ADJURATION
adjuration
An earnest appeal to another to act or refrain from acting, under pain of Divine visitation or the rupture of the ties of reverence and love.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Adjuration
(Lat. adjurare, to swear; to affirm by oath).
An urgent demand made upon another to do something, or to desist from doing something, which demand is rendered more solemn and more irresistible by coupling with it the name of God or of some sacred person or thing. Such, too, was the primitive use of the word. In its theological acceptation, however, adjuration never carries with it the idea of an oath, or the calling upon God to witness to the truth of what is asserted. Adjuration is rather an earnest appeal, or a most stringent command requiring another to act, or not to act, under pain of divine visitation or the rupture of the sacred ties of reverence and love. Thus, when Christ was silent in the house of Caiphas, answering nothing to the things that were witnessed against Him, the High Priest would force Him to speak and so said to Him: “I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us if Thou be the Christ the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63) Adjuration may be either deprecatory or imprecatory. The one implies deference, affection, reverence, or prayer; the other, authority, command, or menace. The one may be addressed to any rational creature except the demon; the other can be addressed only to inferiors and the demon. In Mark (v, 7) the man with the unclean spirit cast himself at the feet of Jesus saying: “What have we to do with Thee Jesus the Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee that Thou torment me not.” The wretched man recognized that Christ was his superior, and his attitude was that of humility and petition. Caiphas, on the contrary, fancied himself vastly superior to the Prisoner before him. He stood and commanded Christ to declare Himself under pain of incurring the wrath of Heave. It is hardly necessary to insist that one mode of adjuration is to be employed when addressing the Deity and quite another when dealing with the powers of darkness. Helpless man, calling upon Heaven to assist him, adds weight to his naked words by joining with them the persuasive names of those whose deeds and virtues are written in the Book of Life. No necessity is thereby laid upon the Almighty, and no constraint save that of benevolence and love. But when the spirit of darkness is to be adjured, it is never allowable to address him in the language of peace and friendship. Satan must ever be approached as man’s eternal enemy. He must be spoken to in the language of hostility and command. Nor is there aught of presumption in such treatment of the evil one. It were indeed egregious temerity for man to cope single-handed with the devil and his ministers, but the name of God, reverently invoked, carries with it an efficacy which demons are unable to withstand. Nor should it be supposed that adjuration implies disrespect for the Almighty. If it is allowable to invoke the adorable name of God in order to induce others to build more securely upon our world, it must be equally permissible to make use of the made means in order to impel others to action. Indeed, when used under due conditions, that is “in truth, in justice, and in judgment”, adjuration is a positive act of religion, for it presupposes on the part of the speaker faith in God and his superintending Providence, as well as an acknowledgment that He is to be reckoned with in the manifold affairs of life. What more beautiful form of prayer that that of the litany, wherein we beg immunity from evil through the Advent, the Birth, the Fasting, the Cross, the Death and Burial, the Holy Resurrection, and the wonderful Ascension of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity? Christ Himself recommends this form of invocation: “Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, that will I do: that the Father may be Glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). Acting upon this promise, the Church sends all her more solemn prayers with the adjuration: Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum (Through Our Lord Jesus Christ). St. Thomas declares that the words of Christ, “in My name that shall cast out devils” (Mark 16:17) give all believing Christians warrant to adjure the spirit of evil. This, however, must not be done out of mere curiosity, for vainglory, or for any other unworthy motive. According to Acts (xix, 12) St. Paul was successful in casting out wicked spirits, whereas the Jewish exorcists, using magic arts purporting to come from Solomon, “attempted to invoke over them that had evil spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, saying: ‘I conjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches,'” were leaped upon and overcome by those possessed, in such sort that they found it convenient “to flee out of that house, naked and wounded.” In adjuring the demon one may bid him depart in the name of the Lord, or in such other language as faith and piety may suggest; or he may drive him forth by the formal and fixed prayers of the Church. The first manner, which is free to all Christians, is called private adjuration. The second, which is reserved to the ministers of the Church alone, is called solemn. Solemn adjuration, or adjuration properly so called, corresponds to the Greek exorkismos. It properly means an expelling of the evil one. In the Roman Ritual there are many forms of solemn adjuration. These are to be found, notably, in the ceremony of baptism. One is pronounced over the water, another over the salt, while many are pronounced over the child. Manifold and solemn as are the adjurations pronounced over the catechumen in baptism, those uttered over the possessed are more numerous and, if possible, more solemn. This ceremony, with its rubrics, takes up thirty pages of the Roman Ritual. It is, however, but rarely used, and never without the express permission of the bishop, for there is room for no end of deception and hallucination when it is question of dealing with the unseen powers. (See BAPTISM; DEVIL; EXORCISM.)
