Apostasy
Table of Contents
- Theological and Canonical Definition of Apostasy
- Distinction between Apostasy, Heresy and Schism
- Essential Characteristics of Apostasy
- Causes and Forms of Apostasy
- Traditional Canonical Sanctions
- Duties towards the Apostate
Conclusion
Note
- Theological and Canonical Definition of Apostasy
The term apostasy comes from the Greek ἀποστασία which means abandonment, defection or revolt. In theology and canon law, apostasy designates the total abandonment of the Christian faith received at baptism.
The 1917 Code of Canon Law defines it in canon 1325 § 2:
“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, pertinaciously denies any one of the truths of divine and Catholic faith that must be believed, or doubts it, is a heretic; if he totally recedes from the Christian faith, he is an apostate; if finally he refuses to be subject to the Supreme Pontiff or refuses to communicate with the members of the Church subject to him, he is a schismatic.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica IIa-IIae, q. 12, a. 1, explains that apostasy implies a turning back from God and thus constitutes a sin of infidelity by which someone distances himself from the faith.
He treats first of apostasy in general, then distinguishes the apostasy of the faith, which is the gravest species of infidelity, from religious or moral apostasy.
Apostasy of the faith is the rejection or refusal of the faith that had to be accepted. 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, Treatise, 1, 6: He cannot have God for Father who does not have the Church for mother.
- Distinction between Apostasy, Heresy and Schism
These three offenses against the faith or the unity of the Church are clearly distinct, as shown by canon 1325 § 2 of the 1917 Code.
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: denying the divinity of Christ or transubstantiation.
Schism is the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, without necessarily denying a dogma. For example, constituting an ecclesial community separated by rejecting legitimate papal authority.
Schism, not necessarily implying formal heresy, often leads to it in the history of the Church. Saint Jerome wrote: Moreover, there is no schism that does not forge for itself some heresy, so that it may seem to have had reason to separate from the Church. (Commentarius in Epistulam ad Titum, chap. III, vv. 10-11).
Apostasy, more grave, is the total abandonment of the Christian faith, which leads to atheism, to a non-Christian religion or to indifferentism. It can also consist in the public adherence to an ideological system incompatible with the Christian faith when it implies the total rejection of the latter. Example: a baptized person who openly adheres to Islam, to Buddhism or who professes agnosticism.
- Essential Characteristics of Apostasy
For apostasy to be formal and to entail canonical penalties, it requires:
- A valid baptism, because no one can abandon what he has not received.
- The use of reason, which excludes children and the insane.
- A voluntary and conscious rejection of the whole of the Christian faith.
- An external manifestation, because a purely interior act is not subject to canonical judgment.
- 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 § 53, denounces modernism: No one will be surprised if we define it as the synthesis of all heresies. It prepares the way for apostasy by undermining the dogmatic foundations.
The forms of apostasy include:
– Pure apostasy: explicit abandonment of the Christian faith.
– Practical apostasy: participation in non-Christian cults or in societies incompatible with the faith, 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.
- Traditional Canonical Sanctions
The 1917 Code of Canon Law provides latae sententiae penalties:
– Excommunication: All apostates from the Christian faith, and all heretics or schismatics, incur ipso facto excommunication (can. 2314 § 1). The canon adds: if, after being warned, they contemptuously refuse to repent. Non-repentant clerics then incur aggravated penalties. After warning, apostate clerics progressively incur deprivation of benefices, dignities and offices, which can go as far as deposition.
– For clerics: privation of offices, deposition (can. 188 § 4; can. 2314 § 2). Public apostasy constitutes the paradigmatic case envisaged by canon 188 § 4, since it manifestly realizes the public defection from the Catholic faith entailing tacit renunciation of the ecclesiastical office: By virtue of the tacit renunciation admitted ipso jure, any office whatsoever becomes vacant ipso facto and without any declaration if the cleric: 4° has publicly defected from the Catholic faith.
Saint Paul warns:
Si quis non amat Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, sit anathema. Maranatha. (1 Cor. 16, 22) If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maranatha.
And: Sed licet nos aut angelus de caelo evangelizet vobis praeterquam quod evangelizavimus vobis, anathema sit. (Galatians 1, 8) 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.
- Duties towards the Apostate
The Church seeks the return of the apostate by prayer, charitable preaching and canonical remedies (can. 2232 and following, and 2315). Mercy is allied with justice, according to the patristic teaching: discipline is necessary to avoid spiritual ruin.
Conclusion
Apostasy, the total rejection of the Christian faith, surpasses in gravity heresy and schism. It demands a firm and charitable response, in conformity with the principle: The salvation of souls must be the supreme law in the Church. In the earlier tradition, this principle is found notably among the canonists.
The theologians Wernz and Vidal, in their Ius Canonicum (Romae, 1928, tom. I), indeed confirm this principle as the supreme rule in the Church.
Souls must be preserved from heresy, apostasy and schism.
Deo gratias.
Note off the subject: Maranatha
This term is an Aramaic expression taken from Holy 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 maranâ thâ, composed of two parts: maranâ (our Lord) and thâ (come). It is therefore translated literally by Our Lord, come! It is an invocation expressing the request for the second coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ.