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Foot washing

Devotional Practices

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Origin 30 to 400 CE

The washing of one another's feet in imitation of Christ, who washed his disciples' feet at the Last Supper and told them to do likewise. In most churches it survives as a rite of Maundy Thursday, the celebrant washing the feet of twelve; among Anabaptists, some Baptists, the Brethren and others it is kept as a standing ordinance alongside baptism and the Lord's Supper, practised at communion as an act of humility and mutual service.

Facts
Origins
Origin Period
30 to 400 CE 1
Held By
In most churches the celebrant alone washes the feet of twelve once a year on Maundy Thursday; among Anabaptists, some Baptists, the Brethren and other groups that keep it as a standing ordinance, it is practiced more widely at communion as a mutual act among members rather than a single clergy led rite. 1
Origin Period
Kept as a Maundy Thursday rite and as an ordinance in several Protestant traditions 1
Place of Origin
Jerusalem 1
Practice
Category of Practice
Foot washing is enacted liturgically within the Maundy Thursday service of the Roman Catholic, Anglican and some Lutheran traditions, and independently practised as an ordinance in some Baptist, Anabaptist and Pentecostal churches. 1
Who Performs It
All adherents of the tradition 1
Frequency
Annual 1
Solitary or Communal
Performed by a gathered group 1
Status
Status Within the Tradition
Among Anabaptists, some Baptists, the Brethren and others, foot washing is kept as a standing ordinance alongside baptism and the Lord's Supper, practiced at communion as an act of humility and mutual service. 2
Status Today
Living tradition, practised today 3
Form
Posture and Bodily Form
Kneeling to wash and dry another person's feet 1
Learn More
The Lord Who Washed Feet

Foot washing is a Christian practice derived directly from the Gospel account of the Last Supper, in which Jesus, on the night before his death, rose from the meal, girded himself with a towel, and washed the feet of his disciples, a task belonging to the lowliest servant, and then told them that they too should wash one another's feet, having given them an example. The act dramatised his teaching that the greatest must be the servant of all, and Christians have understood it ever since as a model of humility and loving service. As a ritual, foot washing enacts that lesson: the one who washes takes the servant's place, and the one whose feet are washed receives, as Peter at first reluctantly did, the humbling care of another.

The practice is observed in several forms across Christianity. In the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican traditions it is performed liturgically on Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, when a bishop, priest or, in a widely noted modern example, the Pope washes the feet of others in commemoration of Christ's act. Among various Anabaptist and other groups, Mennonites, some Brethren and Baptist congregations, foot washing is kept as a regular ordinance, practised in connection with the Lord's Supper as an ongoing observance rather than an annual commemoration, and understood by some as a third ordinance alongside baptism and communion. In all its forms the rite preserves and re-enacts one of the most vivid of Jesus's enacted teachings, translating the reversal of status at its heart into a bodily act of mutual service.

From an Annual Rite to a Standing Ordinance

Foot washing splits into two genuinely different kinds of practice depending on the tradition, and the difference is not merely how often it is performed but what kind of act each tradition understands it to be. In Catholic, Anglican and many Orthodox parishes it survives as an annual, symbolic re-enactment confined to the Maundy Thursday liturgy, the celebrant washing the feet of twelve people chosen to represent the twelve apostles, a rite whose meaning is essentially theatrical and commemorative, staged once a year to dramatise a specific gospel scene rather than functioning as an ongoing communal practice between ordinary members.

Anabaptist-descended traditions, including the Brethren churches, the Mennonites and some Baptist congregations, treat it altogether differently: as a standing ordinance on the same footing as baptism and the Lord's Supper, practised regularly at communion services among the ordinary congregation itself, member washing the feet of member in pairs, understood not as a re-enactment of a single gospel scene but as a directly commanded, continuing practice of mutual humility and service Christ instructed his followers to keep doing, often called the Love Feast when combined with a shared communal meal and communion in the same service.

Pope Francis drew considerable attention and some controversy within Catholic circles by departing from the traditional practice of washing only the feet of clergy or male parishioners, washing instead the feet of women, Muslims and prisoners at Holy Thursday services during his papacy, a deliberate widening of who receives the rite that critics read as a break with liturgical precedent and supporters read as recovering the servant posture the gospel scene itself describes.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Belongs to Tradition

Amish, Denominations

Foot washing is kept as an ordinance at the communion service, members washing one another's feet in pairs.

Anabaptism, Denominations

Foot washing is kept as an ordinance alongside baptism and the Supper in the Anabaptist bodies that descend from Dordrecht.

Source The Dordrecht Confession of FaithDutch Mennonite ministers assembled at Dordrecht
Baptist, Denominations

Foot washing is kept as a third ordinance by Free Will, Primitive and some other Baptist bodies, and not by the tradition as a whole.

Christianity, Religions
Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)
Church of Cyprus, Denominations

Kept in the Church of Cyprus, autocephalous since the Council of Ephesus in 431. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), Denominations

Foot washing is kept as an ordinance with the Lord's Supper, on the same reasoning as among the Anabaptist bodies.

Church of Greece, Denominations

Kept in the Church of Greece. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Eastern Orthodoxy, Denominations

The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Source Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic ChurchIsabel Florence Hapgood (compiler and translator)
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Denominations

Kept in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the see of first honour among the Orthodox churches. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Georgian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Georgian Orthodox Church, which has used its own language and script in worship since the fifth century. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Greek Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Greek Orthodox churches. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Mennonites, Denominations

The Dordrecht confession makes the washing of the saints' feet an ordinance in its own right, kept before or with the communion, and not a Maundy Thursday ceremony performed once a year by a celebrant.

Source The Dordrecht Confession of FaithDutch Mennonite ministers assembled at Dordrecht
National Baptist Convention of America, Denominations

Kept in the National Baptist Convention of America International. Foot washing is kept as a third ordinance by Free Will, Primitive and some other Baptist bodies, and not by the tradition as a whole.

Progressive National Baptist Convention, Denominations

Kept in the Progressive National Baptist Convention. Foot washing is kept as a third ordinance by Free Will, Primitive and some other Baptist bodies, and not by the tradition as a whole.

Roman Catholicism, Denominations

The washing of feet is kept at the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Maundy Thursday, the celebrant washing the feet of members of the congregation.

Romanian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Romanian Orthodox Church, the one Orthodox church of the Byzantine tradition whose language is Romance. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Russian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Russian Orthodox Church, in the Slavonic recension of the Byzantine books. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Serbian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Serbian Orthodox Church. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Seventh-day Adventism, Denominations

The ordinance of humility is kept before every communion service, members washing one another's feet, and it is the reason communion is celebrated quarterly rather than weekly.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Denominations

Kept in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The washing of feet is performed on Holy Thursday by a bishop, the Niptir, in the cathedral and in the great monasteries.

Element Of

African Initiated Churches, Religious Movements

Kept in some of these churches, commonly alongside communion, rather than being a mark of the whole group.

Source African Reformation: African Initiated Christianity in the Twentieth CenturyAllan H. Anderson
Charismatic Movement, Religious Movements

Practised in some of the churches the movement has reached rather than being a mark of the movement.

Source African Reformation: African Initiated Christianity in the Twentieth CenturyAllan H. Anderson
Sources
1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition
F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005Pedilavium; the MaundyView the Source
2. The Holy Bible
Anonymous (multiple authors), Robert Barker, 1611John 13:1-17View the Source
3. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source
The Dordrecht Confession of Faith
Dutch Mennonite ministers assembled at Dordrecht, 1632View the Source
Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church
Isabel Florence Hapgood (compiler and translator), Houghton Mifflin, 1906View the Source
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