What does the bell ring for? Orthodox Russia: interesting facts about church bells
There are many resources dedicated to bells. Here I want to briefly highlight the topic of bells, since they are an integral part of Orthodox architecture, which does not go against the theme of my site.
§1 History of bells
1. The first bells
The making and use of bells dates back to ancient times. Bells were known to the Jews, Egyptians, and Romans. Bells were known in Japan and China.In the debate about the origin of the bell, a number of scientists consider its homeland to be China, from where the bell could have come to Europe along the Great Silk Road. Evidence: it was in China that the first bronze casting appeared, and the most ancient bells from the 23rd to 11th centuries BC were also found there. measuring 4.5 - 6 cm or more. They were used in different ways: hung on the belt of clothing or the neck of horses or other animals as amulets (to ward off evil spirits), used on military service, in the temple for worship, during ceremonies and rituals. By the 5th century BC. The passion for bell music became so great in China that entire sets were required. bells
However, literature sometimes mentions, as the oldest, an Assyrian bell from the time of Shalmaneser II, kept in the British Museum. (860 - 824 BC), discovered during excavations of the palace of Nineveh.
The Egyptians used bells in rituals dedicated to the holidays of the god Osiris.
The Romans used them to call servants and slaves, military signals, gathering people for public meetings, during sacrifices, and, finally, they decorated chariots at the ceremonial entries of triumphants. In ancient Rome, the ringing of bells also served as a signal for watering the streets in the midday heat.
In ancient times, bells were small in size and were not cast from metal as they are now, but riveted from sheet iron. Later, bells began to be riveted from sheet copper and bronze.
It is not known exactly when bells began to be used in Christian worship. During the persecution of Christians, the use of bells was out of the question; the call to worship was carried out through special persons of the lower clergy (Laosinacts-collectors of the people).
In Europe from the 1st century BC. and in subsequent centuries, a small bell about 20 cm high performed the following functions: its signal in Bonn meant the beginning of street cleaning; in Etampes (France) the last stroke of the bell was called the “Pursuer of Revelers”: after it the city lights were extinguished; in Turin (Italy) there was a “Bread Bell” for housewives; in medieval England, a bell accompanied a funeral procession; and in Beauvain (France) there was a bell that announced the beginning of the fish trade, it was called “Fish Trader”.
Church tradition dates the first use of bells in Christian worship to St. Pavlin, Bishop of Nolan (353-431) . In a dream vision, he saw an angel with bells that made wonderful sounds. Wildflowers and bluebells suggested to St. The shape of bells was given to Peacock, which were used during worship, and the introduction of “bell ringing” in Catholic rites was attributed to Pope Savinian (5?? - 604/606).
Historical monuments of the West first mention bells only in VII c., at churches in Rome and Orleans. TO VIII V. in the West, thanks to Charlemagne, church bells were already widespread. Bells were made from an alloy of copper and tin; later iron and, in rare cases, silver were added to these metals.
Middle IX c., can be determined by the time of widespread use of bells in the Christian West.
In the Orthodox East, bells appeared only in the second half IX c., when, at the request of Emperor Basil the Macedonian (867-886) The Venetian Doge Orso sent 12 bells to Constantinople for the newly built church. This innovation was not widespread and only after the occupation of Constantinople by the crusaders (1204) Bells began to appear at churches again.
2. Bells of Rus'
Initially, before the appearance of bells in Rus', more general method convocation of believers for worship decided to VI century when they began to use beat and riveted.Bila (and Kandi)- these are wooden boards, and riveted- iron or copper strips, bent into a semicircle, which were struck with special wooden sticks and only at the end X centuries, bells appeared.
The first chronicle mention of bells in Rus' dates back to 988 In Kyiv there were bells at the Assumption (Tithe) and Irininskaya churches. In Novgorod, bells are mentioned at the church of St. Sofia at the very beginning XI V. IN 1106 g. prp. Anthony the Roman, arriving in Novgorod, heard a “great ringing” in it.
Also mentioned are the bells in the churches of Polotsk, Novgorod-Seversky and Vladimir on Klyazma at the end XII V. But along with bells, beaters and rivets were used here for a long time. Oddly enough, Russia borrowed bells not at all from Greece, from where it adopted Orthodoxy, but from Western Europe.
During the excavation of the foundations of the Church of the Tithes (1824) , which was headed by Metropolitan Evgeniy (Bolkhovitnikov) of Kyiv, two bells were discovered. One of them is made of Corinthian copper, better preserved (weighing 2 pounds 10 pounds, height 9 vershoks), it is considered the oldest Russian bell.
Russian bell-making masters were first mentioned in the chronicle under 1194 In Suzdal “and that miracle is like the prayer and faith of Bishop John, not the plaintiff of the masters from the Germans, but the presence of the masters from the minions of the Holy Mother of God and their own, others pouring tin...” At the beginning XII V. Russian craftsmen had their own foundries in Kyiv. The oldest Russian bells sounded small, completely smooth and had no inscriptions.
After the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols (1240) Bell making in Ancient Rus' died out.
IN XIV V. Foundry is being resumed in North-Eastern Rus'. Moscow becomes the center of foundry business. “The Russian Boris” gained particular fame at this time, casting many bells for cathedral churches. The size of the bells at that time was small and their weight did not exceed several pounds.
A wonderful event in 1530 The bell was cast by order of the Novgorod Archbishop St. Macarius weighing 250 pounds. Bells of this size were very rare, and the chronicler notes this event of great importance, “this has never happened before.” At this time, there are already inscriptions on bells in Slavic, Latin, Dutch, Old German languages. Sometimes the inscriptions could only be read using a special “key”. At the same time, a special rite of consecration of bells appeared.
The second half became an era in the history of bell making in Russia XV century, when the engineer and builder Aristotle Fiorovanti arrived in Moscow. He built a cannon yard where cannons and bells were fired. The Venetians Pavel Debosh and masters Peter and Yakov were also involved in foundry at this time. At the beginning XVI V. already Russian craftsmen successfully continued the work they had begun, surpassing their teachers in many ways in terms of bell casting. At this time, a special type of Russian bells, a system of fastenings, a special shape and composition of bell copper were formed.
And to XVI century the bells were already ringing throughout the country. Russian craftsmen invented a new method of ringing - tongue ringing (when the tongue of the bell swings, and not the bell itself, as was the case in Western Europe), this made it possible to cast bells of very large sizes..
Under Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his son Theodore, bell making in Moscow developed rapidly. Many bells were cast not only for Moscow, but also for other cities. Master Nemchinov cast the “Blagovestnik” bell, weighing 1000 pounds. Other famous craftsmen of this time, famous for the careful and artistic finishing of bells: Ignatius 1542 city, Bogdan 1565 g., Andrey Chokhov 1577 g. and others. At this time, there were up to 5,000 bells in churches in Moscow.
Troubled start time XVII V. foundry stopped for some time, but since the time of Patriarch Filaret (Romanov) this art has been revived again. The art of making bells developed and strengthened, gradually reaching dimensions that Western Europe had never known. From that time on, foreign craftsmen were no longer invited to cast bells.
Famous Russian masters of this time were: Pronya Feodorov 1606 g., Ignatiy Maksimov 1622 g., Andrey Danilov and Alexey Yakimov 1628 At this time, Russian craftsmen cast huge bells, which amazed even experienced foreign craftsmen with their size. So in 1622 In 1964, master Andrei Chokhov cast the “Reut” bell, weighing 2,000 pounds. IN 1654 The Tsar Bell was cast (later recast). IN 1667 A bell was cast for the Savino-Storozhevsky Monastery, weighing 2125 pounds.
In the first years of the reign of Peter I, bell making was not successful. This was facilitated by the cold attitude of the secular authorities towards the Church. By decree of the king from 1701 bells were removed from churches for the needs of the army. By May 1701 A huge number of church bells were brought to Moscow for melting (a total of more than 90 thousand poods). 100 large and 143 small cannons, 12 mortars and 13 howitzers were cast from the bells. But bell copper turned out to be unsuitable, and the remaining bells remained unclaimed.
3. "Tsar Bell"
The Tsar Bell occupies a special place among all the bells in the world. Starting from XVI V. this bell rang several times.Each time, additional metal was added to its original weight.
Work on the construction of the bell began in 1733 in Moscow, at the bell tower of Ivan the Great. TO 1734 all necessary preparatory work was completed. 1,214,000 units were used for the construction of furnaces. bricks But this year it was not possible to cast the bell; the furnaces burst and the copper spilled out. Soon Ivan Matorin dies and his son Mikhail continues his work. TO 1735 All work was carried out with great care. On November 23, the furnaces were flooded, and on November 25, the casting of the bell was completed successfully. Bell height 6 m 14 cm, diameter 6 m 60 cm, total weight 201 t 924 kg(12327 pounds).
Until spring 1735 The bell was in the foundry pit. On May 29, a large fire occurred in Moscow, known as the Troitsky fire. The Kremlin buildings were also engulfed in fire. The wooden buildings above the foundry pit caught fire. When extinguishing the fire due to a strong temperature difference, the bell developed 11 cracks, and a piece weighing 11.5 tons broke off. The bell became unusable. For almost 100 years the bell was in the ground. They wanted to transfuse it more than once. Only in 1834 The bell was raised from the ground and installed on a granite pedestal under the bell tower on August 4.
