What kind of wine is used in church for communion?

Communion of the Apostles. Miniature from Greco-cargo. manuscripts of the 15th century.

The order of performing the full (that is, not presanctified) liturgy is as follows. First, the substance for celebrating the Eucharist is prepared. Then the believers prepare for the sacrament. And finally, the sacrament itself of the consecration of the holy gifts and the communion of believers is performed. The Divine Liturgy thus consists of three parts: proskomedia, liturgy of the catechumens, liturgy of the faithful .
Proskomedia

The word is Greek and translated means bringing

. In ancient times, members of the early Christian community themselves brought before the liturgy everything necessary for the sacrament: bread and wine. The bread used during the liturgy is called prosphora, which means offering, again as a sign that previously bread was brought by Christians to the liturgy. In the Orthodox Church, the Eucharist is celebrated on prosphora made from leavened (yeast) dough.

For proskomedia, five prosphoras are used in memory of the miraculous feeding of five thousand people by Christ.

During the liturgy, red grape wine is used, as it resembles the color of blood. Wine is mixed with a small amount of water as a sign that blood and water flowed from the Savior’s pierced rib.

Proskomedia is a very important part of the Divine Liturgy and the preparation of gifts for consecration has a deep symbolic meaning.

Proskomedia is performed on a quadrangular table, which stands to the left of the throne and is called the altar.

Preparing gifts at the proskomedia has several meanings. Here we remember the birth of the Savior, His coming into the world and, of course, the Calvary sacrifice on the Cross, as well as burial.

The cooked lamb and particles taken from four other prosphoras symbolize the entirety of the heavenly and earthly Church. After cooking the lamb, it is served on a special dish - paten.

The priest from the second prosphora, on which the Mother of God is depicted, takes out a triangular particle in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos and places it on the right side of the lamb.

From the third prosphora, particles are taken out in honor of John the Baptist, the prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, saints, unmercenaries, the parents of the Mother of God - the righteous Joachim and Anna, and the saint whose liturgy is being celebrated.

From the next two prosphoras, particles are taken out for living and deceased Orthodox Christians.

At the altar at the proskomedia, believers submit notes of health and repose. Particles are also taken out for the people whose names are contained in the notes.

All particles are placed in a certain order on the paten. The priest, having bowed, places a star on the paten above the lamb and the particles. These are two metal arcs connected in the form of a cross. The paten marks both the Bethlehem cave and Golgotha, the asterisk marks the star above the cave and the cross. The priest censes special covers and places them on top of the paten and chalice as a sign that Christ was laid in the tomb and His body was wrapped in shrouds, but these shrouds also symbolize the Christmas shrouds.

The meaning of commemoration at the Proskomedia

Commemoration at the proskomedia, the removal of particles about health and repose, and then immersing them in the chalice is the highest commemoration in the Church. A bloodless sacrifice is made for those remembered at the proskomedia; they also participate in the liturgy.

Liturgy of the Catechumens

The second part of the liturgy is called the Liturgy of the Catechumens. In ancient times, people underwent very lengthy preparation to receive holy baptism. They studied the basics of faith, went to church, but they could only pray at the liturgy until a certain point in the service. Before transferring the gifts from the altar to the throne, the catechumens, as well as penitents excommunicated from communion for serious sins, had to go into the vestibule of the temple.

The peaceful litany covers, as it were, all spheres of our existence. We pray for the peace of the whole world, for the holy churches, for the temple where the service is celebrated, for bishops, presbyters, deacons, for our country, its authorities and soldiers, for the blessing of the air and the abundance of earthly fruits necessary for food. Here we also ask God to help all those traveling, sick and in captivity.

This is followed by the readings prescribed for this day from the epistles of the holy apostles or the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel.

During the special litany, the priest unfolds the holy antimension on the throne. This is a rectangular board depicting the position of the Savior in the tomb. He is always on the throne and the Divine Liturgy is served on him. The relics of saints are sewn into the antimension. In the ancient Church, the first Christians served the liturgy on the tombs of martyrs, as was the case, for example, in the Roman catacombs, where Christians executed by torturers were buried.

After the pronounced litany there follows a litany for the dead. During it, we pray for all our departed fathers, brothers and sisters, asking God to forgive their voluntary and involuntary sins and to place them in heavenly abodes, where all the righteous rest in peace.

Liturgy of the Faithful

This song mentions that the Lord is surrounded by angelic armies who continually glorify Him. And not only clergy and parishioners pray at the Divine Liturgy. Together with the earthly Church, the heavenly Church celebrates the liturgy.

During the Cherubic Song, the gifts prepared for consecration are transferred from the altar to the throne. This transfer is called the Great Entrance. The priest and deacon carry the gifts, leaving the altar by the northern (left) doors. Stopping at the pulpit in front of the royal doors, they, turning their faces to the believers, commemorate His Holiness the Patriarch, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, priesthood, and all those who work and pray in this temple.

After this, the clergy enter the altar through the royal doors, place the cup and paten on the throne and cover the gifts with a special shroud - air. Meanwhile, the choir finishes singing the Cherubic Song. The Great Entrance symbolizes the solemn procession of Christ to His free suffering and death.

The litany that follows after the transfer of gifts is called petitionary and prepares the faithful for the most important part of the liturgy - the consecration of honest gifts.

As a rule, all those praying sing the Creed, confessing their faith in the most important dogmas of the Orthodox Church.

We often have to deal with the fact that godparents - the recipients of the sacrament of baptism - cannot read the Creed. This happens because people do not read morning prayers (they include the Creed) and rarely go to the liturgy. After all, in the church, every Divine Liturgy, all the people confess their faith with one mouth and know this chant by heart.

The exclamations of the priest alternate with the singing of the choir. The priest reads the Eucharistic secret prayers while singing. Let us dwell on the basic, most important prayers of the Eucharistic canon.

When the apostles asked Christ to teach them how to pray, He gave them this prayer. And in it we ask for everything necessary for life: that everything be God’s will, for our daily bread (and, of course, that the Lord grants us to accept the heavenly bread - His body), for the forgiveness of our sins, and that the Lord will help us overcome all temptations and deliver us from the wiles of the devil.

