Is it possible to go to church during menstruation?

It is widely believed that a woman with menstrual bleeding to enter the temple, and besides to receive the sacrament, is strictly prohibited. Is this really so? And what is the reason for so many disagreements around this issue? No one can give an exact answer to it. In any books and other sources there is no mention and confirmation that such a ban exists. But still, they are secretly trying to stick to it. Even clerics cannot provide uniform information. There are many interpretations with different opinions around this issue.

As it was before?

In the oldest part of the Bible - the Old Testament, it was said that “unclean” people should not enter the temple. This category included:

• leprosy patients
• everyone who suffers from purulent-inflammatory diseases;
• people who defiled themselves by touching a rotting body (corpse);
• women with physiological bleeding.

It was believed that one should not attend the temple under any of these conditions.

An interesting fact: at the time when mothers who gave birth to a boy were admitted to church 40 days after giving birth, a girl after 80.

What do they think now?

Under the New Testament, adjustments were made to the list of people who should not go to church. Although certain restrictions for women have not gone away. The prohibition of women visiting the temple during menstruation was due to hygiene considerations.

It was always believed that the temple is a holy place, and blood cannot be shed on its territory. Previously, there were no reliable hygiene products for protection, therefore, women were forbidden to attend church during menstruation.

There is another opinion why a woman can not attend the temple with menstruation. Who is to blame for the fact that the human race has been expelled from the gardens of Paradise? On a woman. This is probably why female representatives were not allowed to God. Apparently, not to remind of long-standing misconduct. For this reason, during menstruation, as well as within forty days after the birth of the baby until the postpartum hemorrhage is completed, the woman has no access to the temple.

To date, there is no reasonable prohibition on female visits to the temple during menstruation. There are chapters in the Testament in which the disciples spoke out that the desecration of faith carries evil that comes from the heart of a person, not physiological discharge. In the New Testament, the main emphasis is on the person’s inner spirituality, and not on natural processes that do not depend on him.

Is a woman forbidden to go to church during menstruation?

Human blood cannot be shed in a temple. If, for example, a person in the church cut a finger and bleeding started, he should leave it until the blood stopped. Otherwise, it will be considered that the holy place was desecrated, and there was a need for its re-lighting.

It can be concluded that during menstruation, if you use high-quality hygiene products (pads, tampons), you can go to church, because there will be no shedding of human blood. At the same time, the opinions of the clergy on this issue diverge, some even contradict each other.

Some believe that women with menstrual bleeding have no place in the church. You can come in, read a prayer and leave. Others - supporters of more radical views, say that visiting the female sex during menstruation is strictly prohibited.However, there are those who insist that menstruation in no way should influence behavior, that there is no need to change anything in church life during this period, you need to continue to read prayers, light candles, confess and receive communion.

Proponents of both views can provide evidence of their own judgments, although they can be challenged. Those who support the first opinion are mostly based on information from the Old Testament, saying that in ancient times women with bleeding should have been away from the people and the church. But they cannot provide clear explanations of why this should be so. Since in those days women had a fear of staining a holy place with blood due to the lack of necessary hygiene products.

It was often noted that in this physiological process there is no woman's fault. And yet, in ancient times, women in Russia avoided attending church these days.

Some of the saints made statements that nature gave women a generous gift, endowing them with this unique ability to cleanse the body. They argued that the phenomenon was created by the Almighty, therefore, there can be no talk of dirt and uncleanliness.

It would be wrong to deny the female visit to the temple during menstruation, based on data from the Old Testament. If you carefully and deeply study the church, you can come to the conclusion that the ban on visiting the church during menstruation is already morally obsolete.

So what do you do?

Girls are allowed to attend the temple on all days. If you take into account the opinion of a larger number of clergy, and during menstruation this can be done. But it will be better these days to refuse to hold the sacrament of baptism and wedding. It is advisable, if possible, not to touch crosses, icons and other shrines. In addition, the church calls these days not to confess and not receive communion.

Video: Can women enter the temple on critical days?