From an artistic point of view, the Tsar Bell has magnificent external proportions. The bell is decorated with images of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Empress Anna Ioanovna. Between them, in two cartouches supported by Angels, there are inscriptions (damaged). The bell is crowned with images of the Savior, the Virgin Mary and the evangelists. The upper and lower friezes are decorated with palm branches. Decorations, portraits and inscriptions were made by: V. Kobelev, P. Galkin, P. Kokhtev and P. Serebyakov. Although some of the relief images were damaged during casting, the surviving parts speak of the great talent of Russian craftsmen.
At the break, the color of bell copper is whitish, which other bells do not have. There is a strong consensus that this is due to the high content of gold and silver. After the bell was raised, the question of its repair was repeatedly raised. There were bold decisions to solder the broken part, but all attempts remained only bold proposals.
During the reign of Nicholas I, the bell tower of Ivan the Great was cast in 1817 g. bell "Big Assumption" ("Tsar Bell") weighing 4000 pounds (cast by master Yakov Zavyalov), now the largest operating bell in Russia. The best in tone and sound. The largest bell in operation in the world, cast in 1632 weighing 4685 pounds, located in Japan in the city of Kyoto. the bell "St. John" weighing 3,500 pounds and the bell, called the "New Bell", weighing 3,600 pounds. In St. Petersburg, master Ivan Stukalkin cast 11 bells for St. Isaac's Cathedral at this time. An interesting fact is that all the bells for this cathedral were cast from old Siberian nickels. For this purpose, 65.5 tons of them were released from the royal treasury. The largest bell, weighing 1860 pounds, had images in 5 medallions of Russian emperors.
Alexander II donated a bell called “Blagovestnik” to the Solovetsky Monastery. An entire historical event was captured on this bell - Crimean War- in prose and pictures. Monastery in 1854 The city was subjected to severe shelling by the English fleet; in 9 hours, 1,800 shells and bombs were fired at the monastery. The monastery withstood the siege. All these events were recorded on the bell. Several medallions contained images: a panorama of the Solovetsky Monastery, the disgraced English fleet, pictures of the battle. The bell was crowned with images of the Mother of God and the Solovetsky miracle workers.
Rostov ringings occupy a special place among all Russian bells. The largest "Sysoy" (received the name in memory of the Rostov Metropolitan Jonah (Sysoevich)) weighing 2000 pounds was cast in 1689 g., "Polieleyny" 1000 poods per 1683 g., "Swan" weighing 500 pounds was cast in 1682 The total number of bells on the belfry of the Rostov Kremlin is 13. They ring in Rostov according to notes specially composed for three tunes: Ioninsky, Akimovsky and Dashkovsky, or Egoryevsky. For many years in XIX V. The harmonic tuning of the Rostov bells was carried out by Archpriest Aristarkh Izrailev.
Mostly all bells were made of special bell copper. But there were bells made of other metals. There were cast iron bells in the Dositheeva Hermitage on the banks of the Sheksna. The Solovetsky Monastery had two stone bells. In the Obnorsky monastery there were 8 bells made of sheet iron. There was a glass bell in Totma. In Kharkov, in the Assumption Cathedral there was a bell weighing 17 pounds made of pure silver. The bell was cast under Nicholas II in 1890 at the P. Ryzhov plant. in memory of deliverance from death royal family in a train crash. disappeared without a trace civil war. There were six gilded bells in Siberia in the city of Tara, at the Kazan Church. They are all small, from 1 to 45 poods.
TO 1917 In Russia there were 20 large bell factories, which cast 100-120 thousand pounds of church bells per year.
4. Bell device
A distinctive feature of Russian bells is their sonority and melodiousness, which is achieved by various means, such as:- The exact proportion of copper and tin, often with the addition of silver, i.e. the correct alloy.
- The height of the bell and its width, i.e. the correct proportion of the bell itself.
- The thickness of the bell walls.
- Proper hanging of the bell.
- The correct alloy of the tongue and the method of attaching it to the bell; and many others.
The bell, like many instruments, is anthropomorphic. Its parts correspond to human organs. Its upper part is called the head or crown, the holes in it are the ears, then the neck, shoulders, mother, belt, skirt or shirt (body). Each bell had its own voice, received consecration like baptism and had its own fate, often tragic.
A tongue was suspended inside the bell - a metal rod with a thickening at the end (an apple), which was used to beat along the edge of the bell; it was called a lip.
The most common spelling in bell inscriptions is XVII And XIX centuries or modern traditions. The inscription on the bell is done in capital Church Slavonic letters without using punctuation marks.
Bell decorations can be divided into several types:
Horizontal bands and grooves
Ornamental friezes (floral and geometric)
Convex molded or engraved inscriptions, a combination of both is possible
Relief execution of icons of the Lord, Holy Mother of God, images of Saints and Heavenly Powers.
The figure shows the diagram of the bell:
The decoration of the bell bears the imprint of the era and corresponds to its tastes. Typically includes the following elements: relief icons, ornamental friezes, inscriptions and ornaments.
The internal inscription usually contains information about the time the bell was cast, the names of the customer, craftsman and investors. Sometimes the inscription contained words of prayer, defining the meaning of the bell as the voice of God.
5. Times of Silence
After the October Revolution 1917 g., church bells became especially hated by the new government.The ringing of bells was considered harmful, and by the beginning 30's years all the church bells fell silent. According to Soviet law, all church buildings, as well as bells, were placed at the disposal of Local Councils, which “based on state and public needs, used them at their discretion.”
Most of the church bells were destroyed. A small part of the bells of artistic value was registered with the People's Commissariat for Education, which disposed of them independently "based on state needs."
To liquidate the most valuable bells, a decision was made to sell them abroad. “The most expedient way out for eliminating our unique bells is to export them abroad and sell them there along with other luxury items...” wrote the ideologist of atheism Gidulyanov.
So in the USA, at Harvard University, the unique bells of the Danilov Monastery turned out to be. The unique bells of the Sretensky Monastery were sold to England. A huge number of bells went into private collections. Another part of the confiscated bells was sent to large construction sites in Volkhovstroy and Dneprostroy for technical needs (making boilers for canteens!).
Russia was losing its bell wealth catastrophically quickly. The seizure of bells from ancient monasteries and cities was especially noticeable. IN 1929 The 1200-pound bell was removed from the Kostroma Assumption Cathedral. IN 1931 Many bells of the Spas-Evfimiev, Rizopolozhensky, and Pokrovsky monasteries in Suzdal were sent for remelting.
Even more tragic was the story of the death of the famous bells of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The death of the pride of Russia - the bells of the first monastery in Rus' - was followed by many. Illustrated official publications such as "Atheist" and others printed photographs of the overthrown bells. As a result, 19 bells with a total weight of 8165 pounds were handed over to Rudmetalltorg from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In his diary about the events in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the writer M. Prishvin wrote: “I witnessed the death ... the most majestic bells in the world of the Godunov era were thrown down - it was like the spectacle of a public execution.”
A peculiar application, parts of Moscow bells, was found in 1932 city authorities. Bronze high reliefs were cast from 100 tons of church bells for the new building of the Lenin Library.
IN 1933 At a secret meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, a plan was established for the procurement of bell bronze. Each republic and region received a quarterly allocation for the procurement of bell bronze. Over the course of several years, in a planned manner, almost everything that Orthodox Rus' had carefully collected for several centuries was destroyed.
Currently, the art of casting church bells is gradually being revived. By blessing His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and All Rus' Alexei II, the Bells of Russia Foundation was established, which revives the ancient traditions of bell art. In their workshops, bells from 5 kg to 5 tons are cast. The biggest for recent years became a bell for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
Bells, having traveled a long historical path, have become an integral part of the life of the Russian people for Russia. Without them, not a single Orthodox church was unthinkable; all events in the life of the state and the Church were sanctified by the ringing of bells.
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When the bells ring...
Apparently it really will come true soon
What the soul was waiting for:
I've been imagining things all day today,
That the bells are ringing.
Only the doors in the temple are locked.
Who would start calling in vain?
You can't see the sexton on the porch
And on the bell tower.
Know, Sunday service
Not in our earthly land:
Then the ranks of heaven are calling
According to my soul in heaven...
Small bells were rung at meetings in ancient Rome to attract attention. Large bells began to be used in the early Middle Ages to summon people to church services, instead of trumpets, which were used for these purposes earlier. Bells spread throughout Europe during the time of Charlemagne thanks to his efforts.
Historically, the bell is a Western invention; the first bell towers appeared in Italy. In early Christian Rus', for a long time, bells were called companies, after the name of the Italian province of Compania. One of the first bells was donated to Byzantium - here the custom of ringing bells took root for many centuries, and with the adoption of Christianity by Russia it became an integral part of worship in our state.
