RELIGION & “THE VINE”

  • SUB-TOPICS Of RELIGION & “The VINE”
    1. What is a Wine God?
    2. Wine In the Bible
    3. Monks & Monasteries

1) WHAT IS A WINE GOD?

The EVOLUTION Of WINE MYTHS And WINE GODS

  • The Ancient World Didn’t Understand Yeast, Fermentation or How Alcohol Worked.  They Concluded That the Drunken Effect of Wine Was a Divine/ Supernatural Event.  Wine Had Special Qualities and Allowed Drinkers to Connect With the Gods and Deities.  These Gods Were Thought to Be Responsible For Wine, So Wine Myths, God and Ritual Involving These Evolved Over Time..

GODS Of WINE

  • ~DIONYSUS~ Greek God of Winemaking/ Ritual Madness. (4,000 Years Ago)
    • Patron of Winemaking and Winemakers, Inspired Symposiums and Greek Theater.
    • The 13th. Classical Greek God, Son of Zeus and Semele (a Mortal Women), 13 Sibling Including Hercules, Apollo, Aphrodite.  Dionysus is Known For Being Empathetic and Helpful, Held Yearly Parties In His and the Harvest Honor.
      • ~Sign of Dionysus~ Wand/ Shaft of Giant Fennel Wrapped With Grape Vines and Topped With a Pine-Cone.
      • ~Cult of Dionysus~ Bringer of Wine to Reduce the Cares of Mortals.
  • ~BACCHUS~ Roman Wine God (2,500 Years Ago)
    • His Followers Used Wine, Music and Ecstatic Dance to Free Themselves From Self-Conscious Fear and Care.
  • ~FURFLUNS~ Etruscan Wine God.
  • ~OSIRIS~ Ancient Egypt Wine God (5,000 Years Ago), Responsible For Wine and Harvests
    • For Thousands of Years the Egyptians Celebrated the Annual Flooding of the Nile River (Which Would Bring Water to Next Years Agriculture) With Three Days of Drinking, Singing, Eating, Dancing at the Temple of Osiris at Abydos.
  • ~TU KANG~ Ancient China Wine God.
  • ~GESTIN~ Sumerian Empire Wine God.
  • ~SIDURI~ Babylonian Goddess of Wine, at the Time Everything Having to Do With Wine Was Lead by Women.

“You Drank the God of Wine, Having God In You Felt Euphoric and Gave Ability to Inspire Ideas, While Lifting Inhibitions and Sense of Personal Liberation.”

2) WINE IN The BIBLE

Wine and Religion Have Been Closely Associated For Thousands of Years. Paganism, Judaism, Christianity All Have Strong Ties to Wine. Wine Naturally Spread as Religion Crossed the Land, it Becomes Lubricant For the Spread and Propaganda of Religion. Catholic Religion Needed Wine For Its Liturgy.  Wine Referenced In Bible 184 Times For Symbolism, Sacrament, Celebration

EUCHARIST- A Sacrament or Sacrifice (Holy Communion/ Last Supper)

LIBATION- Pouring Out of a Wine as a Religious Act to Evoke a Chosen God Practice Was Universal In Greek and Roman Culture.

SYMPOSIUM- Group Ritual Revolving Around “Responsible” Binge Drinking, Eating, Poetry, Debate, Entertainment In Ancient Greece. (Party)

  • Drunkenness In Public Was Generally Frowned Upon and a Rule Usually Observed by the Masses.
  • Crapula– Sickness Caused by Excessive Drinking.
  • Feast of the Anthesteria– 3-Day Party Celebrating the Broaching the New Vintage.
    • (Wine Was Aged Till Spring After the Harvest)

