"Let the psalm be continually in your mouth."
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
“A psalm,” says St. Basil the Great, “is the silence of the soul, the dispenser of peace. It softens the irritability of the soul and disciplines intemperance. It calms rebellious and disturbing thoughts. The psalm is a mediator of friendship, unity between distant people and reconciliation of those at war. For who can still consider as an enemy the one with whom he raises one voice to God? Therefore, psalmody gives us one of the greatest benefits - love.”
History of the composition and poetry of the Psalter
Psaltirion, in Greek, is a stringed musical instrument, accompanied by which in ancient times prayer chants addressed to God were sung, hence the name psalms, and their collection began to be called the Psalter. The psalms were combined into one book in the 5th century BC. This book in its Hebrew original is a collection of hymns of religious and lyrical content and mood, which were performed during worship in the ancient Jerusalem temple during the era of state independence of the Kingdom of Judah. Therefore, they became unusually widespread both in the pre-Christian era and especially during early Christianity.
The Psalter was translated into the Slavic language from Greek in the initial period of the development of writing in Rus' by Saints Cyril and Methodius - after all, without its text it was impossible to perform a single church service. Since even in the early Christian era the Psalter satisfied various needs, there were editions of this book, depending on its practical purpose. This is how the main types of psalter texts arose: the Psalter followed (or “with recitation”), used in church services, and the Psalter explanatory (with interpretations of the text compiled by Athanasius of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrrhus and other early Christian authors). In the first half of the 16th century. In Moscow, a new translation from Greek of the explanatory Psalter was made by Maximus the Greek (Trivolis).
The texts of the 150 psalms that make up the Psalter were translated from Hebrew into Greek along with other parts of the Septuagint (translation of the books of the Old Testament by seventy commentators). An additional Psalm 151 was added to them, revealing the life of David, the king and poet, with whose name a significant part of the psalms are inscribed. Despite the fact that they are known under the name of David, there is no indication that they all belong to the king and the prophet. Saint Athanasius the Great believes that the inscriptions show who owns any psalm. David chose four captains of singers and two hundred and eighty-eight to serve them. Therefore, as can be seen from the inscriptions, the psalms of these four leaders are found. Thus, when it is said: a psalm to the sons of Korah, Etham, Asaph and Eman; this means that they sing the psalm. When it is said: a psalm of Asaph or Idithum, then it is shown that this psalm was spoken by Asaph or Idithum himself. If it is said: a psalm of David, it is shown that the speaker was David himself. When it is said: a psalm to David, it means that others are speaking about David.
In the Psalter of 150 psalms, part refers to the Savior - the Lord Jesus Christ; they are important in soteriological terms (soteriology is the doctrine of saving a person from sin). These psalms are called messianic (Messiah, from Hebrew, means Savior). There are messianic psalms in the literal and in the educational sense. The first ones talk about the coming Messiah - the Lord Jesus Christ. The latter tell about the persons and events of the Old Testament (King and Prophet David, King Solomon, etc.), prefiguring the New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.
Already in the early Christian era, the Greek translation of the Psalter formed the basis of Christian liturgy and hymnology. As part of the so-called “daily” services (midnight office, matins, hours, vespers and compline) about 50 separate psalms are used. In the modern liturgical Charter of the Orthodox Church, it is customary to divide the Psalter for convenience when using it during worship and in the home (cell) rule into 20 sections - kathisma (kathisma), from the Greek. “kafiso” - “sitting”, each of which is divided into three “Glory”, or articles.
The psalms are full of genuine poetic feeling, preserved in their Slavic translation. They served as a source of inspiration for all Russian authors without exception until the 18th century. - from Metropolitan Hilarion and the authors of The Tale of Bygone Years to Lomonosov and Derzhavin, and even in the 19th - 20th centuries. echoes of the poetry of the psalms are heard in the poems of Pushkin, Lermontov, Yazykov, Fyodor Glinka, and Bunin.
The essence of the poetic structure of the psalms is the semantic and syntactic parallelism (direct or reverse) of each verse that makes them up. This poetic structure formed the basis of all ancient Eastern poetry, and then became leading both in Byzantine hymnology and in Slavic-Russian original poetry.
The Psalter served not only as a liturgical book, but also as the main textbook. According to it until the 19th century. inclusively taught to read and write, which is well known and which is once again proven by recently found letters on birch bark: one of them belongs to the Novgorod boy Onfim, who studied in the 13th century. and wrote out the text of the service of “Great Compline” on birch bark. All this invariably supported the popularity of the Psalter in medieval society, and therefore the number of ancient manuscripts of the Psalter is much larger than all other texts, and is second only to copies of the Gospel.
