Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-12-09
CHANTING PRIESTS.
A SERVICE OF SONG NO HEARER
 GAN EVER FORGET.

Ns4'' G e'' ' CtAOA-is
 An Important Part of the Greek Church of Russia--The Baying Bull-lilee Voices of Monks Intoning Prayers For the Gzar A Magnificent Tomb.
 The chant of the priests voices was the most striking thing that I encoun- tered i'll my travels in Russia a year ago. Never ill any place have heard music at all like it. More like the cry of some great animal or tho moaning of musical wind it seemed than hu- man tones. Deep, strong, roaring, yet soft and melodious, it haunted mo as no music had ever done. This intoning, which forms so important part of the Greek church ill Russia, is performed by mon who arc chosen especially for the tremendous depth of their voices, to be used i'll intoning alone, not sing ing. Trained and cultivated into still greater strength and depth, there is in the whole wide world no human sound liko it.
 ak6 odIJ GbI1d1H parts LII bIS service that are thus intened, such as .'Halleluiah J Lord have mercy,'s Lord we pray thee, Grant this 0 God, but above all ''Savo long, 0 God, the life of the czarf' Over and over again are these words moaned, sighed and roared, like varying wind, through the arches and galleries of the splendid churches of the most splendid country of tho world.
 There is priest in the Church of St. Sayeur in Moscow who was pardoned and brought back from Siberia solely because of the extraordinary depth of the tones of his voice.
 Ihoso great bayinG, bull-liI1o voices bring to their owners. it is said, q very good income. The last p@rt of thu serv- ice is always the loudest, and the last words, i'll tremendous final roar, are always the petition to savo long from death tho czar Unlike the Latin service of tho Roman Catholic church, the com mon people of Russia can understand much of the service of their church, as part of it is i'll modern Russian and the rest in old Slavonic. Thus that cry which rings through the churches to save tho life of the czar is understood and felt by the humblest subject i'll Russia
 Although this intoning can be heard everywhere in tho churches throughout Russia, the best example of it is per haps in tho famous Alexander Nevsky monastery ill St Petersburg At i o'clock every afternoon the priests chant can be heard there and no traveller should miss this extraordinary spectacle In tho winter, when the higher classes are in town, thero are long lines of ele- qant conveyances at the door, that have brought tho fashionable Russian devo- tees to hear the monks chant. But at all times of the year it is a resort not only for Russians, but for the strangers from the hotels The monastery is at the end of the fashionable Nevsiy Pros pekt, the Fifth avenue of St. Peters burg. In tho green inclosure there are many buildings connected with the monastery, but it was to the chapel where the monks chant the evening service that WIG first directed our steps ono afternoon lato in June. Far back ill the dimness, i'll chancel behind two altars, was collection of large, brawny men, Their long black robes, high black velvet caps and long flowing yeils, all of black, magnified their height and their imposing appearance. Their boards were long, and heavy locks of hair hung like thick names on their shoulders,
 They were already chanting, when we entered, in those peculiar organllke tones which l found the most impress i've thing i'll Russia. How that strange volume of sound moaned and rose and fell throughout the structurel How it walled in our ears, like q mighty wind, and always, whether loud or soft, ill tho saddest sweetest melodyl There were half recitative solos, chanted first by one voice and taken up by the others, 'sLord have mercyp sLord grant iti they walled and moaned until it seefn- ed as If the saand would never again leave my ears.
 After a time it ceased, and then the procession of towering black robed monks came out into the body of the chapel, leaving but little room for us as wp crowded ourselves against the wall. Placing themselves with their backs toward us and their faces toward the altar in semicircle, they began again their chant, in a different and much louder refrain, ''GQd save long the lifa of tho emperor" Never shall ] farget that semicirclo of black monu- mental figures nor the waves of sound that still vibrated on the air after their voices had ceased,
 We turned away and walked across the green courtyard. where many rich russians ..re buried. All Russians es-
 u it q sacred privilege to be buried
 soil surrounding a monastery,
 plong those who lie here is the Sc<sk u,.,,.o<o,aoff yVa traversad mn.