Anath'ema

Anath'ema (Gr., 'a thing set up or hung up'), a word originally signifying some offering or gift to the gods, generally suspended in the temple. It also signifies a thing devoted; a thing devoted to destruction (the equivalent of the Hebrew Cherem); and was ultimately used in its strongest sense, implying perdition, as in Rom. ix. 3; Gal. i. 8, 9. In the Catholic Church, from the 9th century, a distinction has been made between excommunication and anathematising; the latter being the extreme form of denunciation against obstinate offenders. The first general council (Nice, 325 A.D.) anathematised those who held the Arian heresy. It thus declared that they were excluded from the communion of the church, and that if they persisted in their offence they must perish eternally (see EXCOMMUNICATION).—Anathema Maranatha (1 Cor. xvi. 22) is not, as commonly understood, a more fearful kind of curse; the Syriac words, Maran athá ('Our Lord cometh'), should, according to the best authorities, be read as a separate sentence, as in the Revised Version.