Which is not a type of bell ringing. Bells and bell ringing

Orthodox bell ringing is a prayer captured in sound. Beauty, which is endowed with unusually great power, because it gives healing to a person, heals not only the body, but also the soul. This music revives love in the heart, envelops you in peace and creates harmony.

Cleansing with bell ringing.

The ringing of bells has enormous power, which saturates the space around with the positive energy of goodness and love, cleanses it. The sound wave of a bell ringing spreads in the air in the form of a cross, which is why ringing has such an effect on a person’s state, both physical and mental:

• morbidity is reduced: pathogenic bacteria die and do not reproduce further;
• the psycho-emotional background stabilizes: peace and tranquility sets in.

The enormous effect of bell ringing for the treatment of various diseases has been proven by numerous examples and facts. The most common such conditions of the human body are:

• stress, nervousness, insomnia;
• vascular diseases;
• depression, mental disorders;
• hypertension, heart and vascular diseases;
• stomach ulcer;
• bronchial asthma;
• acute pain of various origins;
• infectious and respiratory diseases;
• low immunity;
• women's diseases;
• kidney disease;
• intestinal and biliary diseases;
• hearing loss.

But it is also necessary to remember that the ringing of a bell will have the desired effect if you listen to it correctly, namely:

• only on high-quality media;
• It is advisable not to use headphones;
• if it drags you into sleep, don’t resist;
• before listening, read “Our Father”, during - Psalm 50, at the end - “It is worthy to eat”;
• at least once a year (if possible) listen to a live bell ringing.

The positive impact of ringing on a person and the world around him is possible only when it does not cause irritation. It should also be remembered that a sound therapy session directly under a live bell should not exceed 15-20 minutes.

The ringing of bells in monasteries is a kind of energy generator that is transformed into sound. At the same time, it is very important that the sound is often heard live, rather than recorded, because this disrupts its distribution spectrum. Under this condition, the effect increases several times. And the very environment in which a person hears the ringing is conducive to its correct perception - through the church, through righteous faith, through God.

To cleanse the house.

Church bells can also cleanse the house. After all, everyone has their own energy. And this does not depend on good repairs or beautiful furniture. The spiritual atmosphere is what is important in this case. And if it is broken, then the people who live in it can often get sick, quarrel for no reason, suffer from mental disorders and depression. Therefore, you need to try to maintain not only the physical condition of the house (maintain cleanliness and order), but also the spiritual condition, achieving peace and harmony.

You can use bell ringing to cleanse your home in the following ways:

• hang a bell at the entrance (symbol);
• periodically “ring” the corners;
• play audio recordings of church bells ringing.

And, of course, an excellent option would be the fact that the house is located next to an Orthodox church. Then protection, positive energy and harmony will become faithful companions of its inhabitants.

What types of bells are there?

With love for the ringing of church bells, the Orthodox people connected all their life events, both solemn and sad. Therefore, it serves not only as a measure of church time, but also as an expression of the mental state of an Orthodox person. This was the reason for the emergence of different types of ringing, each of which has its own specific name and semantic purpose.

What types of bells are there and their names:

• good news;
• the actual ringing.

Blagovest, in turn, is divided into two more:

• ordinary or frequent;
• lean or rare.

The ringing itself also comes in several types:

• ringing;
• double ringing;
• chime;
• overkill

What are the types of bell ringing?

Blagovest is the most important bell ringing for every Orthodox Christian. These are measured strikes of one large bell. With its help, believers are called to the temple for Divine services. And its name comes from the fact that they proclaim the good news - the beginning of ministry.

The procedure for performing the gospel:

• three beats (rare, slow, drawn-out);
• measured blows.

Actually, ringing is the sound of all or several bells at once.

What are the types of blagovest

As you know, there are two types of blagovest:

• ordinary or frequent - produces the largest bell;
• Lenten or rare - performed with a smaller bell during the days of Great Lent.