WINE Is REFERENCED IN The BIBLE

    • 141 Generic Wine References
    • 38 Harvested or Fresh Wine References
    • 5 Agricultural Product References
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~  “Stop When Thou Gatherest the Grapes of Thy Vineyard, Thou Shalt Not Glean it Afterward: it Shall Be For the Stranger, the Fatherless, and the Widow.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Timothy 5:23  “Stop Drinking Only Water, and Use a Little Wine Because of Your Stomach and Your Frequent Illnesses.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Ecclesiastes 9:7 “Go, Eat Your Food With Gladness, and Drink Your Wine With a Joyful Heart, For God Has Already Approved What You Do.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Ephesians 5:18 “Do Not Get Drunk On Wine, Which Leads to Debauchery.  Instead, Be Filled With the Spirit.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Proverbs 31:6  “Give Strong Drink Unto Him That is Ready to Perish, and Wine Unto Those That Be of Heavy Hearts.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Proverbs 20:1  “Wine is a Mocker and Beer a Brawler, Whoever is Led Astray by Them is Not Wise.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Romans 14:21  “It is Better Not to Eat Meat or Drink Wine or to Do Anything Else That Will Cause Your Brother or Sister to Fall.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Isaiah 5:22-23  “Woe Unto Them That Are Mighty to Drink Wine, and Men of Strength to Mingle Strong Drink.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Timothy 3:8 “Deacons Likewise Must Be Men of Dignity, Not Double-Tongued, or Addicted to Much Wine or Fond of Sordid Gain.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ John 15:5 “When He Had Received the Wine, Jesus Said “It is Finished.” With That, He Bowed His Head and Gave Up His Spirit.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Leviticus 10:9 “Do Not Drink Wine, Thou, Nor Thy Sons With Thee, When Ye Go Into the Tabernacle of the Congregation, Lest ye Die: it Shall Be a Stature For Ever Throughout Your Generations.”
  • ~WINE In The BIBLE~ Deuteronomy 29:6 “When Ye Have not Eaten Bread, Nether have Ye Drunk Wine: That Ye Might Know That I am the Lord Your God.”

3) MONKS & MONASTERIES

HISTORY- Over the Past Two Milliemum The Church Was Influential In the Wine Trade and Supporting the Wine Industry Across Europe.  Wine Has Always Been  Central to the Religious Doctrine,  Images and Sacraments of Christianity and Most Other Religions.

MONK- Member of a Religious Community of Men Living Under a Vow of Poverty, Chastity and Religious Obedience.

MONASTERY- Building/ Complex Occupied by Community of Monks Living Under Religious Vows.  AKA= Abbey, Convent.  Monks Where Speculators  In Wine, Beer, Bread, Cheese Trade For Survival.

  • PIONEERS~ ~Monks~  Keeping and Progressing Wine Culture Alive and During Dark Times.
  • St. Benedict of Nursia Established the Benedictine Order and Founded Cluny Abbey In 910 and is Considered the Father of Western Monasticism.  Monks Originally Cultivated Grapes For Wine, Food, Tonic and Distilled Grapes For Medicine/ and Spirits. Wine Surplus Was Sold Off to Fund Upkeep of Monasteries and to Barter With Others.  Monasteries and Land Was Farmed by Monks but Also Nuns and Peasants From the Surrounding Areas.
  • For Over 1,300 Years Monks Cultivated All the Biggest and Best Vineyards Across Europe. It is They Who Deservingly Get Credit For Preserving Viticulture After the Fall of Rome and the Dark Ages That Followed. The Monastic Order Then Ushered In Civilization, Order, Prosperity and the Renaissance by Improved Quality of Wine Through Improvements In Cultivation, Techniques In Cellaring, Cultivating System of Studying Wine and Terroir, and Setting “Standards” For Higher Quality Wine.
  • Real or Not the Church Often Gets Credit For Saving the Wine World After the Fall or Rome,  The Dark Ages Were a Period of Doom, Gloom and Killing. It Was the Monks & Monasteries Who Kept Wine Culture and Tradition Prevalent. Tribes and Barbarian Who Conquered the Land Had a Taste For Wine And Generally Left Monasteries Alone In Exchange For Wine.
  • Wine Was Refereed to as Appellations of Masonic Order For Period of Time.
  • Since the 1700’s Altar Wine Had to Be Exclusively White. This Was Because of the Purificator, a White Cloth With Which the Chalice is Wiped After Communion.  Red Stains Were Thought of a Bad For Symbolic Reasons.
  • Monks Were Some of the Only People Who Could Read and Write and Therefor Became the Defacto Carriers of Scientific Research.
  • The Literacy of Monks Often Get Credit For Continuous Record-Keeping of the Religious Vineyards and the Inprovement to the Viticulture Practices of Their Time.
  • Until 1700’s Churches Had Control of Wineries and Production. After French Revolution Napoleon Split Up Parcels and Sold Them Off by Region.

“Monks & Monasteries of Europe Get Credit For Spreading Viticulture With the Churches Influence Just as the Spanish Jesuits Would Later Do In the 1700’s Across the New World.”

