Editing Apostasy (section)

=== Penalties ===

Apostasy was one of the sins for which the early church imposed perpetual penance and excommunication. Christianity rejected the removal of heretics and apostates by force, leaving the final punishment to God.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Angenendt |first=Arnold |title=Toleranz und Gewalt: das Christentum zwischen Bibel und Schwert |date=2018 |publisher=Aschendorff Verlag |isbn=978-3-402-00215-5 |edition=Nachdruck der fünften, aktualisierten Auflage 2009, 22.-24.Tausend |location=Münster}}</ref> As a result, the first millennium saw only one single official execution of a heretic, the [[Priscillian]] case. Classical [[canon law]] viewed apostasy as distinct from heresy and schism. Apostasy ''a fide'', defined as total repudiation of the Christian faith, was considered as different from a theological standpoint and from heresy, but subject to the same penalty of death by fire by [[decretist]] jurists.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGUSDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|page=46|title=Contesting Orthodoxy in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Heresy, Magic and Witchcraft|author1=Louise Nyholm Kallestrup|author-link1=Louise Nyholm Kallestrup|author2=Raisa Maria Toivo|publisher=Springer|year=2017|isbn=978-3-319-32385-5}}</ref> The influential 13th-century theologian [[Henry of Segusio|Hostiensis]] recognized three types of apostasy. The first was conversion to another faith, which was considered traitorous and could bring confiscation of property or even the death penalty. The second and third, which was punishable by expulsion from home and imprisonment, consisted of breaking major commandments and breaking the vows of religious orders, respectively.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAInCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT112|page=112|title=The Middle Ages Unlocked: A Guide to Life in Medieval England, 1050–1300 |author=Gillian Polack |author2=Katrin Kania |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4456-4589-6}}</ref>

A [[decretal]] by [[Boniface VIII]] classified apostates together with heretics with respect to the penalties incurred. Although it mentioned only apostate Jews explicitly, it was applied to all apostates, and the [[Spanish Inquisition]] used it to persecute both the [[Marranos|Marrano]] Jews, who had been converted to Christianity by force, and to the [[Moriscos]] who had professed to convert to Christianity from Islam under pressure.<ref name="apostasy1907">{{cite encyclopedia|author=Van Hove, A.|year=1907|title=Apostasy|encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia|publisher=New York: Robert Appleton Company|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01624b.htm}}</ref>

Temporal penalties for Christian apostates have fallen into disuse in the modern era.<ref name="apostasy1907" />