Is it possible to take communion on critical days. About the so-called female impurity

Oh, how many times a day a priest serving in a church has to deal with this topic!.. The parishioners are afraid to enter the church, venerate the cross, they call in a panic: “What to do, I was getting ready, I was getting ready for the feast to take communion, and now…”

On many Internet forums, women's bewildered questions to clergymen have been published, on what theological basis, in crucial periods of their lives, they are excommunicated from communion, and often even simply from going to Church. There is a lot of controversy on this issue. Times change, attitudes change.

It seems, how can the natural processes of the body separate from God? And the educated girls and women themselves understand this, but there are church canons who forbid visiting the temple on certain days…

How to solve this issue? There is no definitive answer. The origin of the prohibitions on “impurity” after expiration lies in the Old Testament era, but in Orthodoxy no one introduced these prohibitions - they simply were not canceled. Moreover, they found their confirmation in the canons of the Orthodox Church, although no one gave a theological explanation and justification.

Menstruation is the cleansing of the uterus from dead tissue, the cleansing of the uterus for a new round of waiting, hope for new life, for conception. Every shedding of blood is a ghost of death, for in the blood is life (in Old Testament even more - "the soul of a man is in his blood"). But menstrual blood is doubly death, for it is not only blood, but also dead tissues of the uterus. Freed from them, a woman is cleansed. This is the origin of the concept of impurity in women's periods. It is clear that this is not a personal sin of women, but a sin that lies on all of humanity.

Let's turn to the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, there are many prescriptions regarding the purity and impurity of man. Impurity is, first of all, a dead body, some diseases, discharge from the genital organs of men and women (there are other “unclean” things for a Jew: some food, animals, etc., but the main impurity is exactly what I marked).

Where did these ideas come from among the Jews? It is easiest to draw parallels with pagan cultures, which also had similar injunctions about uncleanness, but the biblical understanding of uncleanness goes much deeper than meets the eye.

Of course, there was the influence of pagan culture, but for a person of the Old Testament Jewish culture, the idea of external impurity was rethought, it symbolized some deep theological truths. Which? In the Old Testament, impurity is associated with the theme of death, which took possession of mankind after the fall of Adam and Eve. It is easy to see that death, and illness, and the outflow of blood and semen as the destruction of the germs of life - all this reminds of human mortality, of some deep damage to human nature.

A person in the moments of manifestation, discovery of this mortality, sinfulness - must tactfully stand aside from God, Who is Life Itself!

This is how the Old Testament treated “impurity” of this kind.

Christianity, in connection with its doctrine of victory over death and the rejection of the Old Testament man, also rejects the Old Testament doctrine of impurity. Christ declares all these prescriptions to be human. The past has passed, now everyone who is with Him, if he dies, will come to life, all the more impurity does not make sense. Christ is the incarnate Life Itself (John 14:6).

The Savior touches the dead - let us remember how He touched the bed on which they carried the son of the widow of Nain to be buried; how He allowed Himself to be touched by a bleeding woman ... We will not find in the New Testament a moment when Christ observed the prescriptions of purity or impurity. Even when he encounters the embarrassment of a woman who clearly violated the etiquette of ritual impurity and touched Him, He says things to her that contradict conventional wisdom: “Be braver, daughter!” (Matthew 9:22).

The apostles taught the same. " I know and am confident in the Lord Jesus, says St. Paul, that there is nothing unclean in itself; only to him that considers something unclean, to him it is unclean” (Rom. 14:14). He: “For every creation of God is good, and nothing is reprehensible if it is accepted with thanksgiving, because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.» (1 Tim. 4:4).

Here the apostle says about food contamination. The Jews considered a number of products unclean, but the apostle says that everything created by God is holy and pure. But app. Paul does not say anything about the impurity of physiological processes. We do not find specific instructions on whether to consider a woman unclean during menstruation, either from him or from other apostles. In any case, we do not have any information about this, on the contrary, we know that the ancient Christians gathered in their homes every week, even under the threat of death, served the Liturgy and took communion. If there were exceptions to this rule, for example, for women in a certain period, then ancient church monuments would have mentioned this. They don't say anything about it.

But such a question was posed. And in the middle of the III century, the answer to it was given St. Clement of Rome in "Apostolic Ordinances":

« But if anyone observes and performs the Jewish rituals regarding the ejaculation of semen, the flow of semen, lawful intercourse, let them tell us, do they stop praying, or touching the Bible, or partaking of the Eucharist in those hours and days when they are subjected to something like this? If they say that they stop, then it is obvious that they do not have the Holy Spirit in themselves, which always abides with believers ... Indeed, if you, a woman, think that for seven days, when you have your period, you do not have the Holy Spirit; then it follows that if you die suddenly, then you will depart without having the Holy Spirit in yourself and boldness and hope in God. But the Holy Spirit, of course, is inherent in you ... For neither legal copulation, nor childbirth, nor the flow of blood, nor the flow of seed in a dream can defile the nature of a person or separate the Holy Spirit from him, only wickedness and lawless activity are separated from [the Spirit].

