Ritual Purification

Ritual purity marks the Miaphysite churches. Coptic Christians wash their hands and face and take off their shoes before praying the seven daily hours of the Agpeya, and keep days of ritual purification.

In Ethiopia, where Old Testament practice weighs heavily, believers wash their hands before prayer and after meals much as Jews do. Women may not enter the church during menstruation, and the unclean stand by the church door and pray from outside during the liturgy.