FAQ

First of all, of course, Jesus drank wine, and what the Lord Himself did cannot be a sin in and of itself. But pay attention to these last words, “in and of itself”: sin does not dwell in the action, but in the human heart; and the problem does not lie in the drinking of wine, but in what takes place within the person.

From this follows the second point: there are many passages in Scripture that speak of drinking wine in a positive sense (there is no need to list them all; I will only mention Joh 2:1-11; Mat 26:27-29; Ti1 5:23), but there are also many passages warning about the danger of abusing wine (again, I will provide just a few references: Gen 9:20-22; Pro 20:1; Isa 28:7; Luk 21:34; Eph 5:18).

Third, the Gospel approach to our worldly affairs does not consist in asking what is “permissible” or “forbidden,” but rather whether it draws me closer to God or distances me from Him, whether it helps my neighbors or causes them to stumble. “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful,” writes the Apostle Paul. And it is precisely in our relationship with God and our neighbors that the boundary is determined, where the “gladness of heart” ends and “debauchery” begins.

In conclusion, I will offer one specific example. The well-known Orthodox priest Father Alexander Men always knew how to partake in a festive gathering, but in the last years of his life, he refused all alcoholic beverages (even those with low alcohol content), stating that in our country, where alcoholism is a national problem, he preferred not to be a stumbling block to others, nor to give them the opportunity to point at him and say: look, even the priest drinks.