So, woman, if you, as you say, do not have the Holy Spirit in you during the days of atonement, then you must be filled with an unclean spirit. For when you don’t pray and don’t read the Bible, you involuntarily call him to you…

Therefore, refrain, woman, from empty speeches and always remember the Creator who created you, and pray to him ... without observing anything - neither natural purification, nor lawful copulation, nor childbirth, nor miscarriages, nor bodily vice. These observations are empty and meaningless inventions of stupid people.

... Marriage is honorable and honorable, and the birth of children is pure ... and natural cleansing is not vile before God, Who wisely arranged for women to have it ... But according to the Gospel, when the bleeding woman touched the saving edge of the Lord's garment in order to recover, the Lord did not reproach her but said: your faith has saved you».

In the 6th century, on the same topic, writes St. Grigory Dvoeslov(It is he who authored the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, which is served on weekdays of Great Lent). He answers a question asked about this to Archbishop Augustine of the Angles, saying that a woman can enter the temple and begin the sacraments at any time - both immediately after the birth of a child and during menstruation:

« A woman should not be forbidden to enter the church during menstruation, because she cannot be blamed for something that is given by nature, and from which a woman suffers against her will. After all, we know that a woman suffering from bleeding came up behind the Lord and touched the edge of His garment, and immediately the illness left her. Why, if she could touch the clothes of the Lord with bleeding and receive healing, a woman during menstruation cannot enter the church of the Lord? ..

It is impossible at such a time to forbid a woman to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion. If she does not dare to accept it out of great reverence, this is commendable, but by accepting it, she will not commit a sin ... And menstruation in women is not sinful, because it comes from their nature ...

Leave women to their own understanding, and if during menstruation they do not dare to approach the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, they should be praised for their piety. If they ... want to receive this Sacrament, we should not, as we said, prevent them from doing so..

That is in the West, and both fathers were Roman bishops, this topic received the most authoritative and final disclosure. Today it would not occur to any Western Christian to ask questions that confuse us, heirs of the Eastern Christian culture. There, a woman can approach the shrine at any time, regardless of any female ailments.

In the East, there was no consensus on this issue.

The Syrian ancient Christian document of the 3rd century (Didaskalia) says that a Christian woman should not observe any days and can always take communion.

St. Dionysius of Alexandria, at the same time, in the middle of the III century, writes another:

“I don’t think that they [that is, women on certain days], if they are faithful and pious, being in such a state, would dare to either proceed to the Holy Meal, or touch the Body and Blood of Christ . For even a woman who had a twelve-year hemorrhage, for the sake of healing, did not touch Him, but only the edges of her clothes. It is not forbidden to pray, no matter in what state and no matter how disposed, to remember the Lord and ask for His help. But to proceed to what is the Holy of Holies, may it be forbidden to not quite pure soul and body».

A hundred years later, on the topic of the natural processes of the body, writes St. Athanasius of Alexandria. He says that all of God's creation is "good and pure." " Tell me, beloved and most reverent, what is sinful or impure in any natural eruption, as, for example, if someone wanted to blame the flow of phlegm from the nostrils and saliva from the mouth? We can say more about the eruptions of the womb, which are necessary for the life of a living being. If, however, according to the Divine Scriptures, we believe that man is the work of God's hands, then how could a bad creation come from pure power? And if we remember that we are the generation of God (Acts 17:28), then we have nothing unclean in ourselves. For only then are we defiled when we commit a sin, the worst of all stench».

According to St. Athanasius, thoughts about the pure and the impure are offered to us by "devilish tricks" in order to distract us from the spiritual life.

And thirty years later, the successor of St. Athanasius in the department St. Timothy of Alexandria spoke differently on the same subject. To the questions whether it is possible to baptize or admit to Communion a woman who “has happened to the usual women”, he answered: “ Must postpone until cleared».

It is this last opinion, with various variations, that prevailed in the East until recently. Only some fathers and canonists were more rigorous - a woman these days should not visit the temple at all, others said that you can pray, you can visit the temple, you can’t just take communion.

If we turn from canonical and patristic monuments to more modern monuments (XVI-XVIII centuries), we will see that they are more favorable to the Old Testament view of tribal life than to the New Testament. For example, in the Great Ribbon we find whole line prayers for deliverance from the filth associated with birth phenomena.

But still - why not? We do not receive a clear answer to this question. As an example, I will cite the words of the great Athos ascetic and erudite of the 18th century teacher Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain. To the question: why not only in the Old Testament, but also according to the words of the Christian holy fathers monthly cleansing of a woman is considered unclean, the reverend replies that there are three reasons for this:

1. Due to popular perception, because all people consider impurity that which is expelled from the body through certain organs as unnecessary or superfluous, such as discharge from the ear, nose, phlegm when coughing, etc.

