‘’Πετούσα ανάμεσα στα αστέρια! Τέτοια ησυχία δεν μπορεί να τη φανταστεί κανείς στη γη . Μια ησυχία τόσο βαθιά και απόλυτη , που μπορεί κανείς να ακούσει τους ήχους του σώματός του ,τους χτύπους της καρδιάς και τους παλμούς των αρτηριών , ακόμη και τους ήχους των μυών που συσπώνται΄΄”.
The rare, almost eerie, night quiet in Mount Athos fascinates you, approaching Leonov's description.
Ο κοσμοναύτης Αλεξέι Λεόνοφ έμεινε στην ιστορία όταν, στις 18 Μαρτίου του 1965, έγινε ο πρώτος άνθρωπος που έκανε διαστημικό περίπατο εκτός σκάφους .
The visitor is even more impressed in this silence by hearing the idiosyncratic beat of the talent beating. His whole being vibrates unforgettably, the sound pierces him.
A sweet fear runs through him like the sunset click of the protoplasts, like the sunset click on Cassian's troparion, like "Principle of wisdom, fear of the Lord", as a beginning for repentance, he is impressed.
The church, like the word witness itself, calls!
In deep silence the talent vibrates as the heart beats in mental prayer, the arteries pulsate, the muscles contract between heaven and earth.
The talant - the talant - the tala-tala-talant in this rhythm beats…
The talant is the most characteristic "musical instrument" associated with the sequences of monks. It is an elongated wood, usually made of maple, with a handle in the middle, so that one can balance it so that with a wooden hammer, with rhythmic beats, one can create the musical oscillation.
Usually, at four in the morning in summer, and at two in the winter, the talent means a monk, the "ecclesiastical", rhythmically, around the central church of the monastery, the "catholic", and invites! In a meeting for the beginning of the midnight sequence.
The musical invitation for the beginning of the sequence is divided into three stops, making two pauses; in the first the monk says the 50th psalm of Repentance while in the second pause he recites "I Believe" from within.
The talant strikes again for the second time after the end of the orthros and before the beginning of the divine service, and for the third time in the afternoon for the beginning of the ninth hour and the evening.
This image finds its origins in the book of Genesis, where Noah, when he completed the construction of the ark, took a stick and began to beat it rhythmically around the ark, inviting various kinds of animals to be saved from the flood. And now, the monk, as the type of Noah, invites not the horses but the rational beings to the new ark which is the church of Christ.
The talent was soon associated with the sequences of the monks, and in fact of the priesthoods of Palestine and Egypt, as can be seen in the well-known illustration of the Assumption of St. Ephraim of Syria, where the various types of solitary practice are presented, and in the center, the monk invites knocking talent.
The Jerkόπανος is the other wooden percussion. It has the form of talent. It is bigger, thicker and wider wood on a stable base. It is beaten with a wooden hammer rhythmically. Its sound is heavier and more formal. It means before the two main sequences, and specifically at the end of the Midnight before Orthros and at the ninth hour before Vespers.
The talant was a unit of weight and a unit of trade in antiquity, of great value, since it weighed 26 to 37 kilos and its weight was calculated in gold or silver.
In the New Testament he acquired the meaning of the divine gift, which man is called to augment, as in the well-known parable of the talents.
Talant is etymologically derived from the adjective talas, talaina, talan, which denotes the unfortunate, the one who suffers and through Latin and Italian became a talent returning as a counter-loan.
Παράγωγο επίσης, είναι το ταλαντεύω, ζυγίζω, που γίνεται και ταλάντωση, ένα ολόκληρο κύμα, μια περιοδική κίνηση ενός σώματος η οποία γίνεται παλινδρομικά γύρω από μία θέση που ονομάζεται θέση ισορροπίας .
The talant, the baton, all these sound signals, in the form of musical frying pans, are a kind of coded communication used by the ancients mainly for defensive purposes, they are idiosyncratic musical instruments that have their place in a strictly defined standard, which , over the centuries is kept reverently unchanged.
Nothing is a coincidence.
Many things can raise questions and pique the curiosity of the novice visitor of Mount Athos and the feeling that behind the phenomena lies a deeper cause, a deeper logical explanation.
Όμως , ο ανεξίτηλος κρουστός , ξύλινος ήχος του ταλάντου που μόνο ‘’ ξύλινος΄΄” δεν είναι συνεχίζει να γεννά , να παράγει κύματα σκέψεων , αναμνήσεων , νοημάτων και στα ειρηνικά βάθη της ψυχής να κρούει και να κρούει την θύρα …