He who receives communion unworthily, without faith, with contrition of heart, having in his heart malice and resentment towards his neighbor, is likened to Judas the traitor, who was one of the twelve disciples, was present at the Last Supper, and then went and betrayed the Teacher.

Everyone who was preparing for communion and received permission from the priest receives communion of the holy mysteries of Christ. After this, the priest takes the holy cup to the altar.

The deacon recites a short litany of thanksgiving.

At the end of the liturgy, the priest says dismissal. On vacation, the Mother of God, the saint whose liturgy was celebrated, and the saints of the temple and the day are usually remembered.

All worshipers kiss the holy cross, which the priest gives them.

After the liturgy, prayers of thanksgiving for Holy Communion are usually read. If they are not read in church, all those who receive communion read them after returning home.

Briefly about the technology of making sweet wine

Russian regulations on church wine

Which wine is better?

Of the two dozen Greek wines in the “NAMA” category, i.e. declared as the wine of the Holy Communion, we recommend NAMA BYZANTINO - (see the section dedicated to it on our website). The rest are either produced in very small quantities, are prohibitively expensive and only reach a few, or, conversely, are presented everywhere and widely advertised, but their quantity is achieved at the expense of quality. An example of this is the famous company Canava ROUSSOS, founded in 1836 with the aim of producing high-quality wines, and once did produce excellent church wine, but since 2009 the quality of everyday NAMA ROUSSOS has sharply deteriorated. The fact is that on the entire island of Santorini there are not as many grapes as ROUSSOS makes. Therefore, we do not recommend the everyday wine from Canava ROUSSOS (coffee-colored barrel on the label). If we take from this manufacturer, then much more expensive (the barrel on the label is yellow and the price is 3-4 times higher) NAMA (375ml), Mavrathiro (375ml), Vinsanto (375ml).

conclusions

For more information about our offers, see the NAMA section.

In the St. Petersburg studio of our TV channel, the rector of the Church of the Holy Righteous Warrior Theodore Ushakov on Korolev Avenue, Hieromonk Ignatius (Yurchenkov), answers questions from viewers.

Why is this so? In general, bread and wine - products known back in the ancient world - were the basis of the diet of Mediterranean peoples and have always been associated with well-being and prosperity. This also included oil - olive oil. Naturally, these substances were used in religious rituals - not only Christian ones: we know that many peoples, including the Greeks and Romans, perceived bread as an important element on which human life depends. And in the Old Testament, the prophet David says in a psalm that wine gladdens a person’s heart, and bread strengthens a person. These substances were used, I repeat, in the religious rites of many peoples (if we talk about pagans, then as an offering to deities).

The Old Testament clearly says that the Old Testament Jews sacrificed showbread to the One God - five loaves of bread, which were brought to the Old Testament temple. In this case it was unleavened bread. A cup of libation - wine - was poured onto the altar. And here the ancient Jews partly copied the rituals of the pagan peoples around them. But if the pagans did this, believing that their deities needed food, then for the Jews this was primarily a symbol of the communication of the One God with His people. These substances, important primarily for human life, were used in religious rituals.

The Christian Church is no exception. We know that at the Last Supper the Lord offered His Most Pure Body and His Most Pure Blood in the form of bread and wine. This rite, if we refer to the Holy Scriptures, was called the breaking of bread. If you again ask what kind of bread the ancient Christians consumed, then there were different traditions. At that distant time, few people paid attention to whether it was leavened bread or unleavened bread. But in the East it was most often leavened bread; it was bought at the market. For many, it will probably be a revelation that the bread used at the Eucharist was bought at the market almost until the 8th century. Only in the 7th century do we learn about the presence in monasteries of such a position as prosphora baker: the one who bakes prosphora - our liturgical bread.

Today our liturgical bread has a specific form. Greek bread is a little different from ours - it is a large round bread, like a loaf (you can call it that). In the Russian tradition, bread has a complex shape, so, probably, when baking it there are certain subtleties, and here you need the skill of a prosphora maker so that these two parts do not fall apart during baking.

We sometimes forget that the Christian life should generally be perceived as prayer. Prayer is not just about reading the rules. The state of prayer is our whole life. Then the words of the Apostle Paul become clear: Pray without ceasing. How can I pray unceasingly, since I still have to think about the things of life? But if we consider our life as a dedication to God: here I showed mercy to a person, served him - this is my prayer preparation. After all, in these rules we draw exactly what we must give to people in our service. In the rules we learn exactly this, and this prepares us for a meeting with God, because our Divine Teacher showed us with His life an example of how to relate to each other: He did not teach us long prayer rules, but, on the contrary, in some places of the Gospel He says that God is not glorified in many words: but when you pray, do not say too much, like the pagans, for they think that in their many words they will be heard. This does not mean that long services are not needed - here the question is about the internal state. If a person cannot be in a state of conversation with God for one and a half or two hours - and prayer should be perceived by us this way - it is better for him to say a few words from the soul, from the heart. Let it be just one prayer that touches him, or the prayer that we call the Lord’s prayer and which includes all petitions concerning a person’s life: Thy will be done, give us our daily bread and Thy Kingdom come - all this is . It's probably better to prepare like this.

There is one more nuance. You probably know that in most churches, when the clergy receives communion, there is a liturgical pause, and then the reader most often reads the rule for Holy Communion - this is not just to fill the pause, but here we can concentrate and make up for what we did not have time do in your private prayer at home.

– It turns out that even now there is an exchange: people donate money, and it turns out as if they brought this bread and get it back?

So, although the candle has lost its practical significance as a source of light (however, I know that there are churches and monasteries that do not use electricity, and there the candle is relevant in this regard too), as an element of beauty that you create by placing this candle, it is still appropriate.

– Do you think it is now possible to return to the practice of people directly bringing prosphora to the church?

– I think, within the framework of a metropolis, probably not, but within the framework of small villages, villages or towns it is so. I know parishes in the south of Russia where a parishioner of an Orthodox church bakes prosphora herself and brings them for the liturgy: there is no way to buy them somewhere. But in a large city, where there are several dozen, or even hundreds of parishes, it is very difficult to find a person knowledgeable in this art in each of them. Here centralization is necessary for purely practical reasons.

