The Christian church has never denied the difference between a man and a woman. For the modern world, seeking to erase these differences, this approach often becomes the reason for accusations of "gender discrimination." One of the burning issues are the limitations associated with women's critical days. The question of restrictions for women in critical days was raised in the first centuries of the existence of Christianity, theologians answered it in different ways.
Background
At the dawn of the history of the Christian church, in some communities there was an extreme point of view. It was believed that a woman during critical days did not have the right not only to partake of communion, but also to pray, touch the scripture, and even listen to how they read it, because at this time, the Holy Spirit moves away from the woman, replaced by an unclean spirit.
This approach is associated with the Old Testament tradition, where a great place was occupied by the idea of ​​cleanliness and impurity. All that was associated with death, including bleeding, was considered unclean. This attitude to bleeding, including menstruation, existed in paganism, but in the Old Testament religion it had a special meaning.
Death in the Bible is interpreted as a consequence of the fall of man. Therefore, any reminder of it, including monthly female bleeding, is a reminder of human sinfulness, therefore it makes a person "unclean", makes him stay away from religious life. In Old Testament times, Jewish women were indeed forbidden to take part in prayer during critical days, moreover, it was impossible to touch a woman at that time, they isolated her.
In Christianity, which had as its basis the victory of the Savior over sinfulness and death, such a unique approach could no longer be. Discussions regarding women's critical days have not stopped for centuries. Some theologians, seeing in body impurity an image of spiritual uncleanness, forbade women to receive communion these days (St. Dionysius, St. John Postnik, St. Nicodemus Svyatorets), while others considered female bleeding to be a natural process and did not see any obstacles to communion during critical days (St. Clement of Rome, St. Gregory the Doubles).
