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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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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

Saint Basil says it well, that everything has a hidden wisdom. It reminded me of last year when my son and I went to his uncle's vineyard in Pegeia and we took the first bunches to take to the church to be blessed by the priest before we ate. I always feel that the first sip of wine after the blessing tastes different.