– Fasting is prescribed from midnight, although this prescription also has its own history: a few centuries ago, fasting did not begin at midnight, but from the moment you went to bed. There were such options, they are simply forgotten.

As for children under seven years of age, I believe that issues of this kind should be resolved at the level of either spiritual fathers or rectors of the temples where you take your child. You can profess a variant of oikonomia: it is clear that a child under seven years old wants to eat and it is difficult for him to remain hungry until 12–13 o’clock, which undoubtedly affects the child’s psyche. But you may encounter a situation where the priest may refuse you. We won’t say now whether he is doing this legally or not: apparently, he is guided by some instructions or his own views. In any case, there should be no conflict or showdown here. Probably, this issue should be resolved precisely in the temple where you take your child.

As for me, I am guided here by my knowledge, which is disseminated by the experience of not only the Russian Orthodox Church, but also of other Orthodox Churches, and if I see that certain options of action are appropriate in a particular situation as useful, I apply them. There is a wish that by the age of seven the child will already have the skill to fast and understand what it is - this is the task of the parents. But this does not always work out, children are different and parents are different, so it is simply impossible to put everyone in a Procrustean bed, and it is the pastoral duty to approach the issue individually. I know the Greek practice, where children begin to confess only at the age of 13; Russian suggests that children should be prepared for it by the age of seven. From my own experience, I see that this is not always effective: the child comes up and does not know at all what to do or what to say. And there are small children of 5-6 years old who can already say something meaningfully - different levels, different capabilities. The approach to food should be built accordingly. In some cases it may be allowed for pastoral reasons, otherwise the baby will not be able to receive communion at all. And if this is a family that is not only a believer, but also a practitioner (not everyone understands what faith requires of us, and experience of knowledge is also necessary), then you can approach it differently.

– Here it is appropriate to recall the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, which, in turn, uses the Jerusalem Charter, also known as the Savvaitic Charter, since it originates from the Lavra of Saint Sava in Palestine. He proposes to cancel fasting during the holidays - from Christmas to Epiphany Eve. Fasting is canceled, but liturgies are served. It is clear that at liturgies people should receive communion, but the Charter says that people should not fast. This does not mean that, taking advantage of holidays, we should approach the issue of preparation carelessly and over-saturate ourselves. But we can eat fast food during this period; the Charter allows this and directly regulates it. At the same time, the liturgy is served, and liturgy is public worship, a common activity called to bring people into communion with God through Communion. Therefore, if we are preparing for Communion, we just need to be more modest when it comes to food. After all, you can overeat so much with lenten food that, in good conscience, you won’t even come up to Communion: even though it’s lenten food, you’ve eaten more of it than you needed. So modesty and abstinence can also apply to modest food.

– Baking bread and artos is not a sacred action, but one must approach it reverently, understanding that this is not just bread, but liturgical, in the broad sense of the word, that is, used for worship. Accordingly, reverence is required. The blessing has been received, so I don’t think there should be any room for doubt here. If a priest asks for this help, then it is our Christian duty to help. Therefore, there is something missing, so it was necessary to contact you for help. Therefore, I think that if you have such obedience, you should fulfill it and rejoice that we can add at least a particle of work to our worship. Considering the experience of the Ancient Church, which I have already spoken about, when believers baked bread themselves or could buy it at the marketplace (market) and bring it for worship, there can be no prohibitions here.

– Is Artos somehow connected with prosphora?

As we have already said, bread is prosperity. If you share your wealth, it means you are showing love. Artos is very close to the rite of panagia. Probably, not everyone knows what it is - this is the monastic tradition of offering the already consecrated prosphora to the Mother of God with certain prayers, cutting it into many pieces and distributing it to the brethren after the liturgy and after the fraternal meal. I think that artos is roughly from there.

– Father, please tell me a few words about the composition of the prosphora.

– Flour, water, yeast, but more authentically, not yeast, but sourdough. They also put a pinch of salt in memory of the words “you are the salt of the earth” - although this is not necessary, they do so. A very simple composition, no frills, and you can taste it.

– However, if different breads were used earlier, could they have been more diverse in composition?

– Ancient bread is very simple. If you look at the culture of ancient peoples, Eastern, Asian, these are simple flatbreads, which in some places can be kneaded with sourdough or yeast, and in other places it is just flour diluted with water and baked in a tandoor. There are no frills here, and the bread in its authentic presentation is very simple. Of course, it is completely different from the one we can buy, for example, in French bakeries, which may contain seeds, nuts, and eggs. Ancient bread was and remains simple, and the Church preserved this tradition, only multiplying the form of bread, introducing its own understanding, which was influenced by church theology, in the context of Christology - the doctrine of Christ as a Person, united in two natures - Divine and Human.

– Father, a simple but very popular question: the prosphora spoils and grows moldy. What to do with them?

– You have already said that in the monastery there is a practice of eating prosphora after a meal, and the laity are very often confused about whether it is possible to eat prosphora or drink holy water without an empty stomach.

- God bless you, father. Please bless us as we leave.

– Once again, dear brothers and sisters, I congratulate you on the holiday of the Nativity of Christ and wish you inner joy and clear faith that the Lord loves each of us, no matter what we are. He came into this world to sanctify us through Himself and forgive us our sins. In a few days we will celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, which will remind us of our baptismal vows, in which we renounced evil, the devil, evil deeds and expressed our desire to unite with Christ. Amen.

When thinking about the Eucharist, it is worthwhile to dwell on wine. In the rite of communion, popular denominations use alcoholic wine. However, according to the Bible, Jesus and the apostles at the Supper partook of grape juice - new wine:

That is why the week after Passover was called the Feast of Unleavened Bread (see Ex. 23:15, Ex. 34:18, Lev. 23:6). I think it is difficult for you, dear reader, to immediately believe the new information that previously grapes and grape juice were also called wine. Therefore, I offer evidence for this statement:

1. The Bible text describes that the wine hangs on the vine and is in a winepress (a device for squeezing juice from grapevines):

3. Holy Scripture says that babies drank wine, which means we are talking about grape juice:

4. Christ’s famous phrase about new wine and old wineskins has a deep meaning and proves that in those days new wine was called grape juice.