Bell-makers were highly valued, and the casting of a new bell was always a big event. The craftsmen kept the secrets of bell production and knew what needed to be added to the alloy to make the bell ring more softly or loudly. There were bells with names, usually in honor of some saint. It was believed that their ringing could ward off diseases and misfortunes.
Divine services with bells are an Italian idea and, according to legend, it belongs to St. Paulinus. It was as if St. Peacock saw wildflowers in a dream - bells fluttering in the wind, and heard blissful sounds... This dream touched his soul so much that Peacock ordered the foundry craftsmen to repeat the shape of these flowers and teach them to sing... Legends are not verified, It is customary to believe them - or not to believe them.
The chronicle of 988 first mentions Russian bell-making masters. But only in the 15th century did Russia have its own bell foundries. And this rare skill came to Siberia even later. The name of the Irkutsk master of the second half of the 17th century is known; his name was Ivan Kolokolnik. And the works of Tyumen factory owners, merchants Gilev and Kondakov, as well as the Turin tradesman Kotelnikov are already well known to specialists.
Each master's bells sang in his own way, as if part of his soul passed into the bell. Perhaps that is why the bells, like people, were given names; during hostilities they were taken prisoner, punished with whips and their tongues torn out...
The history of the bell, whose name is Uglitsky Kornoukhy, is remarkable. It was they who sounded the alarm on the occasion of the death of Tsarevich Dimitri. Boris Godunov punished not only people; for impudent behavior, the bell was ordered to cut off an ear, and in 1595 he was exiled to Tobolsk as a “corn-eared man.” This undying exile is still alive. Its sound is sharp and loud; the inscription on it along the edges is cut out, not poured in; it reads: “This bell, which sounded the alarm during the murder of the blessed Tsarevich Dimitri in 1593, was sent from the city of Uglich to Siberia for exile in the city of Tobolsk to the Church of the All-Merciful Savior, which is on Torg, and then on the Sofia bell tower was a clock.”
Since ancient times, masters have kept secret recipes for good ringing. It was customary to spread some ridiculous rumor before casting, so that people would believe the absurdity. Then the bell turned out great! There was even a saying: “the bells are ringing,” which meant that they were lying or making things up. However, even now you can hear the word “fill in”! – we say and don’t even think that this word is connected with the ancient art of bell casting...
There was such a ringing in Rus' - all the bells were ringing, they also talked about it “all the way.” They called like this on especially solemn days at cathedrals, monasteries and laurels. The work was hard, delicate and was carried out by several bell ringers: five or more people each. The red bell announced the Great Holidays. And it was called red because it sounded amazingly beautiful...
It was the red ringing that the “Reds” dealt with first of all - it was first prohibited, and then impossible - due to the destruction of large bells...
There were bells not only in the church. Peasants were gathered for corvée by the ringing of a special bell. In cities, workshops and city councils often had their own bells. Special bells of shame were rung during the execution. Over time, the bell became for the city the personification of its independence and independence. When the enemy approached, the townspeople tried to hide the bells because of their material and spiritual value. And during uprisings, it was the bells that became the messengers of rebellion.
Church bells stopped ringing if an interdict was imposed on a city, county, or kingdom by the pope, that is, a ban on performing church services. The interdict was usually combined with excommunication. The pope's interdict began to be used as a way of fighting secular sovereigns, a way to prove that there was nothing in the Christian world higher than papal power. This happened in cases where the king refused to obey the pope: for example, in the 11th century. Pope Gregory VII excommunicated the German Emperor Henry IV for attempting to oppose the decisions of the pope; and the Portuguese kings constantly limited the rights of monasteries and churches to land, which also aroused papal wrath, and almost a third of the reign of the Portuguese monarchs passed under interdict. The pope could punish an insurgent city with an interdict, especially if it belonged to a bishop, as was the case with Cologne or Porto, in which the interdict lasted 60 years. And all this time the bells were silent, so that even the monks were called to the service by rattles.
The city bells could also fall silent. A city lost its bells if it lost its independence. For example, the story of Ivan III’s removal of bells from Novgorod, which he conquered, in 1478 is widely known. There were other cases. For example, Margrave Dietrich of Saxony removed the tongue of Leipzig's guard bell in order to plunder the city unhindered as punishment for disobedience. German cities that took part in the Peasants' War in the 16th century were prohibited from ringing their bells. And sometimes the city itself removed its bells. An example of this is Magdeburg, where in 1546, during the Hunger War, bells were cast into cannons by decision of the city council. And in this case, but in a different guise, the bell continued to protect the city.
There is something in the ringing of bells that cannot be analyzed from a logical point of view; it is perceived by the senses, felt at the subconscious level... This is our ancient past and a mysterious signal going into the heavens...
From time immemorial, people have had special feelings for the ringing of bells and believe in their extraordinary, miraculous power. It is known that bell ringers do not suffer from colds. It is believed that any headache goes away under the bells...
When bell music sounds, faces brighten. Wherever this happens - near a church or in a concert hall... Even a small bell will ring - and your soul will be lighter; it is no coincidence that the tradition of giving bells for good luck is still alive today...
Perhaps this genetic memory awakens in us a special feeling in those moments when the bells ring... We were not there - they sounded, we will leave, they will still remind people of the eternal in the same drawn-out and majestic manner...
“BELLS OF THE RUSSIAN LAND. From time immemorial to the present day” is the title of the book by Vladislav Andreevich Gorokhov. It was published in Moscow in 2009 by the Veche publishing house. The book belongs to the category of spiritual and educational literature and is hardly intended for a wide range of readers. This research about the creation of bells, about the bell business, about its history, about the fate of the famous masters of bell ringing, about foundry masters and about many other things directly and indirectly related to casting and the history of bells. Reading a book is not very easy - it is by no means fiction. But it contains a lot of very interesting information about Russian bell ringing. I will present some of them in this publication. You can read it while the Suzdal bells ring.
Bells. Story
When did the bell first come to Rus' and why is it called that?
Scientists are still arguing about the etymology of the word. Available in Greek the word "kalkun", to some extent consonant with the word "bell", it means "beat". In the same Greek language, the verb “kaleo” is translated as “to call.” The cry in the ancient Indian language is “kalakalas”, and in Latin it is “kalare”. All of them are consonant to one degree or another and explain the pre-Christian purpose of the bell - to convene people. Although most likely, the word “bell” originates from the Slavic “kolo” - circle. Other words come from the same designation, for example, “kolobok”, “kolobok”. There are also astronomical concepts with the same root - “bell of the sun”, “bell of the moon”. Therefore, the concept of “kolo-kol” can be explained as a circle in a circle – “kolo-kol”.
True, President Russian Academy sciences from 1813 to 1841 A.S. Shishkov in his “Brief ABC Dictionary” describes the origin of the word “bell” from the word “stake” and explains that in ancient times, to produce sound, they struck a copper pole, called a “stake,” against another similar pole - “count on stake.” Consonance is indeed obvious, but not all words in the Russian language originate from simple consonance and the merger of several definitions.
It is not known for certain when people first began to use bells. Unlikely in pre-Christian times. Mentions of them in chronicles date back to the 12th century. There is a record of a bell in Putivl, from 1146, in Vladimir-on-Klyazma in 1168. And the famous veche bell in Veliky Novgorod was first mentioned in 1148.
Bells. What metal was it cast from?
What were the bells made of? It is clear that it is made of bell bronze - an alloy of copper and tin. Many believe that precious metals were added to the alloy for purity of sound. Nothing of the kind! On the contrary, to achieve the best sound, the bell should not contain any impurities - only copper and tin, and in the following ratio - 80% copper and 20% tin. No more than 1, maximum 2% of natural impurities (lead, zinc, antimony, sulfur and others) were allowed in the alloy for making a bell. If the composition of impurities in bell bronze exceeds the permissible two percent, the sound of the bell deteriorates significantly. There have always been difficulties with bell copper. After all, no one knew exactly the percentage of impurities; chemical analysis did not yet exist. Interestingly, depending on the size of the bell, the master increased or decreased the tin ratio. For small bells, more tin was added - 22-24%, and for large ones - 17-20%. After all, if there is more tin in the alloy, the sound will be louder, but the alloy will be fragile and the bell can easily break. In the old days, the percentage of tin was reduced to guarantee the strength of the bell.
As for gold and silver, these metals were often used to gild or silver the surfaces of bells and make inscriptions and images. There is a known bell that was completely covered with silver. And sometimes those that contained a lot of tin were called silver bells - in this case the alloy turned out to be light.
To emphasize the amazing ringing of a bell or an ensemble of bells, they say that they have a “crimson ringing”. It turns out that this definition has nothing to do with the berry. It comes from the name of the city of Mechelen, which is located in that part of Belgium that in the old days was called Flanders. The French name of the city is Malines; it was there that the optimal alloy for casting bells was developed in the Middle Ages. That’s why we began to call people with a pleasant timbre, soft, iridescent ringing from the city of Malina - i.e. raspberry ringing.
Already by XVII century Mechelen became the center of bell casting and bell music in Europe, and remains so to this day. The famous carillons are made in Malin. In Russia, the first carillon was heard thanks to Peter I, the Tsar ordered it in the Southern Netherlands and its ringing corresponded to the Mechelen (raspberry) standard.