2. All this is called unclean, for God, through the corporeal, teaches about the spiritual, that is, the moral. If the bodily is unclean, which is outside the will of man, then how unclean are the sins that we commit of our own free will.

3. God calls uncleanness the monthly cleansing of women in order to forbid men to copulate with them ... mainly and mainly because of concern for offspring, children.

This is how a well-known theologian answers this question.

In view of the relevance of this issue, it has been studied by a modern theologian Patriarch Pavle of Serbia About this, he wrote many times a reprinted article with a characteristic title: “Can a woman come to church to pray, kiss icons and take communion when she is “unclean” (during menstruation)”?

His Holiness the Patriarch writes: Monthly cleansing of a woman does not make her ritually, prayerfully unclean. This impurity is only physical, bodily, as well as excretions from other organs. Moreover, since modern hygiene products can effectively prevent the temple from being unclean by accidental bleeding ... we believe that from this side there is no doubt that a woman during the monthly cleansing, with the necessary care and taking hygienic measures, can come to church, kiss icons, take antidor and consecrated water, as well as participate in singing. Communion in this state or unbaptized - to be baptized, she could not. But in a terminal illness, he can take communion and be baptized.”

We see that Patriarch Pavle comes to the conclusion: You can go to church, but you can't take communion.

But it should be noted that in Orthodox Church there is no definition on the account of the women's issue of hygiene adopted at the Council. There are only very authoritative opinions of the holy fathers (we mentioned them (they are Sts. Dionysius, Athanasius and Timothy of Alexandria), included in Book of Rules of the Orthodox Church. The opinions of individual fathers, even very authoritative ones, are not the canons of the Church.

Summing up, I can say that most of the modern Orthodox priests Still, it is not recommended for a woman to take communion during menstruation.

Other priests say that all these are just historical misunderstandings and that one should not pay attention to any natural processes of the body - only sin defiles a person.

Based on the article by priest Konstantin Parkhomenko “On the so-called female “impurity”

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APPENDIX

Can a woman come to church to pray, kiss icons, and take communion when she is “unclean” (during menstruation)? (Patriarch of Serbia Pavle (Stoycevic))

“Even in the 3rd century, a similar question was asked to St. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria (†265), and he replied that he did not think that women in such a state, “if they are faithful and pious, dared either to start the Holy meal, or touch the body and blood of Christ," for, accepting the Holy, you need to be pure in soul and body. At the same time, he gives the example of a bleeding woman who did not dare to touch the body of Christ, but only the hem of His garment (Mt 9:20-22). In a further clarification Saint Dionysius says that praying, in whatever state, is always permitted. A hundred years later, to the question: can a woman who “has happened to the usual wives” take communion, Timothy, also Bishop of Alexandria († 385), answers and says that she cannot, until this period passes and she is cleansed . St. John the Faster (VI century) also adhered to the same point of view, defining penance in case a woman in such a state nevertheless “received the Holy Mysteries”.

All these three answers show, in essence, the same thing, i.e. that women in this state cannot receive communion. The words of St. Dionysius that they then cannot “approach the Holy Meal” actually mean to take communion, because they approached the Holy Meal only for this purpose…”

Answers from Deacon Andrei Kuraev and Father Dmitry Smirnov.

Answer about. Dimitri (Smirnova):

Deacon Andrey Kuraev's answer:

With the advent of menstruation, many women attending the temple are concerned about the question of whether it is possible to take communion during menstruation, get married, baptize children, kiss icons or pray. Due to the absence of a clear answer in the Bible about the possibility of attending church in critical days clerics interpret the postulates based on their own beliefs about women's "impurity" on certain days of the cycle. The Russian Orthodox Church forbade women to visit the temple during menstruation, observe fasts, and pray. However, natural physiological processes in female body- an inevitable phenomenon that does not indicate that the woman has become "unclean." Only committing a sin defiles a person.

What is the reason for the ban on visiting the temple?

In addition to the ban on visiting the temple, the Orthodox Church believed that a woman during menstruation should not:

take communion;
get married;
baptize a child
confess;
touch icons;
be baptized unbaptized;
take antidor (prosphora) and holy water;
participate in singing;

In addition, you cannot enter the temple for 40 days after giving birth.

To explain why you should not go to church during menstruation and a few days after giving birth, you need to turn to the Old Testament. It says that "unclean" is considered a dead body, certain (venereal) diseases, exudates from the genitals of women and men.

The majority of modern priests do not limit the presence of a woman in the temple during critical days. They convince parishioners that the natural processes in the body should not affect their beliefs.

