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Comment by tenpies | Hacker News Reader

I always considered it more of a reflection on practicality. There is going to be wine around the monastery, if only because it is necessary for Mass. Therefore, you cannot really ban wine, so are you really going to dedicate a group of monks to the sole task of cellar guard duty?

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I don't know if this is off-topic, but in some religions, including Judaism and some denominations of Christianity, drinking is a religious necessity.

In Judaism: Every Sabbath, you bless and drink wine. Every Passover, you drink four cups of wine. Every Purim, you are commanded to drink to your happiness.

In some denominations of Christianity: You drink wine as part of the Eucharist.

On the other hand, I think in Islam, drinking wine is forbidden. So different religions have different views on drink.

DT Suzuki has a funny quip in some book where he knocks Christianity for drinking intoxicating wine, whereas Zen drinks tea. I laughed but actually wine rules.

While reading about Jesus drinking wine. :) I think the compromise is practical and also in line with the advice of the apostles. Nothing wrong with drinking, but drunkenness is a risk in many ways.

the amount of wine required for the mass isn't exactly the same as what would be drunk during meals, especially as, in monasteries, not all monks are priests.

And even if wine wouldn't be banned, I think the wine would be stored under lock and key, if only to avoid consumption outside of meals

Benedict predated the shift in Catholic practice of only priests drinking from the chalice. In his time both priests and lay members would have needed wine.

And too, the recommended "hemina" portion is apparently just over a half a US pint. Certainly not enough to replace potentially bad water in a diet.

the "common knowledge" (which I have no idea how true it is historically) is that wine was diluted in the "bad water", not replacing it

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