Holy Wine Ceremony

Korean: 성주식 (Seongjusik)
Hanja: 聖酒式 — holy / wine/ceremony
Also known as: Holy Wine Sacrament; Seongjusik; The Wine of Lineage Change.

Position in the Blessing sequence: Precedes the Blessing Ceremony; follows Matching.

What is the Holy Wine Ceremony?

The Holy Wine Ceremony (성주식, Seongjusik) is the ritual act that immediately precedes the Holy Marriage Blessing in Unification theology. In it, the bride and groom each drink from a cup of specially prepared Holy Wine (성주, Seongju) offered in the name of True Parents. This act is understood as the pivotal moment of lineage change — the point at which a person's spiritual identity is transferred from the lineage of Satan, inherited through the Fall, into the lineage of God, transmitted through True Parents.

The ceremony is not simply symbolic in the conventional sacramental sense. In Unification teaching, it accomplishes a real and irreversible spiritual event: the separation of the participant from Satan's bloodline and their grafting into God's restored lineage, making possible the Blessing that follows.

Rev. Moon described its core meaning directly:

"The Holy Wine Ceremony symbolizes the change of lineage from satanic origin to God-centered origin." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony, February 20, 1977

I. The Theological Foundation: Why the Lineage Must Be Changed

The Problem: Inherited Satanic Blood

The necessity of the Holy Wine Ceremony flows directly from the Unification understanding of Original Sin. The Fall of Adam and Eve was not a moral failing alone — it was a sexual transgression that redirected the human bloodline away from God and toward Satan. Every human being born since has inherited this corrupted lineage through physical descent, generation after generation. This inheritance cannot be overcome by faith, prayer, repentance, or moral effort alone, because it is carried in the blood itself.

As Rev. Moon taught in one of his earliest major sermons on this theme:

"Human beings have fallen and have inherited a satanic blood lineage... Fallen people cannot remove original sin by themselves; therefore, the Messiah is necessary." — Change of Blood Lineage; The Real Experience of Salvation by the Messiah, October 13, 1970

The root of the problem is lineage, and the solution must therefore also address the lineage directly. No ceremony that bypasses the blood — no matter how sincere — can achieve the complete restoration that God requires:

"To be saved, man must go back to the point that connects us to God's love... Man's original sin must be removed; the blood lineage from Satan must be changed. But fallen people cannot do it by themselves; therefore, the Messiah is necessary." — Change of Blood Lineage; The Real Experience of Salvation by the Messiah

The Solution: Engrafting to the True Olive Tree

The metaphor Rev. Moon used most consistently for the lineage change is the grafting of a wild olive tree onto a true olive tree. The false olive tree — fallen humanity — cannot produce the fruit of God's love on its own. It must be cut and grafted onto the true olive tree, which is the lineage of True Parents. The Holy Wine Ceremony is the act of grafting:

"If the True Parents are the true olive tree, then you are the false olive trees that need to be engrafted. It is not just about an extra sprout or branch. New branches must come out for the normal function to occur." — The Fundamental Principle of Rebirth

This is why Rev. Moon consistently taught that the Holy Wine Ceremony is not merely an introduction to the Blessing — it is, in theological terms, its precondition. Without the lineage change effected through the Holy Wine, the Blessing itself cannot take root.

II. The Composition of the Holy Wine

The Holy Wine is not ordinary. Its composition is both physical and providential, and its preparation required years of spiritual and material effort. Rev. Moon described it as containing the essential elements of the entire created universe — condensed into one cup, so that whoever drinks it participates in the restoration of all creation:

"The Holy Wine contains certain elements that can cleanse all these symbolically. It includes elements of all things of creation, the body of Jesus Christ, and the love of the True Parents. The composition of that wine includes all the different elements of the universe." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

In the Blessing and Ideal Family series, the composition is described with greater specificity:

"The holy wine is made of 21 ingredients representing all things and levels... It is wine which is made from ingredients that symbolize the earth, the seas, and heaven, and that symbolize the whole cosmos. In the holy wine there are three kinds of alcohol. Besides that, it has an ingredient which symbolizes all things." — Blessing and Ideal Family, Part 1

The number 21 is not incidental. In Unification numerology, 21 represents the completion of three seven-year courses — the full span of formation, growth, and completion. The Holy Wine thus contains within itself the full course of providential time: it condenses history into a single act of drinking.