Theories of prohibition

Adherents of "ritual purity" give their reasons why a woman during menstruation is not worthy to visit the temple:

Starting from the Middle Ages and until the 18th century, a woman with menstruation was not allowed to visit shrines. It was also forbidden to enter the temple during menstruation.
Rigid requirements were put forward by the Russian Orthodox Church, starting from the 12th century. Women were forbidden to give birth in the house, so as not to defile living quarters own secretions. For this, a bath was used. The first visitor after childbirth was a priest who read a special prayer, "cleansing" the woman in labor from filth. Within 80 days (at the birth of a girl) and 40 (if a boy was born), the woman in labor had no right to attend church, receive communion, or baptize her children. Only the clergyman could determine how many days the ban would last, and when one could receive communion.
According to the statements of Timothy of Alexandria, the ban on communion was associated with the physical ailment of women during and. At this time, they were supposed to be at home, reading prayers.
According to the Canons of Hippolytus, women in labor and midwives were not allowed to attend church during menstruation and after childbirth. They could only stand at the gate during the service until the term of restriction expired.
The sayings of Dionysius of Alexandria limited stay in the temple on certain days, thereby pointing to the spiritual and bodily "impurity" of women with menstruation. That is why a woman could not be a godmother or confess during menstruation.
The Gospel of James says that the Virgin Mary lived in the temple until she was 12 years old (until the onset of menstruation), so as not to defile the holy place with menstrual blood.
Levitical laws forbade touching a menstruating woman, out of concern for the health of future children, thereby restricting sexual intercourse. According to Moses, Tertullian, Lactantius, Origen, who were the founders of Christian theology, intercourse is justified only for the purpose of conceiving a new life.

Modern look

Today the attitude of the church towards the material world has changed. Each woman decides for herself whether it is possible to pray during menstruation, visit holy places, participate in the sacraments of baptism, weddings.

Modern clergy emphasize that any of God's creation is pure. If a woman feels the need for fellowship with the Lord, no physiological changes in the body should not interfere with this.

Menstrual flow, like any other, does not affect the spiritual purity of a woman. There are many hygiene products with which women can not limit their physical and social activity. Women do not refuse to become a godmother or get married if significant event matches . Sometimes menstruation comes ahead of time or delayed, and it is not always possible to adjust the right moment.

Opponents of the ban for women to attend church when they are menstruating were well-known clergymen of past centuries: John Chrysostom, the Apostle Paul, Gregory the Dialogist, Patriarch Pavel of Serbia and others.

After the Crete Conference in 2000, priests Orthodox churches it was recommended not to forbid, but to welcome the presence of women in the temple, regardless of the critical days. It was also recommended to bring to the attention of parishioners that they can take the sacrament and confess on any day. But not all clergy agreed with this position.

Not every priest will allow a woman “during the bleeding” to be a godmother, to perform a wedding ceremony, but he will not be able to prevent this. Why is it impossible to baptize with menstruation, because it is impossible to reproach a parishioner for what is given to her by nature.

Some women doubt whether it is possible to go to the temple with the available gynecological diseases when present uterine bleeding or need to stay at home. In this case New Testament gives an example of how a bleeding woman touched the garment of the Lord and was healed of her illness. At the same time, she did not hear a reproach for her bodily "impurity." On the contrary, the Lord pointed out to the baptized woman the power of her faith, with the help of which she was healed.

Today it is difficult to imagine a situation where a clergyman would be interested in questions that confuse parishioners. If a woman independently decides not to attend church, not to take communion and fast during menstruation at home, she can be praised for her piety, but no one will interfere with her presence in the temple.

Menstrual blood is just a temporary physiological phenomenon that in no way affects spiritual purity and cannot defile the temple.

Communion during menstruation are issues that cause controversy among priests and excite every Christian woman.

Not knowing a clear answer, during the monthly days, the parishioners remain to listen to the service in the vestibule.

Where do the roots of prohibition come from? We are looking for the answer in the Old Testament

The church porch is located in the western part of the temple, it is a corridor between the temple entrance and the courtyard. The vestibule has long served as a place of hearing for unbaptized, catechumenized people, those who were forbidden to enter the temple for a certain time.

Whether there is a something insulting for a Christian to be out of church service for a while, participation in confession, communion?

Menstrual days are not a disease, a sin, but a natural state healthy woman, emphasizing her ability to give the world children.

Why then the question arises - is it possible to confess during menstruation?

The Old Testament pays much attention to the concept of purity when entering before God.

The impurities included:

diseases in the form of leprosy, scabies, ulcers;
any expiration of both women and men;
touching a dead body.

The Jews before the exit from Egypt were not a single people. Except worship One God, they borrowed a lot from pagan cultures.

Judaism believed that impurity, a dead body, is one concept. Death is Adam and Eve's punishment for disobedience.

The first Christian women also faced the problem - is it possible to receive communion during menstruation, they had to make the decision themselves. Someone, following traditions, canons, did not touch anything sacred. Others felt that nothing could separate them from God's love except sin.

Many believing virgins confessed and took communion during menstruation, not finding a prohibition in the words, sermons of Jesus.