The sound of the bells itself is divided into the following types:

• trezvon - ringing all the bells, then a short break, then the second and third ringing in the same way, also with a short break. In other words, ringing in three stages. It is an expression of Christian joy and triumph;
• double ringing - ringing all the bells in two steps;
• chime - ringing each bell in turn, from the largest to the smallest, and so on several times;
• busting - slowly ringing each bell once in turn, from the smallest to the largest, after which striking all the bells at once, and so on many times.

If there are several large bells at the temple, then, according to their purpose, they differ as follows:

• festive;
• Sunday;
• polyeleous;
• everyday;
• small bell

Usually in large parish churches there are no more than two or three bells. Larger numbers occur at cathedrals, monasteries, and laurels.

What a healing bell ringing.

Each bell ringing has its own healing abilities and properties. And the expected effect depends on how much a person believes in their power and listens to the voice of the Lord, for it is in them that the true purpose of church music lies.

The ringing of bells is healing and forgiving. It contains the melody of the spirituality of the Orthodox people, the basis of which is inexhaustible faith and God's eternal grace, which leads along the path of life and grants salvation.

FROM THE HISTORY OF BELLS AND BELL RINGING

The voice of the bell has always been and will be understandable “without words” - after all, it calls to the human Soul. They used a bell to call people to a meeting, with a special “blizzard” ringing they woke up those who were freezing, with an alarm or alarm - they announced a general misfortune and called for help, with a solemn “voice” they greeted kings and victors. All the most important events took place in Rus' to the ringing of bells - just like in the life of the country , cities, towns, villages, and in the life of an individual: his birth, wedding, departure to another world were invisibly permeated by the pure, harmonious sounds of bells / How many lost travelers, both literally and figuratively, were brought to the light of God by the saving ringing! /
* * *
The predecessors of bells - bells - were familiar to many peoples even before the birth (or adoption) of Christianity. The priests of Proserpina in Ancient Athens rang bells during the consecration and purification of victims, during prayers. In Delphi - during the sacrament of Bacchus. They rang the bell at funerals and used the ringing to drive away evil spirits and shadows of the dead from houses. The ancient Jews sewed small bells onto the clothes of the high priest (their sounds were symbols of God's word). /Only in clothes with “bells” could the high priest “approach” God, make sacrifices and pray for the people./ In Buddhist temples, bells were hung outside and inside to cleanse the temple space from evil forces. But in Muslim countries there were no bells in mosques. /For example, the Turks have a belief that the ringing of bells disturbs the peace of souls in the air (the first thing the Turks did after they captured Constantinople was to break the bells./
* * *
Slavic paganism immediately accepted the ringing of church bells. Bells in the minds of the Slavic peoples became a symbol of heavenly thunder, which could both punish and have mercy. /Weddings in Rus' were unthinkable without bells and church bells. It was believed that ringing not only creates a festive mood, but also gives young people health, children and wealth./
* * *
Initially, before the appearance of bells in Rus', a more general method of convening believers for Divine services was determined by the 6th century, when they began to use beats, candii and rivets. /Bila and candia (they are sometimes also called flat bells - in contrast to tulip-shaped ones) - these are first wooden boards, and then metal plates, rivets - iron or copper strips bent into a semicircle (both were hit with special wooden hammers) . And only at the end of the 10th century. the bells appeared.
* * *
Russian church bells have always attracted attention with their harmony, power, and beauty. Divine services in churches, cathedrals and temples traditionally begin and end with the ringing of bells. This has always been the case and this is still the case today. The bells always arrange their voices in canonical harmony: evangelist, ringing and ringing. Even if the voices of the bells diverge slightly in notes (“out of tune”), then all together, in a single selection, the bells seem to “educate” each other, sound harmoniously, as one whole (the wave of bell ringing sways as if all this miracle was not created by human hands, but by itself).
* * *