Traditions of reading the Psalter
In the ancient Church, during divine services, especially at Matins, after the psalms, which were sung standing, there were breaks for spiritual reflection on the sung psalms. During these reflections we sat. From such reflections arose chants called “sedals.” Subsequently, they began to sit while reading the psalms, and the name “kathisma” (that is, “sedalen”, “sedal”) was transferred to the psalms. In the Slavic Charter, the word “kathisma” is reserved for sections of the Psalter, and liturgical chants are called the Slavic word “sedalny”.
In church, psalms are read daily during all morning and evening services. The Psalter is read in its entirety during each week, that is, week, and during Great Lent - twice during the week.
The home prayer rule is in deep prayer connection with church services: morning cell prayer, starting a new day, precedes the service and internally prepares the believer for it, evening prayer, ending the day, as it were, ends the church service. If a believer has not been to church for worship, he can include psalms in his home rule. The number of psalms may vary depending on the intentions and capabilities of the believer. In any case, the fathers and devotees of the church invite the believer to read the psalms daily, considering piety and purity of heart to be an indispensable condition for the spiritual benefits of reading and studying the psalms. Reading the Psalter brings great consolation, for this reading is accepted as a propitiatory sacrifice for the cleansing of sins, both those read and those commemorated. As St. Basil the Great writes, “The Psalter... prays to God for the whole world.”
In many places there is a custom of asking clergy in monasteries and churches to read the Psalter for the departed or for health, which is combined with giving alms. But, as St. Athanasius (Sakharov) writes, it is much more useful if we read the Psalter ourselves, showing that we personally want to work, without replacing ourselves in this work with others. The feat of reading the Psalter will be a sacrifice to God not only for those commemorated, but also for those who bring it, who labor in reading it. Those who read the Psalter receive from the word of God both great consolation and great edification, which they are deprived of by entrusting this good deed to others, and most often themselves not even being present at it.
Readings of the Psalms by parishioners
The Psalter is a person’s appeal to God. It is called the “Book of Praises” or “Book of Prayers.” Therefore, the cathedral reading of the Psalter with general remembrance is a prayer rule for each day of Lent. There is a tradition of cathedral (temple) reading of the Psalter, usually during Lent. The number of those reading the Psalter is equal to the number of kathismas of the Psalter, and at the same time they read the entire Psalter in one day, and during fasting each reader reads the Psalter in full 1 or 2 times. For each glory, worshipers remember each other, as well as each other’s relatives and friends, the clergy - mentors and servants of the temple.
Such a cathedral reading of the psalter unites and unites people, strengthens them spiritually, and serves as a consolation in sorrows. “As the Psalms pray for the future, sigh for the present, repent for the past, rejoice over good deeds, remember the joy of the Heavenly Kingdom” (Augustine the Teacher).
Spiritual benefits of reading the Psalms
No book of prayer can compare with the Psalter because of its comprehensive nature. The Greek philosopher and monk Euthymius Zigabenus calls the Psalter “...a public hospital where every disease is cured. Moreover, the surprising thing is that her words are befitting of all people - a feature characteristic of this one book, which represents an abundance of all contemplation and rules of life, a public treasury of instructions, containing only what is useful.
Reading the psalms is a conversation with God, edification of the soul and maintaining the unbreakable memory of divine words. For beginners, learning is the very first and main instruction; for those who are successful in learning, it is an increase in knowledge; for those who are finishing, it is confirmation in the acquired knowledge. The psalm is an invincible shield, the best decoration for leaders and those under authority, for warriors and for people completely unfamiliar with the art of war, for the educated and the uneducated, for hermits and for people taking part in state affairs, for priests and laymen, for those living on land and islanders, for farmers and sailors, for artisans and for those who do not know any craft at all, for men and women, for old men and young men, for people of every origin, age, position in the world, for people of every profession.
A psalm for a person is exactly the same as a breath of air, or the pouring of light, or the use of fire and water, or in general anything that is both necessary and useful for everyone. It is extremely surprising that those who work, without being distracted from their work by singing psalms, thereby alleviate its difficulty.”
“Here there is perfect theology, there is a prophecy about the coming of Christ in the flesh, there is a threat of God’s judgment. Here the hope of resurrection and the fear of torment are instilled. Here glory is promised, secrets are revealed.” Saint Basil the Great said all this about nothing other than the great, inexhaustible and universal treasury - the Psalter.
He says: “In all Scripture the grace of God breathes, but in the sweet song of the psalms it breathes chiefly. History instructs, the law teaches, prophesies, foretells, moral teaching convinces, and the book of psalms convinces of all this and is the most complete physician of human salvation.” In church, psalms are read daily during all morning and evening services. What is the spiritual benefit of reading the Psalter? Why is it important to use this book religiously in your home prayer routine? The clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church answer these questions.
