The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1894-11-22
CHANTING PRIESTS.
A SERVICE OF SONG NO HEARER
CAN EVER FORGET.

OF EuSsia-The laying, Isutt-ll!Se Oices
of Monks Intonins Prayers For the Gar.
A Magnificent Tomb.
The chant of the priests voices was
the most striking thing that l encoun-
tired il my travels in Russia year
,ausic at all like it. More like the cry
of some great animal or the moaning
of musical wind it seemed than hu-
man tones. Deep, strong roaring, yet
soft and melodious. it haunted me as
no music had ever done. This informing,
which forms so important part of the
Greek church in Russia, is performed
by men who are chosen especially for
the tremendous depth of their voices,
to be used in informing alone, not sing
ing. Trained and cultivated into still
greater strength and depth, there is in
the whole wide world no human sound
like it.
There are only certain parts of the
service that are thus intoned, such rs
"Halleluiah. Lord have mercy
"Lord, we pray thee, "Grant this, G
Cod" above all, Save long, O God,
the life of the czarn' Over and over
again are these words moaned, sighed
and reared, like a varying wind, through
the ARCHES and galleries of the splendid
churches of the most splendid country
of the world.
Th,re is priest in the Church of ST.
Saveur in Moscow who was pardoned
and brought back from Siberia solely
because of the extraordinary depth of the
tones Of his voice.
Those great baying, bull-like voices
bring to their owners, it is said, a very
good income The last part of the serv-
ice is always the loudest, and the laHy
words, in a tremendous final roar, are
always the petition to save long from
death the cz:.r. Unlike the Latin service
of the Roman Catholic church, the COM
mon people Of Russia can understand
much of the service OF their church, as
a part of it is in modern Russian and
the rest in old Slavonic. Thus that Cry
which rings through the churches to
save the life Of the car is understood
and felt by the humblest subject in
Russia.
Although this informing can be heard
everywhere in the churches Throughout;
Russia, the best example Of it is per
haps in the famous Alexander Nevsly
monastery in St. Petersburg. At
o'clock every afternoon the priests chant
can be beard there, and no traveller
should miss this extraordinary spectacle.
In the winter, when the higher classes
are in town, there are long lines OF ele
CANT conveyances at the door, that have
brought the fashionable Russian dcvo-
tees to hear the monks chant. But at
all times of the year it is resort not
only for Russians, bat for the strangers
from the hotels. The monastery is III
the end of the fashionable Nevsky Pros
pekt, the Fifth avenue of St. Peters
burg. In the green Enclosure there are
many buildings connected with the
monastery, but it Was to the chapel
where the monks chant the evening
service that we first directed our steps
OIlS ltsCc III sDtlllc L al Ott(A III
the dinness, i'll a chancel behind two
affairs, was collection of large, brawny
men. Their long black robes, high
black velvet caps and long flowing
wells, all Of black. magnitied their
height and their imposing appearance
Their boards were long, and heavy
locks of hair hung like thick names OH
their shoulders.
They were already chanting, when
we entered, in those peculiar organlikc
tones which l found the most impress
i've thing in Russia. How that strange
volume of sound moaned and rose aud
fell throughout the structure! How it
walled in our ears like mighty wind,
and always, whether loud or soft, i'll the
saddest, sweetest melody! There were
half recitative solos, chanted first by
one voice and taken up by the others
Lord have mercyr' Lord grant it!'
they walled and moaned until it SEEM
ed as if the sound would never again
leave my ears
After 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 we 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, God save long
the lie of the emperor!' Never shall
% Il,oIr
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 itch
Russians are hurried. All Russians es-
TEEN it sacred privilege to be buried
in the soil surrounding monastery,
and among those who lie here is the
novelist Turgeneff. We traversed nu-
merous cloisters, with now and then
the tall, black yelled monks passing us,
until we reached the chapel of Alexan-
der Nevsky, the car monk who lies
buried heye-buried in such tomb as
no other msn ever had, for it is of solid
silver, weighing $3.50 pounds. Not
only the sarcopbagus but the altar near
which it stands and also the rails which
surround it are of solid silver. A like
ness Of the great car, who was also
monk, lies on top under sheet of solid
gold. Diamonds and rubies CLEAN in
the sconces that hang here and there,
and the key Of Adrianople, framed in
Jewels, hangs near the silver tomb.
Strangemingling Of austerity withsplen-
dor is this wonderful chapell In this
same monastery are the famous Golfers
of Jewels and gold and gems untold that