In today’s post-modern technotronic society, the ringing of the bell reminds us of the spiritual, of the Divine, as it informs us of the beginning of worship in the temple, and of the need to at least stop and overshadow the sign of the cross if we do not cross ourselves. he passes by the church because we are engaged in the things of this life and we cannot go to church service for another time?
The history of the bell dates back to the Bronze Age (4-1 millennium BC), due to the spread around the world of metallurgy of copper and its alloys, which were used to make weapons, tools, household items and more. Archaeologists have found bronze bells and bells during excavations in the ancient cities of China, the Caucasus, the Middle East, which date back to the 20th century BC. At the beginning of the Christian era, bronze bells and bells became widespread and performed both cult and secular functions.
During the persecution of Christians (1st-3rd centuries) there was no question of the use of bells in church services, because Christianity was not a permitted religion within the Roman Empire. The call for worship was made by special persons from the lower clerical ranks, called collectors. In 313 the Edict of Milan (issued in the present-day city of Milan) of the imp. Constantine the Great gave the Christian religion the status of a permitted religion, religio licitae. The emperor himself tried to introduce wind instruments-trumpets with which to call for worship, but after his death in 337 they lasted a short time. Around the end of the 3rd century in the temples and monasteries were already widely used ridges and eyelets, ie wooden or metal boards, which are beaten with a hammer.
Until the 5th century, bells were rarely used in church service – they were cast, forged, riveted, small in size, varied in shape and sounded very unpretentious.
The impetus for their spread was the invention in the beginning. of the 5th century by the bishop of the town of Nola, Campana province in Italy St. Pauline (353-431) on the tulip-like shape of the bronze bells and the organization of their mass production. Legend has it that when he returned home after work, he lay down in the field and fell asleep. Angels appeared to him in a dream with wild flowers-bells, from which came pleasant sounds. Shocked by what happened, he immediately ordered the masters to cast several bronze bells in the shape of a tulip. They turned out to be successful and soon the new model of bells (called “campaigns” after the name of the province where Bishop Pavel Nolanski was a saint) spread throughout Europe. The term “campana” is often used in Church Slavonic books.
The first documented mention of the use of bells in church worship dates back to the 6th century. Their official introduction into Christian worship was made by Pope Sabinian in 604-606. In Byzantium, the first bells appeared in 865, when the Venetian rain Orso I sent as a gift to the Byzantine Emperor Michael III a dozen small bells, which were placed on top of a specially built tower, next to the Constantinople Cathedral of St. Sophia. In Russia for the first time we find a written evidence of bells in the third Novgorod chronicle in 1066: “Vseslav came and took Novgorod and the bells of the saint from St. Sophia and the panicadil of the saima.” The first documentary evidence of casting bells on Russian soil dates back to 1259, when Prince Daniel of Galicia brought the icons and part of the bells from Kiev to Kholm, and decided to cast the rest on the spot. In the period 14-17 century, historians have studied 505 bell ringers, of which 190 were masters. The Russian monarchs themselves maintained a rapid development in the bell-making business, as they waged with their predecessors an ambitious competition over who would make the bigger bell during his reign. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Russian masters developed their profile and methodology and reached heights in technology and casting bells with predetermined properties. In the bell tower of the Assumption Cathedral of the Rostov Kremlin, the huge bells (2000, 1000 and 500 poods) are cast in a classic major chord to the nearest 1 percent, which is unattainable for most of today’s bell ringers. No matter how important the beauty of a temple is, be it with the presence of angel bells and precious church utensils, or beautiful sacred images (icons, murals) and wood carvings, the wonderful purity of soul and open heart to accept the Word of God and apply it in our lives. , make us followers of Christ, true Christians. The following case is indicative: in 1819, the citizens of Franklin, USA, asked Benjamin Franklin to give them a bell, but he gave them a library. He gave them his library with the words: “Instead of a bell, I’m sending you a library. I am convinced that it will help you more than the bell to understand how to serve God and how to work for the good of the people.
The Orthodox rite for consecration of the bell is placed in the Additional or in the Great Trebnik. It is performed before the bell is hung in the bell tower by priests in full liturgical attire, who burn incense on all four sides and consecrate it outside and inside. The Trisvyatoe/Trisagion, Our Father, Psalms 148, 150, 28, and 69 are read, followed by the parimiyah in Numbers (chapter 10: 1-10): silver, forged. …. And in the days of your joy, and in your feasts, and in your new moons, blow with the trumpets of the burnt offering and the sacrifices for your salvation. ” Then comes the singing of the sticheras and the daily leave.
The bells are one of the necessary accessories of the Orthodox church. The church bell is used for:
– to convene believers to worship;
– to express the triumph of the Church and its worship;
– to announce to those who are not present in the temple about the time of performing especially important moments of the service.
The Orthodox bell, in addition to its liturgical purpose, is an expression of joy, sorrow and celebration of the people, which gives rise to various types of bells and each type has its own name and meaning (in the early 20th century in St. Daniel’s Monastery near Moscow were performed 43 types of bell ringing). One of the canonical bells in the Orthodox Church is the chime. More complex than the others, each of the bells, from the largest to the smallest, is struck once. This mournful bell-ringing refers to the Lord, our Savior, and must be distinguished from the burial-ringing (busting) used for ordinary mortals and sinners. The chime symbolizes the “exhaustion” of Jesus Christ for our salvation and is performed twice a year: on Good Friday (on the evening before the removal and laying of the Shroud) and Good Saturday (on the morning of the procession with the Holy Shroud around the temple), or in the days of the crucifixion of the Son of God and of His voluntary burial.
In addition to a spiritual beneficial effect, the ringing of the bell has a beneficial and healing effect on those who attend church in the Orthodox Church. Does the bell really heal? Russian scientists are studying the effect of bells on various diseases. A group of researchers led by the candidate of biological sciences Fadey Shipunov observed in the early 90s of the 20th century how the bells act as generators of energy in the ultrasonic range, which destroy the pathogenic environment. Their ringing destroys the viruses of influenza, jaundice and other infections, whose molecular structure simply does not withstand. If you put even tiny bells in your room, their ringing directly crosses the cellular proteins. For example, viruses in a Petri dish become crystalline structures and cease to be contagious. Apparently, for centuries people have observed this phenomenon, as a common practice was in natural disasters, threats and especially in epidemics, the population was warned, accustomed to “alarm”, loud bells, and the gathering of large masses of people in the temple. or around it it was safe from the spread of viruses and other “poisonous defeats and poisonous infections” (as our revivalists called them). It turns out that each virus is neutralized in its own sound range. Scientists wonder how centuries ago our ancestors knew against which plague (epidemic) at what specific timbre to ring the church bells around the clock, so that the infection would disappear. Shipunov claims that the typhoid wand, for example, dies in a few seconds when a bell rings.
