The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-01-09
CHANTING PRIESTS.
A SERVICE OF SONG NO HEARER
CAN EVER FORGET.

CAN EVER FORGET.
AN Important Part Of the Greek Church
of Russia-The Baying, Rul1-like Voices
of Monks Intoning Prayers For the Gar.
A Magnificent Tomb.
The chant Of the priests voices was
the most striking thing that encoun-
tered in my travels in Russia year
ago. Never in any place have heard
music 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 intoning,
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 intoning 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 ere thus intoned, such as
"Halleluiah, Lord have mercy
''Lord, we pray thee, % "Grant this, 0
God, "but above all, "Save long, O God,
the life of the czarn' Over and over
again are these words moaned, sighed
and roared, like a varying wind, through
the arches and galleries of the splendid
churches Of the n9st splendid country
Of the world.
There is a 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.
These great baying, bull-like voices
bring to their owners, it is said, very
good income. The last part of the serv-
ice is always the loudest, and the last
words, in a tremendous final roar, are
always the petition to save long from
death the czar: 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 czar is understood
and felt by the humblest subject in
Russia.
Although this intoning can be heard
everywhere in the churches throughout
Russia, the best example Of it is per-
haps in the famous Alexander Nevsky
monastery in St. Petersburg. At
o'clock every afternoon the priests chant
can be heard 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 devo-
tees to hear the monks chant But at
all times of the year it is resort not
only for Russians, but for the strangers
from the hotels. The monastery is at
the end of the fashionable Nevsky Pros
pekt, the Fifth avenue of St. Peters
burg. In the green inclosure 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
one afternoon late in June. Far back IN
the dimness, in a chancel behind two
altars, was collection of large, brawny
men. Their long black robes, high
black velvet caps and long flowing
wells, 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 organlike
tones which I found the most impress
i've thing in Russia How that strange
volume of sound moaned and rose and
fell throughout the structure! How 1t
vailed in our ears, like mighty wind,
and always, whether loud or soft, in the
saddest, sweetest melody! There were
half recitative solos, chanted first By
one voice and taken up by the others.
Lord have mercyn' Lord grant it!'
they walled and moaned until 1t seem
ed as if the sound would never again
leave my ears.
After time it ceased, and then the
procession of towering black ro5ed
monks came ont 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 se2nicircle, they began
again their chant, in different and
much louder refrain, God save long
the life of the emperor?' Never shall
forget that semicirclc Of black monu-
mental figures nor the waves Of sound
that still yibrated Oh the alr after their