The attitude of the Orthodox Church towards:

The attitude of the early church and the holy fathers of that time to the question of menstruation

With the advent of a 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 divine inspiration of the Old Testament. At the same time, ritual impurity was practically not put as an object of discussion.

The holy fathers of the early church, such as Methodius of Olympus, Origen, Martyr Justin, treated the issue of purity as a concept of sin. Unclean, according to their concepts, means sinful, this applied to women, the time of menstruation.

Origen attributed not only menstruation, but also sexual intercourse to impurities. He ignored the words of Jesus that two, when they copulate, are transformed into one body. (Mat. 19:5). His stoicism and asceticism were not confirmed in the New Testament.

The Antiochian teaching of the third century banned the teachings of the Levites. The Didascalia, on the other hand, denounces Christian women who have left the Holy Spirit during menstruation, separating the body from church services. The church fathers of that time consider the same bleeding patient to be the basis for their exhortation.

Clement 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 taking communion has left the Holy Spirit.

Christian, not crossing the threshold temple during menstruation, not related to the Bible, can die without the Holy Spirit, and what about then? St. Clement in the "Apostolic Decrees" argued that neither the birth of a child, nor critical days, nor wet dreams defile a person, cannot separate him from the Holy Spirit.

Important! Clement of Rome condemned Christian women for empty speeches, but he considered childbirth, bleeding, bodily defects to be natural things. He called prohibitions the invention of stupid people.

St. Gregory the Dialogist also stood on the side of women, arguing that the natural, God-created processes in the human body cannot cause a ban on visiting church services, to confess, to take communion.

Further, the issue of female impurity during menstruation was raised at the Gangra Cathedral. The priests assembled in 341 condemned eustathian who considered not only menstruation to be 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 equated with a man in clothes, manner of behavior. The Fathers of the Gangra Council condemned the Eustathian movement, defending the femininity of Christian women, recognizing all the processes in their body natural created by God.

In the sixth century, Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome, took the side of the faithful parishioners.

To Saint Augustine of Canterbury, who raised the issue of menstrual days, impurity, the Pope wrote that there is no guilt of Christians in these days, she should not be forbidden to confess, to take communion.

Important! According to Gregory the Great, women who abstain from Communion out of reverence are worthy of praise, while those who received it during menstruation out of great love for Christ are not condemned.

The teaching of Gregory the Great lasted until the seventeenth century, when Christian women were again forbidden to enter the church during menstruation.

Russian church of the early period

The Russian Orthodox Church has always been characterized by strict laws regarding women's critical days, any kind of expiration. Here the question is not even raised - is it possible to go to church during menstruation. The answer is unambiguous and non-negotiable - no!

Moreover, according to Nifont of Novgorod, if childbirth begins right in the temple and the child is born there, then the whole church is considered defiled. She is sealed for 3 days, re-consecratedby reading a special prayer, which can be found by reading "Questioning Kirik".

All those present at the same time in the temple were considered unclean, they could leave it only after the cleansing prayer of the Treasury.

If a Christian woman came to the temple “clean”, and then she had bleeding, she urgently had to leave the church, otherwise a six-month penance awaited her.

The cleansing prayers of the Trebnik are still read in churches immediately after the birth of a baby.

This question causes a lot of controversy. The problem of touching an "unclean" woman in pre-Christian times is understandable. Why even today, when a child is born in a sacred marriage and is a gift from God, his birth makes the mother, everyone who touches her defiled?

Contemporary clashes in the Russian Church

Only after 40 days a Christian is allowed into the temple, subject to complete "purity". A rite of churching or introduction is performed over her.

The modern explanation for this phenomenon is the fatigue of the woman in labor, she allegedly needs to recover. How, then, to explain that seriously ill patients are encouraged to visit the temple more often, take the sacrament, being cleansed by the blood of Jesus?

The ministers of the present time understand that the laws of the Ribbon do not always find their confirmation in the Bible and the Holy Scriptures of the Church Fathers.

Marriage, procreation and impurity somehow hard to put together.

1997 made adjustments on this issue. The Holy Synod of Antioch, His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV, passed a decision to change the texts of the Ribbon regarding the sanctity of marriage and the purity of Christian women who gave birth to a child in a union consecrated by the church.

Important! The Church, upon the introduction of the mother, blesses the birthday of the child, if the mother is physically strong.

After Crete, Orthodox churches received strong recommendations to convey to all parishioners that their desire to attend the temple, confess and take the sacrament is welcome, regardless of the critical days.

St. John Chrysostom was critical of adherents of the canons, who argue that visiting the temple on critical days is unacceptable.

Dionysius of Alexandria advocated the observance of the canons, however, life has shown that not all laws are observed by modern churches.

The canons should not govern the Church, for they were written for temple services.

Questions about critical days wear a mask of piety based on pre-Christian teachings.

