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In certain denominations of Christianity, hygiene in Christianity includes a number of regulations involving cleanliness before prayer, [1] as well as those concerning diet and apparel. The Bible has many rituals of purification in areas ranging from the mundane private rituals of personal hygiene and toilet etiquette to the com- plex public rituals of social etiquette. [2]
The Bible has many rituals of purification relating to menstruation, childbirth, sexual relations, nocturnal emission, unusual bodily fluids, skin disease, death, and animal sacrifices. In the Old Testament, ablution was considered a prerequisite to approaching God, whether by means of sacrifice, prayer, or entering a holy place. [3]
The Old Testament requires immersion of the body in water as a means of purification in several circumstances, for example:
There are also references to hand-washing:
Priests were required to wash their hands and feet before service in the Temple:
With sacrifice and priesthood established, chapters 11–15 in the book of Leviticus instruct the lay people on purity (or cleanliness). Eating certain animals produces uncleanliness, as does giving birth; certain skin diseases (but not all) are unclean, as are certain conditions affecting walls and clothing (mildew and similar conditions); and genital discharges, including female menses and male gonorrhea, are unclean. The reasoning behind the food rules are obscure; for the rest the guiding principle seems to be that all these conditions involve a loss of "life force", usually but not always blood. [8]
Ritual purity is essential for an Israelite to be able to approach Yahweh and remain part of the community. [9] Uncleanliness threatens holiness; [10] Chapters 11–15 review the various causes of uncleanliness and describe the rituals which will restore cleanliness; [11] one is to maintain cleanliness through observation of the rules on sexual behaviour, family relations, land ownership, worship, sacrifice, and observance of holy days. [12]
Yahweh dwells with Israel in the holy of holies. All of the priestly ritual focuses on Yahweh and the construction and maintenance of a holy space, but sin generates impurity, as do everyday events such as childbirth and menstruation; impurity pollutes the holy dwelling place. Failure to purify the sacred space ritually could result in God's leaving, which would be disastrous. [13]
Christianity has always placed a strong emphasis on hygiene. [14] Water plays a role in the Christian rituals. [1] A major contribution of the Christian missionaries in Africa, [15] China, [16] Guatemala, [17] India, [18] [19] Indonesia, [20] Korea, [21] and other places was better health care of the people through hygiene and introducing and distributing the soaps, [22] and "cleanliness and hygiene became an important marker of being identified as a Christian". [23]
Early Christian clergy condemned the practice of mixed bathing as practiced by the Romans, such as the pagan custom of women naked bathing in front of men; as such, the Didascalia Apostolorum, an early Christian manual, enjoined Christians to bathe themselves in those facilities that were separated by sex, which contributed to hygiene and good health according to the Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian. [24] [25] The Church also built public bathing facilities that were separate for both sexes near monasteries and pilgrimage sites; also, the popes situated baths within church basilicas and monasteries since the early Middle Ages. [26] Pope Gregory the Great urged his followers on the value of bathing as a bodily need. [27]
Great bathhouses were built in Byzantine centers such as Constantinople and Antioch, [28] and the popes allocated to the Romans bathing through diaconia , or private Lateran baths, or even a myriad of monastic bath houses functioning in eighth and ninth centuries. [27] The popes maintained their baths in their residences which described by scholar Paolo Squatriti as "luxurious baths", and bath houses including hot baths incorporated into Christian church buildings or those of monasteries, which known as "charity baths" because they served both the clerics and needy poor people. [29] Public bathing were common in medieval Christendom larger towns and cities such as Paris, Regensburg and Naples. [30] [31] Catholic religious orders of the Augustinians' and Benedictines' rules contained ritual purification, [32] and inspired by Benedict of Nursia encouragement for the practice of therapeutic bathing; Benedictine monks played a role in the development and promotion of spas. [33] Protestant Christianity also played a prominent role in the development of the British spas. [33]
In c. 1454 Pope Nicholas V commissioned building a bath palace in Viterbo, and the construction at the Bagno del Papa was continued on through the reigns of several popes after Nicholas V. The Vatican accounts mention payments "for building done at the bath palace of Viterbo" during the reigns of Calixtus III, Paul II, and Sixtus IV. There also is evidence Pope Pius II was responsible for the addition of a western wing to the building. [34]
Contrary to popular belief [35] bathing and sanitation were not lost in Europe with the collapse of the Roman Empire. [36] [37] Soapmaking first became an established trade during the so-called "Dark Ages". The Romans used scented oils (mostly from Egypt), among other alternatives. By the 15th century, the manufacture of soap in Christendom had become virtually industrialized, with sources in Antwerp, Castile, Marseille, Naples and Venice. [38] In the 17th century the Spanish Catholic manufacturers purchased the monopoly on Castile soap from the cash-strapped Carolinian government. [39] By the mid-19th century, the English urbanised middle classes had formed an ideology of cleanliness that ranked alongside typical Victorian concepts of moralism, such as Christianity, respectability and social progress. [40] The Salvation Army has adopted the deployment of personal hygiene, [41] [42] and by providing personal hygiene products, such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, and soap. [43] [44] [45]
