Bell bells in Russian churches are being replaced with robots. Electronics rings “according to regulations”, but “unspiritually”
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Electronic bell ringer in the Kazan Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, April 11, 2021
Natalia Vasilyeva / “Evening Kazan”
According to representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, there are now about 40 thousand churches in Russia - and in thirty years, at the current pace of construction, there will be twice as many. There may not be enough professionally trained bell ringers for all these churches, but this, as it turns out, is not a problem: they can be replaced by “electric bell ringers,” that is, robots. According to manufacturers of electric bell ringers, these are already installed in hundreds of Russian churches - although professional bell ringers often do not approve of new technologies. Meduza special correspondent Polina Eremenko tells where electric bell ringers came from, how they work, how much they cost, and what the Russian Orthodox Church thinks about them.
“I come to the bell and see auto parts”
In 1995, a radio engineer from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences was approached by the rector of the Church of the Annunciation in Tula, Lev Glaznov, who had recently returned to Russia from America. As Arkhipov recalls, the priest told him: “I had such an electromechanical device there, basically a barrel organ, I wound it up, and the bells rang themselves. Will you make one like this?
Arkhipov spent eight years developing the device. He did not look at solutions from ready-made foreign systems, because “Russian bell ringing is structured differently than Western.” Before that, Arkhipov had already worked with music - he “made button accordions” for the Moscow Experimental Music Factory. Making an electric bell turned out to be more difficult. “Electronics is short-lived. But developing the drive is the most difficult thing,” explains Arkhipov. “We made different options: anvils, mixtures with electromechanical devices - we tried everything.”
As a result, the device that produces works like this. Ropes are attached to the tongues of ordinary bells (they can also be used to ring manually), and to the ropes are cables leading to drives and electric motors. All of them are connected in one circuit with a control apparatus, which gives signals when and which bell needs to be struck.
Arkhipov, according to him, began receiving orders almost immediately after finishing development. Today, his electric bell ringers are installed throughout Russia, Thailand, Greece, Israel, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan. Among Russian customers, the leaders are Moscow, the Moscow region and Tatarstan.
Arkhipov's system costs 140 thousand rubles on a turnkey basis for a standard set of seven bells. For each recorded melody, he pays the bell ringer a fee of 15 thousand rubles. “I spend weeks sewing ringing sounds into electronics, into the device’s memory,” says Arkhipov. “It’s not just my body, I put my soul into this, into making these bells sound as they should.”
The competitors of “Chimes from Chernogolovka” have a wide range of prices. The company sells the most expensive electric bell ringers - a set of Italian equipment costs about 500 thousand rubles.
General Director of the Technical Bureau Andrei Novikov assures that there are no problems with adapting imported electric bell ringers to the original Russian ringing, and the Italian system has undoubted aesthetic advantages. “It is installed inside the bell instead of the tongue. Yes, manual ringing is no longer possible. But in Russian systems, some additional cables, ropes, wires stretch along the walls of the belfry,” says Novikov. — I come to the bell tower and see auto parts. And we have an industrially manufactured mechanism specifically for the bell.” The appearance of the belfry is important to many clients; among the customers of the Technical Bureau are museums located in cathedrals and the Russian Cultural Center in Paris.
From another manufacturer, the International Center for Bell Art, the same seven bells “with ropes and wires” cost from 85 thousand to 302 thousand: it all depends on the delivery distance, the complexity of installation, the presence of remote control, the quality of materials, maintenance and the number of melodies - their There are up to 50 in a set.
“Before we started working on the electronic bell ringer, we consulted with authoritative theologians,” says the head of the center, Andrei Dyachkov. “There was only one answer: of course, a real bell is better than an electronic one, but if there is no bell ringer at all, then let there be at least some.”
An electronic bell ringer may exist, but only until there are enough people capable of ringing, says Dyachkov. Therefore, the center, as a matter of principle, produces only devices that allow manual ringing, in case a real bell ringer appears in the parish. In addition, the center not only makes robots, but also teaches people how to ring.
“Thank God there is an electronic bell ringer”
In the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Kimiltei in the Irkutsk region, an electric bell was installed two years ago - the rector’s younger brother, a priest from the Novgorod region, told them about the new product. The rector, Father Vladimir, asked an entrepreneur from his parish for money.
