At how many and which points during a church service is it appropriate for the bell to ring, and why?
The ringing of the church bell is primarily a way to give notice. It signals the beginning of a service and serves as an invitation for the faithful to attend. From the sound of the bell, people used to understand the importance of a feast day and the time the service would begin—especially in times when calendars and clocks were not available to everyone—so they could plan their church attendance accordingly.
Even today, this practice is often carried out somewhat irregularly and without much attention. In monasteries, however, there are many different types of semantra and bells, and the manner and timing of ringing them is quite complex. It is precisely determined by each monastery’s specific liturgical rules.
In parish churches, which are the focus here, the bell rings, as mentioned, at the beginning—right before any service starts—to inform the faithful. It rings before Vespers, before Orthros (Matins), and before the Divine Liturgy. When one service follows another, the bell rings near the end of the previous one so that people know a new service is about to begin and are called to attend.
Besides this practical purpose of calling the faithful, bells are also rung to express either the Church’s joy or its sorrow, or to accompany sacred processions with their distinctive sounds.
In the first case, we include the joyful ringing of all the bells during the Resurrection service, especially during the singing of “Christ is Risen.” Even then, the ringing marks the beginning of the Paschal Orthros.
In the second case, we have the mournful ringing of the bells on Holy Friday and during funeral services. Finally, in the third category is the ringing of the bells during the processions of icons at church festivals, or during the procession of the Epitaphios in the Orthros of Holy Saturday.
Ioannou M. Fountoulis
Professor of Theological School
From the book ΑΠΑΝΤΗΣΕΙΣ ΕΙΣ ΛΕΙΤΟΥΡΓΙΚΑΣ ΑΠΟΡΙΑΣ
Publications apostolic ministry of the church of Greece
