Is it possible to enter the same river twice. Is it possible to enter an Orthodox church without covering yourself with a scarf if a choir festival is taking place there? "He knows me like no one else"


It is widely believed that a woman with menstrual bleeding is strictly forbidden to enter the temple, and, moreover, to take the sacrament. Is it really so? And what is the reason for so much controversy around this issue? No one can give an exact answer to it. In any books and other sources there is no mention or confirmation that such a ban exists. But still, behind the scenes, they try to stick to it. Even the clergy cannot provide uniform information. Around this issue there are many interpretations with different opinions.

As it was before?

In the most ancient part of the Bible - the Old Testament, it was said that "unclean" people should not enter the temple. This category included:

  • patients with leprosy;
  • all who suffer from purulent-inflammatory diseases;
  • people who have defiled themselves by touching a decaying body (corpse);
  • women with physiological bleeding.

There was an opinion that it was impossible to visit the temple in any of these conditions.

An interesting fact: at a time when mothers who gave birth to a boy were allowed into the church 40 days after birth, a girl - after 80.

What do they think now?

Under the New Testament, adjustments were made to the list of people who should not go to church. Although certain restrictions for women have not gone away. The prohibition of visiting the temple by women during menstruation began to be conditioned by considerations of hygiene.

It has always been believed that the temple is Holy place and blood is not to be shed on its territory. Previously, there were no reliable hygiene products for protection, so church visits were prohibited for women during menstruation.

There is another opinion why a woman cannot attend the temple with menstruation. Who is responsible for the expulsion of the human race from the gardens of Paradise? On a woman. This is probably why female representatives were not allowed to see God. Apparently, so as not to remind of long-standing misdeeds. For this reason, during menstruation, as well as for forty days after the birth of the baby, until the postpartum hemorrhage ends, the woman is not allowed to enter the temple.

To date, there is no justified ban on female visits to the temple during menstruation. There are chapters in the Testament in which the disciples spoke out that the desecration of faith brings evil that comes from the human heart, and not physiological secretions. In the New Testament, the main emphasis is placed on the inner spirituality of a person, and not on natural processes that do not depend on him.

Is it forbidden for a woman to go to church during her period?

Human blood must not be shed in the temple. If, for example, a person in a church cuts his finger and starts bleeding, he must leave it until the bleeding stops. IN otherwise, it will be considered that the holy place was defiled, and there was a need for its re-illumination.

It can be concluded that during menstruation, if you use high-quality hygiene products (pads, tampons), you can go to church, since there will be no shedding of human blood. At the same time, the opinions of the clergy on this issue differ, some even contradict each other.

Some believe that women with menstrual bleeding should not be in the church. You can enter, read a prayer and leave. Others, adherents of more radical views, say that it is strictly forbidden for the female sex to visit the church during menstruation. However, there are those who assure that menstruation should in no way affect behavior, that there is no need to change anything in church life during this period, you need to continue to read prayers, light candles, confess and take communion.

Supporters of both views can provide evidence for their own judgments, although they can be challenged. Those who support the first opinion are based largely on information from the Old Testament, saying that in ancient times women with bleeding should have been kept away from the people and the church. But there is no clear explanation as to why this should be so. Because in those days, women had the fear of staining a holy place with blood due to the fact that there were no necessary hygiene products.

Adherents of the opposite opinion claim that even then women went to the temple. For example, the Greeks (this is their difference from the Slavs) did not illuminate the church, so no defilement could occur. In these places, women, even during physiological discharges, could venerate icons and did not change anything in their ordinary church life.

It was often noted that in this physiological process there is no woman's fault. And yet, in ancient times, women in Russia avoided going to church these days.

Some of the saints made statements that nature gave women a generous gift, endowing them with this unique ability to cleanse the body. They argued that the phenomenon was created by the Almighty, therefore, there can be no talk of dirt and uncleanliness.

It would be wrong to deny the female sex access to the temple during menstruation, based on data from the Old Testament. If you carefully and deeply study the church, you can come to the conclusion that the ban on visiting the temple during menstruation is already obsolete.

How to proceed anyway?

Girls are allowed to visit the temple on all days. Considering the opinion more clergy, and during menstruation, this can be done. But it would be better these days to refuse to conduct the sacrament of baptism and weddings. It is advisable, if possible, not to touch crosses, icons and other shrines. In addition, the church calls on these days not to confess and not to take communion.

Video: is it possible for women to enter the temple on critical days


We have already written on this topic more than once. We talked about in which cases it is worth giving a relationship a second chance, and in which it is better not to try, when a new life can turn out well, and when it is definitely doomed to failure. And all the cases under consideration boiled down to the fact that there was some kind of stumbling block in the relationship - either betrayal, or quarrels, or fundamental differences in views and actions.

