Popularity of mead in Lavra

Did you know that mead, traditional Ukrainian beverage, was very popular with Lavra’s brethren?

The glass of sweet mead with shades of gold and amber was on the list of festa beverages drunk by brethren’s community or as part of the monks’ Sunday meal.

Lavra honey was a desirable gift for the most demanding gourmands. It was also served to the most honored guests of the Monastery’s Father Superior.

Archimandrite Zosima (Valkevych) of Lavra (1762–1786) was a great admirer of mead. He liked two types of honey: raspberry honey and linden honey. The first one was infused with wild raspberries, which he mixed with water. The second was made of white honey, to which French vodka and hops were added. Those drinks were exquisite. That is why, two or three tubs of them were always kept in reserve in Archimandrite’s cellar.

But there was one more, very sacred tradition associated with the mead and typical only for Lavra. It was used as part of the daily fraternal meal during Panagia. Then, after making communion in the name of the Mother of God, monks drank that golden mead. Interesting here is the fact that none of the descriptions devoted to the Holy Communion and found in any sources on religious literature contains any mentioning about the use of mead during the service.

The quality of mead partaken during the Panagia in Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was taken special attention to. To make it, the monks had to select the best type of honey. A pound of its raw substance was put into a special container, where six buckets of water (never more) were also added. Various types of roots (like violet and cardamom roots), pieces of clove, dry hop cones as well as pale iris herb were also used as ingredients of the future drink. They gave it peculiar aroma. If the monks wanted to slightly change the consistency of the drink they added sturgeon glue. To preserve the drink, the monks stored it in the housekeeper’s glaciers.

Natalia Lytvyn

Captions to the illustrations:
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