N hroughout much of the story, especially in the West, women were considered ritually impure.
According to Jewish tradition, a woman, during the monthly flow was regularly bribing a state of ritual.
Such taboos against menstruation existed in pagan Greek and Roman cultures.
Through their sexual phobia, the Fathers of the Church have aggravated the fear of ritual impurity women.
Those who led the church were terrified that the impurity could desecrate the sanctity of religious buildings, especially the sanctuary and altar.
In such a climate, and so gradually growing in all aspects of sex and procreation were considered to be contaminated by sin, and theologians came to the conclusion that an 'impure creature' as the woman can not be entrusted with the care of sacred things of God.
A long series of prohibitions based on the premise of 'impurities ritual 'of women remained in the Code of Canon Law in the last 700 years.
Based on this scenario, we should not be surprised to find that the vast majority of the Fathers, canon lawyers, theologians and church leaders were of the opinion that a person 'ritually unclean 'could not be entrusted with the ministry of the Eucharist.
But it is also clear that this kind of social and cultural bias invalidates their opinion on the suitability of women.
Fear Jewish contamination with menstrual blood
The key text on the contamination of the Old Testament in Leviticus is the monthly periods from 15.19 to 30 that contains the following requirements:
"The woman who has to use his monthly blood flow, will be segregated for seven days."
"Whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening."
"And that which it has stayed on or was sitting in the days of segregation that it will be unclean.
whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and the person with water and be unclean until evening.
whoever touches any one thing on which it is sitting, shall wash his clothes and the person with water and be unclean until evening. "
"If a man will be united with her in the time of her monthly flow will be unclean for seven days, and each bed when sleep will become impure."
"The woman out of action for several days has monthly blood loss, or for which the blood does not cease after the appeal, it will be impure for the duration of that trouble, as during the monthly flow. "
"Each bed will be stayed if, like everything on which she sits shall be unclean.
Whoever touches her shall wash his clothes and the person with water and be unclean until evening. If blood will stop, and cease to flow, it will have seven days after his recovery.
The eighth day, will offer themselves to the priest, two turtle doves or two, of the tabernacle of the testimony.
The priest is to sacrifice one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and pray before the Lord for her and for her purification. "
" Teach the children of Israel, therefore, to look not lest impurity die in their uncleanness, having spotted my tabernacle that is among them. "
These laws were made even more difficult and complicated by the rabbinic tradition that followed. The consequences for women were:
"Every month, there were seven or more days during which they were considered ritually impure."
"They had to be purified after childbirth and after the birth of a son mother remains impure for 40 days, but if a child was born, the mother was considered unclean for a period twice, 80 days " (Leviticus 12.1-8).
The taboo of menstruation in Greek-Roman culture
The taboo against women during pregnancy and menstruation were common to many ancient civilizations in pre-Christian centuries. Not only women were considered to be "impure" during these periods, but ran the risk of communicating to others their impurities.
"Following contact with a woman in this state, the sour grape, the seeds become sterile, the trees wither, dry up those fruit and fruit fall only that it sit down; ... just have to be watched a swarm of bees will die immediately, while the bronze and iron rust immediately ... a dog that tasted blood, go crazy and become poisonous as its bite in anger. In addition, the bitumen that at certain times of the year is seen floating on the surface of the lake of Galilee can be reduced to pieces only by a thread that has been immersed in that the infected area. A wire from a dress is just infected. Linen, touched by a woman during the boiling or washing in water turns black. So magical is the power of women during the menstrual periods that hail and whirlwinds are drawn if the menstrual blood is exposed to the flashes of lightning " by Pliny the Elder, Natural History, book 28, chap. 23, 78 - 80, Book 7, chap. 65.
"The young vines suffer irreparably contact with a woman in that state, while the rue and ivy dry instantly."
"The plants lose their color when contacted by a woman who has menstrual bleeding on themselves."
