Apostasy and the Apostate

Table of contents

1. Theological and canonical definition of apostasy
2. Distinction between apostasy, heresy and schism
3. Essential characteristics of apostasy
4. Causes and forms of apostasy
5. Traditional canonical sanctions
6. Duties towards the apostate

Conclusion

Note

List of sources

 

1. Theological and canonical definition of apostasy

The term apostasy comes from the Greek apostasia, which means abandonment, defection or revolt. In theology and canon law, apostasy designates the total abandonment of the Christian faith received at baptism.

The Code of Canon Law of 1917 defines it in canon 1325 paragraph 2 (Codex Iuris Canonici Pii X Pontificis Maximi iussu digestus, Benedicti Papae XV auctoritate promulgatus, Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, Rome, 1917, in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. IX, second part, p. 257):

Post receptum baptismum si quis, nomen retinens christianum, pertinaciter aliquam ex veritatibus fide divina et catholica credendis denegat aut de ea dubitat, haereticus ; si a fide christiana totaliter recedit, apostata ; si denique subesse renuit Summo Pontifici aut cum membris Ecclesiae ei subiectis communicare recusat, schismaticus est.

Any person who, after having received baptism and while retaining the name of Christian, obstinately denies one of the truths of the divine and Catholic faith that must be believed, or doubts concerning it, is a heretic; if he withdraws totally from the Christian faith, he is an apostate; if finally he refuses to be subject to the Sovereign Pontiff or refuses to remain in communion with the members of the Church who are subject to him, he is a schismatic. (Code of 1917, can. 1325 paragraph 2).

Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologiae, IIa-IIae, q. 12, a. 1, body of the article, explains that apostasy implies a falling away from God and therefore constitutes a sin of infidelity by which someone withdraws from the faith (Opera omnia, Leonine edition, vol. VIII, Ex Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide, Rome, 1895).

He treats first of apostasy in general, then distinguishes apostasy from the faith, which is the gravest species of infidelity, from religious or moral apostasy.

Apostasy from the faith is the rejection or refusal of the faith that one was bound to accept. The apostate was a baptized faithful; he has become an infidel by rejecting the whole of the Christian faith, unlike the heretic who denies only a particular point.

One then distinguishes public apostasy from the sin of internal apostasy, which is the withdrawal of interior consent to the faith without an exterior act. The latter does not fall under the canonical forum, but remains a grave sin before God.

Saint Cyprian writes in De unitate Ecclesiae, n. 6: “He can no longer have God for Father who has not the Church for mother.” (On the Unity of the Church, treatise I, n. 6, translation Robert Ernest Wallis, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. V, Christian Literature Publishing Co., Buffalo, 1886).

2. Distinction between apostasy, heresy and schism

These three offences against the faith or the unity of the Church are clearly distinct, as canon 1325 paragraph 2 of the Code of 1917 shows.

Heresy consists in the obstinate refusal, after baptism, to believe a truth revealed by God and proposed by the Church as of divine and Catholic faith. Example: to deny the divinity of Christ or transubstantiation.

Schism is the refusal of submission to the Sovereign Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church who are subject to him, without necessarily denying a dogma. For example, to constitute a separate ecclesial community by rejecting legitimate papal authority.

Schism, while not necessarily implying formal heresy, has often led to it in the history of the Church. Saint Jerome wrote: “Moreover, there is no schism that does not invent some heresy, so that it may appear to have had reason to separate from the Church.” (Commentarii in epistulas Pauli apostoli ad Titum et ad Philemonem, commentary on Titus 3, 10-11, ed. Federica Bucchi, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 77C, Brepols, Turnhout, 2003, p. 70).

Apostasy, more grave, is the total abandonment of the Christian faith, which leads to atheism, to a non-Christian religion or to indifferentism. It may also consist in public adherence to an ideological system incompatible with the Christian faith when it implies the total rejection of that faith. Example: a baptized person who openly adheres to Islam, to Buddhism, or who professes agnosticism.

3. Essential characteristics of apostasy

For apostasy to be formal and to entail canonical penalties, it requires:

1. A valid baptism, because no one can abandon what he has not received (CIC 1917, can. 1325 paragraph 2; 2241 paragraph 1).
2. The use of reason, which excludes children and the insane.
3. A voluntary and conscious rejection of the whole of the Christian faith.
4. An external manifestation, because a purely interior act is not canonically justiciable (CIC 1917, can. 2195 paragraph 1; 2242 paragraph 1).

4. Causes and forms of apostasy

The principal causes include:

– Culpable ignorance, often due to deficient catechesis.

– Ecclesiastical scandals, such as the betrayals of pastors or doctrinal compromises.

– Worldly influences, notably modernism which relativizes the truths of faith.

Saint Pius X, in Pascendi dominici gregis, 8 September 1907, paragraph 53 of the French version, denounces modernism: “Who will be surprised that We define it as the meeting-place of all heresies?” It prepares the way for apostasy by undermining the dogmatic foundations. (Pascendi dominici gregis, paragraphs 53 and 55).

The forms of apostasy include:

– Pure apostasy: explicit abandonment of the Christian faith.

– Practical apostasy: participation in non-Christian cults or in incompatible societies, such as certain lodges of secret societies.

– Implicit apostasy: a life incompatible with the faith, without formal declaration, but with an effective rejection, or again an exterior conduct manifesting an effective abandonment of the faith without explicit declaration.