Today, many are misled by the fact that wine is supposedly good for the body. This is partly true. But its beneficial properties are not related to the fermentation process, but to the composition. That is, natural grape juice has a more beneficial effect on humans than wine, because the beneficial composition of the grapes in them is almost the same, but wine, unlike juice, has a harmful component - ethyl alcohol, which, according to many scientists, is a narcotic poison.

So, bread symbolizes the body of Jesus, because Christ in the Bible is called the bread of life (see John 6:35,48,51), and grape juice certainly symbolizes the blood of Jesus, since Christ is called spiritual drink in the Holy Scriptures (see 1 Cor. 10:4), through whom believers will not thirst (see John 6:35). Christians should think about what new wine they will drink with Jesus when they become celestials in the Kingdom of God - alcoholic or juice?

Popular denominations see confirmation of the acceptance of alcoholic wine at the Communion Supper by the first Christians in the text of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians:

In biblical times, in order to be able to drink a non-alcoholic drink from grapes for a long time, people tried to save the juice from the fermentation process. This was done in different ways: canning - hermetically sealed and stored in a cool place, boiling, evaporating water, etc. It is absolutely clear that in new skins the juice was preserved longer from the fermentation process.

For many centuries, most denominations of the Christian Church have taken communion with red wine, most often Cahors, containing 16% alcohol. However, alcohol - the urine of yeast bacteria - is very harmful to health, even in small doses. Alcohol destroys brain cells and reproductive cells, and therefore even parents who drink beer give birth to children with various disabilities - blind, deaf, underdeveloped, morons, with Down's disease, etc. Therefore, even Christians who lead a sober lifestyle are all They also poison themselves with regular consumption of alcohol at communion, and then wonder why children with disabilities are born in a normal family.

Therefore, I decided to study this issue in more detail in the Bible and discovered that the Bible not only condemns drunkenness: “Do not look at the wine, how it turns red, how it sparkles in the cup, how it flows smoothly: later, like a serpent, it will bite, and he will sting like an asp" (Bible, Proverbs 23:29-32) "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is violent; and everyone who is carried away by them is foolish.” (Bible, Proverbs 20:1) “Woe to those who are brave to drink wine and strong to prepare strong drink, who justify the guilty for gifts and deprive the just of the lawful!” (Bible, Book of the Prophet Isaiah 5:22-23) but also in many cases, the word “wine” in the Bible refers to non-alcoholic grape juice, and not alcoholic wine. For example, in Genesis 40:9-11 we read that the cupbearer served fresh grape juice rather than alcoholic wine to the Pharaoh of Egypt: “And the chief cupbearer told Joseph. behold the vine is before me; there are three branches on the vine; it developed, color appeared on it, berries grew and ripened on it; and Pharaoh's cup is in my hand; I took the berries, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.” (Genesis 40:9-11) Thus, the word “wine” in the Bible can also mean freshly squeezed grape juice, which does not contain alcohol!

Therefore, red grape juice may be used for communion in church rather than red wine. And now I will prove to you that Jesus Christ served His disciples grape juice, and not wine, at communion.

When God instituted the Old Testament Passover, He commanded that the Passover dinner should consist of roast lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and that there should be NOTHING leavened in the house, i.e. nothing containing yeast, even bread without yeast - unleavened: “This is the Passover of the Lord. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; from the very first day YOU SHALL DESTROY LEAVEN from your houses, for whoever eats leaven from the first day until the seventh day, his soul will be destroyed. Observe unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt, and observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting statute. There shall be no leaven in your houses for seven days, for whoever eats leaven, that soul will be cut off from the community. Do not eat anything leavened; Wherever you are, you shall eat unleavened bread.” (Bible, Exodus 12:11, 15, 17, 19, 20) And since alcoholic beverages are made using leaven from yeast, and therefore are the same leavened products as yeast bread, alcoholic wine is not allowed on Passover. Moreover, according to the commandment, he should not even be in the house. Moreover, you should not drink it on Easter.

Jesus Christ established the Eucharist (communion) just on Easter night: “On the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, “Where do you command us to prepare the Passover for You?” And, taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I tell you that from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink new wine with you in the kingdom of My Father.” (Matthew 26:17, 27-29) And since there should be nothing leavened on Passover, naturally Jesus could not serve leavened alcoholic wine to the disciples. Consequently, it was unleavened grape juice that He gave the apostles. Jesus did not even use the word “wine”, but deliberately said “drink of this fruit of the vine,” i.e. again, this means freshly squeezed unfermented unleavened grape juice, and not 16% Cahors.

Thus, Jesus Christ gave communion to His disciples on Easter night with unleavened unleavened bread and unleavened unleavened grape JUICE, which did not contain either yeast or alcohol, and by no means 16% Cahors, as Christians do now in contradiction with the commandment about the inadmissibility of leaven on Easter! Alcohol destroys brain cells and therefore regular consumption of even a sip of alcohol during communion in church is detrimental to the brain. Therefore, if you want to be smarter and have good health, then do not drink alcohol at all, even at communion - take communion with red grape juice, which Jesus gave the apostles communion with.

Freshly squeezed grape juice symbolizes the Blood of Christ shed for our sins, and the breaking of bread symbolizes His Body crucified for our sins (Matthew 26:26-28). And alcohol and leaven always in the Bible symbolize sin and debauchery (1 Corinthians 5:8). And leaven is not allowed at Passover (Exodus 12:15-20).

It is incorrect to compare the Blood of Christ, which does not contain alcohol, with wine, which contains alcohol - the urine of yeast bacteria.

And in general, it is blasphemous to compare the Blood of Christ, which was shed to give Christians eternal life, with wine containing a destructive poison - alcohol - the urine of yeast bacteria - which destroys brain cells and reproductive cells, which is why drinking people give birth to moronic children. It is illogical to make destructive poison a symbol of the life-giving Blood of Christ, shed for many for the remission of sins.

Therefore, I urge all Christian denominations to switch to sober communion - take communion not with wine, but with yeast-free bread and yeast-free red grape juice - it no less vividly symbolizes the Blood of Christ shed for our sins.