Believing that on Epiphany day water becomes holy and is imbued with special powers, Eastern Orthodox cut holes in the ice of lakes and rivers, often in the shape of the cross, to bathe in the freezing water. [46] Christianity strongly affected the development of holy wells in Europe and the Middle East, and its water are known for its healing properties. [47]
The use of water in many Christian countries is due in part to the biblical toilet etiquette which encourages washing after all instances of defecation. [48] The bidet is common in predominantly Catholic countries where water is considered essential for anal cleansing, [49] [50] and in some traditionally Orthodox and Lutheran countries such as Greece and Finland respectively, where bidet showers are common. [51]
Around the time of Tertullian, an early Church Father, it was customary for Christians to wash their hands (manulavium), face (capitilavium) and feet (pedilavium) before prayer, as well as before receiving Holy Communion. [52] [53] Churches from the time of Constantine the Great were thus built with an esonarthex that included a fountain known as a cantharus, where Christians would wash their hands, face and feet before entering the worship space (cf. Exodus 30:17–21); they continue to be used in Orthodox Christian churches. [53] [54] [52] [55] The practice of ablutions before prayer and worship in Christianity symbolizes "separation from sins of the spirit and surrender to the Lord." [52]
As early as the 2nd century, Christians hung a cross on the east wall of their houses, to which they prostrated in front of, as they prayed at seven fixed prayer times (cf. Psalm 119:164). [56] [57] Before praying these canonical hours at seven fixed prayer times in the eastward direction of prayer, Christians belonging to the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, an Oriental Protestant denomination, as well as the Oriental Orthodox Churches such as the Coptic Orthodox Church, Indian Orthodox Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Church, wash their hands, face and feet (cf. Shehimo and Agpeya). [58] [59] [60] [61]
Oriental Orthodox Churches such as the Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, places a heavier emphasis on Old Testament teachings, and its followers adhere to certain practices such as observeing days of ritual purification. [62] [63]
In Oriental Orthodox Christianity, as with some Western Orthodox Christian traditions, shoes are removed in order to acknowledge that one is offering prayer before a holy God. [64] [65]
Among Old Ritualists in the Russian Christian tradition, a prayer rug known as a Podruchnik is used to keep one's face and hands clean during prostrations, as these parts of the body are used to make the sign of the cross. [66]
Christian denominations of the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition practice footwashing in their regular celebrations of the Lovefeast, prior to receiving Holy Communion and eating. [67]
In Oriental Orthodox Christianity, the "holiness of the Church is traditionally tied scripturally with the Jerusalem Temple". [68] As such, believers fast after midnight and "sexual intercourse is prohibited the night before communion" (cf. Eucharistic discipline). [68]
In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, men are not permitted to enter a church the day after they have had sexual intercourse with their wives. [69] People who are ritually unclean may approach the church but are not permitted to enter it; they instead stand near the church door and pray during the liturgy. [70] The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church prescribes several kinds of hand washing for example after leaving the latrine, lavatory or bathhouse, or before prayer, or after eating a meal. [71]
Pope Dionysius of Alexandria taught that with regard to menstruating women that "not even they themselves, being faithful and pious, would dare when in this state either to approach the Holy Table or to touch the body and blood of Christ." [68] As such, Oriental Orthodox Christian women, such as those belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church, are not permitted to receive Holy Communion while they are menstruating. [68]
Covenant theology largely views the Christian sacrament of baptism as fulfilling the Israelite practice of circumcision, both being signs and seals of the covenant of grace (cf. Circumcision controversy in early Christianity ). [72] [73] Since the Council of Florence, the Roman Catholic Church forbade the practice of circumcision among Christians, a position also taught by the Lutheran Church; Roman Catholic scholars, including John J. Dietzen, David Lang, and Edwin F. Healy, teach that "elective male infant circumcision not only violates the proper application of the time-honored principle of totality, but even fits the ethical definition of mutilation, which is gravely sinful." [74] [75] Roman Catholicism generally is silent today with respect to its permissibility, though elective circumcision continues to be debated amongst theologians. [76] On the other hand, circumcision is an established practice and customary in Coptic Christianity, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Church, all of which observe it as a rite of passage, and males are generally required to be circumcised shortly after birth. [77] [78] [79] Even though mainstream Christian denominations do not require the practice and maintain a neutral position on it, circumcision is widely practiced in many Christian countries and communities. [80] [81] [82] [83] [84]
In the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, washing one's hands is required before and after consuming food. [69] [61] This is followed by prayer, in which Christians often pray to ask God to thank Him for and bless their food before consuming it at the time of eating meals, such as breakfast. [61] [85] The wording of these mealtime prayers vary per Christian denomination, e.g. the common table prayer is used by communicants of the Lutheran Churches and the Moravian Church.
