excommunication

(noun)

An institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it.

Related Terms

Examples of excommunication in the following topics:

  • Luther and Protestantism

    • His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.
    • On June 15, 1520, the pope warned Luther, with the papal bull Exsurge Domine, that he risked excommunication unless he recanted forty-one sentences drawn from his writings, including the Ninety-five Theses, within sixty days.
    • As a consequence, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X on January 3, 1521, in the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

  • The Great Schism of 1054

    • On the refusal of Cerularius to accept the demand, the leader of the legation, Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, excommunicated him, and in return Cerularius excommunicated Humbert and the other legates.

  • The Western Schism

    • The council, advised by the theologian Jean Gerson, secured the resignations of John XXIII and Gregory XII in 1415, while excommunicating the claimant who refused to step down, Benedict XIII.

  • Louis XIV and the Huguenots

    • Additionally, government officials could not be excommunicated for acts committed in pursuance of their duties.

  • Elizabeth I and English Patriotism

    • For many years, Philip maintained peace with England and even defended Elizabeth from the Pope's threat of excommunication.

  • The Sun-King and Authoritarianism

    • Additionally, government officials could not be excommunicated for acts committed in pursuance of their duties.

  • The Development of Papal Supremacy

    • In 195 CE, Pope Victor I, in what is seen as an exercise of Roman authority over other churches, excommunicated the Quartodecimans for observing Easter on the 14th of Nisan, the date of the Jewish Passover.

  • The Investiture Controversy

    • In 1076 the pope responded by excommunicating Henry and deposing him as German king, releasing all Christians from their oath of allegiance to him.

  • Calvinism

    • Following the excommunication of Luther and condemnation of the Reformation by the pope, the work and writings of John Calvin were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various groups in Switzerland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany, and elsewhere.