The modern Patriarch Pavel of Serbia also does not consider a woman during critical days to be spiritually unclean or sinful. He claims that during menstruation, a Christian can confess, take communion.

His Holiness the Patriarch writes: “The monthly cleansing of a woman does not make her ritually, prayerfully unclean. This impurity is only physical, bodily, as well as excretions from other organs. In addition, since modern hygiene products can effectively prevent the accidental outflow of blood from making the temple unclean ... we believe that from this side there is no doubt that a woman during the monthly cleansing, with the necessary care and taking hygiene measures, can come to church , kiss icons, take antidoron and blessed water, as well as participate in singing.

Important! Jesus Himself cleansed women and men with His own blood. Christ became the Flesh of all Orthodox. He trampled down bodily death, giving people spiritual life, independent of the state of the body.

Watch a video about going to church during your period

The question of whether it is possible to go to church with menstruation worries many Orthodox women. After all, their arrival cannot be planned in any way.

What if a solemn event is planned, for example, Easter, on such a holiday it is necessary to visit the church, but what to do if critical days have come? Is it possible to skip going to church?

Is it possible to go to church with menstruation - the times of the Old Testament

In Old Testament times, not only women were considered unclean these days, but also people who suffered from the plague. Moreover, it was forbidden to touch women these days, it was believed that the one who touches would also become unclean. Therefore, in those days it was strictly forbidden to go to church.

It was believed that a woman who gave birth to a son should not attend church until one month had passed after giving birth. If she gave birth to a daughter, then in this case, it is impossible to cross the threshold of the temple for more than three months.

Is it possible to attend church during menstruation - New Testament times

One can recall the words of the great Gregory the Dialogist and the Apostle Paul, who claimed that everything that the Lord created is beautiful and bright. The woman was created by the Creator God, which means she is beautiful. Menstrual cycle- this is a natural phenomenon in which a woman is not at all to blame and you should not forbid her to attend church.

There is a parable about the bleeding woman who for a long time She was sick and no one could help her. Having learned that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was coming, she touched His clothes with faith. The Lord did not push her away, but rather healed and approved her deed: “Your faith has saved you,” Christ told her.

The bleeding woman was not opposed by the Savior himself, and therefore, she has the right to visit the temple.

Is it possible to confess and take communion during menstruation

In the 21st century, asking a question on this topic, you can get different answers from priests.

Some say that women on critical days can go to church, put candles and pray, take a blessing, but you can’t touch the shrines - the Cross, icons, relics of the Holy Saints of God. You can not take part in the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church - baptism, wedding, chrismation, communion, confession, anointing (unction), priesthood.

Others say that you can do all of the above. You need to be guided in this matter by your conscience, as well as follow the rules that are accepted in your temple, where you go to worship.

If a woman decides to go to a monastery, to holy places, plans to take part in the Sacraments at the same time, she needs to consult with her confessor or parish priest and take a blessing for the trip. The issue of critical days should also be resolved during the conversation.

When women should not go to church

How many days after the birth of a child can one be in the presence of God at the service?

In the times of the Old Testament, it was believed that a woman after childbirth for 40 days, while she was being cleansed, had no right to attend worship. This tradition has now been abolished.

Patriarch Pavle of Serbia on female impurity

Patriarch Pavel, reflecting on female impurity, spoke about Dionysius of Alexandria, who argued that a woman does not have the right to receive communion, to touch the holy relics of the Savior, but she must always pray and be baptized.

According to Dionysius, a woman does not have the right to confess until she is completely cleansed. There is also an opinion that it is impossible to enter the temple 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 to be unclean, then why should prohibitions be put in our time, ”the father reasoned.

Conclusion

Menstruation is a natural course of events given to a woman by nature, which was created by God. In the 21st century, there are many ways to hide the smell and protect against leaks so as not to desecrate the church.

A woman is obliged to be in the temple, try to live a full spiritual life, fulfill the commandments of Christ, repent of her sins at confession and take part in the Sacrament of the Eucharist (Communion). All this is much more important than calculating the dates of critical days.

Priest Konstantin Parkhomenko

About the so-called female impurity, or is it possible to confess during menstruation

Source: Azbuka.ru

Oh, how many times a day a priest serving in a church has to deal with this topic!.. The parishioners are afraid to enter the church, to venerate the cross, they call in a panic: “What to do, I was getting ready, I was getting ready for the feast to take communion, and now…”

From the Diary: One girl calls on the phone: “Father, I could not be present all holidays in the temple because of uncleanness. And did not pick up the Gospel and holy books. But don't think that I missed the holiday. I read all the texts of the service and the Gospel on the Internet!”

The Great Invention of the Internet! Even in the days of the so-called. ritual impurity, you can touch the computer. And it makes it possible to prayerfully experience the holidays.

It seems, how can the natural processes of the body separate from God? And the educated girls and women themselves understand this, but there are church canons that prohibit visiting the temple on certain days ...