Electric bell control panel in the Kazan Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, April 11, 2021
Natalia Vasilyeva / “Evening Kazan”
Bells worth 600 thousand had been standing in the temple for a long time, but there were no bell ringers. “With a population of two thousand, there is no one to choose from,” Father Vladimir explains to Meduza. - Faith is falling. Before the revolution there was a permanent bell ringer. The church even keeps a photograph of a small hunchbacked old man. During my time - I have been rector for 19 years - there have been two bell ringers, but one moved to Irkutsk, and the other became a mother of many children. Thank God there is an electronic bell ringer. People come and you greet them with the ringing of bells.” When a child was recently baptized, Father Vladimir, as usual, took his phone out of his pocket and chose one of the melodies for the bells. His favorite is Blagovest.
The rector of one of the newly built churches in the Moscow region, who asked not to be named, told Meduza that the shortage of bell ringers is felt not only in remote dioceses, but also in the center. Especially good bell ringers, which is why in most cases an automatic machine rings better than a human, and an electric bell ringer is now often included in the cost of a church during the construction phase.
The system in Meduza's interlocutor's church plays 50 melodies, although he only uses a few. The main thing, according to him, is that “all bells play according to the rules. It’s even better this way - not every amateur bell-ringer even knows the bells according to the regulations.” Parishioners, he adds, “don’t notice the difference at all.”
“The soul sings from a real bell, not from a recording”
The Russian Orthodox Church does not limit the distribution of machine guns in any way. The head of the press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Alexander Volkov, told Meduza that the technology is widespread in Orthodox churches not only in Russia, but also in Greece. “This is a completely normal practice, especially in regions where there is no way to support a real bell ringer,” he says, explaining: it’s not a matter of money, but a lack of trained personnel.
Real bell ringers, however, strongly oppose their electronic substitutes. The head of the Moscow school of bell ringers, Ilya Drozdikhin, is confident that the robot will not be able to replace a person. “There are still laws of art. Like any art, ringing carries a meaning. Its main function is not to announce the beginning of the ministry,” he explains. — The ringing of bells is preaching, it should ignite a spark of faith in people. The mechanics are devoid of all this. Live sound is lost. The soul sings from a real bell, not from a recording.” Drozdikhin is confident that the demand for live bell ringers will not disappear - not only because electronic ones are expensive, but also because all several thousand graduates of his school are employed (you can graduate in two months). “We have completely different people studying here,” adds the bell ringer. “Artists, entrepreneurs, judges, police officers.”
Electronic bell ringer in a church in the city of Revda in the Sverdlovsk region, April 16, 2021
AVANT
The head of the bell ringing of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Moscow Kremlin churches, Igor Konovalov, who also does not approve of the use of electric bell ringers, is sure that the problem is that the Russian Orthodox Church has been experiencing “expansion at the expense of quality” for the last thirty years. “Many young priests have come, for whom the history of the Church and the history of spirituality in general is a sealed secret. They don’t hide it, they pull the phone out of their pocket and rejoice: “Look, everything is playing for me,” he says.
“This disgrace was also installed on one of the pediments of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, but not by the church authorities, but by the former director of the museum, who, to put it mildly, made more money than a horse,” Konovalov is indignant. When asked whether it was possible to install an electronic bell ringer in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, he responded emotionally: “Are you crazy? Neither there, nor in the churches of the Moscow Kremlin, nor in St. Basil's Cathedral will they ever be! Thank God, no one has come to us with such a proposal yet. I don’t think he will come.”
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“Not just sounds, but a living voice”
The center is located at the wooden church-belfry in honor of the icon of the Mother of God “Addition of the Mind” (St. John the Theologian temple complex). The inside smells of tree resin, and the entire learning space is filled with soft light. Here you can see bells of different eras and sizes - all of these are exhibits of the museum. Some of them are over a hundred years old.
Yulia Romanova, head of the museum and teacher at the center, says that the museum hosts classes for future bell ringers on the theory and history of bell ringing, as well as excursions for everyone.
Altai center of bell ringing craftsmanship.
Anna Zaikova, altapress.ru
According to the teacher, the main goal of the center is to restore and develop the traditions of bell and bell ringing art and draw attention to the history of Russian traditional culture. The founder and director of the center is the rector of the St. John the Theologian temple complex, Archpriest Georgy Kreidun.
The ringing of bells is, first of all, a call for believers to serve. It accompanies a person throughout his life, from birth to death. These are not just sounds, but a living voice, calling people to church for prayer and reminding them of the most important components of human life - faith, hope and love,” says Yulia Romanova.
The teacher recalls that when the center announced enrollment for the next bell-ringing courses in 2021, there were a lot of applicants:
Different people come to bell ringing courses and excursions to museums and churches in our complex: practicing bell ringers from urban and rural churches, parishioners who want to learn more deeply about our Russian traditional culture, schoolchildren and students of Barnaul educational institutions and their parents.