Vegetarianism was widespread in the early Church, among both the clergy and laity. [86] Since eating meat was traditionally viewed as a luxury, many Christians may choose to practice vegetarianism as their Lenten sacrifice during the penetential season of Lent in the Christian calendar. [87]
With respect to meat consumption, in Oriental Orthodox Christianity, in denominations such as the Armenian Apostolic Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Church, slaughtering animals for food is done with one strike in the name of the trinitarian formula (cf. Jhatka). [88] [89] [90]
Meat consumed by Christians should not retain any blood. [91] [92]
The Friday Fast from meat is observed by Christians of the Catholic, Methodist and Anglican traditions, especially during the season of Lent in the Christian calendar. [93] [94] [95] [96]
The Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal traditions of Christianity prohibit the consumption of alcohol (cf. teetotalism). [97] On the other hand other Christian denominations condone moderate drinking of alcohol, including the Catholic, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox traditions. [98] However, all Christian Churches, in view of the biblical teaching on drunkenness, universally condemn drunkenness as sinful. [99] [100]
In Christianity, communicants of the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches are expected to wear a cross necklace at all times; these are ordinarily given to believers at their baptism. [102] [103] This practice is derived from Canon 73 and Canon 82 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council (Synod) of Constantinople, which declared: [104]
...all the Church (Sunday) School children [must] wear a cross knowing how spiritually beneficial it is for them. By wearing a cross the child is protected from evil forces, it invites the grace of the Holy Cross of Christ, it brings His Divine blessing upon the child, it gives the child a sense that he or she belongs to Christ, that he or she has a special identity, that of a Christian, it is a reminder that Christ is always with him/her, it reminds the child that Jesus died on the Cross to save him/her, that Jesus Christ is our Only Savior and the True God. By wearing a cross the child feels the love of God and gives the child hope and strength to overcome any obstacle in his or her life. [104]
Christian headcovering with a cloth veil was universally taught by the Church Fathers. [105] [106] [107] As such, in many Christian denominations, such as the Oriental Orthodox Churches and Old Ritualists of the Russian Christian tradition, as well in the Anabaptist Churches, women wear headcoverings when praying and worshipping. [66] [108]
In denominations of the conservative holiness movement such as the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and Evangelical Wesleyan Church, when in public, women are enjoined to wear clothing with sleeves extended past the elbows and "Women's hemlines are to be modestly below the knees" (cf. outward holiness). [109]
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.4 billion followers representing one-third of the global population. Its adherents, known as Christians, are estimated to make up a majority of the population in 157 countries and territories, and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and chronicled in the New Testament.
The Coptic Orthodox Church, also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt, serving Africa and the Middle East. The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the Pope of Alexandria on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark, who also carries the title of Father of fathers, Shepherd of shepherds, Ecumenical Judge and the 13th among the Apostles. The See of Alexandria is titular. The Coptic Pope presides from Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbassia District in Cairo. The church follows the Coptic Rite for its liturgy, prayer and devotional patrimony. Christians in Egypt total about four million people, and Coptic Christians make up Egypt’s largest and most significant minority population, and the largest population of Christians in the Middle East.