Reading the Psalter, we, despite all our falls, raise our hearts to grief
A collection of what must be the most ancient liturgical texts, compiled at different times by different people, but basically written by the Old Testament king and prophet David. Already based on the fact that this book is primarily liturgical, its benefit lies in the possibility of a person’s closest and lively prayerful communication with God. And the purpose of such communication is our sanctification and communion with the goodness of God. In addition to liturgical use, there is an ancient Orthodox tradition of home, or “cell,” reading of this great book. In any case, the spiritual benefit of reading the Psalms lies in the bearing of spiritual fruits, which are: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control(Gal. 5:22). All of these are gifts of the Holy Spirit, but they are given to those who seek God, and reading the Psalter, on the one hand, serves as a confession of this search of ours, and on the other hand, it helps us in this search. Because the psalmist David was precisely distinguished by his extreme, complete striving for God. Moreover, he was not without sins and worries, fears, and struggles (all this is reflected in the Psalter), as is typical for us. But David overcame all this everyday, let’s say, rebellion with constant extreme trust in God with love and repentance. That is why, reading the Psalter, we, together with this great man and ourselves, despite all our falls, sorrows and difficulties, raise our hearts to grief, in the hope that the Lord will not leave us, but through the prayers of the saint, who also knew the difficulties of earthly journeys, will give us the determination to persistently and daily strive for the Lord and trust in Him. And the fact that the Lord never leaves a person who has such a contrite heart and corresponding labors - we again find many confirmations of this in the Psalter, where David again and again thanks the Lord for the fact that in all the complex and dangerous circumstances of life He does not leaves His servant, bestowing many mercies and bounties, the main of which is the very possibility of close and living communication with God.
The lines of the Psalter have remained relevant for almost three thousand years
The Psalter is now the most popular book of the Old Testament. Based on the meaning of the short songs, which were previously performed to the accompaniment of an instrument similar to the harp, one can understand that their authors set as their goal the praise of God in any everyday situation: from repentance and glorification of God to climbing the steep steps of the Old Testament temple. And since the modern reader has a rather varied life, the lines of the Psalter have remained relevant for almost three thousand years. Unfortunately, there is a rather serious inflection in society: many consider the Psalter to be exclusively a book for the dead. But this diminishes the significance of the wonderful work of the prophet David and like-minded people. After all, those lines about repentance, about God’s justice, about His mercy, about care and about the duty of a faithful follower help not only the deceased, but also those who read. This is where I see the source of the spiritual benefit of the Psalter.
In the Gospel of Matthew we read about the events that took place at Calvary: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Either, Or! Lama Savakhthani? that is: My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me?(Matt. 27:46). This text is reproduced by Christ from the Psalter: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?(Ps. 21:2). Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that in the most difficult moments of life we need to turn to the Holy Psalter and from its psalms find prayerful words of consolation for ourselves. And indeed, when we pray according to the Psalter, on the one hand, we praise God, since in the Jewish tradition this book has been called since ancient times - the Book of Praises (Hebrew תהלים (tehilim). And on the other hand, many psalms have repentant content, direction, and they prompt us with words that help us, in heartfelt repentance before God, to open our souls and perform an act of real repentance. And since the Psalter contains not only penitential, but also psalms of praise, we repent before God by reading Psalter, and we glorify Him by reading the Psalter, and also chant His wonderful Names, which are present in abundance on the pages of the Psalter when it speaks of God - the Great, the Mighty, the Merciful, the Loving, etc.
In Ancient Rus', the Psalter was a favorite reading. Children were taught to read from the Psalter
In Ancient Rus', the Psalter was a favorite reading. Children were taught to read from the Psalter. And when in Soviet times they studied birch bark letters, then, although people mainly wrote on birch bark on everyday topics, it was possible to identify hidden quotes. Based on hidden quotes, it was determined that the most read book of Ancient Rus' was the Psalter. The second place was occupied by the parables of King Solomon. I don't know why. Maybe because it very often touches on family topics, raising children - something that was close to our ancestors, who perceived Orthodoxy primarily as a way of life.
Reading the Psalter is a special state of spirit: when a person immerses himself in these verbs, he, as it were, acquires angelic grace. We know that angels constantly stand before the Throne of God and sing His wonderful Names. And every time an Orthodox Christian, adult or child opens the Psalter and begins to pray through it, they join the angelic choir. And, living on earth, they seem to find themselves in heaven.
The Psalter is God's word to us. God Himself gave us the Psalter as an example and model of prayer
Why is it important to read the Psalter, and not just the prayer book or akathists? Because the psalms are not just ancient, difficult to understand prayers, as many people think, but part of the Holy Scriptures given to us by God Himself. If any prayer is our appeal to God, a desire for Him, like the flame of a candle rushing to the sky, then the Psalter is God’s word to us, it is the light descending from heaven and enlightening the most secret sides of our soul. The Psalter is a revealed book. Through the king and prophet David, God Himself gave us the Psalter as an example and model of prayer. “This is how you should turn to Me, repent of your sins, ask for something, glorify your Creator and admire,” the Lord tells us through the holy book of Psalms.