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Cahors is a famous church wine. It is also used in the communion ceremony and other church rituals. However, you can also buy Cahors in regular stores. Many people choose this wine for the Easter holiday table. Roskachestvo specialists told us which wine is considered real Cahors and how to choose a good product yourself.

Concentrated Cahors, even when diluted with water, retains its taste, although not as rich, and its red color. Therefore, it is well suited for church services: for example, for communion, wine is diluted with water. Some priests even today check the quality of Cahors in this way. If, after diluting it in half with water, the wine becomes pale pink in color, and its taste has changed significantly, it cannot be called high-quality.

Communion wine: why in the Orthodox tradition only Cahors is used

The reasons why Orthodox Christians use red wine for communion should be sought in the Gospel, where Christ himself compared himself to a grapevine, and God the Father to a vinedresser. “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser” (John 15:1).

The first miracle that Christ performed in Cana at the wedding feast was the transformation of ordinary water into excellent wine. He also established the Sacrament of Communion itself at the Last Supper, dipping bread in wine and giving it to each of the apostles to taste.

Did Christ drink Cahors?

It is now impossible to find out what kind of wine Christ drank with the apostles at the Supper, but it is known that the traditions of winemaking in Judea were ancient. San Francisco theologian Daniel Kendall and anthropologist Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania believe that in ancient times, Jews, unlike their neighbors, drank quite strong, concentrated and sweet wines.

In the Old Testament there are lines in which the capital of Judah is compared to a harlot: “Your silver has become dross, your wine has been spoiled by water” (Isaiah 1:22), which suggests that the Jews did not dilute their wine. Very often in biblical times, herbs, dried fruits, honey, spices and even resin were added to it to make it last longer. In 2013, remains of wine mixed with honey, cedar, mint, resin and cinnamon were found near Nahariya. There is a known case when in one of the ancient cities of Israel a vessel was found with an inscription that it contained wine made from black raisins. This means that the wine was not only concentrated, but also very sweet and dark in color, that is, very similar to modern Cahors.

Knowing all this, it is easy to imagine that dark, aromatic, thick, dark wine, saturated with the southern sun, in which Christ dipped the bread, saying at the same time: “...this cup is the New Testament in My blood, which is shed for you” (Lk 22:20).

Therefore, it is quite natural that Orthodox Christians take communion with red, sweet wine. In some other Christian churches this is considered optional and communion is also given with light dry wine.

How they made kahors in the old days

The harvested grapes were pressed. For greater extractivity - saturation with flavoring and aromatic substances - the wort, that is, not yet fermented grape juice, was heated in the oven. Then the juice fermented, after which a kind of rogome liqueur was often added to it for strength, consisting of four parts of the must of the same Auxerrois heated for five minutes and one part of grape brandy. The wine was then placed in barrels to age. It turned out to be quite strong, powerful, with characteristic tones of jam.

For Russia - only Cahors!

After the baptism of Rus' by Vladimir, expensive wine for church needs was imported from other countries, first from Byzantium, then from France, from Italy and even from Spain. For the first time, Russian chronicles write about Cahors as a communion wine already in the 13th century, and the name comes from the name of the French town of Kahor, where in the Middle Ages the most expensive wines were produced on the river bank. The decision of the Council of 1551 prescribed the use of Italian “Fryag” wine for the church sacrament.

Since the country lacked operational transport links and had to travel vast distances, problems often arose with the storage of dry European wines. – they soured, turning into vinegar. Therefore, preference was given to wines with a higher alcohol content – fortified ones, as they could withstand long-term transportation without problems.

It was only at the beginning of the 17th century that grapevines from Transcaucasia were brought to the south of Russia. Russian monks began to grow it, harvest grapes and make their own wine. It is known that the nobility liked the Russian Cahors so much that already in 1613, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich ordered it to be supplied to the royal table, because such wine was used not only for the Eucharist, but was also served on holidays.

It was from the 17th century that Cahors spread throughout Rus' as wine, closely associated with church sacraments, and was supplied to all churches and monasteries. Of course, Russian Cahors wine differed from European wine both in the grape variety (in Russia it was made from the Saperavi and Cabernet varieties) and in the preparation technology.

Cahors in past centuries

On the territory of the modern region of Quercy, where the town of Cahors , wines were made back in the days of Ancient Rome.
Over the centuries, this wine-growing region has had many trials, it has known ups and downs, sometimes it supplied wine to the royal court, sometimes it was completely forgotten. They say that cahors was served at the wedding of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II Plantagenet. Among the fans of Cahors were Pope John XII and King Francis I. In the 13th century. Cahors wines were exported to England, where they were called “black” due to their inky, almost opaque color. Cahors owes its color, as well as its powerful, “heavy” taste to the Auxerrois variety, better known in the world as Malbec.

For the Sacraments you need the “correct” Cahors

Since 1699, the so-called “Instructive News”, which describes the proper preparation of a priest for various types of worship, began to be published in the Priests' Books. It describes exactly what kind of wine is suitable for the Eucharist: it must be grape, undiluted, without additives, have a pure, clear taste and be “ready for drinking”; spoiled, sour or cloudy wine was not suitable for communion.

However, in difficult times the church sometimes deviated from the rule of giving communion to Orthodox Christians with bread and wine - it happened that there was simply no wine. For example, the Hieromartyr Patriarch Hermogenes in the Time of Troubles allowed the Eucharist to be celebrated with cherry juice. During the revolutionary devastation, in order to resolve this issue, meetings of the Department of Divine Services and the Council of Bishops were specially convened, which allowed, in exceptional cases, in the absence of wine, to celebrate the Eucharist “with some berry juices.” This decision came in handy during the siege of Leningrad, when services in churches were held every day, and instead of wine, parishioners received communion with liquid cranberry juice, and prosphora was made from priests’ rations.

Cahors today

Until recently, there were no uniform requirements for the production of this wine and it was made in different ways, until finally, in 1971, French law granted this wine the status of AOC (controlled appellation of origin), and at the same time established strict rules for its production.

The Kahors, which you can buy in a store today (although this is not so easy to do in Russia; it is not very popular here) is not like either its ancestor or its Russian “namesake” - the Cahors. Modern Cahors is an unfortified and dry wine, that is, it was produced without the addition of alcohol, and the sugar contained in the grapes was almost completely converted into alcohol.

