The Return of the Danilov Bells - A History (Part 1)

It's considerably rare to say that you have actually "been part of history." Nowadays, this comes out as somewhat of a cliche, from saying you watched Michael Phelps break Mark Spitz's record (regardless of the fact that it was from the comfort of your home 10,000 miles away from Beijing on NBC Sports), to watching a Revolutionary War reeenactment on the Anniversary of the battle itself. I am hoping, therefore that you, O Devoted Readers (if you exist) will not hold me accountable for falling victim to creating yet another cliche with my following post.I feel that to one degree or another, I have witnessed history in the past few days. Before I come to the story of the past few days, it is necessary to give some background information.

For those of you who know anything about the history of the Soviet Period, you are obviously aware that it was a tumultuous time of social upheaval beginning in about 1905 and coming to fruition in 1917. Ultimately, it would be another five years until the Bolshevik Communist Party under the direction of Vladimir Lenin officially took over the Russian country. With the official takeover of the Russian government by a Communist power (ironically the Bolsheviks were a relative minority, but used the Russian term "bolshe" meaning "large" or "majority" to gain a greater following, as clearly in such a tumultuous time, the people would follow whoever seemed to be the most powerful), they sought to employ Marx's ideology throughout the country. Arguably, this was next to impossible, as Russia's class system was virtually nonexistent. The Bolsheviks therefore began to forcibly turn Russia into their "Communist State" by means of rapid industrialization and destruction of all institutions linked to "bourgeoisie mentality."

One of these institutions was the Russian Orthodox Church. The Church acted as a prime target for Communist hatred as it had an established hierarchy (with the Patriarch, Synod of Bishops, etc.) and practiced the veneration of Saints, Christ and the Theotokos (Gk. God Bearer - The Blessed Virgin Mary), which in the Communist mindset was a notion of subservience to one thing or another, which naturally contradicts Marx's political philosophy of every worker being united as one, all with equal lots in every facet of existence. The Church therefore was attacked full-force by the government: the Patriarch (St. Tikhon of Moscow) was imprisoned, thousands of clergy and believers were murdered, churches were destroyed (most prominently perhaps the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, which was imploded and converted into Moscow's largest swimming pool), and various holy items (bells, icons, relics, etc) were destroyed, sold, or put into storage throughout Russia.

Many of these items, however, were miraculously spared. The Tikhvin Icon of the Theotokos (an ancient icon which the Orthodox accept as the work of St. Luke the Evangelist) was taken out of Russia by the former Archbishop of Chicago, John Garklavs and his adopted son the Archpriest Sergei Garklavs during the turmoil of World War II. The icon was stored in the Garklavs' home in Chicago until 2004 when it was returned to Tikhvin, Russia (approximately 100 miles from St. Petersburg). This brings me, however, to the most recent of such occurences.

In the 1930s, Josef Stalin increased the anti-religious policies of the Soviet Union, ordering hundreds of icons destroyed, churches destroyed (for instance the aforementioned Christ the Saviour Cathedral), and bells and religious artifacts melted down or destroyed. One of the most prominent sets of bells in Russia at that time was a collection (Ru. "zvon") at Danilov Monastery just south of the Garden Ring in Moscow. Stalin ordered these bells to be taken down, which they were, but somehow, they repeatedly avoided the fate of being melted down or destroyed. Eventually, a Harvard businessman named Charles Crane bought the bells and had them shipped to the University's campus within the next several years. This set of approximately 18 bells was stored in Harvard's Lowell House. On important days in the Harvard calendar, as well as weekends, these bells were rung by specially trained ringers on the campus.

In 1985, during the period of Glastnost' and Perestroika (the period of openness and cultural rebirth in Russia preceding the fall of Communism) the Danilov Monastery began to reconstruct the severely damaged regions of the grounds and cathedrals, and services began to be held again by monastic clergy. At this time, however, the monastic community and the Church of Russia began to inquire regarding the bell collection at Harvard. Initially, there was some difficulty, as many at Harvard feared that due to the age and weight of the bells, it would be next to impossible to remove them from the Lowell House belfry. In the past few years, however, a group known as "The Link of Times" began to work with Harvard and the Moscow Patriarchate to restore the bells to their proper home at Danilov Monastery.

I will relate the story of the return in "Part Two" of this blog at a later time.