Our Soviet people, even in the most “godless” communist decades, woke up and fell asleep to the sound of bells - to the striking of the Kremlin chimes. Not many people then realized that the country of the Soviets “lived” by... the ringing of bells. For us these were “exact time signals”, “voice of Moscow”, etc., but the fact remains: every day bells were heard from the loudspeaker throughout the vast country.
* * *
Until the 90s. XX century There were no official bell-ringing schools or centers in Russia. On Bright Week, everyone who wanted to ring was allowed into the bell tower, and at that time the bell ringer watched the children, gave advice, helped, and if one of them showed abilities, he took him on as his student. The revolution of 1917, throwing down the bells, “buried” this tradition. Those churches that miraculously survived remained “voiceless.”
Note. Even now, rising from the ruins, many bell towers remain “silent”. Thus, in Moscow by the beginning of the 3rd millennium there were over 300 parish churches, two thirds of which were subject to restoration. Less than half had bells and beats, and even then they were mostly randomly selected. For example, in the Moscow region, quite recently, a completely depressing picture was observed: a rare church had a bell ringer who was skilled in his craft (self-taught people climbed the belfry). 90s XX century can rightfully be called the time of the revival of bell ringing in Russia. The time has come when the efforts of individual enthusiasts who came together were crowned with success.
* * *
From time immemorial, Russian people have treated the ringing of bells with reverence, remembering the divine origin of its sound. It is not for nothing that the sound of the bell, announcing the reading of the Gospel, is called the gospel. As if by a voice from heaven, it frames the entire church service. The Divine Liturgy begins and ends with measured strikes on the largest bell. /The ringing of bells makes a person involved in the temple action even when he is outside the walls of the church (cathedral, temple). The bell calls for prayer and action, making you forget, at least for a moment, about everyday worries, problems, troubles and remember God./
* * *
Orthodox ringing has always been based on rigor and simplicity, but no one forbids, within the framework of existing canons, the exercise of creativity (the bell ringer is his own composer, performer, and improviser). His task is to highlight the ringing in such a way as to “show” today, for example, the Assumption, and tomorrow – the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (with the help of different strength of beats, tempo and rhythm to convey peace and sorrow, jubilation and anxiety). But the first thing a bell ringer should remember while standing on a bell tower is that he is the connecting link between the temple and Heaven and that church bell ringing is an equivalent temple sacred act (after all, the Divine service begins and ends with it).
* * *
Traditionally, special types of ringing have developed: bells, wired bells (funeral), everyday bells, wedding bells, counter bells and, finally, holiday bells, among which there are great, medium, red and a special form - trezvon. /Trezvon is the most difficult to perform, but the most musically striking. It consists of 3 parts connected into a single whole (and its name itself comes from the merger of the phrase “three bells”). The red ringing of all bells ("all heavy") amazes with its power and beauty on the Great Holidays./ Bell ringers have such a concept - euphony. The bells for the belfries were always selected in such a way that all together they formed a harmonious “ringing choir”. If any bell was dissonant with the others, falling out of the general order, it received the apt nickname “ram”, “dissolute” and, as a rule, was excluded from the ringing. For belfries, 3 groups of bells are usually selected: large - evangelistic bells, medium - ringing bells and small - ringing bells. As for the sound and tonality of bells, this depends on their weight, shape and quality of casting: 100 identical bells cast in the same production will sound differently (the pouring temperature and how the metal cooled are also affected).
Note. The voice of each bell is unique, and they are often given nicknames for this very reason. For example, the evangelistic bell of the Rostov Kremlin is called “Swan” (it received this name for its guttural sound), and its sweet-voiced neighbor is called “Red” (for its velvety sound). The bell bearer of the Kremlin belfry is named "Bear" (for its drawn-out, thick bass voice).
* * *
