Churching

Churching is a special rite in the liturgical practice of historical churches ( church-glory. “The order of churching of boyhood” ), performed on the 40th day after the birth of a baby. ^[1] The order of churching includes prayers of thanks and involves the blessing of the mother and baby, their entry into the ranks of the members of the Church , if the child has already been baptized. The presbyter prays over her mother in the vestibule , reads the so-called “cleansing” prayers , so that after the birth she can again enter the church and participate in the Eucharist .

In modern practice, the church church is also sometimes referred to as the gradual introduction into the foundations of faith and piety ( catechesis ) of an adult who is about to accept the sacrament of baptism or who has already been baptized (for example, in childhood).

Content

History

Jewish practice was based on the book of Leviticus ( Lev. 12: 1-8 ), which describes the ceremonial rite that must be performed in order to restore the ritual purity of a woman. It was believed that the woman in labor remains unclean due to the outflow of blood or other fluids during childbirth. This rite was part of a ceremonial, not a moral law.

The custom of blessing a woman after childbirth is based on the description of the cleansing of the Blessed Virgin Mary , mentioned in the Gospel of Luke ( Luke 2:22 ): “And when the days of their cleansing according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present to the Lord as prescribed in the law of the Lord, that every male child opening the wives should be dedicated to the Lord. ”The bringing of the baby Jesus Christ to the Temple in Jerusalem took place on the 40th day after Christmas and on the 32nd day after Circumcision .

In the Catholic Church, the order of churching was excluded from practice in the 1960s after the decisions of the Second Vatican Council .

In the Anglican Church, the rite of “ churches of women” is still used today. In the Episcopal Church, the order of the “churching of women” after childbirth is combined with the presentation of the child to the church community.

Noncanonical use of the term

Currently, there is a non-canonical use of the term — sacred (wrongly ^[2] ) church members in relation to Orthodox Christians, who not only accepted baptism, but regularly participate in church services and in church life, striving to live in a Christian way and maintain social relations within their church community. In this context, the term "churchly" can be applied to any Christian denomination , but more often it is about Orthodoxy . Church members , that is, parishioners , are often opposed to unchurched , “ passers-by ”, “ congregation ” (baptized, who consider themselves Orthodox, but religiously ignorant or neglecting worship and the sacraments of the church).

According to the Public Opinion Foundation , in 2010 the number of Orthodox christian christians in the Russian Federation was about 4%. ^[3]

Notes

↑ The Sacraments and Rites of the Orthodox Church (Prayers to the Wife of the Congener, Four Days) // Table book of the priest . - M .: Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
↑ church-grounded // Russian spelling dictionary: about 180 000 words [Electronic version] / O. E. Ivanova , V. V. Lopatin (ed.), I. V. Nechaeva , L. K. Cheltsova . - 2nd ed., Corr. and add. - M .: Russian Academy of Sciences . Institute of Russian Language named after VV Vinogradov , 2004. - 960 p. - ISBN 5-88744-052-X .
↑ The number of Orthodox Christians in the country has increased, but the percentage of the “churched” has not changed - the survey (Unsolved) (not available link) The appeal date is November 13, 2014. Archived March 28, 2018.

Links

Churching // Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia. Volume 3. Edition of Petrograd. Supplement to the spiritual journal "Wanderer" for 1902
The review of the book “The Russian Orthodox Church: Current Status and Actual Problems” by N. A. Mitrokhin, which is very critical of the Russian Orthodox Church, including the problem of various categories of churches.
Churching (selection of articles)

[1] The Sacraments and Rites of the Orthodox Church (Prayers to the Wife of the Congener, Four Days) // Table book of the priest . - M .: Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

[2] urch-grounded // Russian spelling dictionary: about 180 000 words [Electronic version] / O. E. Ivanova , V. V. Lopatin (ed.), I. V. Nechaeva , L. K. Cheltsova . - 2nd ed., Corr. and add. - M .: Russian Academy of Sciences . Institute of Russian Language named after VV Vinogradov , 2004. - 960 p. - ISBN 5-88744-052-X .

[3] The number of Orthodox Christians in the country has increased, but the percentage of the “churched” has not changed - the survey (Unsolved) (not available link) The appeal date is November 13, 2014. Archived March 28, 2018.