In Christianity, ablution is a prescribed washing of part or all of the body or possessions, such as clothing or ceremonial objects, with the intent of purification or dedication. In Christianity, both baptism and footwashing are forms of ablution. Prior to praying the canonical hours at seven fixed prayer times, Oriental Orthodox Christians wash their hands and face. In liturgical churches, ablution can refer to purifying fingers or vessels related to the Eucharist. In the New Testament, washing also occurs in reference to rites of Judaism part of the action of a healing by Jesus, the preparation of a body for burial, the washing of nets by fishermen, a person's personal washing of the face to appear in public, the cleansing of an injured person's wounds, Pontius Pilate's washing of his hands as a symbolic claim of innocence and foot washing, which is a rite within the Christian Churches. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Pontius Pilate declared himself innocent of the blood of Jesus by washing his hands. This act of Pilate may not, however, have been borrowed from the custom of the Jews. The same practice was common among the Greeks and Romans.
Hygiene is a series of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refers to maintaining the body's cleanliness. Hygiene activities can be grouped into the following: home and everyday hygiene, personal hygiene, medical hygiene, sleep hygiene and food hygiene. Home and every day hygiene includes hand washing, respiratory hygiene, food hygiene at home, hygiene in the kitchen, hygiene in the bathroom, laundry hygiene and medical hygiene at home.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in sub-Saharan Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates back to the acceptance of Christianity by the Kingdom of Aksum in 330, and has between 36 million and 49.8 million adherents in Ethiopia. It is a founding member of the World Council of Churches. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is in communion with the other Oriental Orthodox churches.
Ritual purification is the ritual prescribed by a religion by which a person is considered to be free of uncleanliness, especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may also apply to objects and places. Ritual uncleanliness is not identical with ordinary physical impurity, such as dirt stains; nevertheless, body fluids are generally considered ritually unclean.
Cleanliness is both the state of being clean and free from germs, dirt, trash, or waste, and the habit of achieving and maintaining that state. Cleanliness is often achieved through cleaning. Culturally, cleanliness is usually a good quality, as indicated by the aphorism: "Cleanliness is next to Godliness", and may be regarded as contributing to other ideals such as health and beauty.
Maundy, or Washing of the Saints' Feet, Washing of the Feet, or Pedelavium or Pedilavium, is a religious rite observed by various Christian denominations. The Latin word mandatum is the first word sung at the ceremony of the washing of the feet, "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos", from the text of John 13:34 in the Vulgate. This is also seen as referring to the commandment of Christ that believers should emulate his loving humility in the washing of the feet. The term mandatum, therefore, was applied to the rite of foot-washing on the Thursday preceding Easter Sunday, called Maundy Thursday.
A lavabo is a device used to provide water for the washing of hands. It consists normally of a ewer or container of some kind to pour water, and a bowl to catch the water as it falls off the hands. In ecclesiastical usage it refers to all of: the basin in which the priest washes their hands; the ritual that surrounds this action in the Catholic Mass; and the architectural feature or fitting where a basin or place for one is recessed into the side wall of the sanctuary, or projects from it. If this last includes or included a drain, it is a piscina used for washing the church plate and other fittings, though the terms are often confused. In secular usage, it is an obsolete term for any sink or basin for washing hands, especially in a lavatory.
Alexandrian rites are a collection of ritual families and uses of Christian liturgy employed by three Oriental Orthodox churches, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as well as by their Eastern Catholic counterparts of the Coptic Catholic Church, Eritrean Catholic Church, and Ethiopian Catholic Church.
The Agpeya is the Coptic Christian "Prayer Book of the Hours" or breviary, and is equivalent to the Shehimo in the Indian Orthodox Church, as well as the Byzantine Horologion and Roman Liturgy of the Hours used by the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Roman Catholic Church, respectively. The Agpeya prayers are popular Christian prayers recited at fixed prayer times, facing the east by both individuals and families at home seven times a day, as well as for communal prayers as an introduction to Mass at church; this Christian practice has its roots in Psalm 119:164, in which the prophet David prays to God seven times a day. The vast majority of the Coptic Christians learn the recitation and prayers of the Agpeya at an early age as children at home from their families. The Coptic Orthodox cycle of canonical hours is primarily composed of psalm readings from the Old Testament and gospel readings from the New Testament, with some added hymns of praise, troparia, and other prayers.
