The sound of church bells has been part of our community for a very long time. Until 2001, a exterior speaker system broadcasted recordings of the bells of
Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Fransisco (OCA). As wonderful as this was, the artificiality of a recording cannot be compared to the beauty of real bells being rung. When the recording system eventually broke, we began ringing an old church bell imported from Greece, and soon devised a way to ring it in conjunction with a Western-style hand chime. This produced an ethereal peal, which, while not being completely traditional, brought the reality of bell-ringing to our services.
Finally, in 2007, a set of seven traditional church bells was cast for our parish by the Podorozhny Foundry in Voronezh, Russia, thus fulfilling our dream. In June, they were hung together with the old Greek bell, which fit perfectly into the set. A year later, a roof was built over them, which gives a more permanent look to the structure.
The largest bell, which weighs 550 pounds, was cast in commemoration of our
patron, St. John Chrysostom, bearing an icon of him. An inscription on the side of the bell reads,
This bell was cast in 2007 for the church
of St. John Chrysostom in House Springs, Missouri,
commemorating the 1600th anniversary of his repose.
Русская Версия