Psalter - spiritual protection from any dark forces
The Psalter includes everything, all types of prayers: here is repentance for sins, and petition for various needs, sorrows of our life, and thanksgiving to God for His many blessings, and joyful praise of the Lord as our Father and Provider. The Psalter is spiritual protection from any dark forces, and instead of being afraid of some kind of damage everywhere, it is enough to simply read the Psalter regularly, so that no tempter will approach you. It is no coincidence that psalms are included in almost all church prayers and prayer services.
The Psalter briefly sets out the sacred history - from the creation of the world until the Last Judgment, about which it is said that The Lord is coming to judge the earth: to judge the world in righteousness and people in His truth(Ps. 95:13). Our entire divine service is filled with sacred lines from the Psalter, so those who read the psalms at home understand the divine service better in church.
The Psalter is a tuning fork that sets a very precise tone for all spiritual life
Sometimes they say that we do not understand the psalms, and therefore, why read them. But if we do not understand the composition of the medicine, this does not mean that we should not take it when we are sick. As they also say, “you don’t understand, but the demons understand”: they move away from a tempted person when they hear the sacred words of the psalms. If you don’t start reading the Psalter, you will never learn to understand it. The meaning becomes clear as we grow and experience spiritually, when the psalms enter our spiritual life, when they become consonant with the voice of our heart.
The Psalter has exceptional value, which we sometimes do not think about. This value is difficult to convey in words. You understand it over time. The Psalter is like a tuning fork that sets a very precise tone for all spiritual life. The Psalter gives us spiritual courage and sobriety, frees our hearts from the temptations that come our way, and helps us straighten our path in life along the path of fulfilling God’s will.
What are the benefits of reading the Psalter?“A psalm,” says St. Basil the Great, “is the silence of the soul, the dispenser of peace. It softens the irritability of the soul and disciplines intemperance. It calms rebellious and disturbing thoughts. The psalm is a mediator of friendship, unity between distant people and reconciliation of those at war. For who can still consider as an enemy the one with whom he raises one voice to God? Therefore, psalmody gives us one of the greatest benefits - love.”
History of the composition and poetry of the Psalter
Psaltirion, in Greek, is a stringed musical instrument, accompanied by which in ancient times prayer chants addressed to God were sung, hence the name psalms, and their collection began to be called the Psalter. The psalms were combined into one book in the 5th century BC. This book in its Hebrew original is a collection of hymns of religious and lyrical content and mood, which were performed during worship in the ancient Jerusalem temple during the era of state independence of the Kingdom of Judah. Therefore, they became unusually widespread both in the pre-Christian era and especially during early Christianity.
The Psalter was translated into the Slavic language from Greek in the initial period of the development of writing in Rus' by Saints Cyril and Methodius - after all, without its text it was impossible to perform a single church service. Since even in the early Christian era the Psalter satisfied various needs, there were editions of this book, depending on its practical purpose. This is how the main types of psalter texts arose: the Psalter followed (or “with recitation”), used in church services, and the Psalter explanatory (with interpretations of the text compiled by Athanasius of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrrhus and other early Christian authors). In the first half of the 16th century. In Moscow, a new translation from Greek of the explanatory Psalter was made by Maximus the Greek (Trivolis).
The texts of the 150 psalms that make up the Psalter were translated from Hebrew into Greek along with other parts of the Septuagint (translation of the books of the Old Testament by seventy commentators). An additional Psalm 151 was added to them, revealing the life of David, the king and poet, with whose name a significant part of the psalms are inscribed. Despite the fact that they are known under the name of David, there is no indication that they all belong to the king and the prophet. Saint Athanasius the Great believes that the inscriptions show who owns any psalm. David chose four captains of singers and two hundred and eighty-eight to serve them. Therefore, as can be seen from the inscriptions, the psalms of these four leaders are found. Thus, when it is said: a psalm to the sons of Korah, Etham, Asaph and Eman; this means that they sing the psalm. When it is said: a psalm of Asaph or Idithum, then it is shown that this psalm was spoken by Asaph or Idithum himself. If it is said: a psalm of David, it is shown that the speaker was David himself. When it is said: a psalm to David, it means that others are speaking about David.
In the Psalter of 150 psalms, part refers to the Savior - the Lord Jesus Christ; they are important in soteriological terms (soteriology is the doctrine of saving a person from sin). These psalms are called messianic (Messiah, from Hebrew, means Savior). There are messianic psalms in the literal and in the educational sense. The first ones talk about the coming Messiah - the Lord Jesus Christ. The latter tell about the persons and events of the Old Testament (King and Prophet David, King Solomon, etc.), prefiguring the New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.
