How Glorious Is Our Lord in Zion

{{Short description|1794 Russian hymn and former anthem}}

{{Infobox anthem

|title = {{lang|ru|Коль славен наш Господь в Сионе}}

|english_title = "How Glorious Is Our Lord in Zion"

|image = File:How Glorious Is Our Lord in Zion.pdf{{!}}page=9

|caption = Sheet music printed in early 20th century

|prefix = Former national

|country = Russia

|author = Mikhail Kheraskov

|composer = Dmitry Bortniansky

|adopted = 1790

|readopted = 1918

|until = 1816

|predecessor = "Let the Thunder of Victory Rumble!" (1798)
"The Internationale" (1918)

|successor = "The Prayer of Russians" (1816)
"The Internationale" (1920)

|sound = Kol Slaven(Instrumental).ogg}}

"How Glorious Is Our Lord in Zion"{{efn|{{lang-rus|Коль славен наш Господь в Сионе|r=Kolj slaven naš Gospodj v Sione|p|kolʲ ˈslavʲɪn naʐ‿ɡɐˈspotʲ f‿sʲɪˈonʲɪ}}}} is a hymn written in the spring of 1794 by the composer Dmitry Bortniansky to the verses of the poet Mikhail Kheraskov. It was the unofficial anthem of the Russian Empire between the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The first public performance took place on 29 November 1798 during the ceremony of laying on the Russian Emperor Paul I the crown and other regalia of the Grand Master of the Order of St. John in the Winter Palace,{{cite web |url=https://webkamerton.ru/2014/03/vsyo-o-gimne/|title=Всё о гимне. Александр Алиев|date=11 March 2014}} and since 1801 the anthem actually supplanted the previously performed "Let the Thunder of Victory Rumble!".{{cite web |url=https://traditio.wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C_%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%88_%D0%93%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%8C_%D0%B2_%D0%A1%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B5|title=Коль славен наш Господь в Сионе, русская энциклопедия "Традиция" |date=9 October 2013}} In 1816 it was replaced by the officially approved composition "The Prayer of Russians". From 1856 to October 1917, the chimes of the Spasskaya Tower in the Moscow Kremlin rang out the melody of the anthem. Also, before the October Revolution, it was performed by the chimes of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, and in 2003 it was restored in honor of the celebration of the anniversary of Saint Petersburg.{{cite web |url=http://www.kkovalev.ru/Bortnian_Kol_Slaven.htm|title="Знаменитый Гимн Бортнянского - духовный Гимн России. Всё о гимне "Коль славен" Д.С. Бортнянского", Константин Ковалев-Случевский}} In 1918–1920, "If glorious" was the anthem of the Russian State, and later continued to be popular among the first wave of emigrants. During the Great Patriotic War, it was performed at the official meetings of the KONR, in fact it was the anthem of the ROA.{{cite web |url=https://www.belrussia.ru/page-id-4047.html|title=Обнародывание Манифеста КОНР в Берлине 18 ноября 1944 г.|date=17 December 2013}} In the modern Russian Federation, it is performed in military ceremonies when honoring - at the opening of monuments, farewell to servicemen and at burial.{{cite web |url=http://www.consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online.cgi?from=216868-7060&rnd=6E2947C03D927EC781AE94611731D780&req=doc&base=LAW&n=375796&REFDOC=216868&REFBASE=LAW#egewfz04rz4|title=Устав ГиКС, глава 12}}

The text of the hymn is based on the 48th Psalm and is replete with Christian symbolism, and its music is close to individual Voices of the Great Znamenny Chant.

The melody of the anthem was used in a German song to the lyrics {{interlanguage link|Ich bete an die Macht der Liebe|de}} ("I pray to the power of love") by Gerhard Tersteegen. Also, the music of the anthem was used by the composer G. Beck when writing the anthem of the Jewish Socialist Party Bund "Di Shvue".{{cite web |url=http://a-pesni.org/idich/dishvue.php|title=G. Beck, Sz. A. An-ski - Di shvue (1902, гимн Бунда, союза еврейских рабочих Польши, Литвы и России, с нотами)}}