Patriarch Kirill urged to stop hard drinking and "change the worldview"

Last year, we recall that the company owned by the Russian Orthodox Church received a license for the production and supply of wine.

Today's statement by Patriarch Kirill urging the clergy and flock to stop excessive drinking is timed to coincide with the Day of Sobriety.

“If Tsar Herod had refrained from excessive wine drinking, which kindled pride and other passions in him, then perhaps he would have changed his mind and would not have given the order to cut off the head of St. John, whom he himself revered as a righteous man”, - quotes Interfax as saying the patriarch.

He noted that not only medical technology is needed in the fight against addiction.

“A change in worldview is one of the most important conditions that help a suffering person overcome the inertia of sin”, - the patriarch pointed out.

Let us recall that in 2019 it became known that the company "Mezyb" belonging to the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church received a license for the production and supply of wine. This wine should be produced in the village of Divnomorskoye, Krasnodar Territory. There, we note, there is a mansion, which is considered the residence of the patriarch.

The patriarch's press secretary Alexander Volkov said that while this is a "closed" project, and the wine will be "quite exclusive".