Orthodox Russia: interesting facts about church bells

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

On November 28, 1734, the most unpleasant event happened in Moscow - during the casting of the Tsar Bell, two casting furnaces went out of order at once. As a result, the bell was still cast, but its fate was not easy, however, like many other Russian bells. In Russia, bells were raised not only with trepidation on the bell towers and listened to the "crimson" ringing. They were exiled, tortured, and in the heat of theomachy they were thrown from the belfries, smashed and sent to be melted down. So, the most interesting facts about Russian bells.

The first thousand-meter bells suffered from fires

"Thousands" in Russia were called bells, the weight of which reached thousands of poods (16 tons and more). The first such bell was cast in 1522 under Ivan III by the master Nikolai Nemchin and installed on the wooden belfry of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1599, already in the reign of Boris Godunov, the Great Assumption Bell was cast, the weight of which exceeded 3 thousand poods. The bell died in 1812, when the French, who seized Moscow, blew up the belfry attached to the Ivan the Great bell tower. In 1819, the foundryman Yakov Zavyalov managed to recreate this bell. And today a giant bell weighing 64 tons and a diameter of 4 meters 20 cm can be seen on the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin. The bell tongue weighs 1 ton 700 kg, and its span is 3 meters 40 cm. The Great Assumption Bell on Bright Week announces the Easter message to all monasteries in Moscow.

The largest bell in the world was cast in Russia

In the 17th century, Russian bell craftsmen distinguished themselves again: in 1655, Alexander Grigoriev cast a bell weighing 8 thousand poods (128 tons). In 1668, the bell, which even foreigners called the one and only in the world, was raised on the belfry. According to eyewitness accounts, at least 40 people were required to swing the bell tongue, which weighed more than 4 thousand kilograms. The bell rang in the Kremlin until 1701, when it fell and shattered during one of the fires.

The Empress Anna Ioannovna decided to recreate the largest bell in the world, increasing its weight to 9 tons. Foreign masters said it was impossible. The master of the bells Motorina decided to take on this charitable work. The father started the business. But something went wrong, and at once two foundry furnaces went out of order. The master fell asleep with excitement and soon died, but his son successfully completed what he had begun.

The bell was ready in 1735. 6, 6 meters in diameter, 6, 1 meter in height and weighing about 200 tons (12327 pounds), it was named "Tsar Bell". But 2 years later, during another fire, the shed above the bell pit caught fire, the bell glowed, and when water got into the pit, it cracked. It all ended with a piece weighing 11, 5 tons split off from it. Only 100 years later, the "Tsar Bell" was installed on a pedestal near the Ivan the Great Bell Tower on the territory of the Kremlin. Where you can see it today.

During the Civil War, the Tsar Bell was depicted on 1,000-ruble bills issued in the Crimea by General Denikin. The people called this money "bells".

Some bells in Russia were exiled and even tortured

Bells in Russia were not only admired, some of them were severely punished. So for "incitement" to a riot in 1591, when Tsarevich Dmitry died, the Uglich bell was punished. He was first thrown from the Spasskaya bell tower, then executioners They used torture - they cut off the ear, pulled out the tongue and punished with 12 lashes. This seemed not enough, and the bell, which at that time was 300 years old, was sent into exile in Siberia.

It is also known that in 1681 the "Nabatny" bell, which was located in the Moscow Kremlin, was "exiled" to the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery to Nikolaev because it woke Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich with its ringing at night.

The most famous Russian bell ringer distinguished 1701 sounds

Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev is an Armenian by birth and the most famous of the Russian bell ringers. This is a person with perfect pitch, and some have argued that he has "colored" hearing. Sarajev clearly distinguished 1701 sounds within one octave. He could hear how every thing, stone and person sounds, even if he was silent. According to the legends, Pythagoras had the same unique rumor. In any case, this was what his disciples said.

Saradzhev owns the musical notation of 317 sound spectra of the largest bells of Moscow churches, cathedrals and monasteries. Today this manuscript is kept in the Danilov Monastery.

The sound of Sarajev's bells was more like music than ringing. The bell ringer constantly improved his ringing methods, dreamed that someday bells would sound not only in church acoustics and that a concert belfry would appear in Russia. But in 1930, church bells were banned in the USSR altogether, and Saradzhev's dreams were not destined to come true.

The power of the Soviets destroyed almost all the bells of Orthodox Russia in a few years

At the beginning of the 20th century in the Russian Empire there were 39 bells - "thousanders", and in the 1990s there were only 5 of them. Small and medium bells were almost completely destroyed. Soviet authority she had a very negative attitude towards the church, including the bells. All churches were transferred to the disposal of Local Councils, which could "use them for their intended purpose, based on public and state needs." In 1933, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee established a plan for the procurement of bell bronze for the republics and regions, and within literally several years almost all the bells were destroyed. How much - no one can say.

Some bells perished with temples, some were destroyed deliberately, others went to "the needs of industrialization." Even the bells that were cast for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Ivan the Great, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Valaam, Solovetsky, Savvino-Storozhevsky and Simonov monasteries and thousands more churches throughout Russia did not pass the sad fate. In 1929 the bell was removed from the Kostroma Assumption Cathedral weighing 1200 poods. As a result, not a single bell remained in Moscow.

It is known that some of the bells were sent to such large construction sites as Dneprostroy and Volkhovstroy for technical needs. Boilers for canteens were made from them. In 1932, the Moscow authorities cast high reliefs from 100 tones of church bells for the new building of the library. Lenin.

Return of the bells

Experts say that it is impossible to restore the bell, but you can cast a copy of it in terms of sound and weight. Recently in Russia, the famous "thousandths" have begun to be returned. Thus, the Trinity Evangelists have already returned to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra - the Tsar, Godunov and Kornouhy bells, which in 1930 were thrown from the bell tower by atheists. The largest bell cast in Russia in our time is the Great Bell of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, recreated in the 1990s. Its weight is 27 tons.