Old Testament times did not know bells. In the first centuries of the Christian Church there were no bells either. In the Western Church they appeared and spread in the 4th-9th centuries, in the Eastern Church in the 9th-12th centuries. In Russia, they began to sound soon after the adoption of Christianity, but they spread widely from the end of the 16th century, and in the 17th-20th centuries they entered into church life so widely and firmly, they merged so much with the worship of the Russian Orthodox Church and with the idea of ​​Russian folk piety that the question of their spiritual and symbolic meaning deserves special attention.

In prayers for the consecration of “campaign, this is a bell or ringing”, in part II of the Ribbon, seven silver trumpets are mentioned, which the Lord commanded Moses to create to call the people to sacrifice and prayer, to strengthen the courage of the army during wars. These silver trumpets, which the Israeli priests blew, shook the walls of the hostile Jericho, so that not only "intelligent and animated creatures", but also soulless, "like the rod of Moses and the copper snake in the wilderness", the Lord God is powerful to do glorious deeds and miracles " for the salvation and benefit of the faithful." On this basis, the consecrated bell is asked for God's blessing and power so that those who hear it, day or night, are excited to glorify the name of God and gather in church; so that the very ringing of the bell gives glory to God; so that the air would be sanctified by the ringing of the bell and all harmful forces would be driven out of it; so that with this ringing wind storms would calm down and stop, hail and whirlwinds and terrible thunders, and lightning; so that, finally, hearing him, the faithful servants of God would be strengthened in piety and faith and courageously resist "all the devil's slanders", defeating them with prayer and doxology.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself says that at the end of the world He will “send His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other end” (Matthew 24:31). The Apostle Paul speaks of the last trumpet that will sound, the trumpet of God, at which the change of living people into immortal beings and the resurrection of the dead will take place (1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16-17).

It is significant that in early Christian times, in the 4th century, in Egyptian and some Palestinian monasteries, trumpets were used for the same purposes for which bells later began to be used. In ancient times, wooden, iron, copper, even stone beaters and riveters were widely used in monasteries to call the brethren to prayer and during divine services to purely excite the attention of the worshipers. Such beaters and riveters also passed into Russian monasteries. The ancient Rules, which the Church still uses, were drawn up before the spread of bells. Therefore, everything that is said in the statutory texts about the bill, the riveter, the great tree, should be attributed to the ringing of bells. Sometimes even the origin of the word "bell" is associated with the custom of hitting a stake on a stake, creating a sound - a signal. And in a wooden beater, and in a bell made of complex alloy, and in a silver trumpet, the most important common thing that unites and equalizes them is the very sound as a signal corresponding to the mysterious cry at midnight: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him” (Mt. 25:6), which covertly depicts the Second Coming of Christ. Such a signal is nothing but the good news of the Coming of the Judge and Redeemer. The sound of trumpets, beaten, riveted and bells is also the gospel of worship. Therefore, the ringing of bells in Russia received a remarkably accurate name - blagovest. From this point of view, the ringing of bells for a church and a parish, or for the brethren of a monastery, is similar to what the Gospel is for the entire universe, which in translation - tracing paper into Russian - means "good news".

In liturgical books, the bell is called campan, which is etymologically connected with the name of the Roman province of Campania, where the best copper for bells was mined, with the Greek-Latin name of the field - campi and with the name of the bell flower growing in the fields - campanula. There is an opinion that the name of the bell (campan) is due to the fact that, just as a person can freely walk across the field, so the sound of the bell freely spreads through the air.

In its outward form, the bell is nothing more than an overturned bowl, from which sounds, as it were, pour out, carrying God's grace in themselves.

In the Eastern Orthodox countries in the 11th-12th centuries there were many opponents of bells as belonging to the Latin Church, but in the 12th century an official blessing followed for their use in the Orthodox Church.

At first, the bells did not have a permanent place in the temple: they were also hung in arches entrance doors, and inside the temples, and in the towers of the domes, and on separate belfries near the temples, and on the gates of the church fence, on the gates of the monastery wall. In the Russian Church in ancient times, belfries were built for bells in the form of a wall with through openings in which the bells were hung. Since the 14th century, multi-stage towers with a cone-shaped or domed roof appeared in Russia, under which there were bells. Like the belfry, the bell towers were built at first separately from the temples. But in the Moscow architecture of the 16th-17th centuries, and then everywhere, temples appeared, built together with bell towers that enter the building of the temple, making up a whole with it. Such bell towers are placed on the western side of the temple so that the entrance to the temple is through the lower floor of the bell tower, which in this case can be a vestibule. Along with such bell towers, they continued to preserve and build churches with bells in domes on the roof or in separate bell towers. The emergence of bell towers was due to the desire and ability to create large and sonorous bells. In addition, the higher the bell is raised, the farther it can be heard, so that the high bell tower is, as it were, embedded in the very idea of ​​the bell. Spiritually, the bell tower can mean both the mountain from which the Lord preached the Gospel, and the mast of the ship, where the observer is located, announcing the danger or the approach of the long-awaited goal of navigation, and the peak of the earthly history of mankind, on which the Archangel trumpet will sound, announcing the coming Christ and the beginning of Eternal life .

In accordance with the requirements of the Charter and the significance of divine services, several types of ringing are distinguished. Blagovest is a ringing in which one bell is struck rhythmically. Striking different bells is alternately called chime or bust. The word "ringing" also has a narrow meaning, meaning the strikes of several bells at the same time. Ringing, in which different bells are struck simultaneously in three steps with pauses between them, is called a chime. The Annunciation happens three times: at Vespers, Matins and Liturgy, more precisely, at the hours before Liturgy. There is a chime for the Liturgy itself. To the solemn divine services, the blagovest is immediately followed by a peal. On especially solemn occasions, first there is a blagovest, which turns into a chime (bust), and it is followed by a chime.

The ringing during the Liturgy and Matins calls on the faithful who are outside the church to unite their prayers with the prayers of those present at the service. During the Liturgy, the bell-ringing of one bell comes to the singing “It is worthy and righteous to bow down to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” and continues until the singing “It is worthy to eat, for it is truly Blessed Theotokos.” This rule applies at late Liturgies and when one Liturgy is served; at early masses this ringing is not supposed to. In the morning, many bells ring during the singing of the polyeleos. Before the early Liturgy, the blagovest is one bell, infrequent, there is no busting or ringing. Before the late liturgy, the blagovest is frequent, and then the chime. After the end of the festive and Sunday Liturgy, a trezvon is laid. Solemn prayers, blessings of water, and religious processions are accompanied by special enumerations and chimes.

Ringing varies depending on the nature of the services. Some ringing - Great Lent, others - on other days of the year, some - on holidays, others - on weekdays; special bells - to funeral services. With many bells in churches, there are festive, Sunday, polyeleic, simple day (everyday), small bells. In this case, there may be several small ringing bells of various sizes, which accompany the ringing of the main bells. The names of the bells also show the cases in which each of them participates in evangelism or ringing. The art of Russian church bell ringing is unique and is not only a great spiritual phenomenon, but also a true masterpiece of world culture.

The Orthodox press has already raised the issue of the renewal movement in the field of church bells in our Church, which spoke of the growing threat of replacing church bells with metal plates called "flat bells" or "beats" that imitate, or rather parody, the sound of real bells. I would like to return to this topic and consider in more detail all aspects of this far from harmless problem.

First of all, it is necessary to find out the main questions: who needs it and why? Who wants to distort the ringing of bells with false sounds? Whom does the ringing of bells disturb and haunt? The answer is obvious: the enemy of the human race hates everything of the Church. Everything that is carried out in the Church according to the Rule with reverence and zeal incites in him unbearable malice and hatred. He can't bear the Divine Liturgy, or the prayers of the faithful, or the holy icons, or the ringing of bells. And therefore, he strives with all his might to desecrate, distort and make false all aspects of Church life, so that their holiness does not prevent him from destroying human souls and preparing his accession. Here he is, the father of lies, and instead of the bells he hates, which are given power against the spirits of malice in the heavenly places, he wants to hang metallophones on the bell towers in order to distort the bell ringing.

But just like that, people will not change bells for plates, for this they need to be somehow deceived and convinced that this is a useful and necessary thing. Here the enemy begins to act already through people, with his long-tested means. One of the types of these means is money, this idol that now rules the world and penetrates deeper and deeper into church life from different angles.

Too many strangers and random people, often completely unbelievers, feeling the impunity of their actions, the kindness and tolerance of believers, use the Church as a cover to achieve their insatiable financial plans.

Various societies, centers and similar structures are being created, under the guise of which there is a brisk financial activity of individuals who quite seriously consider themselves great pillars of church life, being in fact ordinary dealers, speculators or mediocre plagiarists. It is precisely such businessmen that the enemy uses to implement his destructive ideas.

And now these businessmen have launched mass production of "flat bells", which, with the support of crafty advertising, are slowly spreading through our churches and monasteries, replacing the bell ringing with its rumble. And people are convinced by showing them all sorts of graphs and tables that these plates sound better than real bells, that everything is fine, there is nothing to be afraid of - this is just a revival of old beats.

The calculation is very simple. These metallophones were called "beats" specifically so that if people were outraged by such lawlessness, these same people could be accused of speaking out against the traditions of the Church, hiding behind this name - a purely Jewish device.

Bila used on Athos and in Greece
(including at Athos Compound in Moscow, Taganskaya metro station)

After all the concept of "beat" is very vague and blurry because if desired, almost any board, log, piece of iron and even stone can be called a beater absolutely any shape and size, which can be hit with something to convene or alert people. Calling their metallophones "beaters", the merchants thereby kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, with this name they lull the vigilance of people, because real bilas exist in the Church(Athos, Sinai, Jerusalem) and you can always refer to this, and secondly, they leave themselves the opportunity for justification, since individually these plates (again, if desired) can be called a bill.

But in a set of several pieces, selected according to the scale, like a metallophone, these plates are not church beaters, just as they are not any "flat bells", because the bell is only real, and do not call a flat piece of iron as a bell, it does not will become! It's like saying "flat ball". Absurd!

Before the advent of these metallophones such concepts like "belfry made of beats" or "flat bells" in our Russian Church never existed at all. All this is now planted artificially, with the aim of distorting one of the aspects of church life.

So the question is, why do we need to change something, and introduce some new instruments instead of bells? Why do we need "flat bells"? Moreover, the people who impose them on us, only for deceit, call them beaters in order to buy them. But real, old church beaters are not like that.

First of all, ancient church beaters never intended to imitate the sound of bells. It was absolutely independent, and besides, a very primitive instrument. He did not require high beauty of sound, much less any particular note. The main condition is that it be heard.

Secondly, only one beater was always used - either small or large, as we read from N. Olovyanishnikov in his book "The History of Bells and the Art of Bell Casting", where he defines the church beater: "A beater or a beater is a metal or wooden board , about a sazhen long, which is beaten with a special mallet. There were two beats - a large one and a small one, a small one was carried in the hand, a large one was hung on poles. "

But a Russian person loves space and beauty in everything! And when they had to choose: to ring the bells or to beat the mallet on the board, they always chose the first one. Bell ringing with its beauty and melodiousness captivated the soul of a Russian person. And the ringing of bells began to gradually spread throughout the Russian land, displacing primitive beats. Russian craftsmen learned how to cast bells, and over time there were no better Russian bells anywhere. Bell ringing has rightfully become one of the shrines and an integral part of the Russian Orthodox Church! And beaten over time and completely stopped using it as unnecessary, although in some places they still remained, but mostly, as a tribute to antiquity.

So, if you revive the old church beaters in their present form, then few people will need them now, since the bells have a clear advantage.

The fact is that bell ringing is universal in its own way. He fully complies with all the requirements of the Church. Bells can be used to announce the gospel, to ring in an infinite variety of ways, to perform Paschal, water-blessing, counter, funeral and other bells. You can call prayers, various chimes, busts and much more. The ringing of bells is provided for by the church charter at special moments of the Divine Liturgy. And the beater is very limited in its capabilities, they cannot fulfill even a tenth of what the bells are capable of. This was one of the reasons why primitive beats were abandoned. And if we are told that the new plates are the revived old beats, then the question arises: why are they completely different in everything? If we are to revive, then in the form as it was, and if we are offered a completely different one, then this is no longer a revival, but something new.

To understand this, it is enough to look at what one of the leaders and the main ideologist of this renovation movement, the largest dealer of bells, an atheist, Mr. Sharikov V.G., who is the head of the Bell Center at the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Zayaitsky, writes, I quote: That is why in Russia (and in the West for a long time) more and more people began to use "flat bells" in orchestras, theaters, etc. to reproduce bell ringing. Why don't churches and monasteries have such beats for Orthodox ringing, After all, they are tens and hundreds of times lighter and cheaper than bronze classical bells!"

Well, let them play on these plates in theaters! And our bell towers are not concert venues where you can play on anything. There are certain statutes in the Church, and there are things that no one has the right to change according to their whims or for personal commercial gain. So, in this statement of Mr. Sharikov his worldly, financial interest in this matter is clearly visible. Moreover, the Bell Center was created by him for one single purpose - the repurchase and resale of bells, and the bell ringers' courses serve as a cover, or in the modern "roof" for his stormy commercial activities. By the way, the guys who work there do not suspect anything, and after completing the courses, they unwittingly become advertising agents for the city of Sharikov. Zero waste production! So, the advertising organized by him and the sale of metallophones, which he calls "flat bells" or "beats", is just an additional financial flow into his pocket, personally to Sharikov. And this has nothing to do with the revival of ancient church beaters.

