The Apostolic Bell. Nikolay Konyaev

The book "Apostolic Bell" is entirely dedicated to the oldest on the Russian land Valaam Monastery. This great Northern abode gave the Russian Orthodox Church more saints than from the famous Sergius-Radonezh and Kiev Antony monasteries. According to the respected author, the book consists of several novellas, the main one of which was created on the basis of a miraculously preserved documentary material, in particular personal correspondence, and tells about an amazing man, true ascetic of the Orthodox faith Hegumen Damaskene.

Who has ever been on the island of Valaam, visited him with an excursion or pilgrimage, then everything he could see with his own eyes - almost everything was built by Hegumen Damaskin. Temples, monastery walls, the main building of the monastery, monasteries, water supply, a lot of various technical facilities that provided life support for the monastery - everything was created by his works, under his supervision and care.

Hegumen Damaskin was one of the most remarkable Russian people of his time. He was neither a politician, nor a scholar, nor a writer, nor an industrialist, nor what is now called a "statesman" - he was a great builder who could build temples practically from nothing, still showing the spiritual power and beauty of Russia to the stricken world.

"Today," says Nikolay Mikhailovich Konyaev, "very often, especially in church circles, one can hear painful complaints about" lack of funds "for the restoration of churches that have been damaged or in need of restoration. But, almost the power of prayer alone, the hegumen Damaskin found funds not for restoration, but for the construction of new temples of the great Northern Russian monastery. He never asked for money from the donors, and his correspondence testifies to this. He, with his letters, exalted in the spirit of people who themselves became the donors and assistants to this outstanding figure of the Russian Orthodox

culture. The culmination of the ascetic activity of Hegumen Damaskin is an event in honor of which the novella dedicated to him is named, and the whole book - the installation of the Apostolic Bell, the bell of St. Andrew, who was raised to the Transfiguration Cathedral, and when he rang the first time - All the bells of all the temples and monasteries of the Valaam monastery responded ... "