John of Lycopolis (c. 395 AD)

‘if there is any sharp wine I excommunicate it, but I drink the good.’

(‘The Lusiac History’, Ch. 35, John of Lycopolis) Continue reading “Early Christians Sober”

Methodius of Olympus (311 AD)

‘…he who has devoted and offered himself to the Lord shall not take of the fruits of the plant of evil, because of its natural tendency to produce intoxication and distraction of mind. For we perceive from the Scriptures two kinds of vines which were separate from each other, and were unlike. For the one is productive of immortality and righteousness; but the other of madness and insanity. The sober and joy-producing vine, from whose instructions, as from branches, there joyfully hang down clusters of graces, distilling love, is our Lord Jesus, who says expressly to the apostles, “I am the true vine, ye are the branches; and my Father is the husbandman.” [John 15:1,5] But the wild and death-bearing vine is the devil, who drops down fury and poison and wrath, as Moses relates, writing concerning him, “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.” [Deuteronomy 32:32] The inhabitants of Sodom having gathered grapes from this, were goaded on to an unnatural and fruitless desire for males. Continue reading “Methodius of Olympus (311 AD) Christian against tasting alcohol”

Tertullian (c. 160-220 AD)

Tertullian strikingly compared the strong penalty of the Levitical priests to ministers in the Church. ‘For abstinence from wine withal has honourable badges of its own… So true is it, that such as shall have ministered in the Church, being not sober, shall “die”’.

(Tertullian, Fasts, Ch. 9, ‘From Fasts Absolute Tertullian Comes to Partial Ones and Xerophagies’, citing Leviticus 10:9) See also: Tertullian said Timothy NOT drinking would help his stomach (160-220 AD)

“Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.” (Leviticus 10:9-11)

Ecclesiastical Canons

‘42. Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who indulges himself in dice [i.e. gambling] or drinking, either leave off those practices, or let him be deprived.
43. If a sub-deacon, a reader, or a singer does the like, either let him leave off, or let him be suspended; and so for one of the laity.
44. Let a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who requires usury of those he lends to, either leave off to do so, or let him be deprived.’

(Ecclesiastical Canons 42-44)

‘42… This and the two following canons should be included in the number of the most ancient so-called apostolic canons. Their origin is unknown.’

(‘A History of the Christian Councils, From the Original Documents, To the Close of the Council of Nicæa, A.D. 325’, 1871 By Karl Joseph von Hefele, translated from German by William R. Clark, p. 476) Continue reading “Early church rules against drinking alcohol”