The controversy on religious male circumcision in early Christianity has played an important role in the history of Christianity and Christian theology.
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent one of its oldest branches.
Ad orientem, meaning "to the east" in Ecclesiastical Latin, is a phrase used to describe the eastward orientation of Christian prayer and Christian worship, comprising the preposition ad (toward) and oriens, participle of orior.
Christian prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms used for this practice.
Water is considered a purifier in most religions.
Christian culture generally includes all the cultural practices which have developed around the religion of Christianity. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions.
Christian dietary laws vary between denominations. The general dietary restrictions specified for Christians in the New Testament are to "abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals". Some Christian denominations forbid certain foods during periods of fasting, which in some denominations may cover half the year and may exclude meat, fish, dairy products, and olive oil. Christians in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Orthodox denominations traditionally observe Friday as a meat-free day ; many also fast and abstain from meat on Wednesday. There are various fasting periods, notably the liturgical season of Lent. A number of Christian denominations disallow alcohol consumption, but all Christian churches condemn drunkenness.
Fixed prayer times, praying at dedicated times during the day, are common practice in major world religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
A cantharus, also known as a phiala, is a fountain used by Christians for ablution before entering a church. These ablutions involve the washing of the hands, face, and feet. The cantharus is traditionally located in the exonarthex of the church. The water emitted by a cantharus is to be running water. The practice of ablutions before prayer and worship in Christianity symbolizes "separation from sins of the spirit and surrender to the Lord." Eusebius recorded this practice of canthari located in the courtyards of churches, for the faithful to wash themselves before entering a Christian house of worship. The practice has its origins Jewish practice of performing ablutions before entering into the presence of God. Though canthari are not as prevalent anymore in Western Christianity, they are found in Eastern Christian and Oriental Christian churches.
Water plays a role in other Christian rituals as well. ... In the early days of Christianity, two to three centuries after Christ, the lavabo (Latin for "I wash myself"), a ritual handwashing vessel and bowl, was introduced as part of Church service.
... From Fleming's perspective, the transition to Christianity required a good dose of personal and public hygiene ...
the Gospel of Christ was central to the "missionary" aspect of missionary nursing, the gospel of soap and water was central to "nursing" aspect of their works.
Christian hygiene existed (and still exists) as one small but ever important part of this modernization project. Hygiene provides an incredibly mundane, deeply routinized, marker of Christian civility ...Identifying the rural poor as "The Great Unwashed," Haymaker published Christian pamphlets on health and hygiene, ... of personal hygiene" (filled with soap, toothpaste, and floss), attempt to shape Christian Outreach and Ethnicity.
Along with the use of allopathic medicine, greater hygiene was one of the most frequently mobilized markers of the boundary between Christians and other communities of Chhattisgarh ... The missionaries had made no secret of preaching "soap" along with "salvation,"..
where slavery was in vogue Christianity advocated its end and personal hygiene was encouraged
CLEANLINESS AND GODLINESS: These examples indicate that real cleanliness was becoming the preserve of Europeans, and, it has to be added, of Christianity. Soap became an attribute of God – or rather the Protestant
In this way, Western forms of hygiene, health care and child rearing became an important part of creating the modern Christian in Korea.
A major contribution of the Christian missionaries was better health care of the people through hygiene. Soap, tooth–powder and brushes came to be used increasingly in urban areas.
cleanliness and hygiene became an important marker of being identified as a Christian
... Thus bathing also was considered a part of good health practice. For example, Tertullian attended the baths and believed them hygienic. Clement of Alexandria, while condemning excesses, had given guidelines for Christians who wished to attend the baths ...
... Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215 CE) allowed that bathing contributed to good health and hygiene ... Christian skeptics could not easily dissuade the baths' practical popularity, however; popes continued to build baths situated within church basilicas and monasteries throughout the early medieval period ...
... but baths were normally considered therapeutic until the days of Gregory the Great, who understood virtuous bathing to be bathing "on account of the needs of body" ...
Public baths were common in the larger towns and cities of Europe by the twelfth century.