From him, as from a contagious root, other lovers of easy money and avant-garde music began to appear. Entire symphonies are already being composed to be played on these metallophones. And the main concert venue is the bell tower of the Old Believer church at the Rogozhsky cemetery, where jazz musician Pasha Markelov, in his spare time, performs his astral melodies on bells and beaters, which he gives pathos names like "Apocalypse". But, modernist artists also give their abstract paintings names on Gospel themes, but this does not correct their curvature.

Still, it is very strange that the Old Believers, who advocate strict preservation and observance of traditions, allow such a disgrace in their temple.

In general, all these orchestras are instead of belfries, and concerts on them are the work of the Old Believers themselves, but the fact is that this Pasha Markelov, being an Old Believer, is very actively engaged in the distribution of metallophones (flat bells) in the parishes of our Russian Orthodox Church, probably having your percentage of income from this dark business. And here we already have to defend our native churches from this renovationism ..

Perhaps at concerts, the ringing of bells in combination with other musical instruments, and even with entire orchestras, is appropriate, but this is a completely different matter, these are not church bells. In the church, everything should be decent. After all, when the choir sings in the kliros, it does not need any musicians. Likewise, bell ringing, like a church choir, does not need any additional musical instruments. Why add the sound of metal plates to the ringing of church bells? Why distort the bell ringing? Why hang in the windows of our bell towers some square pieces of iron that look like targets in a shooting gallery? After all, even the view of the bell tower with flat boards hanging in the windows instead of bells looks rather strange.

"Flat Bells"

Compare - glockenspiel

When buying, people are told that these "bilas" (flat bells) are much cheaper than real bells. And that a flat "beat", with a relatively small size, gives the note of a large bell, but at the same time they are silent about the fact that the newly appeared "flat bells" sound more or less decent only under the condition of weak hammer blows, because when the impact is amplified, a very strong sound distortion occurs, similar to the sound of a saucepan lid. Therefore, when showing the buyer these “beaters”, they beat them softly so that the person does not understand the main thing that they are not suitable for the bell tower. that they were simply deceived. Because in order to give a powerful, beautiful, euphonious, low-pitched sound, you need a correspondingly large mass, and a three-dimensional form that would hold this powerful sound. And this can only be provided by a bell that has these parameters (mass, volume and a certain profile).

As for the note, the note of any bell, even the largest one, can be played on many musical instruments. And the whole point is not in the note, but in the sound that will give this note. You can strike a real bell from the bell tower, and then a "flat" bell, and it will immediately become clear that these are completely different sounds, although they will have the same note.

But all the same, in spite of everything, they are trying to convince people that there is no difference between bells and plates, they are trying with all their might to erase the line of difference so that the people gradually get used to this innovation.

Here is another revelation of Mr. Sharikov on this matter: "Specialists have long proved that their sound spectra are similar. Since they both belong to percussion idiophones, i.e. percussion musical instruments with a self-sounding body, and the bell is considered as the same beat, but only in a more complex form. Well, what if Mr. Sharikov and his specialists do not see the difference between a bell and a plate, it is a pity, but for a believer, a church bell was, is and will be an integral part of church life and there is no need to compare the spectrum of its sound with various pieces of iron. This is, firstly, and secondly, there are quite a lot of instruments with a self-sounding body - this is a bell, rynda, beat, gong, metallophone, xylophone, timpani, various cymbals, bells and much more (by the way, the bell of them is the most perfect and harmonious .). But this does not mean that they are similar and interchangeable. All of them belong to percussion idiophones and on the graphs the spectra of their sound will be somewhat similar, since each of them has its own overtones and its own sound duration. But this relative similarity will be only on paper, but in practice everything looks different.

Just as a violin part cannot be played on a balalaika, although both of these instruments are stringed, so are instruments with a self-sounding body - each has its own sound and its own purpose. Moreover, the ringing of bells is a purely church sound that cannot be replaced by anything. It is completely individual and unique, and changing it to different false sounds is extremely unreasonable. You can also understand temples where there are no bells at all, and money is rather tight. They buy such metallophones for a period until they find money to buy real bells. Although in such cases, many priests prefer to buy a small belfry instead of plates. But, unfortunately, it happens that although there are bells in the temple, they still buy such "beats" for a change, turn the bell tower into an orchestra pit and the result is not a church ringing with prayer, but one temptation for oneself and for people. Because in the vast majority of churches, where such "flat bells" are used during the ringing of bells, none of the believers like this, since the sound of "beat" only spoils the bell ringing.

But Mr. Sharikov has his own opinion on this matter. We read: "Bila can be used both with ordinary bells and independently without them. Does this violate the Charter of Divine Services? I think not at all!". Maybe Mr. Sharikov will tell us when it was in Holy Russia that during the ringing of bells they played metallophones? You see, he thinks that he can decide what and how should sound from our bell towers. Over the years of his commercial activity, Sharikov probably forgot that he is an ordinary dealer who simply rents a room in the temple, and besides, he is not even a church person, since he openly declares that he is an atheist. So can he decide something in the Church?

And about the traditions of ringing, you can turn to St. Athos, where there are still bells and beats, only real church beats, and not those fakes that are being imposed on us. So there bells and beats always sound separately from each other. Or they knock on the beater (one), or they ring the bells. Until now, at the Athos Compound in Moscow, observing the traditions of the Holy Mountain, they walk around the courtyard until the bells ring and knock on a wooden beater, and then they ring the bells. Everything is separate. And the fact that these different sounds were not mixed was not an accident, because a spiritual meaning is visible in this.

Here is what the Athos Holy Mountaineer writes, in one of his letters, about bells and beaters: “The faint sounds of wood and iron remind us of the obscure, mysterious speeches of the prophets (of the Old Testament, author), and the noise and harmonious play of bells - the gospel of the Gospel, the triumph it in all ends of the universe and suggests the angelic trumpet of the last day.

It means that the Russian people did not choose the bells by chance! With a believing heart, having felt the spiritual difference, our ancestors chose bells not just as a better musical instrument, but bell ringing as the Triumph of Orthodoxy!

So it turns out that Sharikov and those like him are remaking the area of ​​the bell ringing of our Church in their own way, turning everything upside down. It is enough to read their justifications for this whole undertaking with "flat bells", I quote: "After all, there was a time when the bells replaced the beat (! - Author), now the beat is returning to the Orthodox ringing. And this is wonderful!".

If we take this cunningly enthusiastic phrase of Mr. Sharikov seriously, then it turns out that we had the bells temporarily, only as a replacement for the beaters, and now, thanks to Sharikov and Co., everything will return to normal.

By the way, the history of bells goes back to ancient times. Even before the birth of Christ, there are references to bells, bells and bells, which had a very wide range of applications. Of course, these were not the same bells as they are now, but the very principle of bells was born just then. In the Orthodox Church, the first bell ringing appeared in 604-606. Its introduction is attributed to Pope Sabinianus. After that, the use of bells began to gradually spread to the Christian East, where they first appeared at the end of the 9th century in Constantinople, when, at the request of Emperor Basil the Macedonian (867-886), twelve bells were sent for the new church of St. Sofia. And already after the Baptism of Russia, the first bells fall on the Russian land. So, bells are the oldest, canonical church instrument that appeared in the Orthodox Church long before the fall of Catholicism and the Baptism of Russia. And the fact that such merchants as Sharikov constantly humiliate the significance of church bells for their own commercial gain clearly shows the non-Orthodox spirit of this whole idea with “flat bells”.

In connection with all of the above, the question arises: if the newly-minted metallophones are not revived church beaters and not bells, then why sell them for churches? Why arrange the mass production of these plates, backing everything up with sly advertising? The answer is simple. Now a lot of money is being invested in the revival of our Russian Church, since almost everything was destroyed. And there were businessmen who decided to make good money on this. And since the casting of bells is a whole industry in which they invest their soul, and which becomes a matter of a lifetime (and businessmen need profit immediately and more), then these flat boards were invented instead of bells. And in order to buy them, legends were made up that they were always there, only for some reason they were forgotten about.

Well, if they did exist, then let Mr. Sharikov tell us at least one case when, during the time of the Bolshevik persecution of the Church, such plates were thrown from the bell towers along with the bells. But, it is unlikely that he will be able to do this, for one simple reason - they simply were not there! There has never been such an outrage in our Russian Orthodox Church as these “flat bells”! This is a modern innovation, based on commerce, but spiritually aimed at distorting and defiling church bells.

Absolutely all modern bell-casters and the vast majority of ringers are outraged by this state of affairs. After all, there has never been such an attack on the bells and the desecration of the bell ringing!

The enemy of the human race is always trying to introduce the tares of renovationism into all spheres of the life of our Church, be it Divine services, church statutes, or something else. And now we have reached the bells!

Attention! Now, under the guise of church beaters, a new instrument, absolutely alien to church ringing, called "flat bells" is being introduced into our Church.

which will bring nothing good to church bells. We must now sound the alarm, before it's too late, before this innovation floods all our bell towers. After all, gentlemen merchants do not hide their Napoleonic plans. For example, Sharikov frankly declares: “All objective prerequisites indicate that there is a great future behind the Orthodox ringing of beaters.”

If we do not keep clean all aspects of Church life, as our ancestors arranged it, if we easily change, according to our whims, what we want or seem outdated and not modern, then we risk ruining our Church! Because the enemy of the human race always starts small, and there are no trifles in the spiritual world. Everything has its own specific weight, meaning and purpose. And the distortion of one spiritual sphere in the Church leads to many troubles from the most unexpected sides. Therefore, we need to be extremely vigilant and jealous in preserving even the smallest traditions of our Church. And since bell ringing is a fairly large and responsible area of ​​Church life, it accordingly requires a serious attitude. But, as you know, the enemy does not sleep! The ringing of bells reminds him of fiery hell, and he strives with all his might to destroy him, and if he fails, then at least disfigure him.

Therefore, in conclusion, I would like to wish that the ringing of real (!) Bells would be heard from our bell towers and announce the Triumph of Orthodoxy to the whole world!

Volodin Konstantin Viktorovich, ringer, Church of the Deposition of the Robe in Moscow on Donskaya

The first appearance of bells dates back to ancient times. Bells have been made and used since Ancient Egypt. In the East, bells were known in China and Japan. True, in those days the bells were very small in size and were riveted from sheet iron, and then from sheet copper and bronze.

Church tradition attributes the first use of bells in Christian worship to St. Peacock, Bishop of Nolan (353-431).

Where is the form from?

Legend has it that in a dream Bishop Peacock of Nolan saw an angel with bells that made wondrous sounds. Field flowers bells suggested to him the shape of the bells, which were used in worship.

First in Russia

The first bells in Russia appeared with the adoption of Christianity. The first annalistic mention of bells in Russia dates back to 988, that is, at the time of the Baptism of Russia. The Russian masters of the bell business were first mentioned in the annals under 1194. At the beginning of the 12th century, Russian casters had their workshops in Kyiv. As a rule, the oldest Russian bells were small and completely smooth.

Bell as a necessity

Unlike the cities of Western Europe, in which there was a large concentration of residents, and therefore prohibitions were often issued to ring during rest hours, and the number of bells at each church was regulated, in Russia, with its vast expanses and considerable remoteness of villages from each other, there was an urgent need for such a tool that could quickly notify a large number of people in a wide area. That is why in Russia they tried to cast large bells with a low strong sound that would be heard very far away.

Archpriest Konstantin Kharitoshkin. Why is the bell ringing necessary?

“The ringing of bells undoubtedly appeared as a practical thing. Not everyone had a watch, but the ringing of bells in monasteries and churches, at the right time, called people to a common prayer so that the whole neighborhood would hear. The peasant could not quit his job, but he stopped, prayed, remembered the Holy Trinity, praised the Lord and continued to work. Bell ringing is needed for creation.

Bells as history

After the invasion Tatar Mongols bell making in ancient Russia came to naught, and resumed only in the XIV century, when Moscow became the center of foundry. Then the craftsmen cast very small bells, which did not exceed several pounds in weight.

A new page in the history of bell making in Russia began in the second half of the 15th century, when the Italian engineer and builder Aristotle Fiorovanti arrived in Moscow. He set up a cannon yard, where cannons and bells were poured. At the beginning of the 16th century, Russian craftsmen successfully mastered the foundry business and even surpassed their foreign teachers in many ways. At this time, a special type of Russian bells was formed, a system of fastenings, a special shape and composition of bell copper.

Under Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his son Theodore, the bell business in Moscow developed rapidly. Bells were cast here for almost all of Russia. This craft continued to develop under Boris Godunov.

From the memoirs of travelers who visited Moscow: "The noise was such that it was impossible to hear each other."

The turmoil of the beginning of the 17th century slowed down the foundry business for some time, but under the first Romanovs this art was revived again. The craftsmanship of making bells developed and grew stronger, gradually overtaking Western Europe. Foreigners were no longer invited to cast bells. Famous Russian masters of this time were: Pronya Feodorov, Ignatius Maksimov, Andrei Danilov and Alexei Yakimov. At this time, Russian craftsmen cast huge bells, striking even famous foreign craftsmen with their size.

Bell as a value

At the beginning of the 15th century, it became possible to cast large bells in sufficient quantities. The earliest surviving bell of this time is considered to be the bell of 1420. It is located on the bell tower of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. The bell is called "Nikonovsky" or "Wonderworkers". It has a rather unusual shape, but is still involved in ringing. Until the beginning of the 17th century, Moscow craftsmen signed their bells as "cannon man" or "cannon man". It was this inscription that was preserved on the bell of 1488 from Pafnutyevo-Borovsky monastery.

A special place among all Russian bells is occupied by Rostov chimes. The largest "Sysoy" weighed 2000 pounds; "Polyeleiny" 1000 pounds, then the bell "Swan" weighing 500 pounds, cast in 1682. There are 13 bells in the belfry of the Rostov Kremlin.