Bell names
How many bells were there in Rus'? Or at least in Moscow? According to the information of the Swedish diplomat Peter Petrey, who wrote “The History of the Grand Duchy of Moscow,” there were over four thousand (!) churches in the capital of the state in the 17th century. Each has from 5 to 10 bells. And the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun writes at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries:
“I have visited four out of five parts of the world. I've set foot in all sorts of countries, and I've seen some things. I saw beautiful cities; Prague and Budapest made a huge impression on me. But I have never seen anything like Moscow. Moscow is something fabulous. There are about 450 churches and chapels in Moscow. And when the bells begin to ring, the air trembles with many sounds in this city of a million people. From the Kremlin you can see a whole sea of beauty. I never imagined that such a city could exist on earth. Everything around is replete with red and gilded domes and spiers. Before this mass of gold combined with a bright blue color, everything I have ever dreamed of pales.”
In the old days, and even now, large sonorous bells received their own names. For example - “Bear”, “Gospodar”, “Hood”, “Perespor”, “Burning Bush”, “George”, “Falcon”. Some, on the contrary, received offensive nicknames: “Ram”, “Goat”, “Restless” - this is how people called those bells that were dissonant with the sound of the general ensemble of the belfry.
Bells on the bell tower and belfry
It is interesting that the sound of a selection, that is, a group of bells, depends on where they are located.
Suzdal. Bell tower of the Smolensk Church It is necessary that the weight of the bells is evenly distributed on the supporting structures of the belfry to avoid distortion. Usually the bells are hung, increasing their weight from right to left from the bell ringer's platform.
It also turned out that the optimal bell tower for euphony is a tented bell tower with a support pillar in the middle. The largest bell (or a pair of large ones) is placed on one side of the pillar, all the others - on the other. The bells are hung on beams, which simultaneously serve as a support for the base of the tent; sometimes they are placed on special beams.
Suzdal. Kremlin clock tower. Why are bell towers built in some churches and monasteries, and bell towers in others? Bell towers are convenient from the point of view of placing bells on different tiers. They can hold many different bells. And the sound from the bell tower spreads evenly in all directions. From the belfry the sound of the bell is heard differently from different sides. But it is convenient to achieve coherent sound with them. After all, on different tiers of the bell tower the bell ringers do not see each other, whereas on the belfry they stand side by side and the ensemble of bell ringing sounds harmoniously.
In the Russian North, where settlements are rare and distances are vast, they tried to place bell towers in such a way that the sound from one of them could be heard from the other. In this way, the bell towers “talked” to each other, conveying messages.
Bell masters
The harmonious ringing of bells depends not so much on their location. Each of them has its own parent - the master who made them. There is an opinion that the old bells rang better, their ringing was silver and crimson. But you need to know that the ancient masters also made mistakes. They had no manuals or technical techniques at their fingertips. Everything was done by trial and error. Sometimes it was necessary to refill the bell more than once. Experience and skill came with time. History has brought to us the names of famous masters. Under Tsar Boris Godunov, there lived a foundry worker who is best remembered as the creator of the famous one in Moscow. But he was also known as a bell maker. His name was Andrei Chokhov. Four of his cannons and three bells have survived to this day. Bells hang on the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin. The largest of them is called “Reut”. It weighs 1200 pounds and was cast in 1622. There are also two small bells cast a year earlier.
Cathedral Square of the Kremlin. Assumption Belfry and Ivan the Great Bell Tower Literary master Alexander Grigoriev was also famous. He lived under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The bells of his work were intended for the most famous temples. In 1654, he cast a 1000-pound bell for the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. A year later - a 187-pound alarm sounded at the Kremlin's Spassky Gate. A year later - a bell weighing 69 pounds for the Iversky Monastery in Valdai. In 1665, 300 pounds for the Simonov Monastery in Moscow and in 1668 - for the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery in Zvenigorod, weighing 2125 pounds. Unfortunately, not one of them has survived.
The Motorin dynasty of foundry workers was also famous. Its founder was Fedor Dmitrievich. His work was continued by his sons Dmitry and Ivan, and grandson Mikhail. In the history of bell making, Ivan Dmitrievich is considered the most outstanding master. Its bells rang both in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. For the latter, he cast the most important bell weighing 1000 pounds.
Tsar Bell in Moscow Bell artels and factories
Single craftsmen were replaced by entire artels, and then by factories. The plant of P.N. Finlyandsky was famous throughout the country. The plant opened in Moscow at the end of the 18th century, when foundry production in the city itself, in the Cannon Yard, became no longer dangerous. His factory carried out orders for the casting of bells from Paris, San Francisco, Mount Athos, Jerusalem, Tokyo and other countries. Bells were also cast for the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. And when the owner himself appeared on Sukharevka and bought scrap bronze, then in Moscow they knew that soon the bell would be cast. It's time to spread rumors. And amazing fables circulated along the golden-headed landscape - that a whale was caught in the Moscow River, that the Spasskaya Tower collapsed, and that at the hippodrome the doorman’s wife gave birth to triplets, all with foal heads! And everyone knew that they were ringing the bell at Finlyandsky, and to make the sound of the future newborn clearer and louder, they had to weave more tales, so they tried.
The plant of Mikhail Bogdanov was also famous. They also made small bells, and often on snowy roads “the bell” cast at Bogdanov’s factory sounded monotonously.
At the factory of Afanasy Nikitich Samgin, bells were cast for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Most Glorious Transfiguration, which was built on the site of the crash of the royal train where, thanks to the enormous physical strength of Alexander III, the entire imperial family remained unharmed.
IN late XIX century, all Yaroslavl guidebooks insistently recommended visiting the foundry of the Olovyanishnikov partnership to watch the breathtaking spectacle of the casting of a new bell. The high quality of the Olovyanishnikov bells was recognized both in the Old and New Worlds - the plant received a silver medal at an exhibition in New Orleans and a gold medal in Paris.
Bell ringers. Konstantin Saradzhev
But no matter how good the bell is, if a stranger’s hand touches it, it will not sing, but will groan. There were famous bell ringers in Rus'. It still exists now. But one of them was a completely unique musician - you couldn’t call Konstantin Saradzhev anything else. His fate, like the fate of many others, was destroyed by the post-revolutionary hard times. The amazing bell ringer died in 1942 at the age of 42 in a home for neurological patients. This is what the bell ringer himself said about his sense of music:
"From the very early childhood I perceived musical works too strongly, acutely, combinations of tones, the sequence of these combinations and harmony. I distinguished significantly, incomparably more sounds in nature than others: like the sea compared to a few drops. Much more than absolute pitch hears in ordinary music!..
And the power of these sounds in their most complex combinations is in no way comparable to any other instrument - only a bell in its sound atmosphere can express at least part of the majesty and power that will be accessible to human hearing in the future. Will! I'm absolutely sure of this. Only in our century I am alone because I was born too early!”
Professional musicians, scientists, poets, and all lovers of good music came to listen to Sarajev. They learned from each other about where and when Sarajev would call and gathered at the appointed time. Among the admirers was Anastasia Tsvetaeva. This is how she wrote from her own impressions in the story “The Tale of the Moscow Bell Ringer”:
“And yet the ringing burst in unexpectedly, exploding the silence... It was as if the sky had collapsed! Thunderstrike! Rumble - and the second blow! Steadily, musical thunder crashes one after another, and a roar comes from it... And suddenly it began to roar, filled with bird chirping, the vibrant singing of unknown large birds, a festival of bell jubilation! Alternating melodies, arguing, yielding voices... deafeningly unexpected combinations, unthinkable in the hands of one person! Bell orchestra!
It was a flood, gushing, breaking the ice, flooding the surrounding area in torrents...
Raising their heads, those standing looked at the one who was playing above, leaning back. He would have flown if not for the ties of the bell tongues, which he ruled in a selfless movement, as if embracing with outstretched arms the entire bell tower, hung with many bells - giant birds emitting copper echoing ringings, golden cries, beating against the blue silver of swallow voices that filled the night an unprecedented bonfire of melodies"
Sarajev's fate is unenviable. The fate of many bells is also unenviable. High reliefs of famous scientists and writers that decorate the building of the library named after. Lenin in Moscow on Mokhovaya Street are made of bell bronze - for the 16th anniversary October Revolution The bells of eight Moscow churches were ringed for them.
Bells - travelers of the Danilov Monastery
And an amazing story happened with the bells of the Danilov Monastery. The communists banned the ringing of bells throughout Russia in the 20s of the twentieth century. Many bells were thrown from the bell towers, broken, and poured into the “needs of industrialization.” In the 30s, American entrepreneur Charles Crane bought the bells of the Danilov Monastery for the price of scrap: 25 tons of bells, the entire selection of monastery ringing. Crane well understood and appreciated Russian culture and realized that if this ensemble was not redeemed, it would be lost forever. In a letter from Charles to his son John we find an explanation for his action: “The bells are magnificent, beautifully set and made to perfection... this small selection may be the last and almost the only fragment of the beautiful Russian culture left in the world.”
