Historical Origins And Development Of Footwashing

At the Last Supper Jesus gave special meaning to an ordinary custom of the Mediterranean world. Associated with the Lord's Supper and with baptismal rites in the early church, footwashing survived as part of the bishop's Maundy Thursday ritual, as a regular practice in monasteries, and as part of court ceremonial. At the same time, based on John 13, medieval and Reformation sects retained footwashing as a regular part of the Communion liturgy. From Mediterranean Custom to Monastic and Royal Ceremony Although practiced by more than one hundred denominations in North America, liturgical footwashing-"the sacrament that almost made it"-remains an enigma to many modern religious persons. Even among practitioners, who are chronologically and usually geographically removed from first-century Palestinian culture, the ritual's meaning is polyvalent. The bodily practice of washing another person's feet has its origins in an Eastern custom of hospitality and was practiced throughout much of …