In 1622, the Reut bell was cast, weighing 2000 pounds, the Tsar Bell and the bell Savino-Storozhevsky monastery weighing 2125 pounds. And one of the predecessors of the Tsar Bell, cast in 1654 under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, weighed about 130 tons and was heard for 7 miles.

In the early years of the reign of Peter I, the bell business receded into the background. Moreover, by decree of the king, bells were removed from churches for the needs of the army. Two hundred cannons were cast from the bells. Later, the bell business was successfully resumed. Russian craftsmen continued to cast large bells.

One of these is the "Tsar Bell". A wonderful Russian master Ivan Matorin and his son worked on it. The preparatory work dragged on for a long time. But when everything was ready for casting, a fire broke out in Moscow, which also engulfed the Kremlin. The wooden buildings above the foundry pit caught fire. When extinguishing the fire due to a strong temperature difference, the bell gave 11 cracks, and a piece weighing 11.5 tons broke off from it. It was no longer possible to use such a bell. And he became useless. For almost 100 years, the bell was in the ground, and only in 1834 it was lifted from the ground and installed on a granite pedestal under the bell tower.

Priest Vladimir Zinchik on the meaning of bell ringing:

It is no coincidence that the service begins with the ringing of bells, accompanies the course of the service and ends the service. And thus, the whole importance of the bell ringing is emphasized. There is a special missionary significance in the ringing of bells, and the bell ringers who are trained and who ring in the bell tower are directly participants in this missionary service of our Church.

Bells as a tradition (types of bell ringing)

The bells were the only musical instrument used in Orthodox worship. In addition, they were generally the only monumental instrument in Russia, and therefore were used in a very diverse way.

The formation and development of bell ringing as a musical art is inseparable from the ancient Russian singingtraditions. Her early experience - Znamenny chant - was monophonic.

But later groups of bells stood out, which performed a variety of functions in the "bell orchestra" (this division is still preserved). The smallest bells are called trebles or bells. They perform small rhythmic figures. The largest ones - bass bells - set the pace for the ringing and create its basis, the middle bells or altos lead the melody.

On the basis of canonical traditions, an extensive genre system of bells has developed in Russia: everyday, Lenten, blessings of water, wedding (or accelerating), oncoming and, of course, festive ones, among which are great, medium, red. Red bells require a large number of bells, which are mainly located in cathedrals, laurels and large monasteries.

Bell ringing in Russia has always had local features. Belfry sounded differently in the North and in the Volga region.

Surprisingly beautiful chimes were born by local traditions: in the 17th-18th centuries, Ioninsky, Egoryevsky, Akimovsky chimes were formed in Rostov Veliky, a little later - Ionafanovsky, in Suzdal - Efimevsky, in Valdai - mountain ash. Church bells have come a long way of development, absorbing all the experience of folk art. By the beginning of the 20th century, each region of Russia, each diocese had its own established canonical system of ringing within the framework of the all-Russian tradition.

Ilya Drozdikhin, head of the Moscow School of Church Ringers. From an interview with the portal www. Bells. com :

Easter is the biggest holiday in the Orthodox Church. This holiday has a special Easter ringing. According to tradition, on Easter and on Bright Week, the week that follows the Holiday, any Orthodox Christian can climb the bell tower and glorify the resurrected Savior by ringing the bells. In the people, this time is called the bell week or the time of the birth of the bell ringers.

Bells as art

Like a folk song, bell ringing has always been created in the oral tradition, in the process of collective work. In oral performance, they developed and changed. We had many talented ringers, the Russian art of bell ringing was passed down from generation to generation. The people were the creator of the bells, so we can rightly say that the bells are the musical epic of the people.

That is why the ringing of bells became the basis for the greatest musical epics written by Russian composers from Mussorgsky to Borodin, and the main character in the monuments of historical literature.

From the epic about Vasily Buslaev:

How is the elder Andronishche

Heaped on the shoulders of the mighty

Monastery copper bell,

The bell is great - ninety pounds,

Yes, he goes to the Volkhov River, to that Volkhov Bridge,

The bell tongue props itself up,

Ying Kalinov Bridge is bending...

Bell ringing for poets and composers was not only an illustration, an everyday fact. Here it is appropriate to cite the expression of academician Asafiev: “Ringing is like the color of the atmosphere” - that musical atmosphere that once surrounded a Russian person from childhood, brought up his musical taste, musical feeling. Bell ringing is literally the musical setting of Russia.

Archpriest Alexei Ladygin about the bell ringing:

The temples of God are also being revived, and most of all, the bell ringing is being revived. Because we cannot imagine our Orthodox Church without bells. Which, with their melodic ringing, transfusion, not only call the believer to worship, to the beginning of prayer, but, of course, which inwardly inspire a person, because they connect him with heaven, open to him the diversity of Christian Orthodox life.

I thought for a long time whether to post this article on the site. It is dedicated to the tragic events of the 20-30s of the XX century, namely the irretrievable destruction of several hundred thousand sometimes unique church bells throughout Russia. Let this article be a warning to posterity, because whoever does not know his past has no future...

Until 1917, more than 1 million bronze bells rang in Russia, total weight which exceeded 250 thousand tons.

After the October Revolution of 1917, church bells became especially hated by the new government. Bell ringing was considered harmful, and by the beginning of the 1930s, all church bells were silent. According to Soviet law, all church buildings, as well as bells, were placed at the disposal of the Local Councils, which "based on state and social needs, used them at their own discretion." 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. Within a few years, in a planned manner, almost everything that Orthodox Russia had carefully collected for several centuries was destroyed.

The closure of more than 20 specialized factories for the production of bells led to the loss of skills in this ancient craft, and professional knowledge, bit by bit collected by many generations of Russian casters, was forgotten. The factories in the city of Valdai worked longer than others - the Usachev brothers and G.M. Andreeva, who last years firemen, station and fishermen's bells were cast. By 1930, they also ceased to exist.

Until now, no one can say even approximately how many bells have been destroyed over the years. Some of them perished along with the temples, others were destroyed on purpose, and some were intended "for the needs of industrialization." The bells cast by famous masters for Ivan the Great, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Solovetsky, Valaamsky, Simonov, Savvino-Storozhevsky monasteries, hundreds and thousands of temples, cathedrals, monasteries throughout the territory of the former Russian Empire did not escape this fate. In 1929, the 1200-pood bell was removed from the Kostroma Assumption Cathedral. In 1931, many bells of the Savior-Evfimiev, Rizopolozhensky, Pokrovsky monasteries in Suzdal were sent for remelting. Not a single bell remains in Moscow.

The story of the death of the famous bells of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was tragic - they were handed over to Rudmetalltorg (19 bells with a total weight of 8165 pounds). In his diary about the events in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the writer M. Prishvin made an entry: "I witnessed the death ... the most magnificent bells of the Godunov era were thrown down - it was like a spectacle of a public execution."

Most of the church bells were destroyed. A small part of the bells, which were of artistic value, was registered with the People's Commissariat of Education, which disposed of them independently "based on state needs." Another part of the confiscated bells was sent to the large construction sites of Volkhovstroy and Dneprostroy for technical needs (manufacturing of boilers for canteens!). A peculiar use of some of the Moscow bells was found in 1932 by the city authorities. Bronze high reliefs were cast from 100 tons of church bells for the new building of the Lenin Library.

To liquidate the most valuable bells, it was decided to sell them abroad. “The most expedient way to eliminate our unique bells is to export them abroad and sell them there on a par with other luxury goods…,” wrote Gidulyanov, an ideologue of atheism.

So in the USA, at Harvard University, there were unique bells of the Danilov Monastery. The unique bells of the Sretensky Monastery were sold to England. A huge number of bells went into private collections.

The 30-meter gate bell tower of the Temple of Simeon the Stylite was demolished on the eve of the Patriotic War, as a possible reference point for enemy air raids.

How bells were destroyed under Stalin

After October 1917, church bells in Russia became the object of continuous attacks. Two factors acted against them at once - ideological and economic. One of the first Soviet decrees was to ban the tocsin to rule out the possibility of calling for protests against the Bolsheviks. In the bells, the atheistic authorities, aimed at industrial and economic activity, also saw the coveted non-ferrous metal.

Already in 1919, the executive committee of the Kostroma City Council asked Moscow to allow the use of the bells of the nationalized monasteries for pouring into canteen boilers. In the mid-1920s, the Kostroma authorities began to implement their plan. In 1926, the bells were removed from the Epiphany Monastery. At the same time, significant damage was caused to the architectural details of the bell tower. A little later, the belfry of the famous Ipatiev Monastery lost almost all of its bells. During the descent of the heaviest of them, the bell tower was also damaged. It was only later that professional specialists adapted to break large bells right on the bell tower or even blow them to pieces with small directed explosions.

Around the same time, the Pskov authorities melted down a number of ancient bells at the Krasny Vyborzhets plant. Among the destroyed bells of the beginning of the 16th century from the Mirozhsky and Snetogorsky monasteries, the church of Kliment in Zavelichye. Agents of Mosprodtsvetmet, which was involved in the disposal of bells, demanded that the bells be removed from the bell towers of Pereslavl-Zalessky, the Assumption Monastery-Museum in the city of Aleksandrov.

The financial department of the Moscow City Council also extended its tentacles to the bells. It was this department that in the middle of 1923 initiated the issue of transferring the bells of the liquidated churches to its disposal. The restorers, having learned about this, decided: "In principle, not to object to the removal of bells from structures devoid of historical and artistic significance, to recognize the need to agree on each case separately." But the restorers could only protect what they had on record. And as you know, there have never been lists of protected bells in the restoration workshops and the museum subdivision of MONO.

At the beginning of the atheistic bell war, the base of free bells was rather limited, because the authorities could remove them only from liquidated, that is, closed churches. But from the mid-1920s, wanting to profit from church property, the central authorities and people's commissariats began to economically stimulate the closure of churches. It was then that the ominous instructions of the People's Commissariat of Finance units "On the procedure for the liquidation of objects of religious worship", "On the procedure for the liquidation of church property", etc., were born, according to which church objects made of precious metals were transferred to the Gokhran, and historical and artistic values ​​- to museums .

Unconsecrated items: bells, chandeliers, bronze bars, candlesticks were to be credited to the State Fund and sold. A powerful incentive for the closure of churches was the fact that 40 percent of the proceeds from the sale went to the local budget. Even then, secret instructions allowed the destruction of part of the cult property. It turned into a significant source of income, which in turn encouraged the strengthening of atheistic policies, the closure and destruction of churches.

The people's commissariats of justice and internal affairs also joined in the fight against bells, sending out in the spring of 1926 to all regional executive committees an instruction "On the procedure for using bell towers." It was no longer the church that had the right to ring bells, but local authorities received almost unlimited rights in its regulation. The instruction stated that ringing, often not associated with worship, “violates the normal administration of public law and order and has a particularly embarrassing effect on the life of urban settlements.”

The instruction forbade alarm alarms “to convene the population in order to excite it against the Soviet regime”, and the use of bells for ringing not directly related to services on the days of great Christian holidays - Easter, Christmas was not allowed. The production of red bells with the use of a large bell was allowed only during Sunday and holiday services. And finally, the instruction read: “When the prayer buildings are liquidated, the bell towers attached to them are dismantled or, with the appropriate reorganization, they are adapted for fire-fighting observation posts, water towers ..”. Bell towers with bells were largely alienated from the still functioning temple, and the ancient traditions of bell ringing were seriously undermined.

The hour of the cross of the bells themselves came in 1928–1929. It was at this time that a wave of repressions hit the church, its institutions, and clergy, and mass demolition of churches began. The matter was aggravated by the fact that along with the militant atheists, business executives also tried to remove the bells from the bell towers. The country, which declared unrestrained, unsecured industrialization, also demanded a huge amount of non-ferrous metal. So atheist ideologists, industry leaders, local authorities were interested in the speedy liquidation of churches, the disposal of church property, primarily bells.

It is impossible to remain silent about the role of organized atheists in whipping up anti-religious hysteria and demanding a universal ban on ringing and removing bells. The initiator of this action of the Union of Militant Atheists (SVB) was the inspirer and leader of the Union E. Yaroslavsky. Making a report to the executive bureau of the Central Council of the SVB “On the five-year plan of work of the atheists” (1930), the country's chief atheist noted with satisfaction: “Several years ago we very timidly outlined a program to combat the bell ringing.

At a meeting of the anti-religious commission, even with some resistance on the part of the leading comrades, we passed a resolution that it was necessary to develop a law by law, according to which in places where there are large concentrations of workers and institutions, bell ringing should be banned, but not completely, but leaving bells of a certain light weight , call at certain hours, prohibit the general "Red bell". Further, according to Yaroslavsky, events went in such a way that this minimum program was swept away by new facts of the demands of entire cities - Kostroma, Arkhangelsk, Yaroslavl, Bryansk, Samara, Smolensk, where decisions were made to remove all the bells.

Inspired by the center, local authorities, labor collectives of factories and factories made decisions to ban the ringing of bells and hand over the bells to the industrialization fund. Competing with each other, the regional, city, county and district authorities, even the village councils vied with each other to make decisions to stop the ringing of bells and remove the bells. Habitual to the Orthodox residents of Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, hundreds of other cities of Russia, the bell ringing ceased at the turn of two decades. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee even considered proposals to stop the ringing of bells throughout Soviet Russia.

