View source for Excommunication

'''Excommunication''' is the exclusion of an Orthodox Christian from the [[Eucharist]], that is from [[Communion]]. It is a form of church discipline. The act of excommunication is considered a transient action concerning a member who has done something that separates him from the church community as attempts are made of restoring the member to full communion. 

The word excommunication is from the Latin, ''ex'' meaning out of, and ''communio'' or ''communicatio'' meaning communion, thus ‘exclusion from the communion’.

For serious acts, such as unrepentant [[heresy]], the church pronounces an [[anathema]] as a means of expulsion that leaves the person outside of the Church and to his own devices.