Russian Orthodox bell ringing is significantly different from the bell ringing of other faiths. If the ringing of Western Europe contains melodic and harmonic foundations (Carellon bell organ), then this is practically absent in Russian ringing. The basis of Orthodox ringing is rhythm and character. The bell ringer, thanks to his inner instinct, sense of rhythm, excellent knowledge of the scale and mastery of the performance technique, based on the Rules, prayer and personal worldview, can convey joy and tranquility, deep sorrow and triumph of the spiritual content of the church service through the ringing of bells. /In the souls of believers seeking peace with the Lord God, the ringing of church bells awakens a bright, joyful and peaceful mood./ The Orthodox ringing contains a wonderful power that penetrates deeply into human hearts. Having fallen in love with the ringing of church bells, the Russian Orthodox people connected all their solemn and sad events with it. Therefore, the Orthodox bell ringing serves not only as an indication of the time of the Divine service, but also as an expression of joy, sadness and triumph. /This is where various types of ringing came from, each of which has its own name and meaning./
* * *
Orthodox bell ringing is divided into 3 main types:
1) good news;
2) call back, search;
3) the actual ringing.
Blagovest is measured striking of one large bell. This ringing announces to the believers the good news about the beginning of the Divine service in the temple. /Blagovest can be festive, everyday and Lenten./
Chime is a process of bells going from the largest bell to the smallest (or vice versa) with a different number of strikes on each bell. /There are 2 main chimes: funeral and water-blessing./
The ringing itself is a characteristic rhythmic ringing using all the main groups of the bell scale. /The bells of this group include: festive bells (trezvon, dvuzvon), everyday bells, as well as bells composed by the bell-ringer himself (the latter are the result of the creative work and self-expression of the bell-ringer).
* * *
The fate of bells, like people, is different. Among them there are also long-livers (for example, the Nikon Bell, born in 1420, from the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, which is still in use today).
* * *
Before installation on the belfry, a rite of consecration is always performed over the bell: they sprinkle holy water on the outside and inside and read prayers. Blessed and created by true masters of their craft, a bell will certainly live for a long time and overshadow people with a “sounding” cross - a volumetric sound wave moving simultaneously horizontally and vertically.
* * *
It is believed that with the first strike of the bell ringing for matins, the power of all “night evil spirits” disappears.
* * *
In Medieval Europe, on nights such as All Hallows' Eve and Beltane Night, also known as Walpurgis Night, when witches were believed to be infesting the area, villagers would ring church bells to keep witches from flying over the village. The townspeople, in turn, were also awake and aggravated the noise by rattling pots, pans and ringing all their city bells. /"Witches" at trials "admitted" that they flew through the air to Sabbaths on the backs of demons, but were thrown to the ground when the sound of a church bell was heard in the night./
* * *
In Rus', the bell became a symbol of statehood and at the same time of the broad Russian soul (probably, some “strings” of the Russian soul are adequately reflected in the ringing of bells). It is interesting that Russian bells are fundamentally different, for example, from Dutch ones (in particular, Malinsky ones). /Malin is a Dutch city in which the bells, famous for their euphony, rang (this is where the raspberry ringing came from). Dutch bells have a more precise, toned (like a string) sound. The Russian bell, in turn, plays the entire chord (which is why one strike of the Russian bell produces a very wide range of sounds).
* * *
Church bells are not for concerts. This has been the case for a long time: bells are a spiritual testimony to the whole world, a symbol in bronze, and their ringing is a symbol in sound. It is not for nothing that bell ringing is called the “voice of the Church,” and this voice calls for spiritual Revival and Repentance. And it is inappropriate for church bells to idly broadcast from bell towers (ringers do not even have the right to rehearse in the bell tower, ring outside of school hours or for the amusement of the public). Bell ringings are performed only according to church canons: at a certain hour, in a certain way. But there is one week in the year when (not at the same time as a church service) one is allowed to ring in plenty, to the joy of the whole world. This is Easter Bright Week. /It should be remembered that a church bell is a shrine that must always be protected and honored. Ringing is the decoration of a temple (cathedral, church), and may it always be magnificent./
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Message quote Orthodox bell ringing