In 1928–1929, 30 churches were closed in the Vladimir province alone, including 9 churches in Vladimir. By the middle of 1929, most of their bells had already been removed and handed over to Rudmetalltorg for transfusion. “Over the past two or three weeks,” a certain A. Sorokin enthusiastically wrote in the article “Vladimir atheists are advancing,” several dozen bells have been removed from the bell towers. With a roar, a 500-pound bell flew and crashed into the ground with a cone ... A quickly built pile driver lifted a heavy 20-pound "woman", which inexorably bit off 30- and 40-pound pieces.

Similar patterns could be observed in other cities of Russia. At the beginning of 1930, the chairman of the Yaroslavl City Council, Vakhreva, wrote to the All-Union Starosta: “On the initiative of the working masses of the city of Yaroslavl, the city council was asked to remove church bells and use them for industry. The Plenum of the Yaroslavl City Council, on the basis of numerous resolutions and persistent demands of the working masses, on November 12, 1929, decided to remove church bells in the city and transfer them to the needs of industry ..». A month and a half later, the Plenum of the City Council again raised the issue with the "categorical demand for the removal of bells."

Regional and republican newspapers of the late 1920s and early 1930s were filled with resolutions and decisions on pouring bells into tractors and other industrialization goals. Estimates were also published, in which the need to melt down all the bells was justified, and the real benefits of bell bronze were calculated. “Our tremendously growing industry,” V. Shishakov wrote in 1930, “is suffocating from a lack of copper.” With an annual demand for copper of 60 thousand tons, the author argued, its extraction is only 27 thousand tons.

It can be seen that Shishakov was strong in mathematics and calculated that there are about 250 thousand tons of bell bronze on the bell towers of Russia (on the basis of 5 to 6 tons on average for each temple, of which there are 45 thousand in the country). Insignificant, according to the author, the city of Kashin could potentially produce a large number of bells from its 36 churches, and only the two largest bells of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra would have enriched the industry of the USSR by almost 100 tons at once! True, Shishakov complained that "the spontaneous mass movement to stop the ringing of bells that engulfed the USSR did not everywhere meet worthy support from local authorities."

But there were also many examples that Soviet Russia was supposed to “equate to”. Ahead was the Stalingrad district, which at the end of 1929 handed over 90 tons of bells for transfusion (from 15 city churches). The Arkhangelsk City Council also acted in a militant manner, banning bell ringing by a special decree and filing a petition to remove the bells (in a couple of years, the same City Council will, following the example of Muscovites, decide to demolish the cathedral and build the House of Soviets in its place). The Samara authorities solved this problem more quickly, and by mid-January 1930, they removed the bells from all the city's churches in order to send the proceeds from the sale (300 thousand) to the construction of the Palace of Culture.

In 1929, the publishing house "Ateist" published a book "Church bells in the service of the magic of tsarism" with a circulation of 10 thousand copies. Although its author, former professor of theology V. P. Gidulyanov, collected quite a lot of factual material on the history of bells, the book was purely atheistic in nature. The editors warned at the beginning of the book: “Every year this violent ringing becomes quieter and quieter. The time has come when church bells must finally fall silent throughout the land of the USSR - unconditionally giving way to labor factories and factory horns. Today's business, - the unknown author of the preface pointed out, - it is the business of active atheists, in our opinion, should be the business of transferring an enormous amount of valuable metal - bells (still working in our country for the benefit of the exploiting classes) - to the blacksmiths of the decreed five-year plan, raising our, Soviet industry".

Gidulyanov also proposed his own methods for calculating the weight of all the bells in the provinces. Unlike Shishakov, who demanded the immediate recasting of the bells, he turned out to be more enterprising. “Currency is even dearer to us,” Gidulyanov wrote, pointing out that in England and other countries there are ringing lovers who are ready to pay well for the bells. “The most expedient way to eliminate unique bells in our country is to export them abroad and sell them there along with other luxury items, art, etc.”

Well, not unique bells, according to Gidulyanov, could be melted down, developing for this purpose the electrolytic industry, which contributes to the production of chemically pure red copper.

The prohibition of the ringing of bells and the real persecution of bells became a sign of good manners. Recently beloved in Russia, the bells with their beautiful shape and sound have become objects of hatred and attacks. “The bells cause,” V. Shishakov complained, “great interference with the normal course of classes in institutions, educational institutions, hospitals, etc. ... The ringing of bells literally tears the ears at times.” The bell ringing suddenly began to interfere with hospitals, factories and factories, schools, the leadership, and sometimes even the collectives, began to complain to the administrative department of the Moscow City Council. Each such complaint often led to the closure of the temple and the removal of the bells.

The museum department of the People's Commissariat of Education in these unbearable conditions constantly made concessions. If according to the circular of 1927 the remelting of bells of the 19th-20th centuries was allowed, then with the permission of the Glavnauka in 1930 only individual outstanding bells were protected.

Russia catastrophically quickly lost its bell wealth. The removal of bells from historical monasteries and temples of ancient cities was especially noticeable. In 1929, a huge 1200-pound bell was removed from the Kostroma Cathedral and poured at the Tula foundry. In the summer of 1931, many bells of the Spaso-Evfimiev, Rizopolozhensky, Pokrovsky monasteries of ancient Suzdal were transferred to the state fund commission of the Ivanovo industrial region. On the bell towers of these cloisters and parish churches, only small bells of the 16th-17th centuries were left.

The destruction of bells in Moscow often coincided with the destruction of bell towers. In the 1920s, bells were removed and recast from the bell towers of the Zaikonospassky, Pokrovsky, and Nikitsky monasteries, which were broken at the direction of the Moscow City Council.

One of those who tried to prevent the destruction of Moscow bell towers and the destruction of bells was the famous composer and specialist in bell ringing K. K. Saradzhev. This major connoisseur of all the bell towers and bells of Moscow and the Moscow region suggested that the authorities preserve the bell towers and arrange bell concerts on them. “The bells,” K. Saradzhev wrote to Antiques, “representing the greatest artistic, musical and scientific value, they should not, under any circumstances, be subject to destruction.” K. Saradzhev sent letters in defense of the bells to Moskommunhoz; to the administrative department of the Moscow City Council.

Among the best-sounding Moscow bells, the composer noted the bells of the Sretensky Monastery, on which he himself often played. This, apparently, irritated many senior officials of the people's commissariats. One of them, N. S. Popov, a well-known fighter against Moscow antiquity, wrote in 1927 to the Chairman of the Moscow Council K. Ya. Ukhanov: there is also a bell tower, where some crazy professor plays various divine hymns on the bells ..». Popov's appeal, with its direct communist characterizations, was understood, and in 1928 the Moscow Communal Service demolished the bell tower and the old buildings of the Sretensky Monastery. Remarkable in sound, the bells have been preserved, however, by the museum department of the People's Commissariat of Education.

One after another, the high bell towers of the capital disappeared, giving a unique look to the ancient capital. After a short struggle, the Moscow Council convinced the People's Commissariat of Education to scrap one of the tallest and most slender bell towers - the Simonov and Andronikov monasteries. Almost equal in height to Ivan the Great, the majestic bell tower of the Simonov Monastery from 1835 was perfectly visible to everyone approaching the capital along the Kursk and Ryazan railways. In May 1929, Glavnauka agreed to the demolition of this bell tower as "having no historical and archaeological significance."

A week later, the bells from this bell tower were reserved for the Special Part of the State Funds. 11 bells were subject to delivery under a special act (including the largest ones weighing 1000, 750,300 pounds, etc.). Moreover, the largest bells belonged to the 17th century and had historical significance. At the same time, the price was determined - 15 rubles per pood (in total, more than 32 thousand rubles). In July 1929, the bells from the dismantled bell tower were handed over to Rudmetalltorg, which was supposed to transfer 60 percent of their cost to the account of the MONO museum sub-department.

The art of destroying the bell towers of Moscow was understandable: the departments of the Moscow City Council received a huge amount of bricks and building material. But the main thing, of course, was the bell bronze. After all, only the two largest bells, taken from the five-tier bell tower of the Andronikov Monastery, gave more than 1200 pounds of non-ferrous metal. The events that took place in the largest monasteries near Moscow can be called truly dramatic. Seemed like a device in them in the early years Soviet power historical and art museums had to guarantee the inviolability of their wonderful ringing huge bells. But just the opposite happened.

Museum work in the 1920s and 1930s was largely deprived of budget funding and was fueled by special means. A considerable part of these funds was formed through the sale of the so-called "non-museum property", simply speaking, the property of monasteries, consisting of objects from the 19th-20th, and sometimes even the 18th centuries. Such were the cynical demands of the financial authorities, reflecting the position of the state in relation to the national heritage. Let us slightly open this, unknown to the public, page of the activity of financial bodies and museums of that time, for which the sale of church bells provided very tangible funds.

Back in 1926, the Volokolamsk county financial department "laid eyes" on 16 bells of the Joseph-Volokolamsk monastery, among which were 500-, 250-pound ones, cast in 1712. In July 1929, among the salvaged property, the first three bells weighing 133 pounds were handed over for remelting. Further, things went quickly and by 1931 all the monastery bells were placed at the disposal of Rudmetalltorg.

In January 1930, by order of the district financial authorities and MONO, the leadership of the Savvino-Zvenigorod Art and History Museum began organizing the shooting of bells from the high old monastery bell tower. The removal was started on January 15 by the workers of Rudmetalltorg. Large bells in order to avoid damage to the bell tower were broken on the spot and dropped. Fragments of 19th-century bells weighing up to 800 pounds were found on the ground. Despite the museum's request to keep the Caesarean bell of 1781 for display, Rudmetalltorg took it too. True, a large bell of 1667 and a small sentry of 1636, famous for its ringing, were left on the bell tower. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, under unclear circumstances, this large bell weighing more than 2 thousand pounds was broken and destroyed. In 1931, Rudmetalltorg also took away a 750-kilogram one. bell from the former Savvinsky skete.

Even more tragic was the story of the death of the famous bells of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The bells on the majestic 87-meter Lavra bell tower amazed with their size and art of bell casting. The largest - the Tsar Bell, cast at the direction of Elizabeth in 1748 was the largest bell in Russia (after two Kremlin ones). The Sunday or Karnauchi bell (1270 pounds), cast by the famous F. Matorin in 1683 and so named because it did not have copper casting ears, was also of enormous size and weight.

The Polyeleic (Godunovsky) bell weighing 1850 pounds was cast under Tsar Boris Godunov in 1650. The oldest bell of the Lavra belfry was the bell of Glory (Winches) weighing 625 poods, built in 1594, and the small 20-pood Nikonovsky, cast back in 1420 under the abbess of Nikon. The small bells of 1598, 1649, 1662, the large Panikhidny (1796), All-Day (Perespor) of 1780 and others had artistic and historical significance. By order of the Glavnauka, in mid-November 1929, the museum workers of the Sergius Museum with the workers of Rudmetalltorg began to prepare the Tsar Bell and 6 other large bells for shooting, with the exception of some of the most ancient ones.

Museum workers, however, did not agree in any way to the destruction of the Resurrection Karnauhoy) bell, cast in the 17th century. Enviable perseverance was shown by the leaders of the Moscow District Financial Department (Baryshev, Svet), who demanded that the Glavnauka remove the Karnauhoy as well, justifying this by the fact that “besides this bell, there are 3 more bells of the end of the 17th century in the Lavra.” Already at the end of November 1929, the head of the museum sub-department of MONO Klabunovsky gave permission to Rudmetalltorg to remove Karnaukhy.

The death of the pride of Russia - the bells of the first monastery in Russia of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was watched by many. Illustrated printed officialdom such as “Godless”, “Godless at the Machine”, “Spark” and others printed photographs of the overthrown four thousand pood Tsar Bell, as well as Karnaukhy, Godunovsky and smiling winners on them. Here are the diary entries of the writer M. Prishvin, witness this tragedy:

“On the 11th (January 1930) Karnaukhy was dropped. How differently the bells died. The Great Tsar, like the Great, trusted people that they would not do anything bad to him, gave himself up, sank down on the rails and rolled with great speed. Then he buried his head deep in the ground. Crowds of children came to him and all these days called to his edges, and inside they arranged for themselves a real children's room. Karnaukhy seemed to feel unkind and from the very beginning did not give in, then he would sway, then he would break the jack, then the tree would crack under it, then the rope would break. And he reluctantly cracked onto the rails, they dragged him with cables ... When he fell, he shattered to smithereens. There was a terrible clang, suddenly everything disappeared: the Tsar Bell still lay in its place, and fragments of Karnaukhy quickly ran in different directions across the white snow.

M. Prishvin was even more struck by the death of the Godunov bell, which was thrown from the bell tower at the end of January 1930. Prishvin saw in this act the death not of a giant piece of metal, but of an animated person. At the end of 1930, the writer made an entry in his diary: “The anniversary of the destruction of the Sergius bells is approaching. It was very similar to the spectacle of a public execution.” And even earlier, he wrote to the editors of the magazine "October": "A month ago I witnessed the death of the rarest, even the only musical instrument in the world of the shooting bell tower: the world's greatest bells of the Godunov era were thrown down. There was no expediency in the material sense: 8 thousand pounds of bronze could be collected from ordinary bells. From the point of view of anti-religiousness, the act cannot be justified, because at the dawn of human culture, bells served not the church, but the public ..».

But the "gloomy fanaticism", which, according to M. Prishvin himself, lives in the hearts of many government officials, could no longer be stopped. The archives of MONO preserved a handwritten list of 1930-1931, summing up the stage of the anti-bell campaign. According to this list, 19 bells weighing 8165 pounds were handed over to Rudmetalltorg from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and only small bells of 1420, 1598 and 1649, etc. were left to the Sergius Museum located in the monastery. Strastnoy, Volokolamsk monasteries, all the bells were removed.