BENEDICTINE- Monk of the Order of St. Benedict, Patron Saint of Europe.

CARTESIAN- Monks of the Order of Saint Bruno.

CISTERCIAN- Monk of the Order of Trappists.

  • Saint Bernard Split From the Benedictines and Founded Ascetic Order of the Cistercians.
  • Became Most Influential Monastic Order For Wine Making/ Elixir Chartreuse.

JESUIT- Monks of the Order of Catholic Church.

FRANCISCAN- Monk of the Oder of St. Francis.

  • 251 Cistercian Abbe 412 Benedictine Abbey +700 Monasteries
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY? “Through History Did the Church/ Monks and Monasteries Used Wine as a “Lubricate” to Push Their Religious Agenda?”
    • YES…“Though Out History the Church Would Pass Out Wine During Their Religious Masses to Slightly Inebriate the People In an Effort to Get Them to Join Their Followings.  Knowing This People Would Flock to the Religious Services In an Effort to Get Some Wine & God.”
    • NO…“That’s Just Ridiculous, the Church Would Never Use a Drug Like Wine to Get People Into Their Religion.”

“Monks & Monasteries” ~Burgundy~

  • History- Monks of Burgundy Get Credit For Pain Laboriously Defining the Every Foot of Every Parcel of the Cote D’or.
  • ~Benedictine Abbey of Cluny~
    • History- The Famous Abbey and Ruling Center of the Europe Great Monasteries and Head Quarters of 10,000 Monks That Followed the Teaching of St. Benedict. The Abbey of Cluny Started a Network of 1,000 Monasteries From Rome to Scotland With the Common Thread of Bringing Christianity to Modern Europe.
  • –Cistercian of Clos de Vougeot~     @Vougeot, Burgundy
  • ~Cistercian of Chablis~     @Chablis, Burgundy
  • ~Benedictine of Saint-Vivant~    @Vosne-Romanee
  • ~Benedictine of Aloxe-Corton~
  • ~Cistercians of Macon~     @Macon
  • –Cistercians of Musigny~
  • ~Monastery of Cluny~     @Saone-et-Loire(Gevrey Chambertin)

“Monks & Monasteries”  ~Loire Valley~

  • ~Cistercian of Sancerre~
  • ~Benedictine of Muscatdet~
  • ~Benedictine of Pouilly Fume~
  • ~Benedictine of Bourgueil~
  • ~Cistercian of Orleans~
  • ~Cistercian of Quincy~
  • ~Cistercian Monastery In Coulee de Serrant~
    • Vines Planted Vineyards In 1130 and Vineyards Are Still Cultivated Today.

“Monks & Monasteries”  ~Rhone Valley~

  • ~Benedictine of Cornas/ St. Peray~
  • ~Benedictine of Gigondas~
  • ~Carthusian of Chateauneuf-du-Pape~
  • ~Cistercian of Vacqueyras~

“Monks & Monasteries” ~Champagne~

  • ~Abbey of Clauvaux~     @Champagne
  • ~Abbey of St. Vanne~     @Champagne
  • ~Abbey of Hautvillers~     @Epernay

“Monks & Monasteries” ~Other France~

  • ~Benedictine Abbey of Chateau Cholon~       @Jura
    • Nuns Responsible For Vin Jaune & Vin de Paille
  • ~Carthusian of Chartreuse~
  • ~Templiers of Banyul~

“Monks & Monasteries”  ~Italy~

  • ~Benedictine of Monte Cassino~
  • ~Benedictine of Freisa~
  • ~Benedictine of Greco di Tufo~
  • ~Templars of Locorotondo~
  • ~Jesuits of Lacrima Christira~
  • ~Knights of Malta~     @Capri, Campania
  • ~Cistercians of Gattinara Spanna~
  • ~Benedictine of Gragnano~
  • ~Benedictine of Santa Maddalena~
  • ~Jesuits of Frascati~
  • ~La Sacra di San Michele~       @Susa Valley, Piemonte
    • Benedictine Monastery, 983