“A bell is a prayer in sound, a sounding icon”

Bells are one of the necessary accessories of an Orthodox church.
Bell ringing is used to:
1. Call the believers to worship
2. Express the triumph of the Church and its Divine services
3. Announce to those not present in the church about the time of performing especially important parts of the Divine service.

Initially, before the appearance of bells in Rus', a more general method of calling believers to worship was determined by the 6th century, when they began to use beat And riveted. Bila(And candia) are wooden boards, and riveted- iron or copper strips, bent into a semicircle, which were struck with special wooden sticks. And only at the end of the 10th century bells appeared.
Russian Orthodox bell ringing is significantly different from the bell ringing of other faiths. If the ringing of Western Europe contains melodic and harmonic foundations (Carellon bell organ), then this is practically absent in Russian ringing. The basis of the Orthodox ringing is rhythm and character. A bell ringer, thanks to his inner instinct, sense of rhythm, excellent knowledge of the scale and mastery of performance technique, based on the Rules, prayer and personal worldview, can convey joy and tranquility, deep sorrow and triumph of the spiritual content of church services through bell ringing. In the souls of believers seeking peace with the Lord God, the ringing of church bells awakens a bright, joyful and peaceful mood. So a person can determine the state of his soul by the ringing of a bell. The Orthodox ringing contains a wondrous power that penetrates deeply into human hearts.

Having fallen in love with the ringing of church bells, the Russian Orthodox people connected all their solemn and sad events with it. Therefore, the Orthodox bell ringing not only serves as an indication of the time of the Divine service, but also serves as an expression of joy, sadness and triumph. This is where different types of ringing came from, and each type of ringing has its own name and meaning.

The International Center for Bell Art presents a unique archival recording of the Festive ringing performed by the legendary master Ivan Vasilyevich Danilov and his student Andrei Anatolyevich Dyachkov. Arkhangelsk, Malye Korely Museum of Wooden Architecture, 1997.

Types of bells and their names

Bell ringing was divided into three main types:

Blagovest
Chime, bust
Actually the ringing

Blagovest- these are single measured strikes on one large bell. This ringing announces to the believers the good news about the beginning of worship in the temple. Blagovest can be festive, everyday and Lenten. In the word "bl" A govest" the emphasis is on the first syllable! "Blagovest" is always the name of the ringing, not the bell. The bell that produces blagovest is called blagovestnik!
Chime- these are alternating strikes (from one to seven on each bell) from large to small, enumerating bells from the largest bell to the smallest or vice versa with a different number of strikes on each bell. There are two main chimes: funeral and water-blessing.
Actually the ringing- This is a characteristic rhythmic ringing using all the main groups of the bell scale. The ringings of this group include: holiday ringing /trezvon, two-ringing/, everyday ringing, as well as ringings composed by the bell-ringer himself, which is the result of the creative work and self-expression of the bell-ringer.

Blagovest intended to announce the upcoming start of the service. The Blagovest “... not only notifies about the time of the beginning of the service, but also prepares Christians for it... It, in fact, is already a Divine service,” says Professor Mikhail Skaballanovich in the Explanatory Typikon. The gospel is celebrated, as mentioned above: on great holidays - on the holiday bell, before Sunday services - on the Sunday bell.

The bell ringer, as follows from the instructions of the Typikon, before the ringing is supposed to take a blessing for the ringing from the primate (the priest who is to perform the service). The blessing of the priest determines the blagovest, as well as other ringing, the status of a liturgical action.

The position of bell ringer is performed by the paraecclesiarch - in the modern version - sexton, altar boy or reader. However, in our time, those who have been blessed by the rector have the right to make calls, regardless of whether this person belongs to the ranks of clerics, clerics, or is simply a parishioner.

During the bell ringer, it is recommended to read the immaculate (17th kathisma) or 12 times the 50th psalm. “The same ascending strikes the great company not soon, singing the blameless ones, or saying Psalm 50 to 12” (Typikon, ch. 2). From this indication it follows that the duration of the ringing corresponds to approximately 20 minutes. However, now, due to the fact that the ringing carries a more symbolic than practical meaning, the time of the gospel has decreased and is approximately 10 minutes.

At the beginning of the bell, two strikes are made on the designated bell until the sound completely fades, and from the third, measured strikes begin. The interval between strikes should be chosen so that it corresponds to the voice of the bell, otherwise the ringing may turn out to be mournful if the strikes are too rare, or alarming if the strikes are very frequent.

Based on these Statutory recommendations, the Zvonarsky Statute of the Patriarchal Cathedral in the Name of Christ the Savior in Moscow was drawn up. Text of the Cathedral Bell Ringing Charter, approved with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy.