In the famous Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery, all bells were liquidated, with the exception of one of the 17th century. Only Moscow's Donskoy and Novodevichy monasteries were just preparing to hand over the bell tribute to the gluttonous Moloch of the socialist industry. By the way, the bells were only part of the utilized monastery property among the general flow in the form of chandeliers and candlesticks, church silver vessels, gilded domes, iconostases and icon cases, numerous church vestments, covers, and so on.

In contrast to the museum-monasteries that were devastated in 1929-1930, the process of liquidating the bells of parish churches in Moscow and other regions of Russia dragged on for a number of years. But everywhere the period of the end of the first - the beginning of the second five-year plans became fatal for most of the bells of Russia.

Moscow, perhaps, suffered the most terrible losses, because it was on the Moscow bell towers that there were many large old bells covered with legends. In 1928-1930 alone, about 80 churches were liquidated, the bells of which were soon recast. And in the early 1930s, 35-50 churches were closed annually in the capital. But from each liquidated temple, business executives took out several tons of bells and non-ferrous metal in the form of candlesticks, chandeliers, banners, fonts, bronze gratings, and so on. Some well-known Moscow churches immediately gave a huge amount of bell bronze. Thus, 14 bells weighing more than 17 tons were removed from the Church of the Ascension on Bolshaya Serpukhovskaya, which was closed in 1929; agents of Rudmetalltorg removed bells with a total weight of more than 21 tons from the famous large Zamoskvoretsky church of St. Catherine, which was closed in 1930. gave "more than 10 tons of bell bronze, etc.

Specialists from the restoration workshops tried to protect at least the most remarkable bells from destruction. In 1931, during the disposal of the bells of the Trinity Church in Nikitniki, the restorers managed to persuade them to leave three small bells (out of 9) of the 17th century. But when in the summer of 1931 the question arose about the fate of 11 bells with ornaments from the middle of the 18th century, located on the bell tower of the Zlatoust Monastery in Moscow, the restorers quite calmly gave the go-ahead for their disposal.

However, not all bells were melted down. Narkomfin probably listened to the recommendations of prof. Gidulyanov about the benefits of selling unique bells abroad. “Recently,” the MONO leaders pointed out in 1931, “there are demands for bells from the antiquities of Gostorg. This demand must be supported."

That is why in 1930-1931 a set of bells (about 400 pounds) of the Sretensky Monastery, unique in its musicality, was saved from transfusion. At the same time, the museum workers themselves recommended that this set be transferred to one of the opera houses or antiques. Apparently, then the Sretensky bells, on which K. Saradzhev liked to play, were sold to England, and their beautiful ringing can still be heard in Oxford today. By the way, thanks to the activity of a number of theaters in the acquisition of bells, several of these wonderful monuments were safe.

Recently, it was the Academic Art Theater that returned the bell, seized in the early 1930s from the high bell tower of the Old Believer Rogozhsky cemetery. In 1933, the Bolshoi Theater claimed the largest 16-ton bell of this belfry. However, when the theater-goers hesitated, they were bypassed by the Dynamo electric machine-building plant, the director of which persistently asked the cult commission of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to give them this bell. “The plant I manage,” the plant director wrote in a petition, “is facing a complete threat of disruption of the February program due to the lack of non-ferrous metals for the production of bronze castings for a number of urgent and especially important orders (bronze liners for electric locomotive motors of the Suram Pass, liners for motors for ferrous metallurgy plants, bronze rims for worms of electric winches for equipping ships, etc.) ”What did church bells mean in the years of accomplishment of great utopias in comparison with inserts, bronze rims and worms of electric winches! Apparently, this 16-ton bell shared the unenviable fate of thousands of Moscow bells.

But the Bolshoi Theater also managed to capture something. In August 1932, the cult commission of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer "for temporary and gratuitous use" 21 bells with a total weight of 421 pounds from churches located on the German Market, at the Kursk railway station and on Lubyanskaya Square.

A very peculiar use of some of the Moscow bells was found in 1932, when the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR turned to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee with a request to provide it with the opportunity to use 100 tons of church bells from 8 churches to cast bronze high reliefs when decorating the new building of the Lenin Library. As you know, this new building was recognized as a shock building by a special resolution of the Moscow Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Moscow Council and was to be completed by the 16th anniversary of October, and its front building along Mokhovaya Street by May 1, 1933. In the 20s of August 1932, the Commission for Cult Affairs (Smidovich, Orleansky) appealed to the Secretariat of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee with support for the request of the People's Commissariat for Education.

A copy of the secret agenda of the meeting of the secretariat of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee dated September 5, 1932 has been preserved in the archives of the commission for cult affairs, in which it is written: “2. Petition of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR for the opportunity to use for the implementation of bronze high reliefs in the decoration and cladding of the building of the public library of the USSR bells from the buildings of churches in Moscow: Jacob on Yakovlevskaya, Nikolai in Kuritskaya, Nikolai in Klenniki, Resurrection and Assumption on Ostozhenka and Nikolai on Studentsy " . It is not known whether this agenda was considered at the meeting, but the high reliefs soon appeared in large numbers and who knows, it is quite possible that silent images of the great figures of world culture were cast from ringing Moscow bells.

The bells have become a favorite "delicacy" for local authorities, people's commissariats and departments. In the early 1930s, control over this process was already practically lost, which caused concern even in the commission for cult affairs, which, signed by its chairman, deputy chairman of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee P. Smidovich, sent in May 1933 to the localities a circular “On the issue of regulation of bell ringing and removal of bells ..». The circular acknowledged major mistakes made in this area. The commission was worried that local authorities allow the removal of bells without a plan until the decision of higher authorities. “This most valuable type of metal, instead of being credited to the state fund and transferred to metal, was often used by local authorities at their own discretion.” The circular provided for in three month take into account all the bells throughout the territory of the RSFSR.

This was preceded by a secret meeting on May 26, 1933 of the commission on cults under the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, which was attended by the ideologists of atheistic politics: Smidovich, Krasikov, Oleshchuk (Union of militant atheists) and others, as well as representatives of Narkomfin, the Metallom trust. The main issue on the agenda was the determination of the order of blanks of bell bronze. The decision was very eloquent: “To allow the commissions of cults under the Central Executive Committees of the ASSR, the regional and regional executive committees to transfer through special units for state fundsMetallom in accordance with its plan for the implementation of the STO resolution of May 14 this year on the procurement of bell bronze in the amount of 6300 tons in 1933 and in particular on the procurement in the II quarter 2300 tons (out of the total) of bells of prayer buildings in areas where bell ringing is prohibited. From now on, the issues of prohibition of ringing were decided by the district and city executive committees with subsequent approval by the cultural commission.

This decision, and the circular drawn up on its basis, actually pronounced a death sentence on church bells. Each republic and region, depending on the counted bell bronze, received an annual and quarterly allocation for the procurement of bell bronze. How this was actually put into practice can be seen in the example of Moscow. Already in the middle of 1933, the Presidium of the Moscow City Council and the City Executive Committee, after hearing the May decision of the cult commission, decided: “To allow Metallom to be transferred through a special part of the state funds of the Moscow City Financial Department, in accordance with the resolution of the STO of May 14, 1933, 252 tons of bell bronze from churches in Moscow, where the bell ringing according to the attached list.

The list included 20 Moscow churches doomed to part with their bells. So, 45 tons of bells were to be removed from the church of St. Basil of Caesarea on Tverskaya, Adrian and Natalia on Meshchanskaya - 16 tons, Nikita on Karl Marx - 15, Resurrection on Malaya Bronnaya - 25, Resurrection at the Vagankovsky cemetery - 15 tons, etc. Responsibility for the implementation of the decree was assigned to the Authorized People's Commissariat under the Moscow Council Legenchenko.

Within a few years, in a planned manner, almost everything that Orthodox Russia had tremblingly cast for several centuries was destroyed. At the very beginning of the 1930s, more than 100 bells from the bell towers of ancient Novgorod were sent to the foundry furnaces, the same fate befell almost half of the bells of the Moscow Kremlin. In the suburbs and everywhere in other regions, special teams were sent to shoot the bells, which had maps of "cleansing" the areas attached to them. All this action was led by the State Trust for the Procurement and Processing and Supply of Scrap Metal (“Metal”), whose main office was located in Moscow on Ogareva Street.

But far from everywhere, the removal and breaking of bells took place calmly and painlessly, as evidenced by hundreds of complaints received by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee from believers throughout Russia. Often the removal of the bells was similar to that described by believers p. Voskresensky in October 1933, when the chairman of the local village council, declaring that he did not consider it necessary to present a decision to shoot the bells, climbed onto the bell tower with an invited master, "killed all the bells into pieces and put them in a heap, the broken parts have not been taken to this day."

Sometimes such sacrilege ended in tragedy. So, according to the report and. about. deputy prosecutor. RSFSR Kupriyanov On June 29, 1937, on the orders of the Gusevsky District Executive Committee of the Ivanovo Region, a team of workers from the regional "Tsvetmetal scrap" began to remove the bells from the church in the village of Gubuzovo. According to the prosecutor, a crowd of 300 people gathered near the church, which took away the tools from the workers, beat and insulted the chairman of the village council Kurguzov, rang the alarm, sent messengers to other villages. Authorities arrested 6 people, of whom five were women. But most of all, the prosecutor was outraged by the fact that the next day a miracle happened in this village church - several lamps spontaneously lit up.

The Ivanovo region, like other regions of the center of Russia, had by that time been thoroughly “cleaned out”. So, according to a report to Moscow by the secretary of the Ivanovo regional executive committee, the rest of the bell bronze was determined in the region at 1 thousand tons.

Eight decades have passed since those terrible events, but the tragedy of the silent voice of Orthodox Russia will affect the resurgent church life for many years to come. It is possible to restore the destroyed buildings of temples from photographs, to make chandeliers, lamps and fonts, and finally, it is possible, probably, to cast bells that outwardly resemble the old ones. But after all, the main thing in a bell is its ringing, and to our time neither records of ringing (they were not made then), nor many subtle secrets of the masters, who gave the bells a unique sound during casting, gave rise to a reverent and reverent attitude towards the temple and service among believers. .

In the old days, during epidemics and terrible plagues, crop failures and other disasters, it was prescribed to ring church bells continuously. For a long time, this was considered common prejudice. Recently, the press published the results of scientific research, according to which the timbre and frequency of the bell ringing affects the entire living world around us. It has long been noted that lower animals are afraid of him: mice, rats, a number of insects. Unable to bear this sound, many disease carriers run away from the bell tower and the settlement. The cleansing sound of blagovest and ringing has a beneficial effect on people as well. It is no coincidence that our ancestors loved him so much.

Paradoxes are strange in our history - 80 years ago Stalin destroyed the Church, and now there are those among us who bow and pray to him as to God.

Is this not blasphemy?

“When the bells rang” - from the diaries of M. M. Prishvin

The title "When the Bells Tolled..." is written by Prishvin's hand on a box with hundreds of preserved negatives. At this time, Prishvin lived in Sergiev Posad (renamed in the days of the destruction of the bells into the city of Zagorsk). Every day the writer recorded in his diary everything that happened in those days in the Lavra. The suggested excerpts are taken mainly from the diary of 1930, which is currently being prepared for publication in its entirety.

1926

November 23rd. The teacher, who visited the Trinity Lavra on a guided tour, said at the sight of Rublev's "Trinity" to his students: "Everyone says that the colors on this icon are amazingly preserved, but the colors on cigarette boxes are much brighter."

A crowd of some ugly people surrounded the relics of St. Sergius, silently examining the bones under the glass, finally one said:

- Imperishable!

And everyone giggled.

With what pleasure at that time I passed a thin black machine-made thread and quietly pulled it so that the skull would move at least a little. I would like to see how the monkeys race in madness. I would not deceive them in order to collect copper kopecks from them, as a monk did, and take them away from the church to each service to decorate the monastery. I would only scare them so that they, approaching the inaccessible and incomprehensible to them, would have fear ...

1929

November 22. In the Lavra, the bells are removed, and the 4,000 pood one, the only one in the world, will also go into overflow. Pure villainy, and no one can intercede and is somehow indecent: too many lives are ruined daily to be able to defend the bell ...

12 December. Now two understandings of life are sharply designated. For one, everything is in the industrialization of the country, in the five-year plan and tractor columns, they are deeply convinced that if they manage to organize the peasants into collectives, get bread, and then everything else necessary for life, then that’s all. And so they live by it, sometimes, when they imagine that nowhere in the world there was such a great team, they are directly delighted.

Others do not attach any importance to this whole grain and tractor collective, they do not even bother to think about the essence of the matter. They are shuddered by the sight of a broken porch at the Trinity, a bell thrown to the ground, a cinema in a church and a place of rest, godlessness obligatory for all citizens and, in general, this is the highest achievement, the industrial extraction of bread from the earth ... Let it be! - they think, - essentially in (- illegible), but since it is opposed defiantly to love (bread instead of love), it also becomes hostile: something like the temptation of Satan ...

December 25th. Let them cancel Christmas as much as they want, my Christmas is eternal, because it’s not me who cleans the tree with tinsel, but the frost is trying. At sunrise, the birch edges, as if the frost had turned to the sun, and they began to decorate it: no words can describe how the birch edges were decorated, how many sparkles ... the trace of a triumphant.

1930

4 January. He showed Pavlovna the bell that had fallen yesterday, and upon closer inspection, today he noticed that both Catherine the Great and Peter the Great had small noses on the bas-relief images bitten by a hammer: this was probably the workers scoffing when the bell was still hanging. The heaviest of these reflections is about our riches in art: since the “to be or not to be” industry, then why not let Rembrandt down on bearings. And they will let you down, how to give a drink, everyone will certainly let you down. Pavlovna said: "The people of dung, they will sell all the beauty."

