Excommunication is a measure of punishment for believers found in some religious denominations, for example, Christianity, Judaism, etc. The procedure involves excommunication from church rites or expulsion from the Church as such.
Excommunication (excommunication) can be conditionally divided into two categories: a temporary ban on participation in the Church Sacraments and the conciliarly proclaimed excommunication (anathema), when a person does not have the right to participate in the Sacraments, prayers and is deprived of communion with the faithful. Anathema can only be removed by a bishop who has the appropriate authority. Both ordinary believers and church ministers are subjected to church excommunication. Each denomination had its own reasons for excommunication, but among the main ones one can name unseemly offenses: theft, fornication, adultery, receiving or giving a bribe when appointed to a church office, violation of church rules, etc. Individuals were subjected to anathema for apostasy and heresy. If apostasy is a complete renunciation of the faith by a person himself, then heresy is called a partial rejection by an individual of the dogmas of the Church or another interpretation of religious teaching by him. But in any case, it was always considered a sin. In Russia, renunciation of the faith was equated with religious encroachment and was punishable by imprisonment (hard labor, prison or exile). The traitors to the Fatherland were also subjected to anathematization. For example, Stepan Razin, Emelyan Pugachev, Hetman Mazepa, and others. Since the secular power stood on the defense not only of the empire, but also of the Church itself, therefore any crime against the state was equated with anti-church actions, and was punishable by church condemnation through conciliar anathematization. The Orthodox Church was not engaged in the violent eradication of heresy, then the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages became famous for burning heretics at the stake. In Europe, people who questioned the correctness of religious doctrine (in the case of Giordano Bruno) or were accused of witchcraft were subjected to such punishment. It is worth noting that in those days any person, on 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 subjected to excommunication not for the sin itself as such, but for the unwillingness to repent and reform.
