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On Wednesday, two super-heavy bells, Pervenets (First-born), which weighs 27 tons, and Blagovestnik (Benediction) at 35.5 tons, were raised on to the bell tower of the Troitse-Sergiyev monastery, the highest in Russia. The tower is located in the town of Sergiyev Posad in the Moscow region.
Inscriptions on the bells say that they were cast during the rule of President Vladimir Putin with Patriarch Alexy II's blessing. Alexy II gave a service prior to the raising of the bells. The Patriarch blessed the two new bells, which were cast in the Moscow Likhachev auto factory (ZiL) on July 18, the day of the Russian saint Sergiy of Radonezh.
The bells will replace two others destroyed in 1930 during Stalin-era persecution of the church, an official in the centre for restoration of the Sergiyev Posad monastery said. The predecessors of the new bells, Kornoukhy (Crop-Eared) and Boris Godunov, weighed less at 20 and 32 tons, respectively.
The casting of a third bell named Tsarsky and weighing an enormous 65 tons is now planned.
Interfax
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