Today, many churches still keep unique selections of church bells. Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Novo-Devichiy Moscow Monastery, Kirillo-Belozersky Vologda Monastery, Bishop's Courtyard and Assumption Cathedral in Rostov the Great - and this list of monuments of Russian history can be listed for a long time. The concept of “selection of bells” refers to the selection of a certain number of bells collected in a specific monastery or temple. This selection creates complete musical harmony of all tones and sounds produced by bells of different sizes. There have been cases when the selection of a particular temple took a long time. So the selection that exists in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra has been collected for 486 years. This collection still contains bells dating back to 1422. Most of the unique bells could not survive the terrible era of godlessness in Russia, when the Soviet government barbarously plundered churches and destroyed their property. True, during the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet government attempted to carry out some restoration of some Russian churches with their bell towers.

Healing bell ringing

In the Orthodox tradition, the ringing of a bell has not only the significance of a signal calling for prayer, but also setting a person in a certain mood, causing deep experiences of contact with Higher powers. It’s not for nothing that the bell is called the “sound sun”, the bell. Bell ringing is used in the treatment of psychosomatic diseases. Today it has already been proven: the acoustic wave when ringing bells propagates in the shape of a cross. This was mathematically calculated in the scientific laboratory of the Moscow ZIL during the restoration of bells for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Doctor of Technical Sciences B. N. Nyunin created an accurate radiation pattern of the bell. The sound, descending from heaven to earth, seems to baptize the area. Maybe that’s why the impact of bells on the human soul is so great. One of the St. Petersburg psychiatrists treats mental illnesses with bell ringing. However, not only mental illnesses are subject to mystical sound. Scientists have found that the wave propagated by the bell kills pathogenic bacteria within a radius of several kilometers! It turned out that bells in the ultrasonic range act as energy generators. Our ancestors, guessing this, rang bells around the clock during the epidemic. Moreover, against each specific ailment - with a special ringing.

It is not without reason that it is said: “If an icon is a prayer in colors, a temple is a prayer in stone, then a bell is a prayer in sound, a sounding icon. This is the sound cast in bronze that the Russian ear of an Orthodox person has chosen for itself as an ideal.” An Orthodox person was born, lived and died with a bang. Numerous cases are known when the sudden sound of a bell prevented crime and suicide, led to repentance, called a desperate person to the temple, who received peace in it and gained vitality and the meaning of existence.

For an Orthodox person, the temple of God and the ringing of bells are inseparable concepts. The ancient Russian tradition of taking off your hat when the bells ring suggests that Orthodox people treated the ringing with great reverence, which, in fact, is a special type of prayer. Only this prayer - the gospel - begins long before the service, and it can be heard many kilometers from the temple. And just as church singing intersects with the prayers of the priest, so the Orthodox ringing symbolizes important moments of the service. And no religious procession is complete without the ringing of bells.

From the history of bells

The bell has a very interesting history. Bells, which were more like bells, were known even before the Nativity of Christ. They were worn in national costumes in many countries. For example, in ancient Israel, the high priests decorated their clothes with small bells, which were distinctive signs of certain ranks.

The bell appeared as a musical instrument of a certain canonical shape by the 3rd century. The history of its origin is connected with the name St. Paul the Merciful, Bishop of Nolan, whose memory we celebrate on February 5 (January 23, O.S.). He lived in the Italian province of Campana. One day, returning home after visiting his flock, he became very tired, lay down in a field and saw in a dream how the Angel of God played the field bells. This vision struck him so much that, upon arriving in his city, he asked an artisan to make him bells from iron similar to those he had seen in his dream. When they were done they turned out to have a very good sound. Since then, they began to make bells of various shapes and sizes, which subsequently increased and led to the appearance of church bells.

Initially, bells were cast from a variety of metals, but over time, the most suitable composition developed, which is still used today: bell bronze (80% copper and 20% tin). With this composition, the sound of the bell is ringing and melodious. The size of the bell gradually increased. This was due, first of all, to the skill of the bell-casters. The casting process became more complicated and improved. It is interesting to note that when the bells were over-watered, their weight necessarily increased. This is due to the fact that copper loses its properties when remelted, and tin burns out, so with each remelting it was necessary to add pure copper and tin, which increased the weight of the bell by at least 20%.