Altai center of bell ringing craftsmanship.
Anna Zaikova, altapress.ru
Now the center conducts courses only for those who have a referral from the parish.
Teachers emphasize that it is important that a person who has completed the training continues to practice ringing and improves his skills. In addition, some graduates subsequently teach their art to other people.
How are classes conducted?
Short-term courses last five days. During this time, students attend both theoretical and practical lessons. For example, before lunch they study the history of church bell ringing, its types and much more.
In the afternoon, students train on special simulators: wooden and metal.
Altai center of bell ringing craftsmanship.
Anna Zaikova, altapress.ru
Using a wooden simulator, the future bell ringer brings the movement of each hand to automaticity. And on the metal, pipe, work is done with sound.
Here, in addition to the hands, the legs are used - they press the pedals, which are connected to the largest bells - the evangelists. After a while, students can simultaneously call with both hands and feet, and all movements are combined together. In professional language this is called “collecting the ringing”.
Training begins with a rope trainer. The basic movements performed during ringing are practiced on it. The simulator simulates a bell control system.
After some time, when the skill has already been honed, students move on to the pipe simulator. It consists of a frame with sounding bells and trumpets attached to it. This simulator also imitates the bell control system - all the thrusts that come from the bell tongues copy a real bell-ringer's console.
Of course, it’s not easy to collect the ringing from someone who sat down at the remote control for the first time. This skill comes with experience. For beginning bell ringers on a pipe simulator, the ringing is often not melodious, but resembles clanking - the tongue gets stuck. The hands refuse to obey, but here it is necessary to show one of the important Christian virtues - patience. After long daily training, it gradually begins to work out, the ringing is collected,” comment Yulia Romanova.
After training on simulators, students try ringing a church bell tower. They consolidate and develop acquired skills. Students note that calling there is much more difficult than on simulators.
To develop your skills further, you need to train in the bell tower as often as possible, get used to the weight of the bells, their voice, and gradually begin to supplement your ringing with new elements.
Between theory and practice, watch training videos.
Altai center of bell ringing craftsmanship.
Anna Zaikova, altapress.ru
These videos are unique and cannot be found on the Internet. When we go to festivals, bell ringing concerts, we make sure to film the work of professionals. Each master has his own original set of elements, some of which are then borrowed by our students. We have established close cooperation with colleagues from other bell-ringing centers in Russia, especially with the Siberian Center for Bell Art (Novosibirsk). We exchange videos and training materials. The first stage in mastering this art, as in any other business, is copying the master. Then comes individual development. And time will tell who will become a professional in their field, and who will grow to the level of a master. “Everything here will depend on the desires of the person himself,” says Yulia Romanova.
It should be noted that during the existence of the center, about 50 people studied there. Many of them carry out bell ringing obedience in various parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church.
After taking our courses, some of those who already had little experience begin to have a different attitude towards bells and ringing in general. One of the students said that he used to try to ring as hard as he could, believing that the harder the blow, the louder the sound. However, this can break the bell, because it is quite fragile,” the teacher notes.
Electrician by day, bell ringer by evening
Barnaul resident Valery Mosyakov studied at the center in the fall of 2021. He works as an electrician at the Altai Transformer Plant. In his free time, Valery often visits the temple and immediately signed up for bell-ringing courses when he saw the advertisement.
Altai center of bell ringing craftsmanship.
Anna Zaikova, altapress.ru
After learning that I was ringing in the church, my colleagues teased me for three months. But most of all I was surprised by my desire. Honestly, I just really like bells. I often come to the bell tower early, before no one sees, I stroke them and admire them,” shares Valery.
According to the man, the training was not easy for him at first.
At first my left hand was made of stone. At work, I started taking tools into it and working specifically with it. It turned out crookedly, my colleagues laughed, but soon I began to confidently work with my left hand. Of course, this immediately had a positive effect on the quality of the ringing,” says Valery.
Valery Mosyakov admits that when he is in a good mood, the ringing turns out to be bright, and when not, it is everyday. A Barnaul resident improves his skills and after completing the courses, he often comes to the temple, studies and practices types of ringing, and learns new elements.
Altai center of bell ringing craftsmanship.
Anna Zaikova, altapress.ru
“Of course, you can find videos on the Internet, but you won’t understand anything until you try it yourself. It’s like watching someone else’s work - from the outside everything is very easy, but when you do it, at first it seems that your hands are growing from the wrong place,” said the bell ringer.
He also shared that he always tries to help his students, support them, and tell them how he himself mastered this or that type of ringing. Valery is confident that with desire and due diligence, anyone can master this skill.
