Is it okay to go to church with your period?

"Is it okay or not to go to church with your period?" - an important question that does not have a clear answer. He has both ardent supporters defending church-historical rules and concepts, and active opponents defending female powerlessness in front of the natural processes of the body. Both are right, but what should a woman do at this time?

Old Testament Prohibition

The history of questions and answers on church attendance on critical days dates back to ancient times - the Old Testament era. This Holy Scripture united in itself two religions - Christianity and Judaism, and was a kind of constitution of the Christian belief.

The Old Testament singled out a certain group of "unclean" people who did not have the right to receive communion, confess, pray within the walls of a holy place, that is, they were strictly prohibited from entering the temple. The category of "unclean" included:

• lepers people;
• people with purulent-inflammatory infections in the body;
• men during ejaculation and with prostate dysfunction;
• people who touched the corpse, thereby defiling themselves;
• women during vaginal bleeding (menstruation, postpartum suckers, and the like);
• men and women with any kind of bleeding.

Why can't women go to the temple on critical days, when menstruation is considered a natural process that is directly involved in childbirth? The answer of the church is this: menstruation is the rejection by the female body of human life, which could have arisen and developed in her womb. The "uncleanness" of people in the Old Testament is associated with death. That is, roughly speaking, the main purpose of a woman is to give birth to descendants. She must be in a constantly pregnant state, since menstruation is the death of an unborn embryo and, accordingly, a sin. The answer is unfair, but it is a fact.

This attitude of the church towards women is somewhat reminiscent of discrimination. Sexual oppression is observed even in the time allotted for cleansing after childbirth: if a boy was born - 40 days, if a girl - 80. At this time, a woman should sit at home and wait for the days strictly allotted by the church for bleeding to end.

The exception was considered seriously ill and dying women - faith turned a blind eye to their menstrual flow.

New Testament Prohibition Adjustment

During the domination of the New Testament, the understanding of a person's church affiliation changed and the list of the "unclean" was revised. The church began to treat women more leniently, and the topic of menstruation could only be considered from the point of view of hygiene.

After Jesus Christ accepted death, thereby taking upon himself all the sins committed by man, and returned to life (resurrected), his understanding of divine belonging became different - the physical body is nothing in comparison with the spiritual strength of a person striving for union with God ... That is, religion does not look at how a person looks and what state his body is in now. For religion, one important concept remains - the soul. Thus, a woman's menstruation is not a prohibitive reason to visit the temple.

The Church did not forbid a woman to go to church on "these" days, to receive communion, to confess, to pray. But she still welcomed the decision of the woman on the days of menstruation to stay at home, and not to go to God's house.

The modern view of the church

The points of view of modern clergy, as in ancient times, do not coincide. Why can you walk? Why can't you walk? When is it allowed and when it is not allowed? The answers to these questions are stuck in time. Some believe that a woman is forbidden to go to church, others are allowed to pray within the walls of the church, to confess, to receive communion, despite the "red" days of the calendar.

Neither one nor the other can convincingly defend their point of view without having any arguments in defense or accusation.

Arguments from supporters of the forbidden ritual

The “defenders” of the prohibition explain why it is impossible to go to church, receive communion and confess on “these” days, relying on the traditions of the Old Testament and the fact that during menstruation, a woman's body is freed from an unfertilized and dead egg. But they cannot answer unequivocally what relation the physiology of processes has to spiritual force.

In their opinion, a woman on critical days within the walls of the temple of God is forbidden absolutely everything: to enter the temple, touch holy icons and books, light candles, receive communion, confess. To desecrate a holy place with any bleeding is a great sin. Even the injured priest is not allowed to enter the church.

Arguments of opponents of the forbidden ritual

On the other side of Orthodox Christianity, the ban on women visiting church on critical days is morally untenable. Even St. John Chrysostom (IV century) considered the propaganda of the "forbidden ritual" superstition and called such behavior of the church unworthy of faith.

It is also worth noting that, according to opponents of the "menstrual taboo", the ban was created in the days of paganism, and this religion has no points of intersection with Orthodoxy and cannot dictate its own rules and laws.

One can unambiguously answer that for God the inner purity of thoughts is more important, and the behavior of the body is secondary. If a woman came to God during her period, but at the same time with a pure soul and sincere faith, then no menstrual flow can prevent her from doing so. Man was created by God, and what he consists of is valuable to God. You cannot be ashamed of the menstruation he invented, and even more so to consider them a sin.

If we touch on the aesthetic side, then modern methods of hygiene reliably protect the woman and the premises of the temple from accidental bloodshed. In ancient times, such "incidents" were very much feared, because any bloodshed within the walls of the church was considered a sin, and women did not follow hygiene properly.

What is allowed on critical days?

It is very upsetting that the church does not have common and unified views. If there is one faith - Orthodoxy - then the laws should be the same. Why then there is a dispute on the question "is it possible or impossible to go to the House of God during menstruation, is it possible to receive communion and, if not, why?"

Today, God's house is open to all women, regardless of their personal menstrual calendar. It is believed that for God it is not the physiological manifestations of the body that are important, but spiritual purity and the thoughts with which a woman turns to the saint in confession or prayer.

In most temples, religious women adhere to the laws of critical days and do not visit the holy place until their period is over. For them, it is a tribute to a centuries-old sacred tradition.

So, in our time, there are two completely opposite truths of the same faith: the answer of the first lays a complete taboo on attending church, the opportunity to receive communion and pray to women on critical days; the second answer is that all the prohibitions that apply to women on the days of menstruation are outdated church prejudices. You can visit the temple if your soul and faith require it.