The entrepreneur's acquisition has found a new home at Harvard University. This ensemble was tuned by Konstantin Saradzhev. Among the 17 newly arrived bells, students immediately identified one with an amazing and rare beauty of sound and immediately dubbed it “Mother Earth’s Bell.” It was cast in 1890 at the P.N. Finlyandsky factory by the famous master Ksenophon Veryovkin. The ensemble also included two bells by Fyodor Motorin himself, cast in 1682 - “Podzvonny” and “Bolshoi”.
After the war, students at Harvard University organized a club of Russian bell ringers and mastered the traditions of ringing. But bad luck, no matter how Russian bells were tuned in a foreign land, no matter what masters were invited, they did not sound as joyful, sonorous and cheerful as in their native Danilov Monastery. The sound from them came clear, loud, powerful, but very lonely and wary, not creating an ensemble. The bells confirmed the old Russian belief that the best sound of a bell is in its homeland. After all, the Vladimir bell did not ring in Suzdal, where he was taken Grand Duke Alexander Vasilievich Suzdalsky. This is also mentioned in the chronicles. And as they returned him to his native place, “the voice, as before, was pleasing to God.”
Apparently the bells were yearning for their native Danilov monastery. Gone are the godless times. In 1988, the monastery of Prince Daniel was one of the first in Rus' to reopen, and services were resumed in its churches. Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the belfry of the oldest monastery in Moscow. For Harvard University, the Voronezh bell foundry of the Vera company ordered new bells - exactly the same, 18 in number, with a total weight of 26 tons. Casting was done using ancient technologies. Except that instead of clay molds they used ceramic ones. Therefore, the drawings on the new bells turned out to be extremely clear. And the sound of the duplicates corresponds to the sound of the original selection - this was the main condition for the return of the bells to Moscow. 
And the “wanderers”, who gratefully served American students for so many years, returned to their native abode. Along with copies of the bells of the Danilov Monastery, two more were cast at the plant - for the university with the symbols of Harvard with gratitude for preserving a priceless treasure and for the St. Danilov Monastery with the symbols of Russia and the USA in gratitude to those who participated in the fate of our sounding shrine, who believed, waited and waited.
Bells. Customs
Speaking about bell traditions, one cannot help but recall the small arc bells that were cast on. These bells rang on all roadways, and in cities they were ordered to be tied up. Only imperial courier troikas could ride in cities with a bell. Legend has it that when the rebellious Veche Bell from Moscow was taken to Moscow, it did not submit to the conquerors. A bell fell from a sleigh and broke into thousands... of small bells. Of course, this is nothing more than a legend, but it is there that the only bell museum in Russia is located. Let me emphasize – bells, not Valdai bells.
Russian bells have always been colossal in size compared to their European counterparts. One of the largest Western bells – the Krakow “Zygmunt” (will be discussed below) – weighs only 11 tons, which sounds quite modest for Russia. Even under Ivan the Terrible, a 35-ton bell was cast here. There was a famous bell weighing 127 tons, cast by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. He crashed, falling from the belfry, during one of the many fires in Moscow. The casting of a huge bell was a godly deed, because the larger the bell, the lower its sound, the faster the prayers offered under this bell will reach the Lord. But there is another reason why bells in Western Europe did not reach the same size as ours. After all, in the West they swing the bell itself, but in Russia they only swing its tongue, which weighs disproportionately less. However, in the West there are many famous bells and no less legends and interesting stories associated with them.
Bells in Europe
An amazing bell story took place in the middle of the 17th century in Moravia. The Swedish commander Torstenson continuously attacked the richest city of the Czech Republic, Brno, for three months. But the Swedes were unable to take the city. Then the commander assembled a military council and announced to those gathered that the next day the final assault on the city would take place. Brno must be taken before the bell at St. Peter's Basilica rings at noon. “Otherwise we will have to retreat,” the commander said firmly. A local resident heard this decision and, appreciating their importance, made his way into the city and informed the townspeople about it. The inhabitants of Brno fought tooth and nail. But the Swedes were not inferior to them. Enemies in some places overcame the city walls when the cathedral bell tolled 12 times. No one dared to disobey Torstenson’s order; the enemy retreated in the evening and left Brno forever. So 12 strikes saved the city. Since then, every day at exactly 11 o’clock, in memory of this event, not 11, but 12 bell strikes are heard from the main cathedral. Just like more than 350 years ago, when resourceful townspeople struck the saving 12 strikes an hour earlier.
Some Western bell traditions are interesting. In Bonn, the “Cleanliness Bell” convened residents for weekly cleaning of city streets and squares, a German “Sunday”. In Turin, the “Bread Bell” informed housewives that it was time to knead the dough. Baden's "labor bell" announced the lunch break. In Danzig they were waiting for the sound of the “Beer Bell”, after which drinking establishments would open. In Paris, on the contrary, they were closed at the signal of the “Drunkards’ Bell.” In Etampes, the ringing of the bell ordered the city lights to be extinguished and was nicknamed the “Pursuer of Revelers,” and in Ulm, the “Bell of Eccentrics” reminded that it was dangerous to stay in the dark and cramped medieval streets of the city late at night. In Strasbourg, the beginning of a thunderstorm was heralded by the “Storm Bell”. There is a house “At the Stone Bell”, the corner of its facade is decorated with an architectural element in the form of a bell. An old legend says that the time will come and this bell will come to life and speak its own language. The ancient bell in “Sigmund” can disperse clouds and call girls to their betrothed.
Krakow. Wawel. Bell “Sigmund” Bells in literature
The Russian people have come up with many riddles about the bell. Here are the most interesting ones:
They took it from the ground,
They warmed themselves on the fire,
They put it in the ground again;
And when they took me out, they started beating me,
So that he could speak.
He calls others to church, but does not attend it himself.
Russian poets did not ignore the bell either. There is a well-known poem by Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov (K.R.) about Russian bells. Everyone remembers Vladimir Vysotsky’s poem “Alarm”. On the poet’s memorial plaque on Malaya Gruzinkaya Street, where Vysotsky lived, his portrait is depicted against the background of a broken bell.
Memorial plaque to Vladimir Vysotsky on the house Malaya Gruzinskaya, 28 Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava collected a large collection of bells. Until now, every year on August 27, Peredelkino celebrates Bell Day. On this day, admirers of Okudzhava’s work bring another gift to his museum home - a bell.
How joyful it is that church bells are now ringing again. Still timid and modest. But a silver ringing floats clear and sonorously over the Motherland.
“...In the blue sky, pierced by bell towers,”
Copper bell, brass bell -
Either he was happy or he was angry...
Domes in Russia are covered with pure gold -
So that the Lord will notice more often...”
V. Vysotsky “Domes” 1975
And this is the real bell ringing of the Suzdal bell ringers of the Spaso-Evfimievsky Monastery. Everyone can hear them; they perform a small bell concert every hour when the monastery is open to visitors. Two recordings, three minutes long.
And in short - less than two minutes.
Based on materials from the book by V.A. Gorokhov “Bells of the Russian Land. From time immemorial to the present day." M, "Veche", 2009
Bells are one of the necessary accessories of an Orthodox church. The “Rite of Blessing the Bell” says: “For that all who hear its ringing, whether by day or by night, may be awakened to the praise of Thy Holy Name.”
Church bell ringing is used to:
1. call believers to worship,
2. express the triumph of the Church and its Divine services,
3. announce to those not present in the church about the time of especially important parts of the Divine services.
In addition, the people were called to the veche (national assembly) by ringing the bell. The ringing showed the way to travelers lost in bad weather. The ringing signaled any danger or misfortune, for example, a fire. In tragic days for the Motherland, the people were called upon to defend the Fatherland. The ringing notified the people of victory and welcomed the victorious return of regiments from the battlefield (war), etc. So the ringing of bells in many ways accompanied the life of our people.
The bells are hung on a special tower called bell tower or belfry, which is built above the entrance to the temple or next to the temple.
But bells, as we know, did not begin to be used by Christians immediately with the advent of Christianity.
In the Old Testament Church, in the Temple of Jerusalem, believers were called to services not by bells, but by the sounds of trumpets.
In the first centuries of persecution of Christianity by pagans, Christians were not able to openly call believers to worship. At that time, believers were convened for Divine services in secret. This was usually done through deacons or special messengers, and sometimes the bishop himself, after the Divine Service, announced the time and place of the next Divine Service.
After the end of the persecution (in the 4th century), they began to convene believers in various ways.
A more general method of convening believers for Divine services was determined by the 6th century, when they began to use beats and rivets. Bila or candi are wooden boards, and riveting are iron or copper strips bent into a semicircle.
Finally, the most improved way of convening believers to worship has been determined - this is bell ringing.
