tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post4059724334735208472..comments2024-03-22T11:37:52.668-05:00Comments on Byzantine, Texas: On ritual impurityByzantine, TXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17845681957622343484noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-32897201672276018012013-01-16T21:41:24.892-06:002013-01-16T21:41:24.892-06:00Every woman is different, I suppose. I'm just ...Every woman is different, I suppose. I'm just speaking for how I personally would've felt in my 20s. I was a rather staunch feminist in those days. Mind, there are somethings in feminism I question as well. I'm trying to understand but it's difficult for me when I see men getting what are considered privileges but women seeming less than. Not sure if this makes sense but it's like men can imitate Christ but if a woman can't really imitate the Theotokos, she's set apart from the rest of us. Sometimes that makes me feel sad, but oh well...lord, help my unbelief in this case, eh?SabrinaTheArizonaDesertRosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04603148816744873455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-12724078382441178692013-01-16T17:40:55.220-06:002013-01-16T17:40:55.220-06:00I can't say that I agree with you. My wife tak...I can't say that I agree with you. My wife takes her 40 days and is overjoyed to have services welcoming her back to the church. A churching is also done for our children (boy or girl) as a welcome to the church. I'm reading the prayers for these services and not finding anything antiquated or embarrassing in them. I also don't see much in them or in the larger tradition of the Church that says women or sex are dirty. Byzantine, TXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17845681957622343484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-31331378188549295442013-01-16T16:41:13.518-06:002013-01-16T16:41:13.518-06:00Sorry...doing a repost. In a way I'm glad I wa...Sorry...doing a repost. In a way I'm glad I wasn't Orthodox when I gave birth to my daughter. I think I would've raised my hackles at the idea of "uncleanness" in childbirth. No matter how pretty a spin some give it,it still comes down to the sexist notion that some think women and sex are dirty...and then we wonder why non-believes make fun of us Christians? I have to admit this is one of the more embarrassing aspects for me because it's hard to explain to others why I belong to a church that still has such antiquated notions on women. Maybe I shouldn't say that, but that's how I feel sometimes when I see things that are imposed on the woman but not on the man.SabrinaTheArizonaDesertRosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04603148816744873455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-1589973813706471872013-01-16T16:36:28.502-06:002013-01-16T16:36:28.502-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.SabrinaTheArizonaDesertRosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04603148816744873455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-76913083494644627702012-12-13T15:39:39.642-06:002012-12-13T15:39:39.642-06:00I bore four children and never, ever had any femin...I bore four children and never, ever had any feminist-inspired revulsion toward the prayers. Sinful situation? No. After four C-sections, however, I'll testify that one sure does feel quite unclean and defiled! As for the forty days, I always thought that the Church was brilliantly ahead of its time in recognizing that a mother and baby need those weeks to recover from birth trauma and to grow close in love to each other.<br /><br />Also, the writer "ofgrace" is correct in what she says. A readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00330876142449304359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-26513384712666302952012-12-12T13:38:42.992-06:002012-12-12T13:38:42.992-06:00Steve, sounds like that would be very pertinent. W...Steve, sounds like that would be very pertinent. Where would one look for that information?ofgracehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15472912900056438243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-21431400972192803522012-12-12T08:59:34.577-06:002012-12-12T08:59:34.577-06:00Fr. John, this really doesn't negate your poin...Fr. John, this really doesn't negate your point, but you do realize, don't you, that hospitals in some important ways are among the most dangerous places on earth for someone with a vulnerable immature immune system to be (and for many others also) because of the virulent strains of bacteria that exist there (despite sanitation protocols) because of the many ill and infected people treated there. The safest place for a woman to give birth in the developed world today (assuming a normal healthy pregnancy, etc.) is in her own home where she has well-established immunity to all the organisms there and passes them on to her newborn. I learned this from the Christian doctors of a local homebirth practice I used when I was having my children. I also learned from the head of that medical practice that the fourth leading cause of death in this country is conventional medical <em>treatment</em>--not just medical error, but treatment. Medical error is the third leading cause of death in this country.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing your insights as to the place of these rites in the Church.ofgracehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15472912900056438243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-81539927831822955182012-12-12T08:22:48.648-06:002012-12-12T08:22:48.648-06:00I am really surpirsed that the article did not eve...I am really surpirsed that the article did not even bother to mention the results of the Pan-Orthodox Consultations on Women about 20 years ago on this topic.Steve_Barriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01700596373993979010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-51895630566097545712012-12-11T22:23:17.167-06:002012-12-11T22:23:17.167-06:00I forgot to add that a woman giving birth is in co...I forgot to add that a woman giving birth is in contact with the holy process of creating life. That makes a sinful human ritually unclean. In any case we can explain the prayers as thanksgiving that the woman has survived the ordeal of child birth. Archpriest John Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15248014086614317924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73042886598650075.post-32531149131181548762012-12-11T22:20:30.903-06:002012-12-11T22:20:30.903-06:00I take these prayers as a prayer for the health of...I take these prayers as a prayer for the health of the mother and that the placenta will come out without harming her. We should remember that in the past child birth was very dangerous and that many women died, probably from unsanitary conditions especially since most births were at home and not in the sanitary environment of a hospital. Therefore, we have to put these prayers in their historical context. Now everything is sanitary. I remember that I had to put on a surgical gown when I was with my wife during the birth of two children. Archpriest John Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15248014086614317924noreply@blogger.com