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UN Office of Scientific Investigation and Research
A Bell for St Anthony
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Scene 4: BellsIf anyone wishes to examine the bell phenomenon they will be able to ascertain that although bells rang all over the city, the effect centred on the Church of the Icon of the Holy Mother just down the road from the University. The Rev. Oleg Bulekov is the priest in charge, and he is willing to speak with visitors. However, when the church is visited, a figure in blue robes approaches. She says that she is Taconui (Sister) Gamina of the Holy Order of Anchorites, a Coptic order. The bells, she says, are ringing in celebration of a miracle, the rebirth of a saint that her order has awaited for almost two thousand years. She will say no more, and scurries off before she can be questioned further. Father Oleg says that the bells in his church began ringing all by themselves just after 10pm. He had been in the church saying his prayers after an evening hearing confessions, having just locked up the church before going to bed. He had been alone in the church - his brother priest is away on retreat and not expected back for a week. He had gone up to the belfry, by which time they had stopped ringing, and then telephoned several other priests in the city who all reported the same thing. He is baffled, but says that at the same time as the bells rang there was a strange smell, a mix of incense and corruption, that filled the building momentarily. |
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