Monastic alarm system

Do you know how monastic alarm system was arranged?

It was 1868. The idea to install alarm system belonged to Fr. Jonah, deacon of Lavra. He said that it would “prevent theft in the Caves and sudden attacks from the side of the intruders”. He proposed stretching out a secret wire from the entrance to the Caves that had to be connected with the bell fixed near the sacristy and the guards. Fr. Jonah also recommended the second bell, bigger in size, be placed near the watchman, so that the latter could at any time inform the corresponding authorities about threat or danger.

Members of the Ecclesiastical Council expressed concern about “secret” character of the plan of Fr. Jonah. That is why, the deacon had to explain that there was “no any special secret about the device and that stretching out wire to the bells had to be secret to the thief, not Ecclesiastical Council”.

Thus, it has become clear that Fr. Jonah was rather creative. To make his idea come true, the Ecclesiastical Council instructed the Keeper (caretaker) of the Far Caves and the housekeeper to start realizing the idea of secret bells.

Natalia Lytvyn

Captions to the illustrations:
1. View of the architectural ensemble of Near and Far Caves of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The first third of the 20th century. (from the Fund collection of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, inv. № KPL-N-6268)
2. “Cave of St. Nestor the Chronicler” illustration from the printed edition of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. (from the Fund collection of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, inv. № KPL-N-1738)