The Latin Fathers and the taboo of menstruation
During the first five centuries Christian era, the Church of the Greek language and Syriac protected women from the worst effects of the taboo of menstruation. In the 3rd century, the caption explains that women are impure during these periods, which do not require ritual ablutions, and that their husbands should not abandon them. The Apostolic Constitutions have repeated this reassuring message. In 601, Pope Gregory I received this vision. The menstruating women should not be kept out of the church and removed from the communion. But this truly Christian message was unfortunately killed by an intensified effect in later centuries.
the Latin Fathers that were reintroduced hysteria sexual phobia in Christian morality. He began Tertullian (155-245) when he declared that the legal marriage 'is tainted by lust'. Saint Jerome (347-419) continued this line of thought, teaching that corruption affects all aspects of sexual relations, even marriage. Marriage, with all the filth of sex, would come only after the fall of Eve. Little wonder then that St. Jerome believes that 'the menstrual fluid' makes women unclean.
becoming man, Jesus tolerated the "revolting conditions" of the uterus.
abstaining from sex a woman can become as a man. "
A married woman is holy only if you live like a virgin.
Virginity is the original and pure human condition, and the marriage was sin.
Sant 'Agostino (354-430) was no exception. 'Pleasure' during intercourse is associated with lust, the consequence of sin. In marriage, sex is a sin, even if 'venial'. The 'pleasure' of the relationship is, in fact, the means by which manifested itself original sin. Thus, the human seed is corrupt. He, too, it was clear that a menstruating woman could never serve as a priest at the altar.
Sexual relations within marriage are allowed only because of human weakness, or to generate children.
If Adam and Eve had not sinned, God would have created their children without having sexual intercourse.
Sexual relationships that exist in have children without marriage is a venial sin.
Jesus was not born of a sexual relationship, namely the 'sin of the flesh'.
Shame reports proving its origin from sin.
Lust, even in a good marriage, passes through the original sin.
The carnal pleasure in marriage is a consequence of original sin.
Because of original sin, the human seed is corrupt.
desire in the sexual organs is a sign of lust caused by sin.
pleasure in marriage is a disease.
A good Christian avoids any union with his wife and sexual intercourse.
The perfect Christian couple living as brother and sister.
'pleasure' during intercourse is a vehicle of original sin.
The practice in the Church over the centuries
Already in 241 Dionysius, Archbishop of Alexandria, wrote: "Menstruating women should not come to the altar, or touch the Holy of Holies, nor come to church, but pray elsewhere. " These items were rare in the Church of the East, where the deacons were used in all dioceses.
The real problem however was in the West, in the dioceses of the Latin language, the 'North Africa' s Italy, France and Britain.
The Council of Carthage (local council) in North Africa (in 345) introduced strict rules of abstinence for the bishops, priests and deacons.
The local councils in France: Orange (441) and Epaon (517), decreed that no woman in their region was ordained a deacon. The obvious reason was the fear that women menstruating desecrate the church.
Pope Gelasius I (494) protested the fact that women serve at the altar.
The Diocesan Synod of Auxerre (588) decreed that women should cover their hands with a cloth at the time of receiving Communion.
The Synod of Rouen (650) forbade the priests handing the cup in the hands of women or help them in the distribution of communion.
Bishop Timothy of Alexandria (680) established that couples abstain from reports on Saturdays and Sundays and the day before receiving communion. Also agreed that menstruating women would not receive communion, could not be baptized or go to church on Easter Sunday.
Bishop Teodoro Canterbury (690), ignoring the letter of Pope Gregory to his predecessor, he forbade any menstruating women to visit the church and receive Holy Communion. The mother remains impure for forty days after giving his life.
Teodolfo Bishop of Orleans (820) forbade women to enter the sanctuary. Also: "Women should be reminded of their weakness, and the inferiority of their sex and therefore should be afraid to touch anything that is sacred in the ministry of the Church."
The scholastic theologians el 'ritual impurity of women
rhetoric against alleged ritual impurity of women was continued by the medieval theologians.
"Women are not allowed to visit the church during menstruation or after childbirth. Because the menstruating woman is an animal. Through contact with his blood the fruits ripen. The must degenerates, the grass is dry and the trees drop their fruit prematurely. Iron rusts and the air becomes dark. When dogs the taste, they become angry. " Paucapalea, Summa, Dist 5, p. § 1 v.
Women may not distribute Communion to the sick and must stay out of the church after the birth. Here are the reasons: "That blood is so execrable and impure, as Giulio Solinus wrote in the book 'the miracles of the world', his contacts fruits do not mature, plants wither, the grass dies, the trees lose their fruits, the air becomes dark, the dogs become rabid ... And reports at the time of the menstrual period is very risky. Not only because of impurity of blood must be prevented from contacting a menstruating women: from those reports are generated abnormal fetuses. " Rufinus, Summa Decretorum, passim.