5. Traditional canonical sanctions

The Code of Canon Law of 1917 provides latae sententiae penalties:

– Excommunication: “All apostates from the Christian faith, and all heretics or schismatics, incur ipso facto excommunication” (can. 2314 paragraph 1, 1). The canon adds, at paragraph 1, 2: “Nisi moniti resipuerint” — “If they do not come to repentance after having been warned”. Unrepentant clerics then incur aggravated penalties. After monition, apostate clerics incur progressively the deprivation of benefices, dignities and offices, which may go as far as deposition (can. 2314 paragraph 1, 2).

– For clerics: deprivation of offices, deposition (can. 188, 4; can. 2314 paragraph 1, 2). Public apostasy constitutes the paradigmatic case aimed at by canon 188, 4, since it realises in a manifest manner the public defection from the Catholic faith entailing the tacit resignation of the ecclesiastical office: “By virtue of the tacit resignation admitted by the law itself, every office becomes vacant by the law itself and without any declaration, if the cleric: 4. has publicly defected from the Catholic faith.” (CIC 1917, can. 188, 4, p. 41; can. 2314, p. 438).

Saint Paul warns:

Si quis non amat Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, sit anathema. Maranatha.

“If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maranatha.” (1 Corinthians 16, 22, Vulgate).

And:

Sed licet nos aut angelus de caelo evangelizet vobis praeterquam quod evangelizavimus vobis, anathema sit.

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.” (Galatians 1, 8, Vulgate).

6. Duties towards the apostate

The Church seeks the return of the apostate by prayer, charitable preaching and canonical remedies (CIC 1917, can. 2214 paragraph 2; 2259 paragraph 1; 2262 paragraph 2; 2314 paragraph 2; Saint Cyprian, De lapsis, nn. 22-23). Mercy is joined to justice, according to patristic teaching: discipline is necessary in order to avoid spiritual ruin (Saint Cyprian, De lapsis, nn. 14-16; translation Robert Ernest Wallis, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. V, Christian Literature Publishing Co., Buffalo, 1886).

Conclusion

Apostasy, total rejection of the Christian faith, surpasses in gravity heresy and schism. It requires a firm and charitable response, in conformity with the principle: The salvation of souls must be in the Church the supreme law. In the earlier tradition, this principle is found notably among the canonists.

The theologian Dominicus M. Prümmer, in his Manuale iuris canonici in usum scholarum (4th and 5th edition, Herder and Co., Freiburg im Breisgau, 1927, book II, q. 153, reply 1, p. 208), confirms this principle as the supreme rule in the Church: “Etenim suprema lex est salus animarum” — “For the supreme law is the salvation of souls”.

Souls must be preserved from heresy, apostasy and schism.

Deo gratias.

Note outside the subject: Maranatha

This term is an Aramaic expression taken from Sacred Scripture, specifically from the First Epistle of the Apostle Saint Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 22. The word Maranatha is a transliteration of the Aramaic marana tha, composed of two parts: marana (our Lord) and tha (come). It is therefore translated literally as Our Lord, come! It is an invocation that expresses the request for the second coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Charles Journet, Le Traité de l’Église, Conclusion, section “The unity that tears, but is not torn”, n. 2).

List of sources

1. Sacred Scripture, epistles of Saint Paul: First Epistle to the Corinthians, 16, 22; Epistle to the Galatians, 1, 8. Original Greek; Latin translation consulted: Vulgate.
2. Code of Canon Law of 1917: Codex Iuris Canonici Pii X Pontificis Maximi iussu digestus, Benedicti Papae XV auctoritate promulgatus, Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, Rome, 1917, Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. IX, second part. Canons cited: 188, 4; 1325 paragraph 2; 2195 paragraph 1; 2214 paragraph 2; 2241 paragraph 1; 2242 paragraph 1; 2259 paragraph 1; 2262 paragraph 2; 2314 paragraphs 1-2. Original Latin.
3. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae — Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 12, a. 1, body of the article, in Opera omnia, Leonine edition, vol. VIII, Ex Typographia Polyglotta S. C. de Propaganda Fide, Rome, 1895. Original Latin.
4. Saint Cyprian of Carthage, De unitate Ecclesiae — On the Unity of the Church, n. 6. Original Latin. English translation: Robert Ernest Wallis, On the Unity of the Church, treatise I, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. V, Christian Literature Publishing Co., Buffalo, 1886.
5. Saint Cyprian of Carthage, De lapsis — On the Lapsed, nn. 14-16 and 22-23. Original Latin. English translation: Robert Ernest Wallis, On the Lapsed, treatise III, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. V, Christian Literature Publishing Co., Buffalo, 1886.
6. Saint Jerome, Commentarii in epistulas Pauli apostoli ad Titum et ad Philemonem — Commentaries on the epistles of the Apostle Paul to Titus and to Philemon, edition of Federica Bucchi, Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 77C, Brepols, Turnhout, 2003, commentary on Titus 3, 10-11, p. 70. Original Latin.
7. Saint Pius X, encyclical letter Pascendi dominici gregis, 8 September 1907, paragraphs 53 and 55 according to the numbering of the French version consulted. Original Latin.
8. Dominicus M. Prümmer, Manuale iuris canonici in usum scholarum — Manual of Canon Law for the use of schools, 4th and 5th edition, Herder and Co., Freiburg im Breisgau, 1927, book II, q. 153, reply 1, p. 208. Original Latin.
9. Charles Journet, Le Traité de l’Église, Conclusion, section “The unity that tears, but is not torn”, n. 2. French text.