The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-02-01
CHANTING PRIESTS.
"A SERVICE or SONG NO NEARER
CAN EVER FORGET.

An Important Part OF the Greek Church
OF Russia-The Rayins. Buli-like Voices
Of Monks informing Prayers For the Gear.
A lxagniaOent Tomb.
The chant of the priests voices was
khs most striking thing that / 9ncunn-
tered in my travels in Russia q year
ago. Never in any place have ! heard
music at all like it. More like the cry
of some great animal n the moaning
| of O musical wind it seemed than hui
man tones. Deep, strong, roaring, yet
soft and melodious. il haunted me as
no music had ever done. This intoning.
which forms SO important a 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 ID in
the whole wide world no human sound
like it.
There r only certain parts Of the
service that are thus intoned, such as
"H~alleluiah, lord have mercy
"Lord, we pray thee, Grant this, o
God, " but above all, Save long, God,
the life Of the czar!' Over and over
again are these words moaned, sighed
and reared, likes varying wind. through
the arches and galleries of the splendid
churches of the most splendid country
Of the world.
There is q 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.
These great baying, bull-like voices
bring to their owners, it is said, q very
good income. The last part of the serv-
ice is always the loudest, and the last
words, in q tremendous final roar, are
always the petition to a " 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
q part of 1t il i'm 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. g..
Although this informing can be heard
everywhere in the churches throughout
Russia, the best example Of it is per-
/ Ar~. - ALn Qn-~1-S A1owo~ln~ Naxvoty-
monastery in st. Petersburg. At A
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-
| giant c~onveyances at the door, that have
brought the fashionable Russian devo-
tees to hear the monks chant But at
all times of the year it il q 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 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
one afternoon late in June. Far back in
the dimness, in a chancel behind two
affairs. was a collection OF large, hrawny
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 / found the most impress
i've thing in Russia. How that strange
volume of sound moaned and rose and
fell throughout the structural How it
walled i'm our ears, like q mighty wind,
and always, whether loud or soft, in the
saddest, sweetest melodyl There were
half r~ecitative solos, chanted first by
one voice and taken up by the others.
Lord have mercyl'' Lord grant itl''
they walled and moaned until it seem
ed as if the sound 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 rs
as we crowded ourselves against the
wall. Placing themselves with their
backs toward rs and their faces toward
the altar in a semicircle. they began
again their chant, in a different and
much louder refrain, God save long
the life of the EMPEROR Never shall I
forget that semicircle 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 are buried. All Russians co.
teem it a sacred privilege TO be buried
in the soil surrounding . monastery,
and among those who lie here il the
novelist T~urgeneff. We traversed nu-
merous cloisters, with now and then
the tall, black yelled monks passing as,
until we reached the chapel Of Alexan-
der Nevsky. the car monk who lies
h-x~sn1 $500 h~~snl - n-~h 49, -