Already in the early Christian era, the Greek translation of the Psalter formed the basis of Christian liturgy and hymnology. As part of the so-called “daily” services (midnight office, matins, hours, vespers and compline) about 50 separate psalms are used. In the modern liturgical Charter of the Orthodox Church, it is customary to divide the Psalter for convenience when using it during worship and in the home (cell) rule into 20 sections - kathisma (kathisma), from the Greek. “kafiso” - “sitting”, each of which is divided into three “Glory”, or articles.
The psalms are full of genuine poetic feeling, preserved in their Slavic translation. They served as a source of inspiration for all Russian authors without exception until the 18th century. - from Metropolitan Hilarion and the authors of The Tale of Bygone Years to Lomonosov and Derzhavin, and even in the 19th - 20th centuries. echoes of the poetry of the psalms are heard in the poems of Pushkin, Lermontov, Yazykov, Fyodor Glinka, and Bunin.
The essence of the poetic structure of the psalms is the semantic and syntactic parallelism (direct or reverse) of each verse that makes them up. This poetic structure formed the basis of all ancient Eastern poetry, and then became leading both in Byzantine hymnology and in Slavic-Russian original poetry.
The Psalter served not only as a liturgical book, but also as the main textbook. According to it until the 19th century. inclusively taught to read and write, which is well known and which is once again proven by recently found letters on birch bark: one of them belongs to the Novgorod boy Onfim, who studied in the 13th century. and wrote out the text of the service of “Great Compline” on birch bark. All this invariably supported the popularity of the Psalter in medieval society, and therefore the number of ancient manuscripts of the Psalter is much larger than all other texts, and is second only to copies of the Gospel.
Traditions of reading the Psalter
In the ancient Church, during divine services, especially at Matins, after the psalms, which were sung standing, there were breaks for spiritual reflection on the sung psalms. During these reflections we sat. From such reflections arose chants called “sedals.” Subsequently, they began to sit while reading the psalms, and the name “kathisma” (that is, “sedalen”, “sedal”) was transferred to the psalms. In the Slavic Charter, the word “kathisma” is reserved for sections of the Psalter, and liturgical chants are called the Slavic word “sedalny”.
In church, psalms are read daily during all morning and evening services. The Psalter is read in its entirety during each week, that is, week, and during Great Lent - twice during the week.
The home prayer rule is in deep prayer connection with church services: morning cell prayer, starting a new day, precedes the service and internally prepares the believer for it, evening prayer, ending the day, as it were, ends the church service. If a believer has not been to church for worship, he can include psalms in his home rule. The number of psalms may vary depending on the intentions and capabilities of the believer. In any case, the fathers and devotees of the church invite the believer to read the psalms daily, considering piety and purity of heart to be an indispensable condition for the spiritual benefits of reading and studying the psalms. Reading the Psalter brings great consolation, for this reading is accepted as a propitiatory sacrifice for the cleansing of sins, both those read and those commemorated. As St. Basil the Great writes, “The Psalter... prays to God for the whole world.”
In many places there is a custom of asking clergy in monasteries and churches to read the Psalter for the departed or for health, which is combined with giving alms. But, as St. Athanasius (Sakharov) writes, it is much more useful if we read the Psalter ourselves, showing that we personally want to work, without replacing ourselves in this work with others. The feat of reading the Psalter will be a sacrifice to God not only for those commemorated, but also for those who bring it, who labor in reading it. Those who read the Psalter receive from the word of God both great consolation and great edification, which they are deprived of by entrusting this good deed to others, and most often themselves not even being present at it.
Readings of the Psalms by parishioners
The Psalter is a person’s appeal to God. It is called the “Book of Praises” or “Book of Prayers.” Therefore, the cathedral reading of the Psalter with general remembrance is a prayer rule for each day of Lent. There is a tradition of cathedral (temple) reading of the Psalter, usually during Lent. The number of those reading the Psalter is equal to the number of kathismas of the Psalter, and at the same time they read the entire Psalter in one day, and during fasting each reader reads the Psalter in full 1 or 2 times. For each glory, worshipers remember each other, as well as each other’s relatives and friends, the clergy - mentors and servants of the temple.
Such a cathedral reading of the psalter unites and unites people, strengthens them spiritually, and serves as a consolation in sorrows. “As the Psalms pray for the future, sigh for the present, repent for the past, rejoice over good deeds, remember the joy of the Heavenly Kingdom” (Augustine the Teacher).
Spiritual benefits of reading the Psalms
No book of prayer can compare with the Psalter because of its comprehensive nature. The Greek philosopher and monk Euthymius Zigabenus calls the Psalter “...a public hospital where every disease is cured. Moreover, the surprising thing is that her words are befitting of all people - a feature characteristic of this one book, which represents an abundance of all contemplation and rules of life, a public treasury of instructions, containing only what is useful.