1) How our church was closed.

2) ... - Let's go, we, too, when we die, look and go.

3) - When was it dropped? - At night, at 12 o'clock.

4) - How they raised it! Reset - technique, all sorts of specialists, but how, fools, they raised it.

Pop: Empty! there is no language. – Well, so what… – What? - Yes, you said that you just fell and there was nothing: where will it come from if there is no language: deprived ...

January 6. Christmas Eve. The believers got a surprise for Christmas. They called them. There were a lot of boys. A handicapped man came out and made a speech against Christ. The street boys rejoiced, laughed, the believers were silent: they were afraid to speak for Christ, because their whole life depends on the cooperative, they will stop giving out bread and a lid! After his speech, the handicapped person proposed to close the church. Believers and (some) old ones: Tarasikha and others were silent. And it so happened that believers left themselves without Christmas and the church was closed. Sick hearts, hungry bellies and a constant thought in my head: sooner or later they will be driven into the team.

January 8. Yesterday tongues were dropped from Godunov and Karnaukhy. Karnaukhy on jacks. On Friday, he will be thrown at the Tsar with the aim of crushing him. They say that the old ringer came here, kissed the bell, said goodbye to him: "Farewell, my friend!" and left like a drunk.

There was some other old man, as he saw, he didn’t look at anyone, he said: “Bastards!” Everywhere the authorized GPU is snooping around. His dispassion. And, in general, the type of such a purely statesman is outlined: he has nothing to do with you as a person. A cold, unforgiving creature.

Talk about the casting of bells, about the methods of raising, about the time of casting and the construction of the bell tower, and everyone is lying, although right there above the head is the date of the beginning of the laying of the building under Anna Ioannovna in 1741 and the end under Catherine in 1769. “Everyone lies, no one remembers anything right now,” one woman finished.

January 9. Work is underway on the bell tower to remove the Karnaukhy, it gives in very badly, sways, tears the ropes, crushed two jacks, the work is dangerous, and it was a little risky to shoot. Children took possession of the big bell, cables, winches. Inside the bell is full of children, from morning to night the bell rings ... From time to time, Comrade Litvinov appears in the span from where the bell fell, and swears in Russian, but somehow shamelessly and cruelly swears at the guys in Latvian. The wits say: it strikes big bells and chimes.

January 15. On the 11th they dropped Karnaukhy. How differently the bells died. The big one, the Tsar, how big he trusted people that they would not do anything bad to him, let himself sink onto the rails and rolled at great speed. Then he buried his head deep in the ground. Crowds of children came to him, and all these days they called to its edges, and inside they arranged for themselves a real children's room.

Karnaukhy seemed to feel unkind and from the very beginning did not give in, then he would sway, then he would break the jack, then the tree would crack under it, then the rope would break. And he was reluctant to go on the rails, he was dragged by cables ...

With its huge shape, suitable for a large Tsar, it was very thin: its 1200 pounds were cast almost in the form of the Tsar in 4000. But when it fell, it shattered to smithereens. There was a terrible clang and suddenly everything disappeared: the Tsar Bell still lay in its place, and fragments of Karnaukhy quickly ran in different directions across the white snow. I, who was behind the Tsar, could not see that in front of him a huge piece flew off.

The watchman came up to me and asked why I was in the window and not with the youth in the yard.

- Because, I answered, that it is dangerous there: they are young, they are not afraid and do not feel sorry for their lives.

“That’s right,” the watchman answered, there are many young people, but we old people need to extend our lives ...

- Why, I was surprised at the ridiculous turn of thought.

- See, he said, how everything will end for them, they didn’t know what happened, they are not interested, but we want to compare, we need to extend it.

Suddenly, the stupid cries of the operators completely subsided, and only the squeal of winches was heard when the cables were pulled. Then the depth of the span was all filled up and only the sky on the other side was left to give an outline of the shapes of a huge bell. Go, go! And he moved slowly along the rails.

January 16th. We looked at the museum. Two women pretended to look at the relics of St. Sergius, when suddenly one of them crossed herself and if only her lips would touch the glass, suddenly the communist guarding the relics sharply shouted: “It’s impossible!”.

It was said that one woman from Moscow did not look at the prohibition, kissed and prayed on her knees. They took her documents and deprived her room in Moscow.

How much of the best effort was expended over 12 years of struggle to protect historical monuments, and suddenly the enemy overcame, and everything flew off: the destruction of cultural values ​​and living organized personalities is now going on all over the country.

Is a revolution always accompanied by a pogrom (“rob the loot”)?

The strongest central authority and the undoubted might of the Red Army - that's all the "ergosum" of the collective of Soviet Russia. To a person absorbed in this, of course, our tears about the destruction of cultural monuments may seem ridiculous. How many monuments in the world! Enough! Indeed, tomorrow millions of people, perhaps, will be left without a piece of bread, is it worth seriously mourning the death of monuments?

That's the horror of the collective farms!

January 17. It's not so wonderful that a scoundrel appeared, there are at least a dime a dozen of them! - and that it was enough for him to appear and call the House of Scientists a counter-revolutionary institution, so that all of Moscow would start talking about closing the House of Scientists. In all likelihood, the current atrocities against art monuments have the same origin.

January 19. All day I was finishing pictures of the bell. "Destroy this temple"... For some 30 versts, and my bell will ring all over the earth, in all languages. But ... This "but" lures you into the topic: what should my word be, so that it sounds like bronze!

All this time, the tongue of the big bell was lifted high with a winch and thrown onto a piece of Karnaukhy and Bolshoi, crushed and loaded. And continuously from morning to night people came and repeated: it is difficult to lower, but how was it to raise?

The inside of our big bell, under which we live, was filled with fog: the bell tower was barely visible, but the metal peals of the winches were heard sharply, controlling the movement of the big bell on the way along the roof, from which today it should fall ...

Here in the yard is a stack of birch firewood, made for our warmth from once living birch trees. We are now drowning in them, and with this warmth, multiplying, we are moving somewhere forward (“we” are the human race). Just like wood, and electricity, and all the technology becomes more complicated because we multiply. And so we live, creating from all living things the means for our reproduction. And, of course, if we give full rein to the state, it will certainly return us to the state of bees or ants, that is, we will all work in the state conveyor, each individually, without understanding anything as a whole. So far, all worldviews, except for the official one, are prohibited, the time will come when they will simply laugh at this. Everyone will be completely satisfied with their business and leisure.

That is why the big bell was broken: after all, it represented the circle of the horizon with its edges and its ringing was loud ... (not added).

Karnaukhy's tongue was torn out and thrown off three days ago, the lips of the bell were torn by jacks.

"Argus" 1913 No. 8. Sketch by Zarin "The Bells".

Even the Egyptians and Assyrians "called the worshipers to the temples with a ringing call." And for 200 l. to R.X. historians give an accurate description of the bells in their modern meaning. In China, Japan, India - 4000 years before R.X.

In Zap. Europe, the beginning of bells in the 7th century.

In London, 850 pounds. - the largest, except for the Cologne "great silencer" in 1312 (unsuccessful).

In Russia, the first mention in 1066

In the XVI century. in Rostov "evangelist" 1000 p.

End of the 17th century in Rostov, Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich - a passionate zealot of the bell business - in 1689 he cast the famous 3 Rostov bells: "Sysoy" 2000 pounds, "Polyeleiny" 1000 p. and everyday "Swan" 500 p.

Trinity Serg. - at the end of the 17th century. cast in 3319 p. and in 1746 poured by Elizabeth and ext. up to 4000 p. (“Tsar”) Godunov - 1850 and “Kirnotsky” 1275 p.

In Moscow on Kolok. Ivan the Great "Uspensky" - 3355 p. 4 f.

Serf Smagin "collected bells" and trained bell ringers.

January 23. All Sunday and Monday, a fire burned under the Tsar - so that the earth would thaw, and the bell fell on the broken edges closer to the place of the supposed fall of Godunov. Workers on the bell tower were building a cage for Godunov.

January 24th. Great rarity: sunny day. The tsar was undermined and propped up with a jack. On Sunday they expect to leave Godunov.

The images of religious thought, which replaced the philosophical language in the fulfillment of the covenant: "Go and teach all nations", are now discarded as deceit. "Conscious" people are consistent if they break the bells. Pitiful objections from the point of view of the protection of monuments of art.

A different person in his deeds, in his way of life, is an ascetic and a real hero, but if you touch his consciousness, then it is purely murine: inside him is the meanest current anxiety and readiness to yield even to God, if only to preserve being on this path, which from the outside seems to us heroic .

We went in the evening in a cab to Kozhevnikov.

- Bad life? I asked the driver.

- Very bad, he replied, they are distilled into the team.

“Not everyone feels bad about it,” I said.

- Yes, not everyone, only a few better.

After a while he said:

- You can expect good things for our grandchildren, they will remember nothing of ours, how we suffered, they will not.

“They will be happy,” I said, “and they will not remember our torment, what happy pigs! The driver understood me very well and said with a laugh:

“It turns out we suffer for the happy pigs. (By the way - that's why the relics and the cross).

Unbaptized Russia is growing.

Something terrible is gradually reaching our philistine consciousness, this is that evil can remain completely unpunished and a new jubilant life can grow on the corpses of tortured people and the culture they created without the memory of them.

The workers said that it was decided to leave 1,000 pounds on the bell towers. "Swan" will remain? “We don’t know,” they said: there are 1000 pounds left.

What about Nikolsky?

The workers did not answer, in the minds of them and other destroyers the name was drowned in pounds.

– Orthodox? I asked.

“Orthodox,” he replied.

Was it hard to break the bell for the first time?

- No, - he answered, - I followed the elders and did as they did, and then it went on its own.

And he said that they were paid 50 kopecks per pood for the artel, and their earnings came out at 8 1/2 rubles. in a day.

I talked to the workers about Godunov, I asked if it would be dangerous to stand (unintelligible) on the roof. “No,” they said, not at all dangerous. - But when you take it out of the span onto the rails, it can’t be on its side here ...

- No, the workers answered, we will lead him from the span to the rails like a ram.

Bells, as well as relics, and all other images of religious thought are destroyed by the anger of deceived children. Such a great understanding is needed...

The 25th of January. Winches and chain hoiststhey turned the King so that the broken part fell up. This is so that Godunov will fall just into this hole and the Tsar will break.

Zhgun definitely said that the "Winch" and with it two more side bells remain.

And it is true that the Tsar, Godunov and Karnaukhy were hanging side by side and were defeated by the fall of one on the other. So the Russian state was shattered by discord. Some comfort themselves that things will turn out better. It's like talking about an old bell cast by Godunov, that collective farm machines and beautiful statues of Lenin and Stalin will be cast from molten pieces of its bronze ...

First, an old woman went up to my window, probably some relative of the caretaker. In vain did I tell her that it was dangerous, that there was no need for an old man to even look at it. She stayed, because such a senseless old woman should be at every death, a person, all the same, like bells ... Some other women joined her, the watchman himself, children right with a sledge, and they began that ritual expectation familiar to all of us, like on Pascha on the night of the first strike of the bell, the arrival of the bishop or ...

About the King, the old woman said:

- Big, how easy it was! “Easy, but the earth still trembled. - Well, not without that, after all, four thousand pounds. The plaster crumbled as it fell, but went as easily, as well!

The old woman spoke of the big bell in exactly the same way, as of some dead man: Ivan Mitrofanitch, how well he lies!

Then about Karnaukh: I see: it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming - bang! and it is not there, there is nothing at all, and only black fragments of it run across the white snow, like mice.

Singing was heard, it was a detachment of recruits walking to guard, entered and stood near the Trinity Cathedral with singing: We will die for this!

The workers descended from the bell tower to the winches. Some understanding employees of the museum were stationed at the door. When the winches thundered, one of them said:

- It rattles and, apparently, does not give in ...

- Of course, another answered, - after all, this is the sixteenth century being dragged.

“For a long time,” the old woman sighed, “they also waited two hours for Karnaukhy. Well, the Big One walked easily;

A worker appeared and began to grease the rails.

- Grease with lamb fat!

- In every case it’s like that, if you don’t grease it, it won’t work.

-Yes, the Big One flew, and how great!

-Will they do it again?

- Bell?

- No, what bells, what! I'm talking about broken steps on the bell tower, will they be made.

- Steps ... what are they for!

“Ah, how easily the Big One walked. I'm sorry. We worked, we tried.

Someone replied with a smile:

- And here they try, and here they work. After us, they will recycle again, and after them again, so life goes on.

“Life, of course, goes on, only grandparents tell their granddaughters, and so we will tell them what kind of bells we saw.

After a break in work, when everything seemed to freeze and time stopped, Zhgun came out of the door of the bell tower with a briefcase and all the workers followed him. Only Leva the photographer remained on the bell tower. The fireman with the workers retired to the crowd, gave a signal, the winches rattled, the cables stretched and suddenly fell down: this meant the bell (- illegible.) and went on its own.

“Now it will show!” They said behind me.

-Oh!

Showed up. And he walked so quietly, so reluctantly, somehow suspiciously. Behind him, burning, the lubricant smoked on the rails. Having clicked the shutter at the moment when he, having lost the rails under him, began to lean, I protected myself from splinters, leaned back behind the window jamb. The rumble was powerful and prolonged. After that, the picture below appeared, as before: the wrecked Tsar was still lying, and only by a huge piece, three hundred pounds, fifteen paces from the Tsar, one could guess that this was from Godunov, who had broken into pieces.

