The Patriarch Of Romania Blessed The Bells Of The Princely Old Court Church

On Sunday, 7 December 2014, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, blessed the new bells of the church – patriarchal chapel – of Saint Anton, Old Court, of Bucharest. The blessing service was celebrated around 12.00 hours, after the Divine Liturgy, in front of the church, in the presence of hundreds of faithful.

The bells were made at the workshops of the famous Grassmayr foundry, of Tyrol, Austria.

The bells represent the voice of God which calls the people to prayer

The Patriarch of Romania delivered a sermon on the occasion in which he spoke about the significance of the bells in the life of the Church: “The bells have a great significance in the life of the Church. They represent the voice of God which calls the people to prayer and they also take away the thunders and lightenings in time of storm clearing the sky. As the blessing prayer says, the bells have a liturgical significance first of all, also protecting the Christian communities who pray God when they hear the sound of the bells. The bells first appeared in history in China, 3000 years before Christ. Little by little they reached Europe, so that bells are found in Armenia and Europe in the 8th century before Christ. The Christians did not use them at the beginning because they were often related to the pagan feasts and to some civil events. In Greece, for example, the bells announced when the fish market was open, and in Rome when the public baths were open; so, they had a practical purpose”.

The bells represent the voice of God which calls the people to prayer

The Patriarch of Romania emphasised in his speech the liturgical utility of the bells. His Beatitude showed that they praise God through their sound.

“Very important is the fact that in the East, in the region of Constantinople, the bells were brought from the West in 857, when the Dodge of Venice named Ursus offered 12 bells to the Byzantine emperor Manuel, who put them in a belfry near the Saint Sofia church, in Constantinople. Afterwards, bells were also made for other churches of Constantinople and so they were spread in the Balkans area, having a utility both liturgical and civil. Today, the bells have a liturgical utility first, with the value of symbol. The sound of the bells represents the voice of God which calls us to prayer. They combat laziness, forgetfulness, and indifference. When the bells are heard, the prayer says, we must wake up and hurry to go to the church to gather in the love of the Most Holy Trinity. Thus, the bells call the living to prayer. The bells also mourn those who passed away and are taken to their graves. The bells spread away the clouds and clear the sky in time of storm. They praise God through their sound. They are not musical instruments, but their sound delights us when we answer them through our prayers and chants for God. The small bells are used in churches and especially in monasteries. Saint Antonie the Great, the protector of this church is said to have had a small bell at the end of his T shaped walking staff which he rang when he prayed God not to let the bad spirits come close to the places where the monks lived. Thus, this union of the prayer with the sound of bell shows us why the bells blessing service says that they chase away the bad spirits”, the Patriarch of Romania said.

These new bells represent a call to the spiritual renewal

To end with his speech, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church congratulated those who contributed to the endowing of the belfry of the parish of Saint Anton Old Court with new bells.

“We congratulate the parish priest and all the servant priests and all those who facilitated the blessing of these four bells today; next days, they will be put into the belfry of this beautiful and full of historical significance church. These new bells also mean a call to spiritual renewal, to our deification, and to strengthening the voice of our prayers as thanksgiving to God for the gift of life, for all the good things received from Him for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and for our salvation”, His Beatitude also said.

Source: