Almost every woman knows that during menstruation one should not come to a sacred place - this strict rule is passed down from generation to generation, from mouth to mouth. Some strictly observe this prohibition, while others are indignant and express their indignation, reflecting on why such a church law was formed.
About the author About the book
Still others, without taking this into account, visit the temple regardless of the condition of their body. So is it permissible to visit a sacred place during menstrual flow? Where did this rule come from and why? We will try to figure this out.
Where do the roots of the ban come from? We look for the answer in the Old Testament
The church vestibule is located in the western part of the temple; it is a corridor between the temple entrance and the courtyard. The narthex has long served as a hearing place for unbaptized people, catechumens, and those who were prohibited from entering the temple for a certain time.
Is there anything offensive for a Christian to be outside of church service, participation in confession, and communion for a while?
Menstrual days are not a disease or a sin, but a natural state of a healthy woman, emphasizing her ability to give children to the world.
Why then does the question arise: is it possible to confess during menstruation?
The Old Testament places a lot of emphasis on the concept of purity in coming before God.
Impurities included:
- diseases in the form of leprosy, scabies, ulcers;
- all sorts of discharges in both women and men;
- touching a dead body.
The Jews were not a single people before leaving Egypt. In addition to worshiping the One God, they borrowed a lot from pagan cultures.
Judaism believed that uncleanness, a dead body, were one concept. Death is the punishment for Adam and Eve for disobedience.
About women:
- Holy women equal to the apostles in Orthodoxy
- Apostle Paul about love and women
- Can women wear trousers to church?
God created a man and his wife perfect in beauty and health. Human death is associated with a reminder of sinfulness. God is Life, everything unclean has no right to even touch Him.
Confirmation of this can be found in the Old Testament. The book of Leviticus, chapter 15 clearly states that “not only wives are considered unclean during the flow of blood, but every person who touches them.”
For reference! During menstruation, it was forbidden not only in the temple, but also in ordinary life, communication, personal touch between any person and an “unclean” woman. This rule applied to the husband, prohibiting all sexual activities during menstruation.
When a child is born, blood is also released, so a woman has a cleansing period for 40 days after giving birth.
Pagan priestesses were absent from rituals due to weakness; in their opinion, magical power disappeared with blood.
The era of Christianity made its own amendments in this matter.
What is the Sacrament of Baptism
Baptism is the very first and most important event in the life of Christians. Only after this ritual does a person become a member of the church and can participate in other sacraments.
The ritual is accompanied by the reading of prayers. The baptized person is dipped in water or sprinkled with it. Water is a symbol of purity, which helps to wash away all dirt and cleanse on a moral level.
During the ceremony, the child is immersed in a font
The main symbols of the ritual and the history of its appearance are presented in the table.
| Story | The ritual was first performed by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Then Jesus Christ received baptism from him. In modern realities, the ceremony is performed by a trained clergyman. |
| Symbolism | Anointing followed by immersion in water is aimed at cleansing the body and soul. The cross symbolizes salvation and patience. After the ceremony, the baptized person puts on clean robes, which symbolize purity, both spiritual and physical. A tonsure is also performed, which demonstrates the baptized person's devotion to the will of God. |
Up to 7 years of age, the need for baptism is determined by the parents. Upon reaching this age, the child’s consent must be asked. This is necessary so as not to violate the individual’s right to freedom of choice of religion.
After 14 years of age, there is no need for the presence of parents during the ritual. It is enough to simply invite witnesses.
The New Testament—A New View of Purity
The coming of Jesus radically changes the concept of sacrifice for sin and the importance of purity.
Christ clearly says that He is Life (John 14:5-6), the past has all passed away.
The Savior Himself touches the young man’s deathbed, resurrecting the widow’s son. (Luke 7:11-13)
The woman, suffering from bleeding for 12 years, knowing about the prohibition of the Old Testament, herself touched the hem of His garment. At the same time, many people touched her, because there were always many people around Christ.
Jesus immediately felt the healing power come out of him, called the once sick woman, but did not throw stones at her, but told her to act more boldly.
(Matthew 9:20-21)
Important! Nowhere in the New Testament is it written about the uncleanness of bleeding.
The Apostle Paul, sending a letter to the Romans, chapter 14, says that he himself does not have anything unclean. People invent “uncleanliness” for themselves and then believe in it.
First Epistle to Timothy, chapter 4, the apostle writes that everything must be accepted, giving thanks to God, who created everything well.
Menstruation is a process created by God; it cannot be considered unclean, much less separate someone from the protection and grace of God.
In the New Testament, the apostles, speaking about uncleanness, mean eating foods prohibited by the Torah, which is unacceptable for Jews. Pork was considered an unclean food.
The first Christian women also faced the problem of whether it was possible to receive communion during menstruation; they had to make the decision themselves. Someone, following traditions and canons, did not touch anything sacred. Others believed that nothing could separate them from God's love except sin.
Many believing virgins confessed and received communion during menstruation, finding no prohibition in the words and sermons of Jesus.
The attitude of the Orthodox Church to:
- Telegony
- Suicides
- Identification numbers
Individual approach
Many priests still adhere to Old Testament views on female impurity. They recommend either not visiting the temple at all during menstruation, or limiting yourself to attending the service, but not venerating shrines, and therefore not taking part in the Sacraments. Therefore, before you begin to prepare for the Baptism of a child, it is advisable to ask the clergyman who will perform it exactly how he views this issue. A priest who adheres to old views, without hearing such a question, may become embarrassed during the celebration of the Sacrament, which is undesirable.
Baptism items should be prepared by the godmother
If during Baptism, instead of praying with all his soul for the baby, his parents and his adoptive parents, he is tormented by the question of whether one of the women present is “unclean,” this will have a bad effect on the entire Sacrament.
The attitude of the early church and the holy fathers of that time to the issue of menstruation
With the advent of the new belief, there were no clear concepts either in Christianity or in Judaism. The apostles separated themselves from the teachings of Moses, without denying the inspiration of the Old Testament. At the same time, ritual impurity was practically not an object of discussion.
The holy fathers of the early church, such as Methodius of Olympus, Origen, and the Martyr Justin, treated the issue of purity as a concept of sin. Unclean, according to their concepts, means sinful, this applied to women during menstruation.
Origen considered not only menstruation, but also sexual intercourse to be unclean. He ignored Jesus' words that when two people copulate they become one body. (Matthew 19:5). His stoicism and asceticism were not confirmed in the New Testament.
The Antiochian doctrine of the third century put the teachings of the Levites under prohibition. The Didascalia, on the contrary, denounces Christian women who abandoned the Holy Spirit during menstruation, separating the body from church services. The church fathers of that time considered the same bleeding patient to be the basis for their exhortation.
Clementius of Rome gave an answer to the problem - is it possible to go to church during menstruation, arguing that if a person who stops attending the Liturgy or receiving communion has left the Holy Spirit.
A Christian woman who has not crossed the threshold of the temple during menstruation, who has not touched the Bible, can die without the Holy Spirit, and what then? Saint Clement in the “Apostolic Constitutions” argued that neither the birth of a child, nor critical days, nor wet dreams defile a person and cannot separate him from the Holy Spirit.
Important! Clementius of Rome condemned Christian women for empty speech, but considered childbirth, bleeding, and bodily defects to be natural things. He called prohibitions the invention of stupid people.
Saint Gregory the Dvoeslov also stood on the side of women, arguing that natural, God-created processes in the human body cannot become the reason for the ban on attending church services, confessing, or receiving communion.
Further, the issue of female impurity during menstruation was raised at the Gangra Council. The priests meeting in 341 condemned the Eustathians, who considered not only menstruation unclean, but also sexual intercourse, forbidding priests to marry. In their false teaching, the difference between the sexes was destroyed, or rather, a woman was equal to a man in clothing and behavior. The fathers of the Gangra Council condemned the Eustathian movement, defending the femininity of Christian women, recognizing all processes in their body as natural, created by God.
In the sixth century, Gregory the Great, the Pope of Rome, took the side of the faithful parishioners.
The Pope wrote to St. Augustine of Canterbury, who raised the issue of menstrual days and impurity, that Christian women are not to blame for these days; she should not be prohibited from confessing or receiving communion.
Important! According to Gregory the Great, women who abstain from Communion out of reverence are worthy of praise, but those who accepted it during menstruation out of great love for Christ are not condemned.
The teachings of Gregory the Great lasted until the seventeenth century, when Christian women were again prohibited from entering the church while menstruating.
Mood
There is another aspect to the problem. On such a holiday, as on any memorable day, you want nothing to distract from what is happening, so that nothing spoils pleasant, joyful memories. It is unlikely that a woman during menstruation can easily avoid the feeling of discomfort. In summer, despite the fact that hygiene products are used, there is a high risk of staining the floor in the temple. This will inevitably create unnecessary anxiety on the part of the future godmother or mother, which will also adversely affect prayer and mood.
Russian Church of the early period
The Russian Orthodox Church has always been characterized by strict laws regarding women's critical days and all types of discharges. The question is not even raised here: is it possible to go to church while menstruating? The answer is clear and not subject to discussion - no!