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BILLUART, Summa Sancti Thomae, V; BALLERINI, Opus Theologicum Morale, IV; LEHMKUHL, Theologia Moralis, I; MARC, Institutiones Morales Alphonsianae, I; LIGUORI, V, 2, appendix.
T.S. DUGGAN
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Adjuration
(the verb is expressed by , alah, in Hiph., to cause to swear, as rendered in 1Ki 8:31; 2Ch 6:22; also , shaba, in Hiph., to make swear, or charge with an oath, as often rendered; Gr. , to bind by oath), a solemn act or appeal, whereby one man, usually a person vested with natural or official authority, imposes upon another the obligation of speaking or acting as if under the solemnity of an oath (1Sa 14:24; Jos 6:26; 1Ki 22:16; 2Ch 18:15). SEE SWEAR.
1. A striking example of this occurs in the N.T., where the high-priest calls upon Christ, in the presence of the Sanhedrim, to avow his character as the Messiah (Mat 26:63; Mar 5:7; see Act 19:13; comp. 1Th 5:27). An oath, although thus imposed upon one without his consent, was not only solemn, but binding in the highest degree; and when connected with a question, an answer appears to have been compulsory, and, if false, chargeable with perjury. Thus our Savior, who had previously disdained or declined to reply to the charges brought against him, now could not avoid an answer. The impropriety, however, of thus extorting truth must be evident; and in the case of Christ it was an outrage against the commonest principle of judicial fairness, by which a prisoner is never to be put in a position to inculpate himself. But the hierarchy, having failed to elicit any reliable evidence that would condemn Jesus, at last resorted to this base method of compelling him to declare his Messiahship, with a view to convict him upon his own testimony. SEE JESUS. 2. The term also occurs (Act 19:13) with reference to the expulsion of daemons. SEE EXORCIST.
3. In the Roman Church, an act by means of which the name of God, or some other holy thing, is made use of, in order to induce any one to do what is required of him. An adjuration is said to be express when the majesty of God, or any one of his attributes, is interposed for the purpose, as adjuro to per Deum vivum; implicit, when not the majesty of God, but any one of his more marked productions is made use of, as adjuro to per Evangelium Christi. SEE OATH.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Adjuration
a solemn appeal whereby one person imposes on another the obligation of speaking or acting as if under an oath (1 Sam. 14:24; Josh. 6:26; 1 Kings 22:16).
We have in the New Testament a striking example of this (Matt. 26:63; Mark 5:7), where the high priest calls upon Christ to avow his true character. It would See m that in such a case the person so adjured could not refuse to give an answer.
The word “adjure”, i.e., cause to swear is used with reference to the casting out of demons (Acts 19:13).
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Adjuration
The judge, king, or high priest with official authority putting one on his solemn oath; entailing the obligation of witnessing (Lev 5:1). So Saul adjured the people not to eat until evening (1Sa 14:24-28). And Ahab adjured Micaiah to tell the truth, which elicited from him the real result of the approaching battle, after a previous ironical reply. Compare Son 2:7 margin; Mar 5:7; Act 19:13; 1Th 5:27 margin.
