For those of us in the west, when monks here do a call to prayer they ring out Bells. In some countries and monasteries in the east the call to prayer is seen as going to do battle with the invisible power of darkness and so they sound the drum as if going into war.
It is a cry of war for them. I like that kind of imagery don’t you? I wonder if in their former life they were drummers before entering the monastery or trained on this throughout their vocation from an absolute beginner? Either way they’re very talented.
From the description of the video: This Romanian orthodox monk is incredible. He plays the “Semantron” on master level. This wooden plank is used since the 6th century to summon the monks from all over the monastery to the church. It has the sound of war drums to remind the monks of the spiritual battle. The monks link it to the cross of Jesus and the tree of the garden of Eden. Learn more about it in this video!