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The church of creation: The blessing of the fruits of the vinetranslated

August 6, 2026 · 1 min read

Office of the Hieromonk Gennadios Manolis, Theologian; Editor-in-Chief of the Orthodoxy-Pemptousia Unit

According to Basil the Great, nothing exists without a cause, nothing is accidental, everything has some secret and inexpressible wisdom. Likewise, plants and their fruits, in addition to their ecological importance as producers of ecosystems, are schools of logic and theognosis, which manipulate the mind and lead it from the visible and the tangible to the realm of the invisible.

Plants are an important element in the worship of the Orthodox Church. During the Eucharist, bread and wine are used, products of wheat and the vine. The wheat, the wine and the oil are blessed during the sequence of the bread offering. In addition, through the liturgical and liturgical practice, the fruits of the earth, such as grapes and figs, are offered and blessed during their ripening season and in general every act and work connected to the earth and its agriculture is accompanied either by thanksgiving to the Creator or by a request that the cultivation and harvest be fruitful and fruitful.

There has always been a tradition in the Church during the…

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💬 Comments (3) 🌐 Translate comments

Timothy Baker

The part about the grape harvest being blessed right when the fruit ripens really hits home. Every August I still remember my father taking a basket of our backyard Concord grapes to the priest for the blessing before we ate any ourselves. It always made the first bite taste different, like you were actually giving thanks instead of just grabbing a snack. Good reminder from St. Basil too.

Χρήστος Μακρής

Ο άγιος Βασίλειος το λέει ωραία, ότι όλα έχουν μια κρυφή σοφία. Μου θύμισε πέρσι που πήγαμε με τον γιο μου στο αμπέλι του θείου του στην Πέγεια και πήραμε τα πρώτα τσαμπιά για να τα πάμε στην εκκλησία να τα ευλογήσει ο παπάς πριν φάμε. Πάντα νιώθω ότι η πρώτη γουλιά κρασί μετά την ευλογία έχει άλλη γεύση.

Helen Baker

That line from St. Basil about plants being a school for the mind really stuck with me. Last summer my daughter and I picked the first ripe tomatoes from our little garden patch and took a few to Father for the artoklasia blessing; it made the whole harvest feel like it belonged to the Church first. Funny how something so ordinary suddenly tastes different after that.