How to solve this issue?

To do this, we need to turn back to pre-Christian times, to the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, there are many prescriptions regarding the purity and impurity of man. Impurity is, first of all,1 a dead body, some diseases, exudations from the genitals of men and women.

A person in the moments of manifestation, discovery of this mortality, sinfulness - must tactfully stand aside from God, Who is Life Itself!

This is how the Old Testament treated uncleanness of this kind.

But in the New Testament, the Savior rethinks this theme radically. The past has passed, now everyone who is with Him, if he dies, will come to life, all the more, all the rest of the impurity does not make sense. Christ is - Life itself incarnate (John 14:6).

The Savior touches the dead - remember how He touched the bed on which they carried the son of the widow of Nain to be buried; how He allowed Himself to be touched by a bleeding woman ... We will not find in the New Testament a moment when Christ observed the prescriptions of purity or impurity. Even when he encounters the embarrassment of a woman who clearly violated the etiquette of ritual impurity and touched Him, He says things to her that contradict conventional wisdom: “Be braver, daughter!” (Matthew 9:22).

The apostles taught the same. “I know and am confident in the Lord Jesus,” says St. Paul, - that there is nothing unclean in itself; only to him that considers something unclean, to him it is unclean” (Rom. 14:14). He: “For every creation of God is good, and nothing is reprehensible if received with thanksgiving, because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim. 4:4).

In the very literally The apostle speaks of food uncleanness. The Jews considered a number of products unclean, but the apostle says that everything created by God is holy and pure. But app. Paul does not say anything about the impurity of physiological processes. We do not find specific instructions on whether to consider a woman unclean during menstruation, either from him or from other apostles. Based on the logic of the preaching of St. Paul, then menstruation - as the natural processes of our body - cannot separate a person from God and grace.

We can assume that in the early centuries of Christianity believers made their own choices. Someone followed the tradition, acted like mothers and grandmothers, maybe “just in case”, or, based on theological convictions or some other reasons, defended the point of view that on “critical” days it is better not to touch the shrines and not partake.

Others always took communion, even during menstruation. and no one excommunicated them from Communion.

In any case, we have no information about this, on the contrary. We know that the ancient Christians used to gather in their homes every week, even under the threat of death, to serve the Liturgy and take communion. If there were exceptions to this rule, for example, for women in a certain period, then ancient church monuments would have mentioned this. They don't say anything about it.

But such a question was posed. And in the middle of the III century, the answer to it was given by St. Clement of Rome in his work "Apostolic Decrees":

“But if anyone observes and performs the Jewish rites regarding the eruption of semen, the flow of semen, legal intercourse, let them tell us, do they stop praying, or touching the Bible, or partaking of the Eucharist in those hours and days when they are exposed to something like this? If they say that they stop, then it is obvious that they do not have the Holy Spirit in themselves, which always abides with believers ... Indeed, if you, a woman, think that for seven days, when you have your period, you do not have the Holy Spirit; then it follows that if you die suddenly, then you will depart without having the Holy Spirit in yourself and boldness and hope in God. But the Holy Spirit, of course, is inherent in you ... For neither legal copulation, nor childbirth, nor the flow of blood, nor the flow of seed in a dream can defile the nature of a person or separate the Holy Spirit from him, only wickedness and lawless activity are separated from [the Spirit].

Therefore, refrain, woman, from empty speeches and always remember the Creator who created you, and pray to him ... without observing anything - neither natural purification, nor legal copulation, nor childbirth, nor miscarriages, nor bodily vice. These observations are empty and meaningless inventions of stupid people.

In the 6th century, St. Grigory Dvoeslov. He answers a question asked about this to Archbishop Augustine of the Angles, saying that a woman can enter the temple and begin the sacraments at any time - both immediately after the birth of a child and during menstruation:

“A woman should not be forbidden to enter the church during menstruation, for she cannot be blamed for what is given by nature, and from which a woman suffers against her will. After all, we know that a woman suffering from bleeding came up behind the Lord and touched the edge of His garment, and immediately the illness left her. Why, if she could touch the clothes of the Lord with bleeding and receive healing, a woman during menstruation cannot enter the church of the Lord? ..

That is, in the West, and both fathers were Roman bishops, this topic received the most authoritative and final disclosure. Today it would not occur to any Western Christian to ask questions that confuse us, heirs of Eastern Christian culture. There, a woman can approach the shrine at any time, regardless of any female ailments.

In the East, there was no consensus on this issue.

The Syrian ancient Christian document of the 3rd century (Didaskalia) says that a Christian woman should not observe any days and can always take communion.