Reading the psalms is a conversation with God, edification of the soul and maintaining the unbreakable memory of divine words. For beginners, learning is the very first and main instruction; for those who are successful in learning, it is an increase in knowledge; for those who are finishing, it is confirmation in the acquired knowledge. The psalm is an invincible shield, the best decoration for leaders and those under authority, for warriors and for people completely unfamiliar with the art of war, for the educated and the uneducated, for hermits and for people taking part in state affairs, for priests and laymen, for those living on land and islanders, for farmers and sailors, for artisans and for those who do not know any craft at all, for men and women, for old men and young men, for people of every origin, age, position in the world, for people of every profession.
A psalm for a person is exactly the same as a breath of air, or the pouring of light, or the use of fire and water, or in general anything that is both necessary and useful for everyone. It is extremely surprising that those who work, without being distracted from their work by singing psalms, thereby alleviate its difficulty.”
“Here there is perfect theology, there is a prophecy about the coming of Christ in the flesh, there is a threat of God’s judgment. Here the hope of resurrection and the fear of torment are instilled. Here glory is promised, secrets are revealed.” Saint Basil the Great said all this about nothing other than the great, inexhaustible and universal treasury - the Psalter.
Anna Georgievna, an admirer of St. Blessed Matrona, says: “My sister Natalya died, I buried her, and on the 40th day I saw my sister in a dream, and she told me: “You always scolded me for wasting a lot of time, I endlessly write down the dead, I write down acquaintances and strangers. And when I went through the ordeals, I passed them like an arrow. Screams came from everywhere: “Lord, have mercy on Natalia, she remembered us!”
In the life of the resident of the Pskov-Pechersk Lavra, schema-higum. Savva (Ostapenko) (+1984), in his youth there was such a case: he was reading the Psalter for the dead and one day he fell asleep. And in a dream he sees that he is looking out the window, there are many people of different ages there, rejoicing, waving their hands, greeting. Then he realized that these were the dead who were thanking him for reading the Psalter for the dead.
St. Paul
“...Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:19-20)
Markel - monastery presbyter
Believe me, children, nothing outrages, disturbs, irritates, hurts, humiliates, insults and arms the demons and Satan himself, the culprit of evil, against us, as a constant exercise in psalmody. All Holy Scripture is useful, and reading it causes a lot of trouble for the demon, but nothing crushes him more than the Psalter. While practicing psalmody, we, on the one hand, offer up a prayer to God: according to Your great mercy and according to the multitude of Your compassions, cleanse my iniquity (Ps. 50:3), also: do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit away from less (Ps. 50:13); do not reject me in my old age, when my strength fails, do not forsake me (Ps. 70:9).
On the other hand, we curse the demons: may God rise again and His enemies be scattered, and may those who hate Him flee from His presence (Ps. 67:2); in the same way: scatter the tongues, who want to fight (Ps. 67:31), or: I saw the wicked, exalting himself and towering like the cedars of Lebanon, and passed by, and behold, and sought, and his place was not found (Ps. 36 , 35-36); - also: let their sword enter into their hearts (Ps. 36:15) - or also: the pit of the grave, and the fossil, and it will fall into the pit that it has made. His illness will return to his head, and unrighteousness will come down to his top (Ps. 7: 16-17).
Venerable Arseny the Great
One monk asked the monk what he should do when, while reading the psalms, he did not understand their meaning. The saint replied that he should continue reading, because “the demons understand and flee.”
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian:
Let the psalm be continually in your mouth.
Where there is a psalm of contrition, there is God with the Angels.
The psalm is the joy of God-lovers: it drives away idle talk, stops laughter, reminds of judgment, arouses the soul to God, and unites with the Angels.
The psalm makes the holidays bright, it produces sorrow for God. The psalm also sheds tears from a heart of stone. The Psalm is the work of Angels, Heavenly residence, spiritual censer. Psalm - enlightenment of souls, sanctification of bodies.
Psalm - attracting Angelic help, a weapon against the fear of unnecessary things, peace from the daily labors, safety of babies, decoration for the elderly, comfort for the elderly, decent decoration for women.
Psalmody and prayer with humble thoughts elevate the mind above illicit passions and make the soul more courageous to desire Heavenly blessings.
Saint John Chrysostom:
He who sings psalms, even though he was extremely depraved, being ashamed of the psalm, curbs the power of voluptuousness, and, although he was burdened with countless vices and overcome by despondency, enjoying pleasure, he lightens his thoughts, inspires the mind and elevates the soul.
If you have fallen into temptation, you will find abundant consolation in the psalms; if you sin, you will find thousands of ready-made medicines here, whether you fall into poverty or into some kind of misfortune, (the psalms) will show you many havens.
Psalmody is always a triumph for those who rejoice, a consolation for those who are despondent... It tames passions like wild animals: it curbs intemperance, extinguishes injustice, supports the truth, casts down blasphemous plans [thoughts], kills shameful thoughts, proclaims the Divine law, preaches God, explains the faith, protects the mouth of heretics, builds the Church.
