In some denominations of Christianity, there are a number of regulations involving cleanliness before prayer, observing days of ritual purification, 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 complex public rituals of social etiquette. Certain Christian rules of purity have implications for bodily hygiene and observing cleanliness, including sexual hygiene, menstruation and toilet etiquette. In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church male circumcision is an established practice. 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. The rite of footwashing employed a basin of water and linen towels, done in the imitation of Christ. Christianity has always placed a strong emphasis on hygiene, and water plays a role in the Christian rituals. The Church also built public bathing facilities that were separate for both sexes near monasteries and pilgrimage sites; also, the Catholic popes situated baths within church basilicas and monasteries since the Early Middle Ages. Public bathhouses were common in medieval Christendom larger towns and cities such as Constantinople, Rome, Paris, Regensburg and Naples. Many Christian monastic communities throughout history have emphasized cleanliness and hygiene as part of their spiritual practice. Protestant Christianity also played a prominent role in the development of the spas in Northern Europe. A major contribution of the Christian missionaries in Africa, Asia and other places was better health care through hygiene and the introduction and distribution of soaps.
Bible The Bible has many rituals of purification in areas ranging from the mundane private rituals of personal hygiene and toilet etiquette to the complex public rituals of social etiquette. The Bible also 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.
Old Testament
The Old Testament requires immersion of the body in water as a means of purification in several circumstances, for example:
And when the zav is cleansed of his issue, then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes; and he shall bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean. There are also references to hand-washing:
And whoever the zav touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. I will wash my hands in innocency; so will I compass Thine altar, O LORD. Priests were required to wash their hands and feet before service in the Temple:
Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and the base thereof of brass, whereat to wash; and thou shalt put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat; when they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to cause an offering made by fire to smoke unto the LORD.
Book of Leviticus
With sacrifice and priesthood established, chapters 11–15 in the Book of Leviticus instruct 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. Ritual purity is essential for an Israelite to be able to approach Yahweh and remain part of the community. Uncleanliness threatens holiness; chapters 11–15 review the various causes of uncleanliness and describe the rituals which will restore cleanliness. One is to maintain cleanliness through observation of the rules on sexual behaviour, family relations, land ownership, worship, sacrifice, and observance of holy days. 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 thus pollutes the holy dwelling place. Failure to purify the sacred space ritually could result in God's leaving, which would be disastrous.
New Testament
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 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. According to Christian tradition, the Pharisees carried the practice of ablution to great excess. The Gospel of Mark refers to their ceremonial ablutions: "For the Pharisees…wash their hands 'oft'" or, more accurately, "with the fist" (R.V., "diligently"); or, as Theophylact of Bulgaria explains it, "up to the elbow," referring to the actual word used in the Greek New Testament, πυγμή pygmē, which refers to the arm from the elbow to the tips of the fingers. In the Book of Acts, Paul and other men performed ablution before entering the Temple in Jerusalem: "Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them."
History
Early Christianity
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