And what to do in a similar situation, if nothing “such” happened between people, and the relationship simply went to “none”? For example, it happens that a couple breaks up, simply because something has been lost, it has become uninteresting, something does not agree in their views, although this is not critical, but they no longer want to live together. And after some time, both realize that without each other it seems to be even worse, and maybe it’s worth getting back together, but the question arises: “is the game worth the candle?”. Will it be possible to build something in a new way, will such renewed relations have a future, will they be able to develop?

Many are afraid to take this step, guided by the well-known principle “you cannot enter the same river twice”. But, on the other hand, you don’t want to step on your desires either - after all, there is a craving to try everything again. So is it really not worth reviving past relationships when they have outlived themselves? Are such renewed meetings always doomed to repeated failure? Let's figure it out.

Any wisdom of all times and peoples is not a universal thing. There are billions of people, characters, situations, feelings and desires on Earth, and each of them has its own life. The meaning behind the phrase “you cannot enter the same river twice” is also wider than it seems. You cannot repeat a specific moment at a specific point in time, you cannot go back and change something, etc. But you can start something anew, you can start with changes, you can understand something, rethink and start new life. All this applies to relationships too.

Let there be no serious ups and downs and cataclysms in your life together, terrible betrayals, scandals, and, but something nevertheless transferred her from the rank of “happy” to the rank of “none”. Try to analyze, search, compare exactly when yours turned into a routine. This will be a very promising step towards a successful relationship, because it is precisely such things that will make your “river” not “the same”, but completely new.

If you both have thoughts like “wouldn’t you try again”, the most important thing is not to be afraid! Remember that there are a lot of examples, and you can’t talk about statistics and life situations at all, when people, after parting after a certain period of time, converged again and remained happy for many years. What difference does it make what was in a couple, how did they go their way, did they break up, were there critical moments if they want to be together again? .

If you realized during some time spent in or meetings with other people that you want to be with this person familiar to you, then why not try to start all over again or simply, having changed something a little, continue again. This is absolutely normal. Of course, no one guarantees you that now everything will be fine, but if the situation is at least a little close to the one where both people want to be together internally, they want to change something, they have realized something, they will do something according to new, why not?

However, before making a responsible decision, sort out your feelings and thoughts on the shelves:

* Do you still have feelings for this person or is it just boredom from loneliness? If there is at least a small spark of love in the soul, it’s great, in the end, no matter what happens in the life of lovers, it is this feeling that helps them survive any troubles and troubles. When you want to return only because you are somehow more familiar together, then be prepared for the fact that nothing enchanting will happen in your relationship - most likely, everything will be the same as before. So it’s better to either abandon this idea and not waste time in vain, or simply obviously accept for yourself that it is for the sake of this monotonous and familiar calmness that you converge, and not demand anything more from life or from your partner.

* What exactly are you looking forward to in this renewed relationship? If you still want to change your soul mate in some way, then it is better to discuss this issue with her in advance, and not wait for the weather by the sea a second time, complaining about an unsuccessful personal life. In the event that you are ready to just be with this person, establish for yourself that you are “just together” and without pretensions, and time will tell.

* Has anything changed with you or your partner in intentions, actions, understanding of relationships? If not, then again think, will you need the SAME relationship as you were? If one of you is already ready for some serious changes or steps - that's great, consider that both of you only benefited from such a separation, as you were able to feel the situation from the outside.

But in general, you don’t need to be afraid of anything, you don’t need to think about rules and stereotypes when there are feelings inside. It is better to do something again and regret than to refuse it and then regret the rest of it.

Many people know that they do not enter the same river twice. But there is at least one feeling that proves that the impossible is possible! And it's called love. Love pushes people to commit unimaginable, strange and unusual things. It gives a person the opportunity to move forward. But sometimes you need to go back to understand where to go next. Wherever a person moves backwards or forwards, his advantage is that he moves! After all, everyone knows that movement is the main source for the continuation of life. Why are people so afraid to go back, to step into the same river twice? Because their lives are riddled with stereotypes and fears. They are afraid to go against the public, they are afraid of being misunderstood not only by the people around them, but also by the person for whom they are returning back.

But all the same, there are such daredevils in the world who go for it, because they love so much that they see no other way out of this situation. Many do not understand and even condemn them.

But how do those who nevertheless enter the same river twice argue? Extremely simple. Firstly, they realize that if they do not try to return their love, then in the future they will regret it for the rest of their lives. Secondly, an attempt is not torture, and thirdly, so that no one speaks, but a person has the right to make a mistake, as well as a second chance. Those who knock on a closed door still have a chance that it will be opened again, and they use this opportunity and go to the end.

Even if the second attempt is unsuccessful, the person will know that he made every effort to turn the tide.

It is difficult to dispute the fact that a person who does this has courage and is most likely a real romantic who believes in miracles and in the power that lies in such a feeling as love.