Cahors is different

In parallel with the use of Russian wine, European wines continued to be imported to Rus'. And around the 19th century, the country had developed an idea of Cahors as an exclusively church wine, which was used for sacraments, festive feasts, and even to treat various diseases.

Now Cahors in the Russian Federation is produced from grape varieties Saperavi and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as Malbec and Morastel. The sugar content in grapes should be 22–25%. Each manufacturer has its own secrets, its own recipe, for example, in the Caucasus, crushed grapes are kept in a warm place for a day so that the aroma of the berries is completely transferred to the future wine, and in the Crimea, special grape brandy is mixed with the grape pulp and only then kept until ready.

If you believe the parishioners, now Moscow churches prefer to use the Spanish Cahors Altra Terra for communion, in Siberia they love “Massandra” and “Phanagoria”, and the best Cahors is considered to be the Greek Nama Byzantino - this is what is supplied to the Athonite monasteries and Jerusalem.

Source of the article: https://cyrillitsa.ru/tradition/130653-vino-prichastiya-pochemu-v-pravoslavnoy.html

What wine does the Russian Orthodox Church use for communion?

The tradition of using wine in rituals of worship has existed since time immemorial. https://barmentv.ru/articles/napitki/487

The scene of the Last Supper gave rise to a centuries-old tradition of worship, serving as a prototype of the Sacrament of Communion. Christ handed the disciples a cup of wine with the words: “Drink from it, everyone. In this cup is my blood, which is poured out for the remission of your sins. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Initially, in the land of Israel, and as Christianity spread in other countries, natural dry wine was considered church and liturgical wine. For the needs of the church, ancient red grape varieties were used: cabernet, merlot, saperavi, kakhet, malbec.

Things were completely different in Russia. https://ggf.nm.ru/

Since pagan times, Russia has loved strong and sweet drinks. After the Baptism of Kievan Rus and the gradual acceptance of the church rituals that came from Byzantium, Russians wanted to see church wine the same way: strong and sweet. In our country (recently - about 150 years ago) red dessert Cahors (named after the city of Cahors in France) became a truly Russian church wine.

Before this, for the needs of worship, wines were supplied from other countries and purchased by the church at the Molozhskaya, Makaryevskaya and Novgorod fairs. Of course, this wine was very expensive. Therefore, at the beginning of the 18th century, in the southern regions of Russia, monks began to plant Transcaucasian grapevines near monasteries.

Church wine brought from abroad and produced in Russia was often adulterated. The sale of counterfeit drinks called “church” amounted to about 5 million deciliters per year at the end of the 18th century. Russian falsifiers were not afraid of either the royal decrees or the resolutions of the Holy Synod, threatening punishment for forgery.

Although the prohibitions on any impurities of non-grape origin in Cahors were severe: “Whoever dares to use other wines and juices besides grape wine itself, or the wine turns into sourness, or is mixed with anything, will not perform any sacraments, but the priest will sin gravely.” , mortal.”

A travel sheet given by the Siberian governor, Prince. M.P. Gagarin to the Swedish captive Lieutenant Yuri Tirol, released from Tobolsk to deliver honey, church wine, wax, sugar, “wooden oil” and cloth to Yakutsk. Signature-autograph of M. P. Gagarin. Seal of the Siberian Kingdom

Source of the article: https://otvet.mail.ru/question/39905706

Wine for Holy Communion is the substance (matter) of the Mystery of the Blood of Christ, and therefore special requirements are placed on it. The topic of church wine can be divided into two parts: church-canonical and practical. There are three main church canonical requirements for the wine of the Sacrament of the Eucharist: 1) The wine must be made only from pure grape juice, without the admixture of other juices, aromas and substances. It was on such wine that the Savior Himself performed the Sacrament (Matthew 26:27-29). “The Teaching News,” compiled at the end of the 17th century, indicates what kind of wine should be brought to the proskomedia: “The substance of the Blood of Christ is wine from the fruit of the vine, ejaculated from the clusters of the vine. It is appropriate for this wine to have a taste, and a sense of smell, and to be a drinkable and pure drink, unmixed with any other drink except the hedgehog from the bunch: in Proskomedia, little water should be added to the wine, and after the consecration of the Mysteries, warm water, as is the rite. All juices from various vegetables and berries, such as apple, pear, cherry, thorn, raspberry and other similar ones, are not, and cannot be, wine. If anyone dares to use other types and juices other than grape wine itself, or the wine turns into acid, or is mixed with anything, he will perform no Sacrament: but the priest will sin gravely mortally and will be subject to expulsion from the priesthood... The priest and the deacon must do the same, Whenever he wants to pour in wine, it is dangerous to look at all these cases, so that he does not sin mortally through negligence, lest the wine be stained, moldy, rotten, or otherwise disgusting. For if you see something that is incapable, do not dare to serve: but always think about something better to please the Lord God, and all Christians should: with fear, he said, work for their salvation: those who neglect this terrible service, and those who are not careful about goodness, will suffer fiercely.” Unfortunately, many modern Cahors producers are also mortally sinning. Most of the Cahors on the shelves of our stores are not Cahors, but fakes with a surrogate taste. For real church wine is only allowed to be prepared from grapes. 2) The wine should have a reddish ruby color or at least have a reddish tint. In the “Handbook for clergy of the Orthodox Church”, based on the books of Holy Scripture Genesis (49, 11) and Deuteronomy (32, 14), the following is stated: “Undoubtedly, the Savior’s use at the Last Supper of a specific red wine, which was in common use in Palestine , which is why it is called in the Holy Scriptures “the blood of thunderstorms,” “the blood of grapes.” Therefore, church wine should be grape, pure, red and not necessarily sweet. The last requirement for church wine—the thickness of its color—is due to the fact that during the Liturgy the wine is diluted with water, but its color must remain red. Roman Catholics and Romanians allow the use of white wine. Some Greeks mix white and red wine (red gives color, white gives delicate taste). According to the Orthodox tradition, it has long been customary to celebrate the Eucharist with red wine, which in its appearance more fully depicts the prenatural Blood of Christ served in the Eucharist. 3) The Church has long monitored the quality of liturgical wine. Drinking bad wine was considered a very serious offense, even leading to defrocking. Therefore, the wine must be of the highest quality, if possible the best. This is required by the greatness and holiness of the Sacrament. Quite a lot can be said about church practice, but the main points seem to be the following: 1) The wine must be quite thick, since during the Liturgy it is still diluted with water (warmth), but after dilution the taste of the wine must be preserved. 2) The wine should be sweet and pleasant to the taste. This is absolutely necessary for infant communion. The fact is that babies reflexively immediately spit out anything sour or containing a lot of alcohol. 3) The wine should be light and not give a hangover effect even after consuming a significant amount. This is relevant in those parishes or monasteries where a large number of particles are taken out at the proskomedia and therefore a lot must be consumed. Drinking sour wine on an empty stomach can lead to stomach ulcers. 4) It is desirable that the wine be made by Orthodox people. By the end of the 19th century, there was an idea of church wine as sweet, moderately strong (10-15%), deep red, obtained by fermentation of pure grape juice without foreign impurities (an exception will have to be made for sulfites, microscopic amounts of which are now added to almost all wines to avoid oxidation). Currently, there is not much choice left for church use, because now they don’t add anything to sweet dessert wines. First of all, sugar (beet or cane), alcohol (not of grape origin), various dyes, flavors and other ingredients are added. Especially recently, great “successes” have been achieved in the production of “wine” without grapes. A specialist chemist or a good wine expert sommelier, opening an expensive vintage bottle, can find anything in it except wine. And in general, it must be said that nowhere in the world is there such a variety of fake wines as in Russia. There is a lot of “church wine” that doesn’t contain even a drop of real grape wine. Price currently cannot serve as a criterion for quality; counterfeits also cost a lot. Fraudsters act brazenly, producing huge quantities of fakes called “Church Wine”. When looking for church wine, you should first turn to Greece and the Mediterranean countries. Firstly, there are thousand-year-old traditions of producing such wine here. Secondly, the mild, hot and dry climate (especially on the islands) promotes the ripening of exceptionally sweet grapes. The taste, aroma and quality of wine are influenced not only by the grape variety, but also by the fermentation methods used, climatic conditions and even the condition of the soil on which the vineyards are located. That is why wines from different producers, even from the same grape variety, have an individual aroma and special taste. Only in Greece there is a special name for the category of church wines - “NAMA”. The name “NAMA” itself means that the wine was initially, from the stage of planting the vineyard, focused on liturgical use. I had the opportunity to constantly serve in Greece for 7 years, and, in connection with this, I was always interested in where to find good church wine. It happened more than once that those producers who made excellent wine suddenly began to make wine of worse quality, and they had to look for something else.