The evidence of early medieval laws that enforced punishments for the destruction of bathing houses suggests that such buildings were not rare. That they ... took a bath every week. At places in southern Europe, Roman baths remained in use or were even restored ... The Paris city scribe Nicolas Boileau noted the existence of twenty-six public baths in Paris in 1272
Douching is commonly practiced in Catholic countries. The bidet ... is still commonly found in France and other Catholic countries.
It was probably out of the Jewish rite that the practice developed among early Christians, especially in the east, of washing their hands and feet before going into church. Early Christian basilicas had a fountain for ablutions, known as cantharus or phiala, and usually placed in the centre of the atrium. They are still found in some Eastern Orthodox churches, notably at the monastery of Laura at Mount Athos, where the phiala is an imposing structure in front of the entrance covered by a dome resting on eight pillars. In several Orthodox churches today worshippers take off heir shoes and wash their feet before entering the church just as Muslims do before going into a mosque.
In the Book of Exodus (30, 18–20) Aaron and his sons were required to wash before approaching the altar. Here water is used as a symbol of purification and expiation. But water is also the most common and most indispensable drink. ... So much was the practice a part of the life of the early Church, that in the period after Constantine the "cantharus", or water fountain, became a standard fixture in the courtyard before the basilica to permit the faithful to purify themselves before entering the presence of God.
In more recent times, both the Bernini fountains that grace St. Peter's Square and the holy water stoups of Roman rite churches are relics of the same phenomenon: they trace their origin to the fountains that were placed in the esonarthex of early Christian houses of worship so that the faithful could wash before entering church.
Peterson quotes a passage from the Acts of Hipparchus and Philotheus: "In Hipparchus's house there was a specially decorated room and a cross was painted on the east wall of it. There before the image of the cross, they used to pray seven times a day ... with their faces turned to the east." It is easy to see the importance of this passage when you compare it with what Origen says. The custom of turning towards the rising sun when praying had been replaced by the habit of turning towards the east wall. This we find in Origen. From the other passage we see that a cross had been painted on the wall to show which was the east. Hence the origin of the practice of hanging crucifixes on the walls of the private rooms in Christian houses. We know too that signs were put up in the Jewish synagogues to show the direction of Jerusalem, because the Jews turned that way when they said their prayers. The question of the proper way to face for prayer has always been of great importance in the East. It is worth remembering that Mohammedans pray with their faces turned towards Mecca and that one reason for the condemnation of Al Hallaj, the Mohammedan martyr, was that he refused to conform to this practice.
Christians in Syria as well, in the second century, would place the cross in the direction of the East towards which people in their homes or churches prayed. The direction to which Christians prayed symbolized their souls facing God, talking with him, and sharing their spirituality with the Lord.
The Copts, descendants of these ancient Egyptians, although Christians, have the custom of washing their hands and faces before prayer, and some also wash their feet.
We are commanded to pray standing, with faces towards the East, for at the last Messiah is manifested in the East. 2. All Christians, on rising from sleep early in the morning, should wash the face and pray. 3. We are commanded to pray seven times, thus...
Prayers 7 times a day are enjoined, and the most strict among the Copts recite one of more of the Psalms of David each time they pray. They always wash their hands and faces before devotions, and turn to the East.
All the faithful should strive to pray seven times a day & at the following hours: Upon rising from bed in the morning & before eating & commencing any task. Wash your hands & pray standing.
The Ethiopian and Coptic Churches distinguishes between clean and unclean meats, observes days of ritual purification, and keeps a kind of dual Sabbath on both Saturday and Sunday.
Michael Benatar and David Benatar (2003) identify and insightfully refute two arguments that opponents of neonatal male circumcision use in an attempt to demonstrate the moral illicitness of the practice. The first argument they consider is that circumcision is tantamount to an unjustifiable form of mutilation. The second argument is that, because circumcision is not a strictly therapeutic procedure, parents are not justified in giving consent for it on behalf of their child. As ethicists for a large Catholic health system, we have encountered a third argument opposing the practice, particularly in Catholic hospitals. In short, this argument is that the practice of circumcising male neonates is a violation of the natural law as conceived within the Catholic moral tradition and Church teaching. ... We are unaware of the Catholic Church explicitly addressing the practice of circumcising male infants in any of its official teachings.
Uniformly practiced by Jews, Muslims, and the members of Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, male circumcision remains prevalent in many regions of the world, particularly Africa, South and East Asia, Oceania, and Anglosphere countries.
