sin itself, but for the reluctance to repent and be corrected.
