“The Russian Orthodox Church has criticized a proposed plan for Russia to relax its ban on beer sales at sports stadiums after a regional official asked President Vladimir Putin to continue sales after the World Cup.
Russia relaxed its 2005 ban on alcohol sales at stadiums for the football tournament this summer in line with football governing body FIFA’s regulations. Beer sales in the 11 host cities rose by up to 39 percent during the tournament.
The head of Russia’s Muslim-majority Tatarstan republic, Rustam Minnikhanov, asked Putin last week to keep the relaxed policy in place for future football tournaments.
‘I’m embarrassed, as a Muslim, to be speaking about beer, but it’s out of concern for our Orthodox brothers,’ he was cited by the Kremlin’s website as saying.
But Valery Doronkin, the head of the Orthodox Church’s anti-alcoholism coordinating center, told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency Monday that the Church is ‘categorically opposed to such a proposal.’
‘We are against drinking, against drinking alcohol in public places, and against the free sale of alcohol,’ said Doronkin …
Doronkin cited the high numbers of alcohol-related deaths in Russia, which ranks as the world’s fifth-most alcohol dependent country, in pressing for restrictions.
‘Alcohol … leads to the deaths of adults, children run over by drunk drivers, beaten wives and children and the breakdown of families,’ he said.
‘[To be] Orthodox doesn’t mean [to be] drunk; drunkenness is considered a terrible sin,’ he added.”
(“Russian Orthodox Church Slams Proposal to Continue Selling Beer at Stadiums”, The Moscow Times, 24 July 2018.)
“Total abstinence, a consistent core principle of both Orthodox and Protestant rehab programs, is now being promoted by some Orthodox clerics for the church as a whole.”
(Mark R. Elliott, “Church-Based Alcohol Rehabilitation in the Former Soviet Union”, East-West Church and Ministry Report 7 July 2013.)
“there are more than 500 active anti-alcoholism projects in Russia today under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church.”
(“Russian Church has organized more than 500 anti-alcoholism projects”, Orthodox Christianity, 2 May 2017.)
“in 2017 the share of Russians who say they do not drink alcohol is 39% … The survey involved 1,200 Russians aged 18 and over.”
(“Drinking Habits of Russians“, VCIOM, 1 Aug. 2017)