Big gave a new crack. They tried to break it with blocks with a chain hoist, but nothing happened ...

This is how the sad bell ended its life at the age of 330, the sounds of which in Posada are used to connect with misfortune, death, etc. According to Popov, this was due to the fact that on May 1 memorial services were served for the Godunovs and, of course, this bell was rung.

(In the margins): My friend, what a trifle it is, not because it was cast under Godunov, many of us ourselves got the beginning of our spiritual organization under Godunov - what a Godunov! through the creations of the Hellenes from Hellas and from Egypt, and our blood, breaking off (- illegible) runs from primitive man.

Many of us also bells are very resonant and in the fall of the bell (- unintelligible) and gather before our own death.

The motif is tiring, tediously repetitive: how many pounds, and how they raised it, and memories of those bells that fell.

The workers lifted the tongue of the big bell with winches and threw it at the Tsar from a height. The stopudovy tongue bounced off like a ball. The carts waited in vain for the wreckage.

In the next tier after the one littered with logs and pieces of cables, where the Tsar, Karnaukhy and Godunov hung not once, we were happy to see many bells, these were all those that they said: “There are a thousand pounds left.”

It was, first of all, the glorifying bell Lebed (“Winch”), hanging in the middle, and part of the “ringing bells”. Only one bell (out of four) remained in the western span. One can hope that this remains the famous “miracle-working bell”, cast by hegumen Nikon in 1420. Two remained in the northern span, one of them was Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

With great difficulty we removed the top carts. On a frosty day, windless, white smoke from the chimneys rushed to the sky and covered a lot.

January 30. How amazingly yesterday both my themes converged: 1) the revolutionary destruction of the shrines of the most unfortunate people and 2) the bear-toy from the height of the bell tower we saw a ring of people surrounding the performance of Maria Petrovna.

January 31st. Zhgun contritely told Leva about his mistake: he reported on the difficulty of removing the "Swan", and then it turned out that the "Swan" is one of the oldest bells, and they decided to save it.

- It was necessary to kill him in the bell tower, said Zhgun, - and then prove it.

That's how they are all technology. The same and (- illegible) and Leva would have been the same if it were not for my influence, and I, if I had no talent.

February 3rd. The tragedy with the bell is a tragedy because everything is very close to the person himself: it is true that the bell, even Godunov, was, as it were, a personal phenomenon of copper, it was just copper, a mass, and then this mass is represented by the form of a sounding, let's face it, personality, the only bell in the world by Godunov, now returned to natural alloy. But even that would be fine, it is in the world, it happens, even civilized peoples are fused. A certain principle is terrible in this - like indifference to the form of personal existence: copper served as a bell, and now it has been required, and will be a bearing. And the worst thing is when you translate it into yourself: “You, they will say, the writer Prishvin, are engaged in fairy tales, we order you to write about collective farms.”

February 6. Two devastated, robbed priests, in what they were, fled from the Aleksandrovsky district in panic fear. At the Berendeyevo station they got off the train, cut their hair, changed into some kind of rags, and then continued on their way to Sergiev. This used to be a refuge for all such people. But now there is nothing, and even the Trinity has changed its name. Now it is Zagorsk.

February 7th. Leva and I went to the Lavra bathhouse. On the way we saw the remains of the bells: several fragments of the Tsar and that large one, 300 pounds in size, a piece of Godunov, which flew off 15 steps.

The university, they say, is turning into a Polytechnic, and this, “generally speaking,” is quite understandable: from the very beginning, our revolution did not take into account the togas of scientists, and so gradually, after 12 years, turned science into technology and scientific activity into a special service. Even the priest Mishka Rozhdestvensky had a reverence for science: he was engaged in local history and antiquity. Now the priest Mishka Rozhdestvensky serves in Rudmetalltrest, is engaged in the extraction of non-ferrous metal from bells and is no longer the pop Mishka Rozhdestvensky, but comrade. October.

I personally parted with the scientific “world outlook” a long time ago, but I retained respect and now I retain for the asceticism of scientists and their independence from the influence of multi-thieves Everyday life. Undoubtedly, especially among us, the corporation of scientists was a certain great social and political force. Now it has sunk to the ground and scientists have become mere technicians.

And Cosmos was withdrawn from the Academy. It is high time! spectral analysis is a respectable method for a technician, but it is precisely the enemy of space.

What will the new young man bring with him to the other side of the abyss that has separated us from the dream of love for our neighbor according to church precepts and from the sweet humanism of science?

Battle of Narva (1770) In 1701, an unheard-of measure - to take away 1/4 of the bells. At the end of 1701, 8000 pounds of copper were mined.

2nd of March. (Newspaper clipping): “What is it: the political leadership of the collective farm or the policy of its decay and discredit? I'm not talking about those, so to speak, "revolutionaries" who start the business of organizing an artel by removing the bells. Remove the bells - just think, what a revolution!" (Stalin. Izvestia, March 2, 1930)

Yesterday an order was published stating that in secondary schools the children of the dispossessed should not be tormented by covetousness. These lines stood out so sharply among the misanthropic ones that everyone noticed it, and everyone talked about it. They added to this in such a strange way that, as if by March 15, they want to cancel the five-day period. The air smelled of turning: the gods were fed with blood. Indeed, Stalin's article "Dizziness from Success" has been published today, in which he goes against himself. Politicians have hardly ever reached such cynicism: however, how to look at it, if, for example, having given the order to destroy the bells, after some time, when the bells are broken, he would become indignant at those who broke them.

In institutions, in editorial offices, in shops it is sleepy, empty and somehow dusty, everywhere there are remnants of something, rubbish. Yes, there seems to be nowhere else to go...

March 12th. After the manifesto, little by little the situation became clear: the prices of village products immediately shot up, which means that the muzhik began to sell (for his own benefit), and not to sell in view of collectivization. And, noticeably, many stopped thinking about the war, which, in all likelihood, is more true: there will be no war. How many cattle were slaughtered, how much this wrong step of the government, the experience of urgent forced collectivization, cost the country. They say you can't restore it in two years. And in the field of culture, the destruction of the entire 12-year work of the intelligentsia to preserve art monuments?

March 16th. A.N. Tikhonov (I'm talking about him because he, Bazarov - their name is legion) contemptuously calls everything unreasonable in politics "bungling." This word is used in general by all top communists when they are given real-life examples of their wrong, cruel policy. I remember that even Kamenev calmly replied to my report on everyday crimes that in our government everything is reasonable and humane.

- Who is to blame? I asked.

"So that's the way the people are," replied Kamenev.

Now it's the same thing, all the horrific crimes of this winter are not for the leaders of politics, but for bunglers. And people like Tikhonov, Bazarov, Gorky are even more abstract than the government, their hands are clean not only from blood, but even from Bolshevik portfolios ... For them, the highest bar of Marxism, Stalins are already bunglers ... Their faith, a stronghold - mind and science.

These philistines do not even suspect that it is they, who have barred their hearts with the walls of Marxist "reason" and the scientific class struggle, who are the true culprits of the "bungling".

They despise the government, but they sit around it and want nothing else. So Yesenin hanged himself and thereby saved many poets: they began to be afraid to touch them. Invite these rationalists to burn together, as in the old days Russian people burned for their faith. “Why burn? - they will ask - all our principles are very good, there is nothing more to wish for: is collectivism in itself bad, or does the country need industrialization? Protecting motherhood, childhood, the poor - is it all bad? Why burn?

Probably, this was also the case in the era of Nikon: the correction of liturgical books was quite reasonable, but at the same time, under the pretext of a common face of rationality, a substitution of the inner being took place. There was no principle for which to stand, as in our time - they grabbed the two-fingered and burned for it.

This means that it is not a matter of principle, but that there is no faith: the intelligentsia has already burned out.

March 22. What a gap in my soul, what senseless pain. Tired of idleness, I sometimes think: “How horrified some of my enthusiastic readers would be if he looked into my emptiness.”

April 9th. The prince said: “Sometimes I feel so sorry for my homeland that it comes to physical pain.”

I photographed spring: snow with summer clouds, snow gives birth to water before our eyes, and summer clouds are already in a hurry to be reflected in this muddy water. Cranes are Flying …

The boy demanded

- Take me down!

I said nothing. He climbs.

- Get out! - I said.

He lagged behind and with a stone in the back of my head, me, an old man who collected materials for children's stories. What was to be done? He started running at full speed. From above, two young men were seen. I complained to them. They didn't even respond... That's how I ate the stone.

Of course, there have always been such boys, but there was no such pain in the soul, and therefore the stone of the present time hit much more painfully. The pain is unprecedented. And there is nowhere to lean against it, as it used to be (“there is no one to wipe a tear”). It used to be that we all hope: here we will overcome, we will press and it will be better. The main thing then (at least under Lenin) was that it was possible to put up with it, to tell someone like a human being and they would understand and intercede. Now there is no one to intercede. And completely disappear - they will not respond at all, because you never know all sorts of people have disappeared and disappear every day.

April 10th. Never in the spring have I been such a citizen as now: the thought of a perishing homeland, constant melancholy is not forgotten under any enthusiasm, on the contrary, all these streams from under the snow, the songs of larks and finches, a young star at dawn - all this somehow In this way, it inevitably leads back to murderous growth: to live to death in semi-poverty among beggars, embitteredly brought up on the idea of ​​class struggle, or to surrender yourself to the captivity of strangers who, from a foreign point of view, will weigh your life and establish its small international significance ...

If I fell ill with some deadly disease, my wife Efrosinya Pavlovna would certainly from the first time make me the culprit ... It is very possible that I myself would admit my guilt, and in any case, at the moment when the illness gives rest, I would be glad people and life in general: well, I die and die, so it is necessary, but all the same, well, how glorious they live. So this state is easier and, in any case, somehow more worthy (than) now: I am healthy as a bull, in the full bloom of my talent, and the homeland, dying, passes by, and it is not up to you.

So this is what I want to say: it’s better for me, it’s better for me to die myself and in good courageous moments to be glad that life remains good, than to remain myself and think that life, enclosed in the concept of “motherland”, is passing. There is nothing sadder than a lone tree in a clearing...

20 April. The epoch of dictatorship has terribly lowered the moral consciousness of the masses, and, in my opinion, mainly through the boys who, for a month, are taught in class struggle courses "in no time at all". They would have had to go to the front like that, and they would have been heroes, and they practice heroism on defenseless citizens under the guise of a war with the fists. Thus, through them, the citizens themselves are gradually obscured in their moral consciousness.

Here is my hostess in Pereslavische, Domna Ivanovna, what a good, hard-working woman, and this is how she surprised me, how she hurt me, how she upset me. True, nothing is more frustrating than this lowering of consciousness. This time we got into a conversation about horse meat, that the men eat horse sausage right, “whoa, whoa, but they eat it,” whatever. At the same time, Domna Ivanovna said that horse meat can be infected with lard, that it was so in Kimry - forty people were infected.

- They will shoot! - said D.I.

- The culprits? – I asked, believing that the veterinarian overlooked and here they are for it.

- Yes, yes, - D.I. did not understand me, - all forty of them will be shot so that others are not infected.

- Nonsense! I said, it can't be. And he told D.I. about two or three cases from medical practice, when the death of a person seems desirable to him, and it is very useful for others, but it’s impossible ...

“Think about it,” I said, “if it were possible to destroy the hopelessly ill, then it would certainly spread to the useless, then the stronger would be selected for the tribe, and the weak would be drowned. A little lack of something, and off with the superfluous. How good it is with the land: people have multiplied - and the purge! Yes, is it possible! But how can you believe that Kimrensky fat, the Lord is with you, Domna Ivanovna.

D.I. replied indifferently:

- For what I bought, for that I sell, Mikhail Mikhailovich, I heard from people, they said that the disease is contagious, incurable ...

It was hard for me, most importantly, because my speech never returned Domna Ivanovna to her former consciousness, which was obviously dying in her. True, so many people are shot who are recognized as harmful by citizens, why not shoot people infected with this terrible incurable disease ...

April 27th. I met an art critic from the Tretyakov Gallery (Svirin) and told him that the cave time was coming for our art, and now we ourselves need to prepare a cave ahead of time. Or take a direct decision to burn in a log house, following the example of our ancestors of the 16th century. Svirin said to this that he could not get out of his head - to commit suicide by jumping into the crematorium.

– Is it possible? I asked.

“You can,” he said, “when the gates of the crematorium open to let the coffin through, there is a moment when you can jump.

the 6th of May. You don't have to chase events. Each event gives a wave that will certainly reach you, who is sitting a thousand miles from its outcome. It is only necessary to be ready within oneself in order to understand the general life of the world through the manifestations in one's daily life. In fact, of course, there are many waves that come to you barely noticeable and therefore are not perceived. But among them, nevertheless, there will always be enough to think and understand history. They robbed us, threw down our bells - I understood the struggle between the cross and the pentagram.

They did not dare to throw off the cross from the bell tower of Rastrelli, but in May and October they make a pentagram out of it using simple electric bulbs.

In the Federation, and they say, it will be like this everywhere: a fixed five-day period has been established, that is, five days of work, and the sixth day of rest. Thus, there is no longer a break, because of which the five-day period was introduced. It all came down to arguing with God. He told us to work for six days, but we are told to work for five.

And everywhere, in the whole world there is Sunday.

November 30th. The anniversary of the destruction of the Sergius bells is approaching. It was very similar to the spectacle of a public execution. Especially sorry for Godunov. After all, if there was only one thing in Tsar Boris, it would still be nothing, but between Tsar Boris and the bell "Godunov" is still Pushkin.

1932

12th of February. The heat has returned again, the blizzard, and the buildings of the Lavra blacken in white, the famous bell tower with broken bells, and that’s all ...