Bells are known to have first appeared in Western Europe. There is a legend according to which the invention of bells is attributed to St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nolan(† 411), i.e. at the end of the 4th or at the beginning of the 5th century. There are several legends about this. According to one of these legends, St. Peacock saw wild flowers in a dream - bells that made pleasant sounds. After his dream, the bishop ordered the casting of bells in the shape of these flowers. But, obviously, St. Paulinus did not introduce bells into the practice of the Church, since neither he himself in his writings nor his contemporary writers mention bells. Only at the beginning of the 7th century To Pope Savinian(successor of St. Gregory Dvoeslov) managed to give the bells a Christian meaning. From that time on, bell ringing began to be gradually used by Christians, and during the 8th and 9th centuries in Western Europe, bells became firmly established in the practice of Christian worship.
In the East, in the Greek Church, bells began to be used in the second half of the 9th century, after the Venetian Doge Ursus sent 12 large bells as a gift to Emperor Michael in 865. These bells were hung on the tower at St. Sophia Cathedral. But among the Greeks, bells did not come into widespread use.
Bells appeared in Russia almost simultaneously with the adoption of Christianity by St. Vladimir (988), i.e. at the end of the 10th century. Along with bells, beaters and rivets were also used, which existed until recently in some monasteries. But oddly enough, Russia borrowed bells not from Greece, from where it adopted Orthodoxy, but from Western Europe. This is indicated even by the name bell, which comes from the German word Glocke. In church language the bell is called "campan"- from the name of the Roman province of Campania, where the first bells were cast from copper. At first the bells were small, several hundred pounds each. There were not many of them at the temples, 2 or 3 bells each.
But since the 15th century, when Russia had its own factories for casting bells, large-sized bells began to be cast. So, at the bell tower of Ivan the Great in Moscow, for example, there are the following bells: a bell called “Everyday”, weighs 1017 poods 14 pounds; the bell "Reut", weighs about 2000 pounds; the largest bell is called “Uspensky” or “Festive”, weighs about 4000 pounds.
The largest bell in the world is currently "Tsar Bell" now standing on a stone pedestal at the foot of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. It has no equal in the world not only in size and weight, but also in artistic casting. The Tsar Bell was cast by Russian craftsmen (father and son) Ivan and Mikhail Matorin in 1733 - 1735. The material for the Tsar Bell was its predecessor, a giant bell damaged by fire. This bell weighed 8,000 pounds and was cast by the bellmaker, Alexander Grigoriev, in 1654. Over 5,000 pounds of alloy were added to this 8,000-pound material.
The total weight of the Tsar Bell is 12,327 poods and 19 pounds or 200 tons (218 tons). The diameter of the bell is 6 meters 60 cm or 21 feet 8 inches.
This amazing work of foundry art did not have time to be raised to the bell tower, because the bell was severely damaged by a terrible and devastating fire in 1737. The Tsar Bell was then still in the foundry pit, surrounded by wooden scaffolding (structures). But whether he was raised on these scaffoldings or not has not been established for sure. When these wooden scaffoldings caught fire, they began to fill them with water. The red-hot bell, due to the sudden change in temperature, gave many large and small fractional cracks and a large piece weighing 11,500 kilograms fell off.
After the fire, the Tsar Bell lay in the pit for a whole century. In 1836, the bell was raised and installed on a stone pedestal, according to the design of the architect A. Montferrand, the builder of St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg. It still stands on this pedestal. Below, the fallen edge of the bell is leaning against the pedestal. Such is the fate of the world's greatest Tsar Bell, which never rang.
But even now, located in Moscow on the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, the Uspensky bell is the largest in the world (4000 pounds). A blow to it gave rise to the solemn ringing of all Moscow churches on the Great, Bright, Easter night.
Thus, the Russian Orthodox people fell in love with church bell ringing and enriched it with their ingenuity and art.
A distinctive feature of Russian bells is their sonority and melodiousness, which is achieved by various means, such as:
1. an exact proportion of copper and tin, often with the addition of silver, i.e. the correct alloy.
2. the height of the bell and its width, i.e. the correct proportion of the bell itself,
3. the thickness of the bell walls,
4. correctly hanging the bell,
5. the correct alloy of the tongue and the method of attaching it to the bell; and many others.
The tongue is the striking part of the bell, located inside it. The Russian bell differs from the Western European bell primarily in that the bell itself is fixed motionless, and the tongue is suspended inside the bell, freely swinging, the blow of which produces the sound.
It is characteristic that the Russian people, having named the striking part of the bell tongue, likened to the ringing of a bell to a living voice. Bells were made for Russian believers tongue, voice and trumpets. Truly, what other name than speaking lips can be called the ringing of bells: on the days of great holidays it reminds us of heavenly bliss, on the days of the saints of God it tells us about the eternal peace of the holy inhabitants of heaven, on the days of Holy Week it reminds us of our reconciliation with By God, through Christ the Savior, during the days of Bright Easter Week, he exalts to us the victory of life over death and the eternal, endless joy of future life in the Kingdom of Christ.
Isn’t this a speaking mouth, when the bell lets us know about every hour, about its passage, reminding us at the same time of eternity, when "there will be no more time"(Apoc. 10 , 6).
Preaching the glory of the name of Christ, resounding day and night, and mostly from on high at the temples of God, the ringing of bells itself reminds us of the words of the Lord Almighty, spoken through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have placed watchmen who will not be silent neither day nor night...to remind you of the Lord" (Isa. 62 , 6). It is no coincidence that the pagans often heard the ringing of bells and said: "this is a voice Christian God heard!"...
Sounds one church bells represent something sublime, solemn; and if there is a ringing several more or less consistent with each other bells, then even more happens majestic euphony. The powerful ringing of bells, acting on our inner feelings, awakens our souls from spiritual slumber.
What mournful, depressing, and most often irritating tones the bell rings in the soul of the evil, wicked apostate.
The feeling of anxiety, mental anguish is caused by the ringing of bells in the constantly sinful soul.
Meanwhile, in the soul of a believer seeking peace with the Lord God, the ringing of church bells arouses a bright, joyful and peaceful mood. So a person can determine the state of his soul by the ringing of a bell.
You can give many examples from life when a person, tired of struggling with everyday sorrows, falling into despair and despondency, decides to encroach on his own life. But, behold, the church bells reach his ears, and he who is preparing to become a suicide shudders, fears himself, involuntarily protects himself sign of the cross, remembers the Heavenly Father, and new, good feelings arise in his soul - and the one who was lost is forever reborn to life. Thus, in the strikes of a church bell there is hidden a wondrous power that penetrates deeply into human hearts.
Having fallen in love with the ringing of church bells, the Russian Orthodox people connected all their solemn and sad events with it. Therefore, the Orthodox bell ringing not only serves as an indication of the time of the Divine service, but also serves as an expression of joy, sadness and triumph. This is where they came from various types ringing and each type of ringing has its own name and meaning.
TYPES OF CALL AND THEIR NAMES
Church bell ringing is divided into two main types: 1. blagovest and 2. actually ringing.
1. BLAGOVEST
Blagovest is the measured sound of one large bell. With this ringing, believers are called to the temple of God for Divine services. This ringing is called the Good News because it announces good, good news about the beginning of the Divine service.
The gospel is carried out like this: first, three rare, slow, drawn out blow(until the sound of the bell stops), and then follow measured blows. If the bell is very large or huge, then these measured blows are made by swinging the tongue at both edges of the bell. If the bell is relatively small, then in this case its tongue is pulled with a rope quite close to its edge, a board is placed on the rope and blows are made by pressing the foot.
Blagovest, in turn, is divided into two types:
1. Ordinary or frequent and is produced by the largest bell; And
2. lean or rare, is produced by a smaller bell on the weekdays of Lent.
If there are several large bells at the temple, and this happens at cathedrals, large monasteries, laurels, then the large bells, in accordance with their purpose, are distinguished into the following bells: 1) festive; 2) Sunday; 3) polyeleous; 4) just everyday or everyday; 5) fifth or small bell.
Usually in parish churches there are no more than two or three large bells.
2. THE RINGING ACTIVITY
Actually, ringing is called ringing when all the bells or several bells are rung at once.
The ringing of all bells differs in:
1. Trezvon- this is ringing all the bells, then a short break, and a second ringing all the bells, again a short break, and the third time ringing all the bells, i.e. ring all the bells three times or ringing in three stages.
The trezvon expresses Christian joy and triumph.
In our time, trezvon began to be called not only ringing all the bells three times, but, in general, ringing all the bells.
2. Double ringing is ringing all the bells twice, in two steps.
3. Chime- this is ringing each bell in turn (one or several strikes on each bell), starting from big to small, and this is repeated many times.
4. Bust- this is a slow ringing of each bell in turn once starting from the very beginning And to big, and after striking the big bell, they strike all the bells together at once, and this is repeated many times.
USE OF RINGING AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
RINGING AT THE ALL-NIGHT VIgil
1. Before you start All-Night Vigil - blagovest which ends ringing.
2. At the beginning of reading six psalms relies double ringing. This double ringing announces the beginning of the 2nd part of the All-Night Vigil - matins and expresses joy of Christmas- incarnations of the Second Person Holy Trinity, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The beginning of Matins, as we know, directly points to the Nativity of Christ and begins with the doxology of the angels who appeared to the Bethlehem shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
People call the two-ringing at the all-night vigil "second ringing"(second ringing after the beginning of the all-night vigil).