Briefly about the technology of making sweet wine

Red wine is made from the juice of black grapes. It contains strong antioxidants, which are not only an anti-inflammatory agent, but also help liquefy blood clots. In addition, grape skins contain Tyrosol, which cleanses arteries of plaque. Fermented grape juice contains a storehouse of vitamins and minerals. Sweet wine is produced as follows. After the grapes are harvested, the juice, called must, is squeezed out using a press. Wort has the following main components: 1) water, 2) sugar, 3) acids, 4) minerals, 5) salts of organic acids, 6) coloring matter. The main components are sugar and water, and all other substances are found in very small quantities in the wort, although they are what mainly give the drink the character of wine. We will not explain here the interaction of these constituent elements of the wort, but will only follow those transformations that occur with the main element of the wort - sugar. Typically, a good wort contains: 20% sugar, 75% water and only 5% other substances (there are about 30 of them). These values, of course, constantly fluctuate, depending on the grape variety, the geographical and climatic position of the vineyard, and in general on many other reasons. Let us assume that we have before us a wort that has exactly the above-mentioned ratio of its constituent elements. From this must we want to make sweet wine. The wort is poured into large vessels where it undergoes natural fermentation. Fermentation is the life process of small bacteria - yeast. Yeast is found on the skins of grapes and, as soon as it enters the must, it ferments. The yeast breaks down the sugar into two new products: about half the sugar turns into alcohol, and the other half turns into carbon dioxide, which escapes into the air. After some time, examining our wort, we will discover that sugar no longer exists in it, but alcohol has formed instead. Our wort turned into a wine with approximately 10% alcohol. How to get sweet wine? The wort, which has 20% sugar, after fermentation turns into wine, completely without sugar, instead containing 10% alcohol. Similarly, from a must containing 25% sugar, a sour wine containing 12% alcohol is obtained. If there are initially few sugars, about 12.5-13 Bome, the wine turns out sour. But things take a different turn when the wort contains more than 30% sugar. Yeast in a 15% alcohol solution dies and stops processing sugar. Thus, if the must contained 35% sugar, then the yeast would be able to process no more than 30% of it, and 5% free sugar would remain in the wine. Now it’s clear how to make naturally sweet wine: just take an extremely sweet wort that has at least 35% sugar (so that the yeast can’t eat everything). The only question is, can ordinary fresh grapes contain so much sugar? No, he can not. The sweetest grapes from the southernmost places may contain no more than 27-28% sugar. There is only one way to get truly natural sweet wine without mixing anything with the grapes. To do this, the ripest grapes are selected and dried (dried) in the sun. Under the influence of sunlight, the water begins to evaporate, and the grapes shrink. Bunches of grapes are kept in the sun for a week on one side and a week on the other. As a result, the grapes lose 2/3 of their moisture, and the wort squeezed from such half-raisins is extremely sweet and thick. As some joke: “The wort is so thick that you can cut it with a knife.” This method of making sweet wine from dried grapes is the only natural one. Since ancient times, this method of preparing sweet wine has been used in Greece. There is evidence that wine was made this way back in the sixth century BC. The resulting wort may contain more than 40% sugar. If this wort ferments, then the yeast, having converted no more than 30% of the sugar into alcohol, dies and precipitates. The remaining amount of sugar gives the wine significant sweetness. Dried grapes can produce about 1/3 of the amount of wine that would be obtained if the grapes were pressed fresh. Not all grapes are suitable for drying, but only the best varieties with hard skins can withstand this operation. When drying grapes, a significant part of it spoils, becomes moldy, bursts, etc. Another way to thicken grape juice is by boiling it, evaporating a container of must over a fire. This method is simpler and cheaper than the first, but the wine will be less aromatic. Evidence that the wine is made from dried grapes is the inscription on the label: “ΑΠΟ ΛΙΑΣΤΑ ΣΤΑΦΥΛΙΑ.” For such a wine, reverent people will have to fork out money; it costs three times more than usual (a small bottle of 375 ml costs about 20 euros in Greece), but only it can be purely natural, without foreign additives. The quantity and quality of alcohol is also important. Alcohol can be of different types and have different effects on people. The best producers of church wine separate the branches of the grapes from the berries, since the branches produce a “bad”, intoxicating alcohol. There are two types of alcohol in red wine - ethanol and methanol. The human body metabolizes methanol in the same way as ethanol, but the end products are different. Ethanol produces acetaldehyde, and the breakdown of methanol produces primarily formaldehyde. It is more toxic than acetaldehyde and in high concentrations can cause blindness and even death. One bottle may say that the alcohol content is 10%, and another 15%, but in the second case the intoxicating effect may be much less. Wines produced on the island of Crete are usually more intoxicating than others. There are many secrets of producing church wine that producers are silent about. As you can see, preparing natural sweet grape wine is quite a complicated matter, troublesome and expensive. Therefore, very few winemakers are engaged in the production of wine in this way, and then in the most limited quantities, since such wines will only be appreciated by connoisseurs. Wines made from dried grapes cannot compete with incomparably cheaper sweet wines prepared in a different way. True, some winemakers, for selfish purposes, write on the labels that their sweet wines are made from dried grapes, but anyone familiar with the true state of affairs will treat this statement with great distrust. Sweet wine made from dried grapes is rare. The labor intensity and cost of such wine are high, and there are not so many people willing to pay 50-80 euros for one bottle. Most priests, unfortunately, for the sake of saving money, opt for ordinary dessert wines. Therefore, not many people undertake the production of canonical church wine. Suffice it to say that the famous Athonite monastery of Vatopedi, which produces and exports a large amount of table wine, does not make church wine even for its own needs, but buys it from wine producers of the “NAMA” category.