Women can not touch any sacred object. The birth of a child carries a double curse: "There were two commandments in the Law (Old Testament), the first relating to the mother giving birth, the second one who is born. Regarding the mother, if gave birth to a son, she was to refrain from entering the Temple for forty days as an unclean person: because the fetus conceived in, said to remain for forty shapeless days. But if a girl is born, the period of time was doubled, for the menstrual blood that accompanies birth, viewed as particularly unclean because his contact, as stated Solinus, fruits and herbs wilt. But because the time for a female child was doubled? This is the answer: because a double curse lies on the woman. For she carries the curse of Adam and the punishment 'you will give birth in pain'. Or perhaps because, as medical science reveals, at conception daughters stay informed for twice as long compared to males. " Sicardo of Cremona, Mitral V, chap. 11.
Prejudice on 'ritual uncleanness' of women has led to a long list of prohibitions in ecclesiastical law.
The supposed 'ritual uncleanness' of women entered the Church Law Gratiani especially through the Decretum (1140), which became official Church law in 1234, as a vital part of the Corpus Juris, which remained in force until 1916.
Women may not distribute Communion.
A woman does not can teach.
A woman can not teach or baptize.
A woman can not touch the sacred objects.
A woman can not touch or wear vestments.
The ritual prohibitions against women in the Corpus Juris (composed of rules collections formed between the buckets. XIII and XV and "formalized" with the Council of Trent in sec. XVI and then, in sec. XX, the Code of Canon Law, Codex Iuris Canonici 1917) can be detected with other examples:
A woman can not be ordered.
A woman can not, under normal circumstances, be baptized.
A woman can not touch the body.
A woman can not receive communion during menstrual periods.
A woman can not receive communion in the hands if the hands are covered with a tablecloth or on the tongue.
A woman should be veiled when receiving communion.
A woman can not sing in church.
The prohibition for women to 'sing in the church' was repeated several times by the Sacred Congregation for the Liturgy. 'Girls or women may not be members of any choir' (Decree 17 settembre.1897 ). "Women can not be part of the chorus. Chorus of women are completely separated forbidden, except for special reasons and with the permission of the bishop " (Decree of 22 November 1907). "Any kind of a mixed choir of men and women, even if they stand away from the altar, is totally forbidden" (Decree 18 December 1908).
The Code of Canon Law, promulgated in 1917, contains the following royalty based on the idea of \u200b\u200britual impurity of women
Women must last to be chosen to administer baptism.
Women may not distribute holy communion.
Girls or women are not allowed to serve Mass at the altar.
Only men can be ordained to Holy Orders.
Women must have their heads veiled in church.
the sacred garments should be washed by a man before he can touch a woman.
Women can not preach in church.
Women can not read the Holy Scriptures in the church.
The reversal in 1983 (?)
The new Code of Canon Law (1983) marks a lot of improvements in 'status' of women in the Church. Although it retains the prohibition against the ordination of women, and also reserves the readership and the Ministry of acoli only to men, has finally reversed the position of the Church to affirm that women, 'for temporary deputation', can make these ministries in the Church.
Women may be players of the Holy Scriptures during liturgical functions;
Serve Mass.
commentators during ' Eucharist;
Preachers of the Word;
Singers and singers, both as soloists and as members of the choir;
Executives of liturgical services;
Ministers of Baptism:
can distribute communion.
Through these changes the ecclesiastical law and practice, the official Church has finally recognized, with some exceptions, that his bias against women based on 'ritual uncleanness' was unfounded. Because Church leaders can not reach the obvious conclusion that the prohibition of the ordination of women, based on this and other prejudices, is totally invalid?
In the past many Fathers, canon lawyers, theologians and Church leaders were of the opinion that women could not be ordained priests because their menstrual periods were making 'ritually unclean'.
If women were not allowed to approach the altar, to touch the sacred vestments or altar chalices, if they could not enter a church during menstruation or after childbirth, and so on, as could imagine that women could preside over the Eucharist at the altar?
E 'is undeniable, therefore, that their opposition women priests was justified to a large extent, with the prejudice that women represent a risk ritual.
E 'is also clear that social and cultural bias invalidated their opinion on whether the ordination of women.
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