Hygiene in Christianity

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 bathhouse 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 of the people through hygiene and introducing and distributing the soaps.