EXCOMMUNICATION (cks'kora - m WM' shun), (Gr. dooptirpLbs,aphorismos).
The act of excommunicating, or rejecting, a cut ting off, deprivation of communion or the privi leges of fellowship or intercourse, specifically a penalty, or censure. whereby persons who are guilty of any notorious. crime or offense are sep arated from the communion of the church and deprived of all spiritual advantages.
(1) Jewish. The Jewish excommunication was threefold, as designated by the Hebrew terms, itid-doo'i rem ;....2;1;,sham-math- thaw. But the first and third are used mously in the Talmud, and only the distinction between two kinds has been handed down: the temporary exclusion and the fiernzanenl ban the Anathema. (See ANATHEMA.) The first is intimated in John ix:32, the second in Cor. v:5, and the third in i Cor. xvi :22.
(2) Christian. Excommunication is founded upon a natural right which all societies have of excluding out of their body such as violate the laws thereof, and it was originally instituted by our Lord (Matt. xviii ; t Cor. v, etc.) for pre
serving the purity of the church. Christian ex communication is of three kinds : (1) The greater, by which the person offending is sep arated from the body of the faithful ; thus Paul excommunicated the incestuous Corinthian (I Cor. v :1-5). (2) The lesser, by which the sinner is forbidden the sacraments. (3) That which suspends him from the company of believers ; which seems to be hinted at (2 Thess. iii :6).
(3) Effect of Excommunication. The prin. cipal effect of excommunication is to separate the excommunicated from the society of Christians, from the privilege of being present in religious assemblies, from the eucharist, from attendance at the prayers, the sacraments, and all those du ties by which Christians are connected in one society and communion. An excommunicated person is, with regard to the church. as a heathen man and a publican (Matt. xviii :17).