And the bells had to be re-watered, since they also have their own service life - usually 100-200 years. The service life of a bell depends on many things: on the quality of casting, on the ringing, on how carefully the bell is handled. A large number of bells were broken only because the ringers did not know how to ring correctly. And they broke more often in the winter - in the cold the metal becomes more fragile, but on a great holiday you really want to ring the bell louder, hit the bell harder!

Three lives of the Tsar Bell

The recasting of the bell was as significant an event as the casting of a new one. It was often given a new name, hung in a new place, and if the bell tower did not allow it, a separate belfry was built. Large bells were cast right outside the temple, because transporting them was sometimes even more difficult than casting them and lifting them to the bell tower.

The Moscow Tsar Bell, one might say, had several lives. In 1652, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered the casting of the world’s largest “Uspensky” bell (our first Tsar Bell), weighing 8,000 pounds (128 tons), which was suspended in 1654 and soon broken. In 1655, the “Great Assumption” bell (the second Tsar Bell) weighing 10,000 poods (160 tons) was cast from it. It was suspended in 1668 on a specially built belfry, but during a fire in 1701 this bell was broken.

In 1734-1735, Anna Ioannovna completed the epic of the Tsar of Bells, casting a bell of 12,000 poods (about 200 tons). For further cleaning, the bell was lifted onto wooden saws. It was supposed to build a special bell tower for him, since he could not fit into either the bell tower of Ivan the Great or the Assumption Belfry.

But soon there was a strong fire in the Kremlin, and the wooden structure on which the bell hung caught fire, and the bell fell into a hole. Fearing that burning wood falling on the bell might melt it, the people began to pour water on it. And after the fire it was discovered that a piece weighing 11 tons had fallen off the bell. What caused the bell to split—its fall into a pit (the base of which was rocky) or temperature changes when water was poured on it—is unknown. Without ringing once, the Tsar Bell lay in the ground for more than a hundred years. In 1836, under Nicholas I, the Tsar Bell was raised from the ground and placed in the Kremlin on a pedestal designed by the Italian engineer-scientist Montferrand.

Methods of bell ringing

There are two methods of bell ringing, characteristic of our country: terrible And lingual. The peculiarity of the first is that the bell is firmly mounted in a movable axis, to which is attached a lever (ochep) with a rope tied to it. The bell ringer stands on the ground and pulls on it, swinging the bell evenly. The language remains free. With the usual method of ringing, you can use small bells. If the weight of the bells is large enough, the system of their fastening becomes more complicated, and large loads lead to rapid wear of the moving parts, as well as the destruction of the walls of the bell tower themselves.

When, under Tsar Boris Godunov, a bell weighing 1,500 pounds (about 24 tons) was cast and hung on a belfry specially built for this purpose, it took a hundred people to swing it.

Belfry

The bells on the belfry are divided into three groups: evangelists(the heaviest), which are controlled through a pedal, and if the weight is very large, the second person swings the tongue; half-ringed(medium in weight), which are connected by a system of constrictions to the control panel and are operated by the left hand; ringing(the smallest ones), which are usually trilled with the right hand.

There are four types of Orthodox ringing: blagovest(uniform strikes on the largest bell), overkill(each bell is struck once in turn from small to large, and then all at once - hit “all the way”, and so on for several series), chime(several series of alternating single strikes on each bell from large to small, then “all the way”), pealing(the richest ringing in rhythm and composition, in which all three groups of bells are involved). Before the start of the service there is a bell ringing, then a trezvon, and at the end of the service a trezvon. The Blagovest calls Christians to worship, and the ringing of the trezvon symbolizes the joy of the celebrated event. The bell is placed during a funeral and symbolizes a person’s life: the sound of small bells signifies a person’s childhood and, in increasing order, his growing up, after which the blow “all the way” symbolizes the end of life. The chime (from large to small) symbolizes the exhaustion of Christ during the suffering of the cross, the blow “all over” symbolizes His death on the cross. The chime is set once a year - on Maundy Thursday evening on the removal of the shroud.

