Most Christians try to keep all fasts, limiting themselves in food, drink and entertainment. But church rules are not as strict as it seems at first glance. We asked a few priests if wine can be drunk during fasting, and if so, when is it allowed. Their responses are posted below.
Letter of the law
According to the monastic charter, you can drink wine during fasting on weekends: on Saturday and Sunday. This applies to all four fasts of the year: Veliky, Petrov, Assumption and Rozhdestvensky. At the same time, the church allows the use of only red grape wines (preferably Cahors) and in small quantities. There is no exact measure, but in order not to lose your mind, priests recommend limiting yourself to one glass.
Modern opinion
Although church laws allow the use of wine during fasting, most priests believe that this rule is outdated in our time. The tradition of drinking wine during Lent came to us from Byzantium and Syria, where it is customary to dilute wine with water in a ratio of 1 to 3.
At the time of the writing of the Charter, wine for the Syrians and Byzantines made up for the lack of water, and was vital. In the ancient monks, it was also used as a remedy for many ailments, since no other medicines existed.
It is obvious that a modern person living outside the monastery does not have a shortage of water and medicines, so during the fast he can completely refuse wine. Spiritual fathers remind that fasting is not just a restriction of oneself in food and entertainment, its meaning is much deeper. A believer must develop spiritually, ponder sins, eradicating hypocrisy, vanity, pride, envy, anger and other vices in himself. Even one or two drunk glasses of wine do not contribute to this in any way.
Conclusion
Christians can drink wine during fasting, but the priests recommend refraining from this, since the permissive rule of the Charter was written for monks in the old days. Lay people interpret it incorrectly, which slows down their spiritual development.