A person who dares to step into the same river twice believes in the best with all his being and confirms by his example that no matter how hard it is, but sometimes it is possible and necessary to return to the past. Because without the past there is no future.

In addition to all this, on the way to this river, a person grows up, because he overestimates, reconsiders his views on the past. While he is returning, he also has time to think and understand where exactly he made a mistake on the first attempt and what needs to be done in order not to repeat it again.

In this case, it is important to try to achieve someone again, clearly realizing that without this person the world is not nice to you, that you really love him. A positive attitude and belief in the best is very important here.

In such a situation, it is important at the very beginning of the journey to very clearly understand for yourself that everything may not end as well and rosy as you would like it to. So, you need to be ready to let go of the one you love, no matter how hard it is for you. And let go with peace, with love, and not with anger and despair in the soul. After all, if you truly love someone, you always wish him only the best, even if the one you love wants to go forward without you.

Sometimes it happens that, tired of a hopeless, painful, dead-end relationship, you decide to part with your partner, and if you don’t run away from him for three seas, then at least delete his number from your contact list, block him in Viber, FB and Vkontakte. It would seem that they parted, now live and rejoice. But here there is a risk of falling into the trap of memory, which helpfully begins to slip pleasant memories of the time when you were together.

And now, after some time, you suddenly begin to understand that you made a mistake, and make a new decision - to return to your former soul mate. We bring to your attention some "myths", the belief in which fuels our desire to resume broken relationships.

"This time will be different"

Everything flows, everything changes, and, of course, everything will be different. But it must be taken into account that, most likely, in this case, "otherwise" means - not better, but worse than it was before. As a rule, after returning, partners notice each other's virtues even less than before parting, and more and more "fixate" on shortcomings and negative aspects. They remember and, with the meticulousness of an accountant, calculate the grievances caused to each other, but they try to correct them and change attitudes for the better extremely rarely and without enthusiasm.

"He became completely different"

Belief in miracles is, of course, very nice, but people do not change so easily and so quickly. Therefore, it is unlikely that your partner, during your absence from his life, has abandoned the habits that irritated you so much before, and replaced them with pleasant virtues. To change, a person needs a good reason, a great desire, strong motivation and hard work on himself. So, before you run back, you need to ask yourself the question: does your partner have at least one reason to change in the direction you want?

"He knows me like no one else"

Well, yes, that's exactly what it is. He really knows about you, if not everything, then a lot. But how can knowing that you're confusing porters with Swiss, or that you've dreamed of having a raccoon all your life and you've been given hamsters all the time, make your relationship happier this time than it was before? After all, this knowledge has already once not helped you maintain a relationship.

"Each one is worse than the last"

From the scenario according to which “everyone is bad around, and is it possible to find someone better among them?” should definitely go out. Otherwise, you voluntarily doom yourself to painful relationships based on the fear of being alone, and not on mutual love. The way out is actually simple: never compare your current partner with your ex, especially at the beginning of an acquaintance. Because ninety times out of a hundred, the ex will seem better, this is such an illusion that you created yourself. Perhaps because of the fear of entering into a new relationship.

"No one, but mine"

The most common myth and the most common mistake in a relationship is the belief that even if the partner is "so-so", but his own and has long been familiar. Who knows if someone will meet better, and here, albeit a nightmarish, boring, joyless, but really stable and familiar relationship. This is a quirk of the human brain, which perceives losses more sharply than gains. For example, it seems more attractive to ride a hare in an electric train than to find the same 30 rubles on the street, although in both cases we are dealing with the same amount. The same principle works in relationships. But is it really better to live your whole life with someone who doesn’t seem to be really needed than, even if not now, but in a year or two or three, to meet a person next to whom “happiness” will cease to be just a word?

"Dating websites? This is not for me"

For some, registering on a dating site is like catching some kind of infection. Such a biased attitude deprives you of the opportunity to meet new people, have a good time and, at least, stop sighing over the former, and this is already an achievement. In addition, we would not be so dismissive of virtual dating, because according to statistics, only 37 percent of those who met on the Internet stop communicating after the first date. The remaining 63 percent, in our opinion, is a very promising figure.

"Let's stay friends"

Friendships between exes are usually not viable. Because in the end it still turns out that it was an attempt by one of the partners to regain “his own”, which, in principle, is absolutely normal. But a sincere desire to be friends with ex-lovers may indicate mental disorder. There is something to think about, isn't it?

"Maybe I'm exaggerating?"

It also happens, especially if the reason for your breakup was not entirely dependent on you: your relatives were actively against it, or the work involved living in different cities. Might be worth trying again if that's the case. But, alas, as a rule, the reasons for the breakup are more serious, for example, the partner’s alcoholism or his betrayal. This can no longer be considered an exaggeration. This is the most objective reason for parting.