3. While singing polyelea, just before reading Gospels relies pealing expressing the joy of the celebrated event. At the Sunday All-Night Vigil, the trezvon expresses joy and triumph of the Resurrection of Christ.(In some localities it is performed while singing: “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ”...) this ringing is usually called in manuals "a call to the Gospel."
People call the trezvon at the All-Night Vigil (“ringing for the Gospel”) "third bell".
4. At the beginning of singing a song Mother of God: "My soul magnifies the Lord..." sometimes short blagovest, consisting of 9 strikes on a large bell (according to the custom of Kyiv and all of Little Russia).
5. B Great Holidays at the end of the Vigil it happens pealing.
6. During the bishop’s Divine service, after each All-Night Vigil, pealing, to see off the bishop.
RINGING AT THE LITURGY
Before the beginning of the reading of the 3rd and 6th hours, it is performed good news for the Liturgy, and at the end of the 6th hour, just before the start of the Liturgy, - pealing.
If two Liturgies are served (early and late), then good news for the early Liturgy there are more rare, slow, than to the later Liturgy, and is usually performed not on the largest bell.
During the bishop's service The good news for the Liturgy begins at the indicated time. When a bishop approaches a church, he must pealing. When the bishop enters the church, the trezvon stops and the bell ringing continues again until the bishop begins to vest. At the end of the 6th hour - pealing.
Then, during the Liturgy, it is blagovest at the beginning "Eucharistic Canon", - the most important part of the Liturgy, for announcing the time of consecration and transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts.
At the prot. K. Nikolsky, in the book “Charter of Divine Services”, it is said that the gospel to “Worthy” begins with the words: “It is worthy and righteous to worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit...” and it happens before singing: “It is worthy to eat as truly, to bless Thee Theotokos...” Exactly the same indication is found in the book: “The New Tablet”, Archbishop. Benjamin, ed. St. Petersburg. 1908 p. 213.
In practice, the message to “Worthy” is shorter, consisting of 12 beats.
In the south of Russia, the gospel to “Worthy” is usually performed before the start of the “Eucharistic Canon”, during the singing of the Creed. (12 strikes, 1 strike for each member of the Creed).
The gospel to “Worthy” was introduced into the custom of Russian churches during the time of Moscow Patriarch Joachim (1690) in the likeness of Western churches, where they ring with the words: “Take, eat...”
After the end of the Liturgy in all major holidays relies ring(ring all the bells).
Also after each Liturgy performed by the bishop, relies ring, to see off the bishop.
On feast of the Nativity of Christ relies ring the entire first day of the Feast from Liturgy to Vespers.
On the Feast of Easter - the Resurrection of Christ:
Blagovest To Bright Matins begins before midnight office and continues until the start Procession of the Cross, and with the beginning of the procession and until the end, and even longer, there is a joyful, solemn pealing.
For the Easter Liturgy - good news And ringing.
And on the most Easter Liturgy, while reading Gospels, frequent chimes are expected, 7 strikes on each bell (the number 7 expresses the fullness of the glory of God). This solemn chime signifies the preaching of the Gospel of Christ in all languages. This chime, after reading the Gospel, ends with a joyful victory ringing.
Throughout Bright Easter Week relies ringing every day, from the end of the Liturgy to Vespers.
In everything Sundays, from Easter to Ascension, after the end of the Liturgy it is necessary to perform pealing.
On Temple Holidays:
At the end of the Liturgy before the beginning of the prayer service supposed to be short blagovest And pealing and by At the end of the prayer service there is a trezvon.
During all Processions of the Cross a peal is required.
TO Royal Hours It happens blagovest ordinary in a large bell, and to Lenten Hours - Good News lean into a smaller bell. Both at the Royal Hours and at the Lenten Hours there is a ringing before each hour: before the 3rd hour the bell is struck three times, before the 6th - six times, before the 9th - nine times. Before fine and Compline - 12 times. But if there is a holiday during Lent, then the bell on the clock is not struck separately at each hour.
On Great Heel Matins, which serves in the evening in Vel. Thursday and when it is read 12 Gospels of the Passion of the Lord, in addition to the usual good news And ringing at the beginning of Matins, it is performed blagovest To every gospel: to the 1st Gospel - 1 hit to the big bell, to the 2nd Gospel - 2 hits to the 3rd Gospel - 3 hits etc.
At the end of Matins, when the believers carry the “Thursday fire” home, it is supposed pealing.
USING THE CHIME AND ITS IMPORTANCE
On Vespers of Great Heel, before the removal of the Shroud, while singing: “For you to get dressed...” is supposed to be slow chime once on each bell(from large to small), and according to the position of the Shroud in the middle of the temple - immediately pealing.
On Matins of Holy Saturday starting with singing "Great Doxology" and throughout the entire procession with the Shroud around the temple, supposedly chime, the same as when taking out the Shroud, i.e., slowly ringing each bell once from large to small. When they bring the Shroud into the temple and reach the Royal Doors with Her - immediately pealing.
Slow ringing of each bell once, starting with the largest, most powerful sound, and gradually reaching the thinnest and highest sound of the small bell, symbolizes " exhaustion"Our Lord Jesus Christ for the sake of our salvation, as we sing, for example, in the irmos of the 4th song, 5th tone: “Thy Divine, understanding the exhaustion... for the salvation of Your people...”.
According to the established centuries-old practice of the Russian Orthodox Church (in the central part of Russia), such a chime should be made only twice a year: on Vel. Friday and Vel. Saturday, the day of the Lord’s death on the cross and His free burial. Experienced bell ringers watch this especially strictly and in no way allow the mournful ringing of one relating to the Lord, our Savior, to be the same as the funeral ringing of ordinary, mortal and sinful people.
On Matins on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, on the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross And August 1st, before the cross is taken out of the altar during the singing of the “Great Doxology”, there is a chime, in which they slowly strike 3 times(in some areas 1 time) in each bell from largest to smallest. When the cross is brought to the middle of the temple and placed on the lectern - pealing.
Similar chime, but only frequent, fast, And 7 times(or 3 times) on each bell, sometimes before small blessing of water. When the cross is immersed in water - pealing.
The same as before the blessing of water, it happens chime before consecration to the rank of Bishop. In general, there is frequent chiming of each bell several times solemn ringing. In some areas, such a chime is performed before the start of the Liturgy in Temple Festivals and on other solemn occasions, for example, as stated above, when reading the Easter Gospel.
USING BURST AND ITS IMPORTANCE
Bust, otherwise funeral or death knell, expresses sadness and grief for the deceased. It is performed, as already mentioned above, in the reverse order of the chime, i.e. they strike slowly once at a time at every bell from the smallest to the largest, and then they hit ring all the bells at the same time. This mournful funeral procession necessarily ends with a brief ringing, expressing the joyful Christian faith in the resurrection of the deceased.
Due to the fact that some manuals on ringing indicate not to ring rings during funeral services for the dead, and this does not correspond to church practice, we give some clarification on this matter.
The slow ringing of the bells, from the smallest to the largest, symbolizes the growing life of man on earth, from infancy to maturity and manhood, and the simultaneous striking of the bells means the end of earthly life by human death, in which everything that a person has acquired for this life is abandoned . As it is expressed in the songs during the funeral service: “All human vanity does not endure after death; wealth does not endure, nor glory descends: for death has come, this is all consumed. (Or as another chant says: "in one moment, and all this death is accepted"). Let us cry out to the immortal Christ: give him rest from us, where all are merry home".
The second part of the song directly points to the joy in the future life with Christ. It is expressed at the conclusion of the mournful enumeration, ringing.
In the magazine "Orthodox Rus'", in the "Questions and Answers" section, Archbishop Averky, regarding the customs during funeral services and memorial services, gave solidly grounded explanations, which should certainly also apply to the ringing: “According to our Orthodox custom, it is necessary to perform memorial services and funeral services in light vestments. The custom of performing these rites in black vestments came to us from the West and completely unusual for the spirit of Holy Orthodoxy, but nevertheless it has spread quite widely among us - so much so that it is now not easy to eradicate it... For a true Christian, death is a transition to a better life: joy, not sorrow, as it is beautifully expressed in the most touching third column prayer, read at Vespers on the day of Pentecost: “For there is no death, O Lord, for Thy servant, who proceeds to us from the body, and who comes to Thee our God, but repose from the sorrowful to the most wholesome and sweet, and to peace and joy” ( see Triode Tsvetnaya).
The trezvous, reminiscent of the resurrection, has a beneficial effect on the believing Christian soul, grieving over separation from the deceased, and gives it inner consolation. There is no reason to deprive a Christian of such consolation, especially since this trezvon has firmly entered the life of the Russian Orthodox people and is an expression of their faith.
Thus, when carrying the deceased to the funeral service in the temple, a mournful ceremony is performed. overkill, and when he is brought into the temple - pealing. After the funeral service, when the deceased is taken out of the church, it is performed again overkill, ending also ringing.