Saint Basil the Great:
The Book of Psalms ... is a common treasury of good teachings and carefully seeks out what is beneficial to everyone. She heals the old wounds of the soul, and gives quick healing to the recently wounded, and restores the painful, and supports the undamaged; in general, as much as possible, it destroys the passions that dominate souls in human life under different forms.
Psalm is the silence of the soul, the dispenser of peace. It softens the irritability of the soul and disciplines intemperance. It calms rebellious and disturbing thoughts. The psalm is a mediator of friendship, unity between distant people and reconciliation of those at war. For who can still consider as an enemy the one with whom he raises one voice to God? Therefore, psalmody gives us one of the greatest benefits - love, inventing corporate singing, instead of a knot to unity, and bringing people into one consonant face. The psalm is a refuge from demons, entry under the protection of Angels, a weapon in night insurance, repose from daytime labors, safety for babies, decoration in a blooming age, comfort for the elderly, the most decent decoration for wives.
The psalm will populate the deserts and make the market places chaste. For newcomers these are the beginnings of consolation, for those who are successful - an increase in knowledge, for the perfect - affirmation; this is the voice of the Church. He makes the festivities bright; it produces “sadness like Bose.” For the psalm even compels tears from a stony heart. Psalm is the occupation of Angels, heavenly cohabitation, spiritual incense. This is a wise invention of the Teacher, who arranged for us to sing and learn useful things together...
What can’t you learn from the psalms?! Don’t you learn from here the greatness of courage, the severity of justice, the honesty of chastity, the perfection of prudence, the image of repentance, the measure of patience, and every kind of blessing you can name?! Here there is perfect theology, the prediction of the coming of Christ in the flesh, the threat of judgment, the hope of resurrection, the fear of punishment, the promise of glory, the revelation of the sacraments. Everything, as it were, is collected in a great and common treasury in the Book of Psalms.
Blessed Augustine of Ipponsky
“The singing of Psalms decorates the soul, calls on angels to help, drives away demons, drives away darkness, makes a shrine. For a sinful person, this strengthens the mind, atones for sins: it is similar to alms to the saints. Adds faith, hope, love; how the sun enlightens, how water purifies, how fire scorches, how oil decorates; He puts the devil to shame, he shows God, he quenches the lusts of the body, and the oil of mercy is the lot of gladness, the chosen part of the angels: he drives away anger, he calms all rage, and he crushes anger, this is unceasing praise to God...”
Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus
Whoever reads other holy books pronounces what is written in them not as his own words, but as the words of holy men or those about whom they speak. But whoever reads the psalms, he (amazing thing!) pronounces what is written as his own words, sings them as if they were written about him, reads and understands them as if they had been composed by him. For the one who sings them, the words of the psalms serve as a kind of mirror in which he sees the movements of his own soul and, conscious of them, pronounces the words themselves...
And so, child, a certain elder told me, holding the very book of Psalms in his hands, everyone who reads this book should accept with sincere disposition everything that is written in it by God’s inspiration. For I think that in the words of this book the whole life of a person, all his spiritual dispositions, all the movements of his thoughts are measured and described in words, and that, beyond what is depicted in the psalms, nothing more will be found in a person.
Does anyone need repentance and confession, has anyone experienced sorrow and temptation, has anyone been persecuted or been delivered from evil slander, is anyone sad and confused or is suffering some kind of suffering, or, conversely, does anyone see himself prospering and his enemy being overthrown? If anyone praises, gives thanks and glorifies God, for all such cases he will find instruction in the divine psalms. You just have to choose what is said in the psalms for each case - and read it as if it were written about the reader himself, bringing himself into a disposition consistent with what is written.” In all the churches throughout the universe, David’s spiritual hymn enlightens the souls of the faithful” (Commentary on 2 Samuel Question 43)
“This prophetic word even now teaches us, saying how it is fitting for everyone to ask and pray to God and the king, and teaches us, saying: “Inspire my words, Lord, understand my calling, listen to the voice of my prayer. This is instill, i.e. Let your ears be the words of my mouth, and graciously hear my petition, and be willing to listen to my diligent prayer to the words, since I only know You as God and King” (Explanatory on Ps. 5)
St. Athanasius the Great
“in this book all human life, mental dispositions, and movements of thoughts are measured and described in words, and beyond what is depicted in it nothing more will be found in a person.”
St. Ambrose of Milan
“In all Scripture the grace of God breathes, but in the sweet song of the psalms it breathes chiefly. History instructs, the law teaches, prophesies, foretells, moral teaching convinces, and the book of psalms convinces of all this and is the most complete physician of human salvation." "Interpretation of the 1st Psalm."
Venerable Spyridon and Nikodim of Pechersk
It is known that Blessed Spyridon carried water in his monastic robe during the fire. He knew the entire Psalter by heart and sang it all in a day during obediences in the prosphora.
