Chapter 40
desert father wanted to bring a confrere a little oil. When his visitor asked:
"Where is the little oil cask I brought you last year?" the old man answered:
"It still sits there where you put it." Just as the consumption of oil was held to a minimum, even abstained from altogether, so also was the use of fruit.
Even what the monks raised for themselves in the line of garden vegetables they thought should be used as little as possible.
The cenobites, as a rule, avoided these extremes of the hermits. St. Pachomius provided his monks with bread, cheese, greens, a broth or porridge of cereals or lentils, olives, figs, and dates. As there was need for it, the sick, the aged, and the children received better nourishment. On the other hand, the Pachomian monks were given a large degree of freedom as to abstinence from food. Many ate only fresh green herbs, prepared with a little oil and vinegar.
St. Basil was similarly indulgent in his prescriptions as to the meals of his monks. The sick and those who worked hard were to be allowed more as they needed it (cf. Acts ii, 45). Their regimen was also to be adapted to the region in which they lived. The use of oil was taken for granted (Longer Rules 19).
In St. Augustine's monasteries, the merils were simple, but there was an ample supply of cereals and legumes, aswell as flesh meat for the sick and convalescent. A choice of victuals was at times placed on the table out of consideration for guests. And there was always wine. Although the dishes and other food containers were of baked clay or wood, the spoons were of silver (Possidius, Life of Augustine xxii). St. Benedict maintained a wise balance between a too rigorous austerity and a too lenient concession to the pleasures of the palate.
FORTIETH CHAPTER
The Measure of Drink "Everyone hath his proper gift from God; one after this man* ner, another after that'' (1 Cor. vii, 7). For this reason, it is with a certain hestiancy that we prescribe the amount of nourishment for others.
Yet (with regard to beverages), if we bear in mind the frailty of the weak, we believe that a hemina of wine a day should suf fice for each monk.1 But if God grant one or the other the grace of abstaining from it, let him know that he shall have a special reward from God.
Nevertheless, should the circumstances of the locality, the nature of the work, or the summer's heat make more necessary,
1 According to the general opinion the hemina amounted to about a quarter of a liter, or approximately a little over half a U.S. pint, apparently but a small glass full at one meal only.
Jet this rest in the judgment of the abbot, but in all things he shall take heed lest surfeiting or drunkenness creep in.
We read, of course, that wine is altogether not for monks,— but because the monks of our times cannot be convinced of this, we shall make a concession at least to this extent that we do not drink to satiety, but rather sparingly: "For wine maketh even the wise to fall away" (cf. Ecclus. xix, 2).
But wherever the unusual conditions of the locality are such that the aforesaid measure cannot be supplied, so that either less or none can be had, let the brethren who dwell there bless God and not complain. Above everything else, we admonish that they abide without murmuring.
Excursus.
The Use of Wine.—As with the use of flesh meat, so also with regard to that of wine, the old monks had deep-seated misgivings and reservations. In the case of meat, there was its luxury-provoking pleasant taste and its lush nutri tive value, which deterred these monks from eating it. Among other reasons there may also have been certain non-Christian considerations (v.g., Pythago rean) that played a part in their attitude towards its use. In the case of wine, it was its intoxicating power that made its consumption questionable. So long as this was not made to apply to the aged and the sick, the general feeling of the early monks was that one should abstain from its use altogether. The maxim enunciated by Abbot Poimen, "Wine is absolutely not for monks," undoubted ly became a byword among the old hermits. Palladius (f before 431), how ever, in the introduction to his Vitae Patrum, discusses the question as to the consumption of meat and wine: "It is better to drink wine in a reasonable manner than to drink water proudly. Consider but the holy men who were moderate in their use of wine, and you will no longer praise or blame food or drink, but rather those who use and abuse both . . . Even the Lord ate meat and drank wine (cf. Matt, ix, 11) . . . One who has the right viewpoint will never eat meat or drink wine thoughlessly, aimlessly, or at unseasonable times
... Is a man in good health, he will avoid what is fatty; is he weak and sick, he will in thankfulness to God use food and drink as healing media and avoid everything that is harmful to the soul." As we have said, there was always wine at St. Augustine's episcopal board. According to the prevailing custom, he allowed his monks to have wine on Saturdays and Sundays if they desired it (i. Rule). St. Caesarius of Arles (f 542) inserted a special clause in his
"Rule for Nuns," warning these religious against privately procuring wine for their own use. It was the task of the abbess to have "good wine" available for the sick and the frail (chap. xxx).