St. Dionysius of Alexandria, at the same time, in the middle of the 3rd century, writes something else:

“I do not think that they [that is, women on certain days], if they are faithful and pious, being in such a state, would dare to either proceed to the Holy Meal, or touch the Body and Blood of Christ. For even a woman who had a twelve-year hemorrhage, for the sake of healing, did not touch Him, but only the edges of her clothes. It is not forbidden to pray, no matter in what state and no matter how disposed, to remember the Lord and ask for His help. But to proceed to what is the Holy of Holies, let it be forbidden to not quite pure soul and body.

After 100 years, St. Athanasius of Alexandria. He says that all of God's creation is "good and pure." “Tell me, beloved and most reverent, what is sinful or unclean in any natural eruption, as, for example, if someone wanted to blame the flow of phlegm from the nostrils and saliva from the mouth? We can say more about the eruptions of the womb, which are necessary for the life of a living being. If, however, according to the Divine Scriptures, we believe that man is the work of God's hands, then how could a bad creation come from pure power? And if we remember that we are the race of God (Acts 17:28), then we have nothing unclean in ourselves. For only then are we defiled when we commit sin, the worst of every stench.”

According to St. Athanasius, thoughts about the pure and the impure are offered to us by "devilish tricks" in order to distract us from the spiritual life.

And 30 years later, the successor of St. Athanasius in the department of St. Timothy of Alexandria spoke differently on the same subject. To the questions whether it is possible to baptize or admit to Communion a woman who “has happened to the usual women,” he answered: “It must be postponed until she is cleansed.”

It is this last opinion, with various variations, that prevailed in the East until recently. Only some fathers and canonists were more rigorous - a woman these days should not go to church at all, others said that you can pray, go to church, you can’t just take communion.

But still - why not? We do not receive a clear answer to this question. As an example, I will cite the words of the great Athos ascetic and erudite of the 18th century, Ven. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain. To the question: why not only in the Old Testament, but also according to the words of the Christian holy fathers, the monthly cleansing of a woman is considered unclean, the monk answers that there are three reasons for this:

3. God calls uncleanness the monthly cleansing of women in order to forbid men to copulate with them ... mainly and mainly because of concern for offspring, children.

This is how a well-known theologian answers this question. All three arguments are completely frivolous. In the first case, the issue is resolved with the help of hygienic means, in the second - it is not clear how menstruation is related to sins? Nicodemus. God calls uncleanness the monthly cleansing of women in the Old Testament, while in the New much of the Old Testament is canceled by Christ. In addition, what does the question of copulation on critical days have to do with Communion?

In view of the relevance of this issue, it was studied by the modern theologian Patriarch Pavle of Serbia. About this, he wrote a reprinted article many times with a characteristic title: “Can a woman come to church to pray, kiss icons and take communion when she is “unclean” (during menstruation)”?

His Holiness the Patriarch writes: “The monthly cleansing of a woman does not make her ritually, prayerfully unclean. This impurity is only physical, bodily, as well as excretions from other organs. In addition, since modern hygiene products can effectively prevent the accidental outflow of blood from making the temple unclean ... we believe that from this side there is no doubt that a woman during the monthly cleansing, with the necessary care and taking hygiene measures, can come to church , kiss icons, take antidor and consecrated water, as well as participate in singing. Communion in this state or unbaptized - to be baptized, she could not. But in a terminal illness, he can take communion and be baptized.”

We see that Patriarch Pavel comes to the conclusion that “this impurity is only physical, bodily, as well as discharges from other organs.” In this case, the conclusion of his work is incomprehensible: you can go to church, but still you can’t take communion. If the problem is hygiene, then this problem,3 as Vladyka Pavel himself notes, has been solved… Why, then, is it impossible to receive communion? I think that out of humility, Vladyka simply did not dare to contradict tradition.

Summing up, I can say that the majority of modern Orthodox priests, respecting, although often not understanding the logic of such prohibitions, still do not recommend a woman to receive communion during menstruation.

Other priests (including the author of this article) say that all these are just historical misunderstandings4 and that one should not pay attention to any natural processes of the body - only sin defiles a person.

But both of them do not ask women and girls who come to confession about their cycles. Our “church grandmothers” show much greater and incommendable zeal in this matter. It is they who frighten the novice Christian women with some kind of “filthy” and “uncleanness”, which is necessary, leading church life, vigilantly monitor and, in case of omission, confess.

There are other “unclean” things for a Jew: some food, animals, etc., but the main impurity is exactly what I have indicated.

According to legend, it is he who authored the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, which is served on the weekdays of Great Lent.

The reference of some priests to the "canons" is not entirely justified. In the Orthodox Church there is no definition on this score adopted at the Council. There are only very authoritative opinions of the holy fathers (we mentioned them (they are Sts. Dionysius, Athanasius and Timothy of Alexandria), included in the Book of Rules of the Orthodox Church. The opinions of individual fathers, even very authoritative ones, are not the canons of the Church.

It is historical, not theological. All known to the author of the so-called. the theological justifications for this prohibition are very strained.

Press Service of the Church of Elijah the Prophet