During the funeral service and burial Priests, Hieromonks, Archimandrites And Bishops something different is happening overkill. First the big bell is struck 12 times, then overkill, again 12 times into the big bell and again overkill etc. When the body is brought into the temple, pealing, also after reading the prayer of permission - pealing. When carrying the body out of the temple, again indicated overkill, and after placing the body in the grave it happens pealing. In other places they call the usual funeral call.
The “Official Book” states that during the removal of Patriarch Joachim the bell sounded, changing all the bells occasionally (Temporary Imperial Moscow General History and Ancient 1852 book 15, p. 22).
We recently learned that there was another species search- this is one strike on each bell, but starting from large to small, and then a simultaneous strike of all bells. This was confirmed by the gramophone record: “Rostov Bells”, recorded in Rostov in 1963. In practice, we have never heard such a ringing; there are no instructions about it in ringing manuals. Therefore, we cannot indicate where and when it was used.
There is also a so-called red ringing all the bells are ringing ("all the bells").
Red ringing occurs at cathedrals, monasteries, laurels, i.e. where there are a large number of bells, which include many large bells. The red ringing is performed by several bell ringers, five or more people.
The red ringing occurs on Great Holidays, during solemn and joyful events in the Church, as well as to honor the diocesan bishop.
In addition, we should also mention the “alarm” or “alarm” ringing, which has social and everyday significance.
Alarmed or alarm bells called continuous, frequent striking of a large bell. The alarm or flash was rung during an alarm in the event of a fire, flood, rebellion, invasion of enemies or some other public disaster.
"Veche" bells were the bells with which the residents of Novgorod and Pskov called people to veche, i.e. to the people's assembly.
Victory over the enemy and the return of the regiments from the battlefield were heralded by the joyful, solemn ringing of all the bells.
In conclusion, let us recall that our Russian bell ringers have achieved high skill in bell ringing and have become famous throughout the world. Many tourists came from Europe, England and America to Moscow for the Easter holiday to listen to the Easter ringing.
On this “holiday holiday” in Moscow, in total, more than 5,000 bells were rung by all churches. Anyone who heard the Moscow Easter ringing could never forget it. It was “the only symphony in the world,” as the writer I. Shmelev writes about it.
This powerful, solemn ringing shimmered throughout Moscow with the various melodies of each temple and ascended from earth to heaven, like a victorious hymn to the Risen Christ.
(The instructions for the ringing order are based on the following: practice of the Russian Orthodox Church(central Russia). This practice was created and approved by the centuries-old experience and life of the Russian Orthodox people, that is, by the very life of the Catholic Church).
In this regard, we met with the bell ringer of the Gradoyakut Transfiguration Cathedral, Vitaly Kalugin, and learned a little about the bell ringing craft.
- What is the purpose of bell ringing?
The ringing of bells is needed in order to call people to worship services, as well as in order to announce to people about some important moments and features during the service. Also, the ringing of the bell reminds those people who are outside the temple that a service is now underway, that now is the time to pray, so that people have the memory of God. Often people, hearing the bell ringing and knowing that an important moment of worship is now taking place in the church, cross themselves, thereby showing reverence for God and the church.
- What time do the bells ring?
The bells are rung at the beginning of the evening service, at the sixth psalm (this is approximately the middle of the service), at the Gospel and at the end of the service, when the Mother of God is glorified in her song “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
In the morning, during the Liturgy, the bell rings before the start of the service: at the reading of the third and sixth hours, before the start of the Liturgy itself, at the Eucharistic canon (this is the most important moment). They also call when they meet and see off the bishop, and at the end of the service. In some churches they ring the bell when reading the Creed prayer.
Bell ringing is obligatory on Saturdays, because on Saturday the Mother of God is glorified, and on Sundays, since every Sunday is Little Easter.
- Is the ringing on holidays different from the ringing on ordinary days?
Not fundamentally different. On major holidays - Easter or Christmas - the ringing is more solemn than on weekdays. The guard bell differs more from the holiday bell. During Lent, the bell is rung very rarely, the ringing is quieter, the bells are struck less forcefully, because on ordinary days, after each strike of the bell, the Trisagion is read: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us,” and during Lent - Psalm 50, so the interval between striking the bell increases. Thus, by ringing the watch they show that it is time for reflection, prayer, and work on oneself.
During Holy Week, the ringing of bells will almost cease, because at this time we remember how Christ went to free suffering to atone for the sins of the human race. And on the night of Easter, bright and joyful peals will sound throughout the city.
In addition, there are traditions of bell ringing, depending on the temple and region. For example, in some churches the bells are rung more often or less often. Or in our country the ringing of bells can be heard during the Eucharistic canon, and in the south they often ring during the reading of the Creed.
- Tell us about the types of ringing.
The ringing is divided into blagovest and trezvon. Blagovest is gradual striking of a large bell so that the sound is uniform and not chaotic, as I already said, after each strike of the bell the prayer “Trisagion” is read, then the strike follows again.
Trezvon is the ringing of all the bells, when they ring three times with short intervals: they rang, stopped, rang. This ringing occurs before the start of the Liturgy, on holidays, and also when meeting the bishop.
Chime - ringing alternately from a large bell to a small one, such a ringing occurs at the burial of the shroud. Tribor is a ringing from small to large, and at the end all the bells are struck. For example, on Thursday of Holy Week the Passion Gospels will be read. For each Passion Gospel a bell is struck.
There is also a double ring. This is like a trezvon, but it rings twice. Usually this kind of ringing occurs before prayers and after the Liturgy.
If several Liturgies are served in one church, for example, early and late, then traditionally the early Liturgy has a less solemn ringing than the late one.
- What is the red ringing and the crimson ringing?
In Church Slavonic, the word “red” does not mean color, but “beautiful, comely.” Therefore, the red ringing is one of the most beautiful, brightest ringings. This kind of ringing can be heard on Bright Week, when the whole city is filled with melody sounding from the bell towers.
Raspberry ringing - according to one version, a cute ringing that is pleasant to the ear. According to another version, the crimson ringing is the ringing sounding from bells that were cast in the city of Malin on the territory of modern Belgium, which were then brought to Russia.
- Tell us about the types of bells.
There are three types of bells: bass, tenor and triplet. The bass ones are the largest, they are responsible for the bell. Tenor bells are medium in size, triplet bells are the smallest bells in the bell tower, which are used for triring, double-ringing, and chiming. Bass bells produce dull, heavy sounds, while tenor bells produce softer sounds. The bells vary in size, from several meters in diameter to several centimeters.
We can say that the entire bell tower is a large musical instrument that serves a good cause in preaching Christ.
- What are bells cast from?
The bells and tongues are 80% bronze and 20% tin. What is this composition for? Bronze is for strength, and tin is responsible for sound.
- How do they ring the bells?
The bell ringer monitors the service; as a rule, this is a person who knows the service well. At certain points in the service, he climbs the bell tower and rings the bells.
To ring bells, you need leverage over them. Ropes are tied to the tongues of tenor and triplet bells, pulled close to the wall of the bell and struck, a bundle of tenor bell ropes is taken in one hand, and triplet bells in the other and beaten. That is, the ropes tied to the tongues of the bells are in a tense position, you just need to hit them. And the treols need to be pulled and ringing. They make pedals for the largest bells - bass bells, tie a rope to them and, by pulling it, make a sound from the bell. But if the bell is very large, it is struck not at one wall, but first at one, then at the other.
- Is it difficult to learn to call?
Any business is not easy to learn. The main thing here is practice, and seminary students have enough practice, because we participate in divine services and learn sextonism and the art of bell-ringing along the way. Now I’m in my 3rd year and I’m still studying and will continue to study bell-ringing, because there are still things that need to be learned better.
- What does it take to become a bell ringer?
Usually the abbot gives his blessing for bell ringing. For me, for example, this is one of the types of obedience.
- Where do they train to be bell-ringers?
There are schools of bell ringers in big cities - Moscow, Novosibirsk, in which both men and women are trained. But more often than not, the ability to ring bells is passed on from one person to another. For example, I was taught by more senior seminary students.
- Can those who want to look at the bells go up to the bell tower?
On Bright Week, anyone can go up to the bell tower and ring the bells - the bell ringer or sexton on duty will lead you to the bell tower. It doesn’t matter whether you know how to call or not, they will help you and give you advice. And so you can rejoice at Easter with the ringing of the bell.
There is a tradition when, during the Easter period, bells are carried around populated areas where there are none, so that people can ring and thereby glorify the risen Christ.
On ordinary days, in order to climb the bell tower and ring the bells, you need to ask for a blessing from the rector of the temple.
Is it true that the sound of a bell has a healing effect?
IN spiritual sense I think so. After all, the ringing of bells reminds us of God, thereby directing our mind to comprehend the Trinity.
- Do you think being a bell-ringer is a calling, or can anyone become one?
I think every person who has hearing can become a bell ringer if blessed. With God's blessing, God's help, nothing is impossible.
- What will the bell ring on Easter?
There will be a bright and constant ringing throughout the city on religious procession, during the Liturgy. And as I noted above, such a ringing will continue throughout Bright Week.
