Who can exercize/apply the ROCOR anathema? Can anyone who wants to use it against anyone else? Is the anathema a guideline or rule or law, which would necessitate further steps for a condemnation (e.g., an ecclesiastical trial), or is it a pronouncement that automatically condemns anyone who is deemed to violate it (ie. any Orthodox Christian can use the anathema to condemn someone or some group)?
I had a talk with my spiritual father yesterday, and to sum up some of what he said: 1) for the anathema to be used, there must be a trial, evidence, a conviction, excommunication, etc.; the anathema is like a canon of the Church: it cannot just be applied by anyone automatically to condemn another; 2) the ROCOR bishops/synod issued the anathema, and they alone hold the power to try someone based on the canon; it was a local pronouncement, effecting ROCOR, and only the ROCOR bishops can exercize the power of the canon when they deem it necessary to do so; 3) the anathema speaks only of those within ROCOR, and does not speak to those outside of ROCOR; this is not to say that we cannot call heresy heresy, or that we cannot point out errors in others; what it does mean, according to my spiritual father, is that we can't use the anathema to beat other jurisdictions over the head; it was issued as a local canons (e.g., by a local council), and that's who it effects: many then, and now, question whether a local council should pass such a pronouncement at all. My spiritual father, for his part, affirms the meaning/content of the anathema, but sees the sectarians who flail it around like a club (my words, not his) just as dangerous as the ecumenists to whom it originally addressed (but again, any ecumenists that might be within the Church abroad). And again, this is not to say that we must keep our mouths shut about things happening outside of ROCOR, but only that we cannot use the anathema to condemn others--especially we layman, since it's not for us to choose how we want to use the canons anyway.
Whatever I might have said that is in error is my fault, and I am sure I am departing from what my spiritual father intended. For whatever I say that is wrong, I hope the Lord will forgive me.
An extra note: this idea expressed above does not line up with every canon, every saint, and every tradition in the Church. No position does. Different times called for different reactions, and just like the Protestants can pick out verses to support their doctrines, so can all of us Orthodox, unfortunately, pick out examples and canons and saints from history that support our side and seem to knock down the other.
I'm also a bit confused why everyone is trying to tie everything into this anathema. The past week has been the first time (that I can recall) that people have tried to tie the monophysites and communing Catholics in with the anathema. These things (communion with these groups) are obviously wrong, and being under the ROCOR anathema is no more damning (literally) than violating any of the other canons (some of which OOD brought up). It seems to me that people are trying to make the anathema into an infallible sword with which any faithful traditionalist soldier--from the newest layman to the oldest bishop--can wield in battle against there heretics. It is not.
But I find it worthy of tears when I see people grabbing at anything to save themselves from the turmoil of what should be an obvious conclusion.