Moreover, according to Nifont of Novgorod, if labor begins right in the church and a child is born there, then the entire church is considered desecrated. It is sealed for 3 days and reconsecrated by reading a special prayer, which can be found by reading the “Question of Kirik.”
All those present in the temple were considered unclean and could leave it only after the cleansing prayer of the Trebnik.
If a Christian came to church “clean”, and then had bleeding, she urgently had to leave the church, otherwise she would face a six-month penance.
The cleansing prayers of the Trebnik are still read in churches immediately after the birth of a baby.
This issue causes a lot of controversy. The problem of touching an “unclean” woman in pre-Christian times is understandable. Why today, when a child is born in a sacred marriage and is a gift from God, his birth makes the mother and everyone who touches her defiled?
Is it possible or not to go to church on critical days: what to do in the end
Women can enter the church any day. Considering the opinion of the majority of church ministers, women can attend church on critical days. However, during this period it would be preferable to refuse to perform such sacred rites as weddings and baptisms. If possible, it is better not to touch icons, crosses and other shrines. Such a ban is not strict and should not hurt women’s pride.
The Church calls on women to refuse Communion on such days, with the exception of long-term and serious illnesses.
Now you can often hear from priests that there is no need to pay special attention to the natural processes of the body, because only sin defiles a person.
The physiological process of menstruation, bestowed by God and nature, should not interfere with faith and excommunicate a woman from the church, even temporarily. It is not right to expel a woman from the temple just because she is going through a monthly physiological process from which she herself suffers regardless of her will.
Real obstacles
When preparing to become a godmother, you need to pay all attention not to bodily purity, but to the purification of the soul. Cleanliness of the body is important, but far from paramount.
The sacrament of baptism: features of the ritual, signs and warnings
Only sin makes a woman bad. It is more important to organize the preparation time in such a way as to avoid, if possible, entertainment, vain thoughts and calculations, empty chatter, and quarrels.
If the future godmother or mother enters the temple before the Sacrament, and their mind is busy counting the guests or the mother-in-law’s new skirt, this will have a much worse effect on Baptism than the female impurity of one of those present.
Therefore, it is good if it is possible to limit communication and visiting public places for at least one or two days. It is best to stay at home and read the Gospel, prepare for confession, and carefully examine yourself from the inside. leave a comment
Patriarch of Serbia Paul on female impurity
Patriarch Paul, reflecting on female impurity, talked about Dionysius of Alexandria, who argued that a woman does not have the right to receive communion or touch the holy relics of the Savior, but is always obliged to pray and be baptized.
According to Dionysius, a woman does not have the right to confession until she is completely cleansed. There is also an opinion that you cannot enter the temple for exactly 40 days from the moment of childbirth or miscarriage.
But Father Pavel’s personal answer was different. It draws on the parable of the bleeding woman. If the Savior himself did not consider women with blood unclean, then why should there be prohibitions in our time,” the father reasoned.
Useful tips
Becoming a godmother, a woman takes on enormous responsibility. From that moment on, she is responsible before God for the innocent soul. She needs to protect the baby from sins and instruct him on the spiritual path. Therefore, it is necessary to consult with a clergyman before accepting a proposal from the child’s parents.
Recommendations from priests:
- A woman needs to know exactly when the “holidays” begin. This is necessary so as not to set the date of baptism at this time.
- Talk in advance with the clergyman who will perform the christening. In some cases, he allows a woman to be present in church even during the period of monthly purification.
- If menstruation began earlier than expected, do not hide this fact.
Current situation
First:
The hygiene revolution took over; in the past centuries there were neither showers nor underwear.
Bloody meths have no place in the temple. Plus, excuse me, the smell. In the fourth century, Rev. Macarius of Egypt translated the words of the prophet Isaiah as follows : “And all your righteousness is like the rags of a woman in her menses.”
With the advent of hygiene products, women now have no reason to worry that something might leak out of them when entering a temple.
Now in the New Testament Church animal sacrifices are not performed, but the bloodless sacrifice of the Eucharist is performed. Therefore, the shedding of any blood in churches is also prohibited. If, for example, a person has a nosebleed, then he must leave the temple until the bleeding stops. It’s the same with a priest, if the priest cuts himself in the altar or his nose starts bleeding, he must stop the bleeding and then continue the service.
Second:
As for "Uncleanness".
If in the Old Testament, during female uncleanness, every woman was considered to be in uncleanness and the entrance to the temple was closed. These were special restrictions of God to the Old Testament people in order to educate the people and keep them within moral boundaries, teaching people like children through physical laws the spiritual laws of morality and purity.
Then in the New Testament, God gives man the perfect law of Love, abolishing the ancient rules.
What God has cleansed, do not consider unclean, said the Lord to the Apostle Peter (Acts 10.15)
