what is "churching"?

[kamikat]

There was a churching at DL this morning. First, Father mentioned that she had been baptized yesturday during the litany (?, was that the right term?) then right before communion, her mom (or maybe Godmother) brought the baby to the back of the church, Father took her, help her high and said "the handmaiden of the Lord has been churched..." and some other stuff I don't remember, then he walked her up to the front of the church. If she's already been baptized, what exactly is being "churched"?

kamikat

[RobNJ]

This is JUST a guess!! ;)

Since the Saturday crowd is usually MUCH smaller than the Sunday crowd, maybe the Father was doing this as an official introduction for the rest of the congregation. Keeping in mind that a Baptized baby is officially a full member of the church.

[gzt]

It's an ancient practice common to the Latin Rite as well, though it fell out of use in this century. It is analogous to the presentation of Christ at the temple and also of Mary, the Mother of God. Both the woman and the child are churched. It's a sort of ritual expression of the mother's return to church life after the time off for childbirth and thanksgiving.

Here's a site on it from a Western perspective: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mikef/church.html

[Monica, child of God]

Here is something from the Catholic encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03761a.htm)

The Anglican BCP 1559 (http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1559/Churching_of_Women_1559.htm)

and the OCA (http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=52)

[Greg the byzantine]

40 days after the child is born the mother brings the infant to church to be blessed (as others have said it follows the tradition of the Theotokos who brought the infant Jesus to the temple forty days after his birth. What surprises me is that the infant was already baptised. I know in most traditions the churching is also the formal introduction of the new child in the church, so it's usually the baby's first time in church. Usually the baby is Christened some time after the forty day blessing, so I find it kind of odd that the baby had already been baptised (unless it had been an emergency situation) :scratch:

Interestingly enough This shows up as one of this years topics in the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival and heres what they had to say for speaker tips:
Topic 4

At the Presentation of the Lord into the Temple, Simeon said, “Lord now let Your servant depart in peace…for my eyes have seen Your salvation…” Talk about the forty-day blessing of Jesus and how this tradition continues today. (February 2)

Speaker Tips:

Orthodox Christians have a beautiful tradition of bringing a newborn child to the Church to be blessed by the priest. The forty-day blessing is an opportunity for the child to “meet” the church, not just the priest who will bless the child, but also the entire church community. This tradition is based upon the older Jewish tradition, followed by Jesus’ parents, of bringing the firstborn child to the temple and offering a pair of doves as a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the birth of a child. It was also customary for a Jewish woman to receive prayers of purification forty days after giving birth. Thus, at forty days old, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer thanksgiving to God for the birth of their child and to receive “their purification according to the law of Moses.” Read the account of Jesus’ presentation in the Temple found in the Gospel of Luke (2:22-40). The forty-day blessing practiced in the Orthodox Church is based upon this event in Jesus’ life. Instead of the Temple, Orthodox Christian parents bring the infant to the Church where the child meets, usually for the first time, the priest and the community of faithful who will be a part of the child’s Christian life. As you think about this topic, ask your priest to provide you with a copy of the service of the forty-day blessing. Perhaps, even have your Sunday School teacher read the service with the class and reenact a forty-day blessing. Or, ask your priest when the next forty-day blessing is going to take place and ask if you can observe it.

Taken from http://www.goarch.org/en/archdiocese/departments/religioused/sjcof/sjcof-guide.html

[choirfiend]

Churching usually happens right after baptism and chrismation. Those two things do not HAVE to happen in a church, and actually, a baptismal font/area was usually located "outside" the church in the narthex type area. So the churching really would be the child's introduction into the church building for the first time. Jews were already being circumcized and made a member of God's conventant at 8 days of age, but they were presented in the Temple at 40 days. This is similar to that.