What Is......

[HomeTeamFamily]

apostate

ive been reading on this forum and the apologetics forum and ive seen the word many times but i dont know what it means so if someone could help me out with a definition

preesh pham

adam

[Dave]

An apostate is someone who totally abandons the Catholic faith.

[Theoketos]

Dave is good but close with a chance of expounding.

[quote]The word itself in its etymological sense, signifies the desertion of a post, the giving up of a state of life; he who voluntarily embraces a definite state of life cannot leave it, therefore, without becoming an apostate. Most authors, however, distinguish with Benedict XIV (De Synodo di£cesanâ, XIII, xi, 9), between three kinds of apostasy: apostasy a Fide or perfidi£, when a Christian gives up his faith; apostasy ab ordine, when a cleric abandons the ecclesiastical state; apostasy a religione, or monachatus, when a religious leaves the religious life. The Gloss on title 9 of the fifth book of the Decretals of Gregory IX mentions two other kinds of apostasy: apostasy inobedientiæ, disobedience to a command given by lawful authority, and iteratio baptismatis, the repetition of baptism, "quoniam reiterantes baptismum videntur apostatare dum recedunt a priori baptismate". As all sin involves disobedience, the apostasy inobedientiæ does not constitute a specific offense. In the case of iteratio baptismatis, the offence falls rather under the head of heresy and irregularity than of apostasy; if the latter name has sometimes been given to it, it is due to the fact that the Decretals of Gregory IX combine into one title, under the rubric "De apostatis et reiterantibus baptisma" (V, title 9) the two distinct titles of the Justinian Code: "Ne sanctum baptisma iteretur" and" De apostatis " (I, titles 6, 7), in Corpus juris civilis ed. Krueger, (Berlin, 1888); II 60-61. See München "Das kanonische Gerichtsverfahren und Strafrecht" (Cologne, 1874), II, 362, 363. Apostasy, in its strictest sense, means apostasy a Fide (St. Thomas, Summa theologica, II-II, Q. xii a. 1).[/quote]

[url="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01624b.htm"]When in doubt check New Advent[/url]

[cmotherofpirl]

short version
APOSTASY. The total rejection by a baptized person of the Christian faith he once professed. The term is also applied in a technical sense to “apostates from religious life,” who without authorization leave a religious institute after perpetual vows with no intention of returning. (Etym. Latin apostasia, falling away or separation from God; from Greek apostasis, revolt, literally, a standing-off.)

[url="http://www.therealpresence.org/dictionary/dictaintro.htm"]http://www.therealpresence.org/dictionary/dictaintro.htm[/url]

Edited April 5, 2004 by cmotherofpirl

[popestpiusx]

All very good. Nothing to add but one very small point: Like heresy and schism, a person can still be a "member" (in the visible sense) of the Catholic Church and be an apostate. Francis Kissling and Rosemary Radford Reuther come to mind.

[cmotherofpirl]

They are only Catholic because they have not publically said they were no longer Catholics. But their actions speak volumes otherwise.

[dUSt]

Also, just in case...

[b]Apostate[/b] shouldn't be confused with [b]apostolate[/b], which is different. An [b]apostolate[/b] usually refers to a group or organization who's mission is that of the apostles.