Bell ringing was used in Rus' not only during the celebration of church services. Bells were used to convene people to a meeting, to warn about danger or bad weather (fire, etc.), to show the way to lost travelers (at night, in a snowstorm) or sailors (if the temple was located near the sea), to call for the defense of the Motherland, when sending troops to war, celebrating victories.

Having fallen in love with the ringing of bells, the people associated all their solemn and sad events with it. The bell was believed to have some kind of miraculous power, and it was often identified with a living creature. The names of its main parts speak about this: tongue, ears, queen cell, shoulder, body(or skirt). It is interesting to note that in foreign languages ​​the main parts of the bell do not have such “living” names. For example, in English or French, the tongue is called the drummer (hammer), the queen with ears is called the crown, the body and shoulder are called the ramp.

The effect of bell ringing on humans has been studied very little, but it is known for sure that ringing, even from a physical point of view, is good for health, since the ultrasound emanating from it (but inaudible) clears the air of germs. It is not for nothing that in the old days, during epidemics and terrible pestilences, bells were supposed to be ringed tirelessly. And it was noticed that in those villages where there was a church and bells were constantly ringing, the pestilence was significantly less than in those places where there was no temple. The ringing of bells can greatly influence a person’s mental (psychological) state. Scientists attribute this to the existence of biorhythms and resonant frequencies for each organ. Typically, low frequencies, characteristic of large bells, calm a person, and high ones most often excite. Today, special techniques have even emerged for using bell ringing to treat mental disorders. And the statement that all bell ringers are deaf is completely implausible. Talk to any experienced bell ringer, and he will probably tell you that he does not have any hearing disorders.

The Russian people found a worthy expression of the church idea of ​​the bell in their mighty, solemn ringings, in their tall, unique bell towers; he loves the bell and reveres it. This is his victorious banner, his solemn confession in front of the whole world of his best and most cherished hopes, of what is most dear and sacred to him, of what makes him strong and invincible.

Based on materials from the magazine “Slavyanka”

According to established church traditions, bell ringing is divided into two large groups: the ringing itself and the bell ringing.

First view: the actual ringing

Actually, church ministers call ringing the ringing of bells, which is produced using all existing or several church bells. This ringing is divided into several varieties:
- ringing;
- double ringing;
- call back;
- overkill.

The ringing is done by hitting everything. Such blows are carried out three times in three steps. First, all the bells are struck, then there is a short break, then another strike and a break, then another strike and a break. Thus, the bell rings three times.

When beating, after striking a large bell, all the bells are struck at once and this is repeated many times.

Double ringing - this ringing is the name given to the strikes that are made twice on all the bells. At the same time, the bells are rung in two stages. Chime is the alternate extraction of sound from a bell, which begins with the largest and ends with the smallest.

Picking is a slow ringing of each bell once in turn, starting with the smallest and ending with the largest.

The second type of bell ringing: blagovest

Church ministers call the gospel the measured strikes of a huge bell. This type of impact can be heard very well over a long distance. That is why the workers decided to use this bell ringing to convene the people.

Such a ringing was called the Blagovest because with its help the good news about the beginning of the divine service is announced.

The gospel is carried out in a certain way. First, the church minister makes three slow and drawn-out blows, waiting for the sound to fade, and then makes more measured blows. In this case, the impact effects may differ, depending on the size of the bell itself. If it is relatively large, they are produced along the entire diameter of the bell. If it is not very large, the tongue of the bell is simply pulled with a rope to its edge and, using a placed board, strikes are made by pressing the foot.

In turn, blagovest is divided into several varieties:
- ordinary (frequent) - such ringing is made using the largest bell;
- (rare) – such ringing is performed using a small bell during Lent.

If there are several large bells at the temple, and this is possible in large monasteries, cathedrals, laurels, then large bells, depending on their purpose, are divided into several types:
- Sunday;
- festive;
- everyday (everyday);
- polyeleous;
- small.