Rev. Moon also noted that it took more than three years to create the Holy Wine originally — a period corresponding to Jesus' three-year public ministry and to the standard three-year period of engagement and preparation that Blessed Families observe before the full consummation of their marriage.

The meaning of drinking this wine is therefore comprehensive:

"Drinking this wine has a meaning equivalent to Jesus' saying that one who drinks the water of life will have eternal life." — Blessing and Ideal Family, Part 1

III. The Sequence of the Ceremony: Why the Bride Receives First

One of the most theologically precise aspects of the Holy Wine Ceremony is its order: the bride always receives the wine first, before the groom. This reverses the sequence of the Fall and restores the order that was broken in the Garden of Eden.

Rev. Moon explained the logic clearly:

"In the Garden of Eden, Eve was the beginning of the fall. In restoration, therefore, the woman will be restored first. In this ceremony, the bride will be given the wine first, to cleanse herself, to turn herself around, and to be prepared to lead men toward God." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

The Fall began with Eve receiving fallen love from the archangel and then conveying it to Adam. The restoration, therefore, begins in reverse: the woman is restored first through the Holy Wine, cleansed of the fallen lineage received through the archangel, and then offers the wine to her husband — this time conveying heavenly lineage rather than satanic lineage.

The groom, in receiving the wine from his bride's hands, symbolically passes through the restored mother's womb. The Blessing and Ideal Family text makes this striking:

"The man receives the wine, representing parents' flesh and blood, through the wife. By drinking this wine in this way, he comes to stand in the position of having passed through the internal body of mother and makes the indemnity condition for the separation from Satan." — Blessing and Ideal Family, Part 1

This is not a mere ceremony. It is the reversal of the precise act that caused the Fall: a woman receiving from a false source and passing contamination to a man.

The Holy Wine Ceremony enacts the exact opposite — a woman, restored by True Mother's love through the wine, passes heavenly lineage to her husband.

IV. What the Holy Wine Ceremony Accomplishes

Separation from Satan's Lineage

The primary achievement of the Holy Wine Ceremony is the permanent spiritual separation of the recipient from Satan's claim over their bloodline. Rev. Moon taught that once a person has genuinely received the Holy Wine with faith, Satan loses his legal ground to claim ownership over them:

"Now you will become God's property, and Satan will have no way to claim you. You can be placed in the storehouse of God. Even if Satan were to kidnap you and put you in prison, you can have complete confidence that no one can really touch you: 'Satan, you have no power over me because the True Parents have changed my lineage.'" — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

Grafting into the Heavenly Lineage

The second achievement is positive: the participant becomes, in the spiritual sense, a member of True Parents' family — a child of God reborn through the restored parental lineage:

"You will be transformed into members of the heavenly family and belong directly to the True Parents and thus directly to God." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

Elevation above the Historical Point of the Fall

Through the Holy Wine and the Blessing that follows, the participant is spiritually elevated above the point at which Adam and Eve fell — the peak of the growth stage. This is a position no one in human history had ever occupied before the restoration:

"Through this blessing, you will be brought above the point of Adam and Eve's fall. However, you must remember that there is still another stage to go, and you must fulfill the perfection stage." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

The Condition of Faith

The Holy Wine Ceremony does not operate automatically, without the participation of the recipient's heart. Rev. Moon consistently emphasized that faith is the essential condition:

"Your faith is an important condition now. By accepting this Holy Wine as such a conditional material symbol, you will be transformed and be grafted into the heavenly lineage." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

The ceremony sets a providential condition, but that condition must be met by the sincere commitment of the heart. This is consistent with the broader Unification principle that God never acts unilaterally — the human portion of responsibility must always be fulfilled.

V. The Holy Wine Ceremony in Providential History

The Restoration of Eve's Three Lost Relationships

The Fall severed Eve's connection to three forms of love: the love of a brother (with Adam as elder sibling), the love of a husband (the conjugal ideal), and the love of a father (the parent-child relationship with God).

Through the Holy Wine Ceremony, all three are symbolically restored simultaneously, because the recipient is reconnected to God through True Parents, who stand in all three positions simultaneously.

Rev. Moon described this dimension in the February 20, 1977, sermon delivered at Belvedere:

"Fallen Eve was never able to see true brothers and sisters, a true husband, or a true father. She never experienced the perfection of these three relationships. Eve lost three levels of love... Therefore, in restoration, Eve must restore these three levels of love." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

The Relationship to Jesus and the Holy Spirit

The Holy Wine Ceremony stands in direct theological continuity with the Christian tradition of rebirth through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but takes it further and completes it.

