Editing Anathema (section)

===Early Church===
{{See also|Early Christianity}}
Since the time of the apostles, the term 'anathema' has come to mean a form of extreme religious sanction, known as [[excommunication]]. The earliest recorded instance of the form is in the [[Council of Elvira]] ({{Circa|306}}), and thereafter it became the common method of cutting off [[heresy|heretics]]; for example, the [[Synod of Gangra]] (c. 340) pronounced that [[Manicheanism]] was anathema. [[Cyril of Alexandria]] issued twelve anathemas against [[Nestorius]] in 431. In the fifth century, a formal distinction between anathema and "minor" excommunication evolved, where "minor" excommunication entailed cutting off a person or group from the [[Rite (Christianity)|rite]] of [[Eucharist]] and attendance at worship, while anathema meant a complete separation of the subject from the Church.