Paul “adjuring” the Thessalonians “by the Lord that the epistle might be read to all the holy brethren.” Jesus, who, as the meek “Lamb dumb before His shearers,” would not reply to false charges, when “adjured (exorkizo se) by the living God,” by the high priest, to tell the truth whether He be the Christ the Son of God, witnessed the truth concerning His Messiahship and His future advent in glory as the Son of man, which immediately brought on Him sentence of death. We Christians can so far join with the high priest’s reply, “What further need have we of witnesses?” (Mat 26:63-65.) Christ’s own witness alone is enough to assure us of His Godhead, the truth which He sealed with His blood.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Adjuration
ad-ju-rashun: The act of requiring or taking a solemn oath. In a time of military peril Saul adjured the people (, ‘alah, to take oath) and they took oath by saying Amen (1Sa 14:24). When Joshua pronounced a ban on Jericho (Jos 6:26) he completed it with an oath (, shabha, to cause to swear). Often used in the sense of a solemn charge without the administration of an oath (1Ki 22:16; 2Ch 18:15; Son 2:7; Son 5:8, Son 5:9; 1Th 5:27). With reference to the withholding of testimony, see Lev 5:1 and Pro 29:24. The high priest sought to put Jesus under oath (, exorkzo, to force to an oath, Mat 26:63). Adjure also means to solemnly implore (, horkzo) as when the man with an unclean spirit appealed to Jesus: I adjure thee by God, torment me not (Mar 5:7); or seven sons of Sceva, exorcists, sought in the name of Jesus to expel demons (Act 19:13).
(1) The exacting of an oath has, from time immemorial, been a customary procedure in conferring civil and ecclesiastical office and in taking legal testimony. Though often allowed to become painfully trivial and a travesty on its inherent solemnity, the taking of an official oath or the swearing of witnesses is still considered essential to the moral integrity of government, secular or spiritual. False sweating, under solemn oath, constitutes the guilt and heinousness of perjury. The universality of oath-taking is humanity’s tribute, whether pagan or Christian, to the sacredness of truth.
(2) Civilized nations administer oaths under three heads: political, ecclesiastical, legal. The sovereign of England receives the crown only as he or she responds affirmatively to the solemn adjuration of the archbishop or bishop: Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern, etc., closing with the affirmation, So help me God. A fundamental conviction of civilized nations was expressed by Lycurgus: An oath is the bond that keeps the state together. It is the most solemn appeal to the inviolability of the human conscience, and the sacredness of a vow as witnessed both by God and men. See also OATH.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Adjuration
This is a solemn act or appeal, whereby one man, usually a person vested with natural or official authority, imposes upon another the obligation of speaking or acting as if under the solemnity of an oath. We have an example of this in the New Testament, when the high-priest thus calls upon Christ, ‘I adjure thee by the living God, tell us’etc.(Mat 26:63; see also Mar 5:7; Act 19:13; 1Th 5:27). An oath, although thus imposed upon one without his consent, was not only binding, but solemn in the highest degree; and when connected with a question, an answer was compulsory, which answer being as upon oath, any falsehood in it would be perjury. Thus our Savior, who had previously disdained to reply to the charges brought against him, now felt himself bound to answer the question put to him.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Adjuration
A solemn charge by one in authority to another to speak the truth under the obligation of an oath, as when Ahab adjured Micaiah, 1Ki 22:16, and when the high priest adjured our Lord. Mat 26:63. Also binding a person under a curse to do or not to do the thing enjoined, as in Jos 6:26; 1Sa 14:24: cf. also Mar 5:7; Act 19:13. Also a ‘solemn charge,’ as in 1Th 5:27, in the margin.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
ADJURATION
examples of
Jos 6:26; 1Sa 14:24; 1Ki 22:16; Mat 26:63; Mar 5:7; Act 19:13