ACCIDIA. — (From Gk. ἀκήδεια = carelessness, from privative α- and κήδημα). Commonly, the term a. is used to indicate that vice by which one neglects to perform good deeds; thus a. is properly “weariness or tedium of the good” and “negligence regarding things of God and the soul.” It is therefore opposed to zeal and especially to spiritual alacrity, though it also denotes an inert indifference and negation of any ideal, for which it is commonly called sloth.
For spiritual writers, a. has the sense of “discouragement of a soul that believes itself incapable of overcoming certain difficulties,” and thus becomes a cause of sadness and despondency. Theologians consider it under two aspects: as a passion and as a vice or sin. a) As a passion, it is a manifestation of sadness and despondency in the face of the effort required in any kind of activity. This passion does not constitute merely an individual malaise but is common to all, as an inclination toward rest and inertia that seeks to dissuade man from exerting himself to practice this or that virtue. Even as a passion, however, a. almost always assumes an individual character, so that it manifests itself in countless gradations. b) As fault or sin, it is not merely a passion seated in the sensitive appetite but also an effect of the will itself, which, however, is ordinarily seconded by some sensitive passion. In this sense, St. Thomas (Sum. Theol. 2ª, q. 35, a. 1) defines a. as a distaste for spiritual good insofar as it is divine good; that is, a sadness that arises in us from having to put into practice what pertains to the service of God. Thus a. comes to be one of the seven capital vices (the seventh), which opposes charity toward God.
This vice can be considered: 1st, in general with respect to the practice of every virtue, and it is a slackening of spirit, a weariness, a torpor that leads to negligence in the exercise of individual virtues, each of which necessarily entails some toil; 2nd, in particular, with respect to spiritual goods, and then it is a tedium of divine friendship and grace. Under the first
Acclamations were also made in the ceremony of the triumph (io triumphe!) and at weddings (thalassio! io hymen, hymenaee!). Among the pagans (and also the Hebrews and Christians), the frequent acclamation per omnia saecula! εἰς αἰῶνας! and nana! signified praise, honor, among the followers of Mithras.
Acclamations were also directed to deities to exult in their greatness (μεγάς δέος!) or uniqueness (εἰς δέος, εἰς Ζεὺς Σάραπις!). This last demonstrates the syncretism at work during the imperial period.
2. IN CHRISTIAN RELIGION
The use of acclamations also passed among Christians, who employed them anciently in public and solemn circumstances: in the election of bishops, to express the approval or disapproval of the assembled people; in councils, as can be seen from the acts of that of Chalcedon; in the consecration of kings and emperors in the form of litanic prayer, of wishes, of praise, such as vivat rex in aeternum, Deus illum adiuvet, Christus vincit fortitudo nostra, etc.; and finally very often in sacred liturgy, both to pray and to glorify God. The use is still alive today, especially in the Eastern Churches; in the West, acclamatory forms remain in the litanies and in many responses of the Mass. A characteristic example is found in the election of the successor of St. Augustine: “The people acclaimed: Deo gratias, Christo laudes; this was said twenty-three times. Exaudi Christe, Augustino vita; this was said sixteen times. Te patrem, te episcopum; this was said twenty times; bene meritus, bene dignus; this was said five times. Dignus est; this was said six times, etc.” (PL, 33, cols. 666).In private life, acclamations were equally often used, and many examples remain in early Christian epigraphy. Since the inscriptions are generally funerary, the great majority of acclamations are of an augural nature, praying for the dead for peace, life, eternal happiness: in pace, in refrigerium vivas, in Deo, cum bonis, dormi in pace, etc. At other times, prayers are requested for the survivors: roga, pete pro nobis, pax tibi qui legis, pax omnibus fratribus, in mente nos habete, memento tuorum, etc.; sometimes even phrases with which pagans greeted their dead were used, but certainly in a different sense: χαῖρε “farewell,” ave, vale “be of good cheer,” εὐθύχει, εὐφρονεῖ, εὐμωλεῖ, μὴ λυποῦ· οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος “do not grieve; no one is immortal,” δάσσει “take courage.” Closely akin to these are the many formulas of anathema and imprecation that recur in the clauses of inscriptions against violators of tombs: anathema sit, anathema habeat, reddat rationem Deo, male pereat, insepultus iaceat, non resurgat, cum Iuda partem habeat, may he be struck by the anathema of the 318 Fathers (of Nicaea).
Frequent acclamations with quite different meanings occur inscribed on objects of private use, mostly small or precious, such as rings, gems, seals, buckles, devotional medals, reliquaries, discs, plates, glasses, and the like: spes in Deo, vivas cum tuis, in Deo, utere felix, in Deo vita, λύδος (q.v.), Emmanuel, si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos, Deo gratias, and the cryptic form XMΓ. Special mention should be made of the acclamations written at the bottom of convivial glasses: pie zeses (drink and live), vivas cum tuis feliciter and the like, which, since such objects often served for the celebration of the refrigerium for the dead, frequently allude to eternal refreshment. Another numerous and singular class is that of exorcistic acclamations and adjurations, mostly of a superstitious character, directed against demons, personal enemies, all kinds of evils, and especially
Accidia — An illustration of a. in a Genoese miniature of the 14th century. Berlin, Coll. Ball-Grappe.
The aspect of a. can be a mortal or venial sin, according as through it a precept is violated that is gravely or lightly obligatory; under the second aspect, if it is voluntary, it is always a mortal sin, because it gravely repugns charity toward God.