Christian theology generally interprets male circumcision to be an Old Testament rule that is no longer an obligation ... though in many countries (especially the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa, but not so much in Europe) it is widely practiced among Christians
Neonatal circumcision is the general practice among Jews, Christians, and many, but not all Muslims.
Although it is mostly common and required in male newborns with Moslem or Jewish backgrounds, certain Christian-dominant countries such as the United States also practice it commonly.
male circumcision is still observed among Ethiopian and Coptic Christians, and circumcision rates are also high today in the Philippines and the US.
It is obligatory among Jews, Muslims, and Coptic Christians. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians do not require circumcision. Starting in the last half of the 19th century, however, circumcision also became common among Christians in Europe and especially in North America.
The Christians do "Basema ab wawald wamanfas qeeus ahadu amlak" [in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit one God] and then slaughter. The Jews say "Baruch yitharek amlak yisrael" [Blessed is the King (God) of Israel].
By contrast, the most common mode of slaughtering four-legged animals among Christians in the nineteenth century was through the deliverance of a stunning blow to the head, usually with a mallet or poleax.
The Armenian and other Orthodox rituals of slaughter display obvious links with shechitah, Jewish kosher slaughter.
Both the Jewish and the Christian methods of slaughter fulfill the Islamic condition of bleeding the animal.
The eating of animals is not forbidden. The Scriptures do not forbid the eating and partaking of animals. This does not mean that all animals are to be eaten (Mark 7:19; Acts 11:9; 1 Tim. 4:4). It is clear in the Scriptures that we are not supposed to eat animals that are alive or with blood (Gen. 9:2–4; Deut. 12:16, 23–24).
John Wesley, in his Journal, wrote on Friday, August 17, 1739, that "many of our society met, as we had appointed, at one in the afternoon and agreed that all members of our society should obey the Church to which we belong by observing 'all Fridays in the year' as 'days of fasting and abstinence.'
Principles which underlie our Wesleyan/holiness heritage include such commitments as unquestioned scriptural authority; classical orthodox theology; identity with the one holy and apostolic church; warmhearted evangelical experience; love perfected in sanctifying grace; careful, disciplined living; structured spiritual formation, fidelity to the means of grace; and responsible witness both in public and in private—all of which converge in holiness of heart and life, which for us Methodists will always be the "central idea of Christianity." These are bedrock essentials, and without them we shall have no heritage at all. Though we may neglect them, these principles never change. But our prudentials often do. Granted, some of these are so basic to our DNA that to give them up would be to alter the character of our movement. John Wesley, for example, believed that the prudentials of early Methodism were so necessary to guard its principles that to lose the first would be also to lose the second. His immediate followers should have listened to his caution, as should we. For throughout our history, foolish men have often imperiled our treasure by their brutal assault against the walls which our founders raised to contain them. Having said this, we must add that we have had many other prudentials less significant to our common life which have come and gone throughout our history. For instance, weekly class meetings, quarterly love feasts, and Friday fast days were once practiced universally among us, as was the appointment of circuit-riding ministers assisted by "exhorters" and "local preachers."
All the Fridays in the Year, except Christmas Day and the Epiphany, or any Friday which may intervene between these Feasts.
Protestants who called themselves "fundamentalists" (they believed in the literal truth of the Bible--Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals) were dry.
Although the Jewish, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal, and Lutheran traditions generally allow moderate drinking for those who can do so, it is simply incorrect to accuse them of condoning drunkenness.
Drunkenness was biblically condemned, and all denominations disciplined drunken members.
For most of Christian history, as in the Bible, moderate drinking of alcohol was taken for granted while drunkenness was condemned.
Hippolytus, a leader in the church in Rome around the year 200, compiled a record of the various customs and practices in that church from the generations that preceded him. His Apostolic Tradition contains this statement: "And let all the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering." This written evidence of the course of performance of the early Christians is corroborated by the archaeological record. The pictures we have from the second and third centuries from the catacombs and other places depict Christian women praying with a cloth veil on their heads. So the historical record is crystal clear. It reveals that the early generation of believers understood the head covering to be a cloth veil—not long hair.
One singular thing may be noted in this history, – that with all the vagaries of fashion, woman has never violated the Biblical law that bade her cover her head. She has never gone to church services bareheaded.
