Drinking alcohol in fasting is a topic on which many copies have been broken. On the one hand, fasting is a time when you need to give up many pleasures, on the other hand, how difficult it is sometimes! Numerous quotations from Scripture containing praise of guilt also bring confusion into the minds. But first, let’s find out what kind of wine the Fathers of the Church write about and how they advise to use it.
Even in ancient times, people noticed that raw water can make you sick. But in the old days, boiling water was not so readily available: it was too expensive to fire up a wood-burning stove to make a cup of herbal tea. In the southern countries, where the problem was especially acute due to the heat, people adapted to disinfect water with wine.
Dry wine is a drink with a strength of 9-16 degrees. Those who drank undiluted wine were considered bitter drunkards, even those who diluted the drink in a 1: 1 ratio were looked askance in society. The ratio of the amount of wine to the amount of water was 1:2, or even 1:4. It turned out to drink with a strength of 2-4 degrees. The poor people added fruit vinegar to the water instead of wine. A person’s lack of funds to buy wine or vinegar was regarded as a sign of extreme poverty.
Christianity originated in the Middle East, and the Church Charter reflects local realities. The Typikon, a book that regulates the order of eating during fasts, was written on the basis of the charters of Palestinian monasteries (mainly the monastery of Sava the Sanctified near Jerusalem), taking into account the tradition of Mount Athos.
The apostles and theologians treated wine as a product that maintains strength and improves health. The Apostle Paul, addressing his disciple Timothy, advised him: “From now on, drink not only water, but use a little wine, for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments (1 Timothy, 5:23).”
In the Typicon, wine is mentioned along with other foods and drinks, for example, oil (vegetable oil), kvass or dill (herbal decoction). So, if the Annunciation falls on Good Friday, then dishes with vegetable oil are prohibited, but it is allowed to drink wine with food. On Great Saturday: “Gives the brethren a single okrukh of bread, half a liter of loaves and 6 figs or dates, and one measure of a cup of wine. And where there is no wine, the brethren drink kvass from honey or from zhit.
Moreover, the 51st Canon of the Apostles says: “If anyone, a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or in general from the sacred order, retires from marriage and meat and wine, not for the sake of the feat of abstinence, but because of abhorrence … or let it be corrected , or let him be cast out of the holy order, and cast out of the church. So is the layman.” However, this saying should not be taken as a permission for drunkenness, but as a warning to those who abhor wine during communion.
Alcohol abuse in Christianity is considered a grave sin. The same apostle Paul forbade his flock to “get drunk with wine”: “It is better not to drink wine, and not to do anything by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or faints” (Rom. 14:21). John Chrysostom also called for moderation: “Wine is given to be cheerful, and not to be a laughingstock; given to promote health, not disorder; to heal the infirmities of the body, and not to weaken the spirit.
Features of drinking alcohol in Russia
When Christianity came to the northern countries, it turned out that the local population did not know the taste of wine, but brewed beer. John Chrysostom, who founded monasteries in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire, wrote about the need to amend the charter in connection with the more severe climate. Later, in the Middle Ages, German monks even replaced bread with beer during fasting.
In Russia, the permission to drink alcoholic beverages during fasting was taken too straightforwardly, so the church authorities had to introduce additional prohibitions. Rev. Joseph Volotsky, XV-XVI centuries: “It is necessary, first of all, to have care and concern that there is no drinking in the monastery, either in meals or in the cells, from which drunkenness happens.” St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, XNUMXth century: “If you want to serve God, then the first thing is: stop drinking beer, wine and vodka yourself; neither more nor less, but quit completely, in order not to tempt people. St. Theophan the Recluse, XNUMXth century: “It’s more suitable for Christians – don’t drink at all, except in extremes, in the form of healing … Wine drinking should be completely banished from use among Christians.”
Modern rules for drinking alcohol in fasting
The Fathers of the Church advise to completely abandon the use of alcohol during fasting, except in cases where it is necessary to take medications based on alcohol or wine. However, the Typicon lists the days when drinking wine or beer is allowed, other types of alcohol are strictly prohibited during fasting.
The measure of liquid mentioned in the Typicon is a krasovulya, that is, a bowl with a volume of 150-200 ml. It is allowed to drink 1-2 krasovuli wine (beer). Considering that only diluted wine is meant, 2 krasovuli is even a little less than one modern glass.
In such doses, wine or beer in fasting is allowed on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as (dates are given according to the Gregorian calendar):
- in Great Lent – on the Annunciation (April 7);
- in Petrov post – on the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 19);
- in the Nativity Fast – on the feast of the Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos (December 4), on the day of memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (December 19).
In normal times, Wednesday and Friday are considered fast days, when alcohol must be abandoned (Typicon equates them to Great Lent). Exceptions are made only for those cases when a church holiday falls on these days. If you fast on Wednesdays and Fridays every week, it will be easier to get used to the strict restrictions on long fasts later.
The Fathers of the Church taught that each person has his own measure of obedience. It is difficult not to follow the traditions accepted in society and not to drink alcohol at all during fasting on secular holidays. But man is endowed with reason and will to avoid excesses.