anathema
    n 1: a detested person; "he is an anathema to me" [syn:
         anathema, bete noire]
    2: a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication

Anathema \A*nath"e*ma\, n.; pl. Anathemas. [L. anath[e^]ma,
   fr. Gr. ? anything devoted, esp. to evil, a curse; also L.
   anath[=e]ma, fr. Gr. ? a votive offering; all fr. ? to set up
   as a votive gift, dedicate; ? up + ? to set. See Thesis.]
   1. A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by
      ecclesiastical authority, and accompanied by
      excommunication. Hence: Denunciation of anything as
      accursed.
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            [They] denounce anathemas against unbelievers.
                                                  --Priestley.
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   2. An imprecation; a curse; a malediction.
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            Finally she fled to London followed by the anathemas
            of both [families].                   --Thackeray.
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   3. Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by
      ecclesiastical authority.
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            The Jewish nation were an anathema destined to
            destruction. St. Paul . . . says he could wish, to
            save them from it, to become an anathema, and be
            destroyed himself.                    --Locke.
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   Anathema Maranatha(see --1 Cor. xvi. 22), an expression
      commonly considered as a highly intensified form of
      anathema. Maran atha is now considered as a separate
      sentence, meaning, "Our Lord cometh."
      [1913 Webster] Anathematic

Anathema
   anything laid up or suspended; hence anything laid up in a
   temple or set apart as sacred. In this sense the form of the
   word is _anath(ee)ma_, once in plural used in the Greek New
   Testament, in Luke 21:5, where it is rendered "gifts." In the
   LXX. the form _anathema_ is generally used as the rendering of
   the Hebrew word _herem_, derived from a verb which means (1) to
   consecrate or devote; and (2) to exterminate. Any object so
   devoted to the Lord could not be redeemed (Num. 18:14; Lev.
   27:28, 29); and hence the idea of exterminating connected with
   the word. The Hebrew verb (haram) is frequently used of the
   extermination of idolatrous nations. It had a wide range of
   application. The _anathema_ or _herem_ was a person or thing
   irrevocably devoted to God (Lev. 27:21, 28); and "none devoted
   shall be ransomed. He shall surely be put to death" (27:29). The
   word therefore carried the idea of devoted to destruction (Num.
   21:2, 3; Josh. 6:17); and hence generally it meant a thing
   accursed. In Deut. 7:26 an idol is called a _herem_ =
   _anathema_, a thing accursed.
   
     In the New Testament this word always implies execration. In
   some cases an individual denounces an anathema on himself unless
   certain conditions are fulfilled (Acts 23:12, 14, 21). "To call
   Jesus accursed" [anathema] (1 Cor. 12:3) is to pronounce him
   execrated or accursed. If any one preached another gospel, the
   apostle says, "let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8, 9); i.e., let his
   conduct in so doing be accounted accursed.
   
     In Rom. 9:3, the expression "accursed" (anathema) from Christ,
   i.e., excluded from fellowship or alliance with Christ, has
   occasioned much difficulty. The apostle here does not speak of
   his wish as a possible thing. It is simply a vehement expression
   of feeling, showing how strong was his desire for the salvation
   of his people.
   
     The anathema in 1 Cor. 16:22 denotes simply that they who love
   not the Lord are rightly objects of loathing and execration to
   all holy beings; they are guilty of a crime that merits the
   severest condemnation; they are exposed to the just sentence of
   "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord."
   

Anathema, separated; set apart

ANATHEMA, eccl. law. A punishment by which a person is separate from, the
body of the church, and forbidden all intercourse with the faithful: it
differs from excommunication, which simply forbids the person
excommunicated, from going into the church and communicating with the
faithful. Gal. 1. 8, 9.