Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from Christianity to Sikhism. The use of holy water as a sacramentalfor protection against evil is common among Lutherans, Anglicans, Roman Catholics,[1][2] and Eastern Christians.
In Catholicism, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and some other churches, holy water is water that has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, for the blessing of persons, places, and objects, or as a means of repelling evil.[3][4]
History
The Apostolic Constitutions, whose texts date to about the year 400 AD, attribute the precept of using holy water to the Apostle Matthew. It is plausible that the earliest Christians may have used water for expiatory and purificatory purposes in a way analogous to its employment in Jewish Law ("And he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle into it", Numbers 5:17).[5] Yet in many cases, the water used for the sacrament of Baptism was flowing water, sea- or river-water, which — in the view of the Catholic Church — could not receive the same blessing as that water contained in the baptisteries.[6] However, Eastern Orthodox Christians do perform the same blessing, whether in a baptistery or for an outdoor body of water.
Jela
1122 days ago
Katynett
1125 days ago
Jela
1125 days ago
Jela
1145 days ago
Jela
1158 days ago
bruno81
1158 days ago
Jela
1158 days ago