“Monks & Monasteries” ~Germany~

  • ~Benedictine of Johannisberg~     @Rheingau

“Monks & Monasteries”   ~Spain~

  • ~Carthusian of Priory at Scala Dei~      @Priorat, Catalunta

“Monks & Missions” ~California~

  • HISTORY- Monks & Missionaries Played a Major Role In the Spread of Religion and the Development of Vineyards In the New World, Especially In California and South America. It Was the Jesuits and the Franciscans Who Pioneered Wine-Growing In California.  The Franciscan Chain of Missions Always Were Planted With Vineyards. The First Vintage Was Though to Be 1784 and by 1798 Most of the Mission Were Producing Considerable Amounts of Wine First to Use For Sacramental Needs, Then For Their Tables and Finally Selling it Commercially.  The Wine and Economy the Wines Brought Was Booming Until 1833 When the Mexican Government Took Over the Church Lands Trying to Break the Church Secular Power.  Today These Missions Are Museums and Monuments That Are Present Day History Lesson Into Father Junipero Serra and the Franciscan Monks That Followed Him.
  • Present Day California Was Then Known as “Alta or Upper” California as Opposed to Present Day “Baja” California.  Both Considered Part of Mexico Until the Mexican War of 1846.
  • Establishing Missions Along Trade and Commercial Routes Junipers Serra Introduced Wine to California In the 1770 & 1780’s. The 22 Mission Are Spread 600 Miles From San Diego to Mission Sonoma and Were Never More Than a Days Horse Ride Apart. To Present Day California the Franciscan Mission Stations Are the Oldest Non-Indian Buildings In California.
  • The Mission Grape Which Was Almost Exclusively Use In Franciscan Mission Wine Production Was Not Particularly Good and Lacks Acidity. It Did Produced Large Clusters of Large Grapes That Where Resistant to Parasites and Growing Issues That Destroyed Most of the European Grape Varieties.
  • El Camino Real- (The Kings Road/ Now Highway 101)- The Historical Path the Missionaries Used to Link the Mission. the Trail is Lined With 12 Foot High Green “Shepherds Hook” With Rusted 1 Foot In Diameter Lamp Post. The Mission Trail and Missions Were Each About 14 Leagues Apart, About a Days Ride.
  • In 1833 the Mexican Government Decided to Secularize All Religious Houses.  In 1834  the California Missions Started to Get  Dissolved, Was Completed In 1837.
    • ~San Diego~ (Founded 1769)   
    • ~San Luis Rey~ (Founded 1798)
    • ~San Juan Capistrano~ (Founded 1776)     
    • ~San Gabriel~ (Founded 1771)
    • ~San Fernando-Rey de Espana~ (Founded 1797)     
    • ~San Buenaventura~ (Founded 1782)
    • ~Santa Barbara~ (Founded 1787)     
    • ~Santa Ynez~ (Founded 1804)          
    • ~La Purisma Concepcion~ (Founded 1787)     
    • ~San Luis Obispo–Tolosa~  (Founded 1772)
    • ~San Miguel-Arcangel~  (Founded 1797)
    • ~San Antonia–Padua~  (Founded 1772)
    • ~Nuestra Senora de la Soledad~ (Founded 1791)     
    • ~San Carlos Borremeo de Carmelo~ (Founded 1770)  
    • ~San Juan Bautista~ (Founded 1797)     
    • ~Santa Cruz~ (Founded 1791)            
    • ~Santa Clara-Asis~ (Founded 1777)
    • ~San Jose~ (Founded 1797)
    • ~San Francisco-Asis “Dolores”~ (Founded 1776)      
    • ~Sonoma~ (Founded 1823)

“Since I Began Studying and Researching “The Vine” I’ve Been Enamored With All Aspects of Wine. Even Though I’m Not Religious I Find the Link Between Religion and Wine to Be Fascinating.”

PATRON SAINTS Of WINE

  • St. Trifon Zarezan, AKA=St. Trifon the Pruner    
    • FROM– Bulgary     CELEBRATED– February 14th.
  • St. Vincent of Saragossa
    • FROM– Burgundy, France     CELEBRATED– January 22nd.
    • KNOWN FOR– Winemaker and Vinegar Making.
  • St. Morand
    • FROM– Alsace, Champagne, Rhine Valley     CELEBRATED– June 3rd.
    • KNOWN FOR– Becoming a Benedictine Monk and Living Through Lent Off a Single Bunch of Grapes.
  • St. Armand of Maastricht   
    • FROM– France     CELEBRATED– February 6th.
    • KNOWN FOR– Vine Growing, Vintner and Merchant.
  • St. Urban of Langres   
    • FROM– Alsace, Burgundy     CELEBRATED– January 23rd. & April 2nd.

**Refer to “BIBLIOGRAPHY/ Sources” For Details On Scholarly Works Referenced.