One of the reasons for the reluctance to attend the church is often the strict clothing requirements that exist in the Orthodox Church. In particular, a ban on trousers may repel women.
The ban on women's trousers in the church is not as straightforward as it might seem. Some Christians observe it so zealously that they don’t put on trousers not only when visiting the temple, but also in everyday life. Other women indicate that when comparing trousers and a miniskirt, the first option looks much more modest.
Paradoxically, there is no consensus on women's trousers even among priests.
Pants like men's clothing
Now few people, except historians, remember that once wearing trousers when visiting a temple was forbidden even to men. In the 9th century, the Bulgarian prince Boris almost refused the baptism of Bulgaria due to the fact that the Byzantine priesthood demanded to ban his subjects
.wearing pants, and not only in the temple: this form of clothing, not characteristic of Byzantium, was considered "pagan".
In later eras, no one saw anything in men's trousers that would be contrary to the Christian faith, and women did not wear trousers until modern times. Thus, trousers were understood as an attribute of a male.
The ban on dressing in clothes of the opposite sex - for both men and women - is contained in the Old Testament, and the New Testament did not cancel it. To a certain extent, this behavior was associated with non-traditional sexual orientation, which is also condemned by the Bible, but there was another reason.
Dressing in clothes of the opposite sex was characteristic of pagan rites of a magical nature. Magic and everything connected with it was always condemned by the Church; this condemnation also extended to women wearing men’s clothing, especially in the church.
But it is for this reason that some modern priests say that you should not hold so tightly to this ban. Pants have long lost the status of exclusively men's clothing; there are ladies' trousers that no man will wear. It is impossible to say about the woman in such trousers that she put on men's clothing, therefore, there is no reason not to let her into the temple.
