Is it possible to go to church with menstruation

The most frequently asked question by parishioners is whether it is okay to go to church with your period. Many believing Orthodox women are concerned about this issue, they all want to know the origins of the prohibition or restriction on visiting church during menstruation. For a complete understanding of the reasons for this prohibition, it is worth relying on the sacred books.

The roots of the prohibition against entering the church during menstruation date back to the Old Testament. This sacred document contains information about how in what cases should you refrain from visiting a holy place:

• death;
• serious illness;
• "Uncleanness" of women or men.

Serbian Patriarch Pavel interprets the appearance of a woman in a state of "impurity" in a church in two ways. In his opinion, if a woman decides to go to church during menstrual flow in order to kiss icons, to pray, to participate in chants, then this is permissible. In this case, a woman must observe hygiene procedures. However, it is unacceptable to be baptized and receive communion at this time.

In the past, due to the lack of reliable hygiene products, it was difficult for a woman to keep her body clean. This is where the concept of female impurity came from. It was believed that on the days of menstruation, a woman commits an outrage at the sacred place where the believer gains eternal life, opposed to spiritual rather than physical dying.

There is an opinion about the presence of menstruation in the fairer sex, as a punishment for the fall of the ancestor of the people Eve. Many people know that ministers of the church strive to protect both the temple and the believers from sinful deadly things.

But this point of view, described in the legendary book, has a different interpretation. The painful process of childbirth is considered punishment, and the onset of menstruation is a sign of the continuation of the human race.

Accordingly, the Holy Book ambiguously interprets the question of attending church on the days of menstruation.

New Testament

The New Testament contains the saying of the Apostle Paul about the perfection of everything that God created. The processes occurring in the human body are of a natural nature. Menstrual flow is a necessary part of the female body. Their significance is vitally important, therefore, it is unreasonable to consider menstruation as something desecrating the shrine of the temple.

Saint George Dvoeslov adhered to a similar opinion. He was convinced that a woman should not be prohibited from attending church during critical days, because Mother Nature made her so. The fundamental value is the soul, the state of mind.

Church orders

After all that has been said, one can expect a different reaction of the clergyman to the question of whether it is possible to go to church with menstruation. The Bible does not contain explicit prohibitions or specific permission for such a phenomenon.

Accordingly, the decision will depend on the will and principles of the priest.

Is it possible to go to the service during menstruation? Some ministers of the church may allow a woman to enter the temple, provided that they do not touch the icons and do not light candles. In this case, the woman is allowed to pray, and all that remains is to leave the walls of the temple.

It also happens that the holy father is unable to refuse a person. Suppose a woman exhausted by a serious illness with uterine bleeding is on the verge of life and death and asks for confession and communion. In such cases, the clergyman has no right to forbid a woman to enter, despite the state of "uncleanness" and goes to meet the parishioners.

The church is very strict about conducting such rituals as:

• baptism;
• wedding;
• communion.

During the ceremony, the believer is sanctified himself, absorbs the Blood and Body of Christ, and merges with His blood. For this reason, on such days, one should be sensitive to oneself, not to allow the desecration of the holy thing in oneself. Therefore, the outflow of blood, which contains the Blood of Christ, has a sinful principle.

For the same reasons, people with bleeding wounds are not admitted to the Holy Sacraments. On the day of the ceremony, you cannot brush your teeth, eat food with bones, husks in order to avoid spitting out.

The ministers of the church recommend that the sacrament of baptism of a child be appointed for another time if a woman is in a state of "uncleanness." This also applies to other ceremonies.

Now it becomes clear the main reason why a woman is not allowed to enter the temple on the indicated days, so as not to encroach on the purity of God's holy place. This prohibition is advisory in nature and is not punished in any way.

However, being a supporter of the idea that a woman was created by such a God and all natural processes in her body should be accepted by the church as a given, the believer should remember that it is advisable to leave biological needs and outflows outside the walls of the holy temple.

A woman during her period can pray, but she will show great reverence, respect for the shrine of the temple, piety, if she refrains from going to church on critical days and performing rituals.

Opinion of the priests

So can you go to church during your period? As you can see, priests have different points of view on a woman's visit to the temple during her period. It happens that in one parish women are allowed to participate in divine services, in another they are categorically not.

According to Scripture, for God, the purity of a person's thoughts is paramount, not his body. Therefore, if a woman observes the main commandments, her stay in the temple during the specified period is not blasphemy. It is also not sinful to go to church after childbirth, because everything created by God is holy.

Nowadays, baptism has become a practice immediately after leaving the maternity hospital and directly within the walls of the church, therefore, the ministers of the church do not worry about touching the "uncleanness" of a woman after childbirth.

Truly religious and devout women during menstruation or in the postpartum period try not to take part in religious rituals in which it is necessary to touch shrines. For such women, to participate in regular services, they should act according to the views of the priest, having previously talked with him.

And women who occasionally appear in the church for divine services on Easter or Christmas and do not take the Divine Sacraments seriously, as well as the requirements of the church, should not worry about this. They can visit the church at any time that suits them.