IDOLOTITO. - Meat sacrificed to idols (biblical noun εἰδικόθυτος, synonymous with ἱερόθυτον)
IDOLATRIA - Clovis points out to Christ the pagan idols he has had destroyed and St. Remigius baptizes his companions. Work by Jacopino del Conte (1510-98) - Rome, Church of S. Luigi dei Francesi.
of the Greeks), which was either consumed by the offering worshipper within the sacred precinct, or taken to the market for sale.
Already Ex. 34, 15 prohibited eating meats sacrificed to idols, so as not to incur the "unfaithfulness" (zānāh) of idolatry (cf. Apoc. 2, 14, 20); a supposed relationship was established between the idol and the one who ate i. (cf. Ex. 23, 32). According to IV Mach. 4, 26 and 5, 2, the consumption of i. is practically an abjuration of religion. The rabbis would prohibit their sale (even to pagans) and any use or profit derived from them. At the Council of Jerusalem (Act. 15, 21, 23, 29; 21, 25) the Gentile-Christians of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia were enjoined to abstain from i., out of regard for the Jewish-Christians.
In I Cor. 8, 1-11, 1 St. Paul poses and resolves the moral case: the faithful are frequently invited to meals by pagans; how must they conduct themselves when idolothytes are served at the table? Controversy was raging in Corinth: "the strong," through a boldness that abused the principle of Christian liberty (10, 2; cf. 6, 2) and the knowledge of the i., rightly understood the eating of them to be a matter indifferent in itself (chapp. 1-3): and, at the cost of scandalizing "the weak," they even attended sacred banquets (8, 10). "The weak," on the contrary, attributed a certain cursed reality to the idol (10, 19) and went so far as to exclude even that use of the i. which lay outside any cultic act. They lacked (fortunately not many: 8, 7) a strong and enlightened faith that would preserve them from scandal and sin. St. Paul recalls "the strong" to charity, which avoids the scandal of "the weak" (8, 1-13); but he condemns the use of i. when it forms part of an idolatrous ceremony, bringing those who eat i. into relation with demons, because of the meaning then attributed to the act of eating i. (10, 14-22). To this the Apostle adds practical casuistry (10, 25 ff. 27.28), not without first having followed up his appeal to "the strong" with a confirmation drawn from his own example and from the history of ancient Israel (9, 1-10, 13).