From G1909 (epi, upon) and G4750 (stoma, mouth). To put something over the mouth β to muzzle, gag, or silence. Used only in Titus 1:11, where Paul demands that false teachers be silenced.
Paul tells Titus that false teachers 'must be silenced (epistomizo)' because they 'subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake' (Titus 1:11). The word is visceral β it means to muzzle, to forcibly close the mouth. The theological urgency: false teaching is not a mere intellectual error to be debated indefinitely. When doctrine subverts households and destroys faith, the response must be decisive. The church has both the right and the obligation to silence destructive teaching. This is not censorship but pastoral protection β the shepherd's duty to protect the flock from wolves.