-What are you looking at? the little boy asked me.

- And what is it? - I asked, pointing to the building of the Lavra, - do you know?

“I know,” he replied briskly, “God used to be here.

On cleaning.

How do you feel about religious worship?

- There is no god.

It was said strongly, and the purge would have ended, but some poisonous simple person from a dark corner asked permission to ask a question and asked like this:

- You said that now there is no God, but let me know how you think about the past, did God exist before?

“I was,” he replied.

Everything will soon change from radio, electricity, aeronautics, gas wars, and socialism will come to the point where everyone will be responsible for the defense of the inner word.

All words, smiles, handshakes, tears will receive a different, external, conventional meaning. But in the depths of the personality, the dispute about the sacrifice (the Trinity) will remain and will accumulate. Perhaps the time will come when some will be able to whisper, more and more, the air will be filled with whispers or inarticulate sounds, or even dark incomprehensible words that small children speak, and finally, like children, the first word will come out ... and then the era will begin second coming of Christ.

Introduction, preparation of the text and notes by L.A. Ryazanova.

Notes:

Efrosinya Pavlovna Smogaleva - the first wife of Prishvin.

The real name of the bell is Kirnotsky. See the entry on January 19 about Prishvin reading A. Zarin's essay "The Bells" in the Argus magazine No. 8. St. Petersburg, 1913.

Prishvin freely uses the Latin expression "cogito, ergosum": "I think, therefore I exist."

Prishvin does not quite accurately quote the words of Christ: “Jesus answered them: destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” Gospel of John, ch. 2, verse 19.

This refers to the words of Christ: "Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Gospel of Matthew, ch. 28, verse 19.

Kozhevnikov A.V. (1891–?) Russian Soviet writer, author of books on the transformation of Siberia, socialist construction, etc.

A device designed for lifting and moving weights: a system of movable and fixed blocks, enveloped by a flexible rope.

Lev Mikhailovich Prishvin-Alpatov is the eldest son of the writer.

These days, a wandering troupe of gypsies with trained bears gave street performances around the city.

Tikhonov A.N. (pseudo Serebrov) (1880-1956) - Russian Soviet literary figure, writer, collaborated with A.M. Gorky, after the October Revolution he headed the publishing house "World Literature", edited many literary magazines.

Letter draft.

MM. Prishvin "When the bells rang ..." (From the diaries of 1926-1932) // Prometheus. Historical and biographical almanac. M., 1990. T. 16. S. 411–422

The bells don't just ring for lost love. For more than 10 years, they have turned from an allegory into a part of our real life. And they inform that the road to the temple is open to everyone. And it's time to think about saving your own soul.

Each of us has our own path to faith. So Lyudmila Tolpekina from Istra once came to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross. And it turned out that she remained in it forever.

She sings in the church choir. And she is one of the few representatives of the weaker sex who works as a ringer in the temple.
Of all the bells on earth, the bell ringing cannot be confused with any other. This is not at all the ringing about which you do not know where it is. From the church, straight from the bell tower! The bell-ringer of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross Lyudmila Tolpekina will distinguish "his" bells from thousands, and maybe millions of others. But there are neither thousands nor millions in Russia yet. The bell ringer is a rare profession these days. And a woman in their friendly ranks - and even more so.

The first time I climbed the bell tower 2.5 years ago, - says Lyudmila Vladimirovna. - Everyone who wants to come here is allowed only for Bright Week, right after Easter. The bells "work" every day this week. I tried to call, it seemed to work. Then I started walking with my son Sasha. I used to help him master the profession, now he helps me.
At first, Lyudmila Vladimirovna advised Sasha to cover his ears with cotton wool in the bell tower. It's from below the sound pours like a song. And upstairs everything trembles from the tocsin - the hour is uneven, you can become deaf.

Then knowledgeable people suggested: for hundreds of years, not a single bell-ringer has gone deaf in the bell tower. On the contrary, there was a case when a deaf man went up there - there was no one to call, and the moment was the most responsible - and at the very first strikes of the bells he began to ... hear!

Since that time, neither Lyudmila Vladimirovna nor Sasha have laid their ears. Everything is the will of God.

And the chief bell ringer of the Istra Church of the Exaltation of the Cross met "knowledgeable people" in Moscow, in the center of the bell ringing. Future bell ringers study there for three months and upon completion receive a special diploma. Well, as a rule, Lyudmila Vladimirovna did not go to theoretical classes in musical literacy (twice a week). She herself has a musical education, and she teaches at the Music and Pedagogical College in Istra.

But the experience and practice, which is a great thing ... She was very lucky with the teacher: Viktor Grigoryevich Sharikov went through all the "basics", "beeches" and "lead" with her.
“The bell is like a person,” she says. - He is baptized during casting, they bless him, like you and me, to work. And even give names or nicknames. In Rostov the Great there is Sysoi, Baran (for a special "bleating"), Goat, Swan - he has a very gentle sound. Not everyone knows that when Tsarevich Dmitry died in Uglich and the church announced this with a tocsin, Ivan the Terrible ordered that that bell be punished. He, like a man, was flogged, his tongue was pulled out and his ears were cut off - the devices on which he is attached.
Sunday church service ends. And it's time for us to see Lyudmila Vladimirovna, so to speak, in action. Climb up the steep stairs to the bell tower. I recall the words of Tolpekina, which, in turn, the mentor said to her: "Ringers never go deaf. But they die, as a rule, from leg diseases." The stairs are so steep that it is not easy to climb up. And if you consider that they have to climb in any weather - both in snow and in the wind - it becomes clear why they need to take care of their legs.

From a bird's eye view, a beautiful rural panorama opens up: the mansions of the new Russians, stacks of hay scattered across the fields, and even the New Jerusalem Monastery is visible. An exact copy of what is in the Holy Land, on Golgotha. Only not yet completed since the time of the XVII century.

Nine different bells hang on the belfry. In the center, the main one is Blagovest, it is the largest and most massive. A little inferior to him Polyeleiny.
There could be at least three times as many bells here. But even these nine parishioners of the temple are immensely happy. They were acquired thanks to the energetic work of the rector of the temple, Father Konstantin. After all, bells are in short supply these days. In the same Istra region, almost all churches have been restored today (and there are dozens of them!), but only three or four belfries have bells. And the most melodic ringing is in the Exaltation of the Cross.

In church, as in life, the miser pays twice. The subtle musical ear of Lyudmila Vladimirovna often hears in Moscow or the Moscow region not bells, but, as it were, the ringing of small saucepans.

No, here the bells, as expected, are pure bronze and cast in different parts of the great state!

It's time to call, - Lyudmila Vladimirovna simply says in an everyday way. - And then the father will be angry.

Like a pianist, she puts her hands on the keys, just as plastically she begins to press and pull the strings that are connected to the tongues of all the bells. They startle, and the quiet village is filled with sounds of different heights.
From time to time, she presses the pedals below with her foot, and powerful blows of Blagovest and Polieleiny sound in the general joyful scale. First, the bell tower, and then the whole district, is filled with a solemn ringing, announcing the end of the Sunday service. I touch Blagovest's body: it vibrates and seems to be breathing like a person. "Blagovest," she explains, "is like the beating of a heart. Only it should strike much less frequently."

No words can convey the music of this alarm. The heart is gradually filled with joyful expectation, the parishioners below, as if on command, take off their hats and cross themselves. The duration of one "melody", according to church canons, is 5-7 minutes. Then a short pause - and again the bells announce the surroundings. This happens 3-4 times. During the procession, you need to call continuously for 30 minutes.

In order for there to be complete musical harmony, the tongue should strike only one place of the bell - otherwise the timbre of the sound will change. In general, tuning bells is a special science. In frosts, they cannot be hit hard: if a crack appears, the bell will lose its voice.

Strictly speaking, the ringing should not have any specific melody - it is a sin to copy something or imitate something. On the other hand, if you start rattling randomly, you will scare away the crows, but you are unlikely to evoke positive emotions among the parishioners.

There are mysteries here that cannot be expressed in words. When bells came to Orthodoxy, church bells were not recorded with notes. This art was passed from the mentor to the student and so on. Under the communists, the church was persecuted, and there is no need to talk about some kind of continuity in the profession of a bell ringer. After the revolution, the Bolsheviks first of all destroyed the bells. Indeed, at the beginning of the last century there were no cell phones, it was the bells that conveyed information to the villages "in the days of celebrations and troubles of the people."

Today, everything is collected bit by bit, from scratch - and immediately translated into notes. Bell ringers have special aids that help them in their work. But the main thing is still - ear for music, coordination of movements, a sense of rhythm and the very state of mind.

For example, Lyudmila Vladimirovna, when she rings, sings to herself some kind of Jesus prayer (“You can’t do a single thing without prayer”) and, in time with the key words, beats the Blagovest, Polieleiny or chimes.

Well, for example, - she says and starts calling again, - "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner ..." And on Bright Week a church song helps me:

Everywhere the blessing is buzzing
Of all the churches, the people bring down,
The dawn is already looking from heaven,
Christ is Risen, Christ is Risen...
- Often, - ends Lyudmila Vladimirovna, - I sing the 50th psalm or our church songs "Theotokos, virgin, rejoice", "Symbol of faith", "May my prayer be corrected" ...

Even in Orthodoxy, bell ringing is not the same everywhere. On the sacred Mount Athos in Greece, until now, as many centuries ago, the bells are beaten not by metal tongues, but by wooden knockers called beats. The sound is quite melodic.

The bell-ringer of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross would like to personally listen to those bell-ringers, but, as you know, women are not allowed even close to the sacred Mount Athos. But Lyudmila Vladimirovna is not particularly upset. After all, as our church hierarchs say: "The sounds of the riveter resemble the obscure and vague predictions of the prophets. And the harmonious play of the bells tells us about the gospel message."

One of the French classics said: "You left me at the gates of the church, and I suddenly found myself on the bell tower." This, of course, is about a career rather than a church one, but a secular one. To be on the bell tower means to be at the top, on the crest, so to speak, of life.
In our life, the opposite happens more often. Although Orthodox churches and have their own centuries-old traditions in terms of bell towers, the work of a bell ringer has for some reason been considered the most unprestigious for some reason. As in the old days, so today, if there are bells in the church, but there is no regular bell ringer, then the sexton, the psalmist, and the drunken sexton ring them with equal success (and without any taste).

Neither Lyudmila Vladimirovna nor her son Sasha are offended at all by this. They share their professional secrets with young people - in case of a fire, so that they can replace. But the younger generation, having received the first few lessons, soon cools down to them.

A reasonable question arises: what about this case there, in the West? "There" in the diocese of bells remained at a primitive signal level, and the ringer itself has long been replaced by an electric motor with a button. Just as foreigners are incapable of understanding the mysterious Russian soul, so they are unable to comprehend the secret of our bell ringing.

For example, after the revolution, the bells of the Danilovsky Monastery somehow ended up on the belfry of Harvard University in the USA. After that, an article "30 tons of metal and not a single note" appeared in the local newspaper. Americans do not understand why metal giants are needed if, for example, you cannot play "Hail America!" on them.

Yes, this is purely in Russian: rejoicing - grieve, and grieving - rejoice.

For the first time in Russia, the bells sounded under the Grand Duke Vladimir, immediately after the adoption of Orthodoxy by our people. But then they did not receive much distribution.
Tsar Ivan the Terrible attached great symbolic significance to the bell. To annex wayward principalities, to defend the country from the Mongol-Tatar invasion was, to put it mildly, a difficult matter. These principalities had to be conquered. From the conquered Nizhny Novgorod, Pskov, Ryazan, along with especially revered icons, veche bells were exported to Moscow.
Symbols of independence and democracy appeared on the bell tower of Ivan the Great in the capital; it sounded with the voices of veche bells from various principalities, thus symbolizing the unity of Russia.

Quite a lot of articles and publications with descriptions of heavy non-ferrous casting technologies, including bell casting, have survived to this day. However, the main problem is that the secrets of the craft of the old Russian casters have remained secrets. Now we have to invent again, experiment, create something new.

The main advantage of the bell is its euphony. Although there are different rules for building, it is not easy to cast a bell in the required tone and weight.

The bell is not a musical instrument, but a ecclesiastical, sacred object, a "ringing icon", "speculation in sound". Therefore, bell ringing directly depends on the status of the church service. Bells are festive, Sunday, simple day or everyday.

The ringing that we hear now appeared at the end of the 17th century. Back in the middle of the century, it was necessary to swing the bell, and not the tongue, as it became later. In the description of Archdeacon Paul of Aleppo, the observation is made that 30 young men were required to swing a four thousand pood bell. The bell-ringing business was in those days under special attention and guardianship of the state and spiritual authorities in Russia. From the end of the 16th to the 18th century, in almost all large cities, in large monasteries and cathedrals, bell collections grew, bell selections were improved and replenished, and the skill of bell ringers was debugged.

Bell ringing is part of the divine service, and it should elevate the spirit of man. Each melody is designed for a specific event. Blagovest, chime, chime, bust ... In pre-revolutionary Russia, almost everyone knew: the blagovest is ringing - the service has begun, the chime is pouring - a big holiday, jubilation (the chime for a pleasant "voice" was loved very much, they called it red, beautiful, that is). Bust sounds - someone has gone to another world, so they ring from a small bell to a big one, symbolizing human life in its development, maturation, and at the end they strike everything at the same time, announcing the interruption of earthly existence.
The ringing did not annoy anyone. On the contrary, if a person heard the gospel while working, he was reverently baptized and with renewed vigor set to his hard work. If the bell woke up, he perceived it as a blessing from above, believing that the coming day would bring good luck.