In Unification teaching, Jesus came as the spiritual True Father and the Holy Spirit functions as the spiritual True Mother. Through faith in Jesus and reception of the Holy Spirit, Christians could receive spiritual rebirth — but only spiritually, not physically, because Jesus was not able to establish a physical family:

"Jesus could not take the position of the substantial true parent. That is why Jesus and the Holy Spirit had to take the position of spiritual parents." — Rebirth and the Origin of the Blessing

The Holy Wine Ceremony, offered through the physically embodied True Parents, extends and completes what Jesus and the Holy Spirit could only accomplish spiritually. It represents the fulfillment of what Jesus promised when he spoke of the water of life — not merely spiritual renewal, but the physical restoration of the human lineage through the substantial love of True Parents.

Historical Symbols Contained in the Wine

The Holy Wine also carries the historical significance of the eight-member family structures that God worked through across providential history. Rev. Moon taught that the wine symbolically contains the foundations of Adam's family and Noah's family — both of which consisted of eight members and both of which God used as pivotal providential instruments:

"In this Holy Wine, all historical symbols are included, such as the eight members of Adam's family in the Garden of Eden and the eight members of the family of Noah. By taking this Holy Wine, you will be instantly changed into descendants of God." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

The number eight in both families is not accidental — it represents the complete restoration of the four-position foundation (God, father, mother, child) in both its internal and external dimensions. By drinking the Holy Wine, the participant is symbolically connected to the entire foundation that God laid across 6,000 years of providential history.

VI. The Holy Wine Ceremony and the Spirit World

The value of the Holy Wine extends beyond the physical world. Rev. Moon taught that the entire spirit world is aware of its significance — even departed ancestors seek access to its grace. Yet the priority remains with those in physical bodies, who can set conditions on earth that reach back to affect those who have already passed on:

"The entire spirit world knows the value of this Holy Wine. Spirits often appear and ask for a small cup of Holy Wine. 'Would you pour a cup in my name on earth? Then our lineage will be cleansed in the spirit world.' But Father will never allow this. Priority lies here on earth, not in the spirit world." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

This teaching underscores the unique providential privilege of being alive during the era of True Parents: to receive the Holy Wine in the physical body is an opportunity that souls in the spirit world cannot have independently — they depend on their descendants on earth to receive it on their behalf.

VII. The Three-Year Engagement Period

The Holy Wine Ceremony does not immediately authorize the physical consummation of the marriage. Rev. Moon taught that after receiving the Holy Wine and undergoing the Blessing Ceremony, the couple enters a three-and-a-half-year period of engagement — living as brother and sister — before the full union of husband and wife:

"After your blessing, you will continue your course for another three and a half years. In this way, you will fulfill the number seven and meet God's requirement to consummate your mission." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

During this period, the husband is called to give special honor to his wife, recognizing her role in the restoration process as the one who first received the wine and who, like Eve in reverse, leads him toward God:

"For three years after this ceremony, the husband should feel, in a way, obedient to his wife. His wife is most important because she initiated the restoration process. She serves as his key to salvation for three years." — The Meaning of the Holy Wine Ceremony

VIII. Comparison with the Christian Eucharist

From an academic and comparative theological standpoint, the Holy Wine Ceremony occupies a position analogous to — but structurally distinct from — the Christian Eucharist. Both involve the ritual consumption of wine understood to carry the presence or substance of the divine. Both are sacramental acts through which a fundamental change in the participant's relationship to God is effected. Both are unrepeatable in their essential character (the Holy Wine Ceremony is received once at the Blessing; the Eucharist, while repeated, each time re-enacts the singular event of the Last Supper).

The key theological divergence lies in what each understands to be changed. In Roman Catholic and most mainline Protestant theology, the Eucharist restores the individual's spiritual communion with God through the body and blood of Christ, but does not change the physical bloodline. The inherited tendency toward sin (concupiscence in Catholic theology; the corruption of the will in Reformed theology) remains operative even in the baptized and communing Christian.

In Unification theology, the Holy Wine Ceremony claims to accomplish what the Eucharist, on its own theological terms, cannot: a change of the lineage itself. This is why Rev. Moon consistently placed the Holy Wine Ceremony not in continuity with but as the fulfillment and completion of the Eucharistic tradition — achieving physically and lineally what Jesus intended but was unable to establish because he did not marry and establish a family.