Russian regulations on church wine

In 1902, the first Russian congress of winegrowers and winemakers identified two types of wine for the needs of the Church: sweet red and dry red, to which the population of the southern regions of Russia was accustomed. The resolution of the congress stipulated that in both cases wine should be prepared only from grapes, to increase the strength, use only pure rectified grape alcohol, and to increase sugar content, use exclusively condensed grape juice. The addition of herbal extracts, sugar and starch-molasses alcohol is completely excluded. The first Russian law “On Russian Grape Wine” was approved on April 24, 1915 by Emperor Nicholas II. The purpose of the law was to protect wine from all kinds of counterfeits and the use of foreign materials in the production: sugar, grain or starch-molasses alcohol, herbal extracts. The law, in particular, defined the requirements for producers of church wines: “Church and liturgical wine is prepared by reliable and conscientious wine-making companies for all dioceses, all churches of the Holy Synod.” The great need for church wine, which was spent not only for the needs of the Church, but also for wedding celebrations, name days, funerals, and also during illnesses, since the people attributed healing properties to it, led to its unimaginable falsification. Artificial wines of this type were made from blueberry juice, grain alcohol, beet sugar, molasses, prunes, and often with the addition of saccharin, aniline dye, and salicylic acid. Cases of falsification of both foreign and domestic wines have been noted since the 17th century. The New Trade Charter of 1667 established the need to maintain the quality of church wine “... church (wine) to import good, without admixture, for church needs...” Even a number of royal decrees were issued regarding the quality of church wines and measures to prevent their counterfeiting. A decree of 1683 gave the right to duty-free import of wine from abroad, and another decree established a ruble duty. In both cases, the punishment for falsifying wine was specifically defined. But in our time, as many years ago, there are many adulterated church wines. They are produced under attractive names - “Church”, “Easter”, “Monastic”. Counterfeiters provide bottles with intriguing numbers on the labels and descriptions of non-existent medicinal properties, completely disregarding the canonical requirements of the Church. They most often contain the same “commercial” set of ingredients: wine, dyes, flavorings, sugar, alcohol, herbs. According to ancient Russian traditions, church wine must not only be thick in color, sweet and moderately strong, but in order for the Sacrament to be performed, it must be made only from pure grape juice, without any foreign impurities.

Which wine is better?

conclusions

So, we can draw the following conclusions. In the last decade, a great variety of so-called church wine has appeared in the trade, under the most fantastic labels and names. Obviously, there is a demand for such wine, and enterprising wine merchants, taking advantage of the gullibility and inexperience of buyers, often put on sale not church wine, but the most vile falsification. If priests knew about all the impurities that are in the so-called church wines, they would never drink them not only in church, but also at home. How many bottles of sweet wine do clergy buy for worship? Millions of bottles every year. After all, this is a whole branch of the wine industry! And just think, basically these wines are vile falsifications! Almost all production and trade of these wines have long been concentrated in the hands of Jews. For worship, sweet wine is desirable, however, natural sweet wine is very rare. Almost all sweet wine producers either add non-grape components (beet or cane sugar) or stop fermentation by adding alcohol or chemicals. For church wine, neither one nor the other method of preparation is desirable. Therefore, many church cupbearers prefer to purchase natural dry, well-aged and not very sour wine, since sweet wine is more expensive and is often not natural. Of course, dry wine also meets all church canonical requirements, but should the practical side be neglected? If the wine does not taste sweet, then babies reflexively immediately spit out the Communion. What is the demand from them? It is clear that the sin will be on the priest who did not take care to avoid such an incident. The practical side can be no less important than the dogmatic side. For example, during communion, the clergy in the altar take three sips from the holy chalice with the words: “In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Dogmatically, such actions are in no way justified and inappropriate (nothing like this is done during Communion of the Body). And this was established simply because of the practical need to wash away all the crumbs in the mouth. Therefore, the PROSKINIMA company is making an effort to help the Orthodox in Russia solve the problem with church wine. We deliver to Russia exclusively natural, proven sweet church wine from the best Orthodox Greek producers.

For more information about our offers, see the NAMA section.