Blessed John Vlasaty, the Merciful, Rostov
Living in humility, patience and unceasing prayer, he spiritually nourished many, including Blessed Irinarch, the recluse of Rostov († 1616; January 13/26). The blessed one always carried with him and read the Psalter.
Venerable Seraphim of Sarov
“..Fr. Seraphim always remembered the dead and commemorated them in his cell prayers according to the rules of the Orthodox Church..Fr. Seraphim told - 2 nuns, who were both abbess, died..The Lord revealed..(about them to St. Seraphim-L .S.) that they were tortured and then convicted, I prayed for three days, asking the Mother of God for them. The Lord, through the prayers of the Mother of God, had mercy on them...”
Venerable Parthenius of Kiev-Pechersk (+1855)
“..Reading the Psalter quenches the passions, and reading the Gospel burns up the thorns of our sins: for the word of God is a consuming fire. Once, over the course of 40 days, I was reading the Gospel about the salvation of one soul who had done good to me, and behold, in a dream I saw a field covered with thorns. Suddenly fire falls from heaven and burns up the thorns that covered the field, and the field remains clear. Perplexed about this vision, I hear a voice: thorns that covered the field, the sins of the soul that did you good; the fire that consumed him, the word of God is yours for nothing.”
Valaam Patericon
Hieroschemamon Ephraim told us what he had heard from the late elder Hieroschemamon. O. Alexy, who was a cell attendant for many years and a favorite student of Abbot Damaskin, the following event: “At the beginning of the management of the monastery by Abbot Damaskin, it was not the custom in our monastery to include deceased monks in funeral synodics, but usually the newly deceased were commemorated for 40 days, and then each monk commemorated according to his zeal, as he wanted his fathers and brothers who died; and synodics, or, as we call them, memorial plaques, did not yet exist. Seeing such an omission, the prudent Father Damascene affirmed the laudable desire to establish a correct and constant commemoration of the Christians of his native monastery who have passed into eternity. First, he called the elders to discuss his undertaking and expressed to them, firstly, his regret about the lack of proper church commemoration of the dead of the brethren, and secondly, his desire to correct this. The elders approved of his reasonable desire and decided to immediately collect the names of all the deceased from the books of the office and establish a permanent church commemoration.
Soon after the early liturgy, a good custom began, which still exists today, to remember in the altar at the proskomedia, as well as behind the choir in the church and at the litany during the liturgy, to prayerfully remember the deceased brethren of the monastery and its ktitors. On these same days, a certain monk happened to rest in the Lord. Father Superior himself performed the funeral service for him and buried him. Several days passed. One day, somehow being in a state of prayer, the venerable old man Fr. The abbot is in his inner cell and sees a recently deceased monk quietly entering his cell. He entered the cell, crossed himself earnestly, and made three bows from the waist in front of the holy icons.
The abbot, although calmly, still looked with great amazement at the monk who appeared to him, clearly realizing that the one who had appeared was already dead and buried. Meanwhile, the deceased, turning to Fr. abbot and bowing to him, as was customary among us earlier - at his feet, he said: “Save, Lord, Father Fr. Abbot, that you have established that we, the departed brethren, should always be remembered in church, how dear and useful this is for us - it is impossible to tell you!” “Father I.,” exclaimed the Abbot, “you’re already dead!” “Yes, yes, father,” the monk who appeared calmly answered, “I am truly dead.” You yourself performed the funeral service and buried me.
So I came to you, sent from the Valaam fathers and brethren, who had already departed from this life, to thank you on their behalf for your prayer for us who have died. May the Lord reward you for this with His mercy!” Having said this, the monk bowed to the ground for the second time and just as quietly and quickly left his cell. Abbot Damascene told this event more than once to his loved ones. From this we can understand how dear and saving prayer is to departed brothers. (Valaam handwritten patericon, chapter 16)
Holy rights John of Kronstadt
David's divinely inspired songs lead everyone to prayer, devotion to God, praise and thanksgiving to God for everything; they enlighten, nourish, delight and strengthen the souls of believers; they drive away invisible enemies, heal spiritual passions, teach them to love God and keep His commandments, pray for everyone and constantly ascend to God; and their sweetness, their benefit for the souls of the pious is innumerable...
Venerable Nikon (Belyaev) Optinsky
The Prophet King David sang his psalms while playing the psalter. This is a musical instrument that had ten strings. This is the historical meaning.
The spiritual, mysterious meaning of these words is this: the ten-string psalter is a person with his five external and five internal spiritual feelings, on which, as if on ten strings, a person should sing to the Lord, that is, conduct his life in accordance with the commandments of God, so that all behavior, all life was, as it were, a constant singing of the Divine. “I sing to my God until I am” (Ps. 103:33).
This is what the Optina elder Leo said when they asked him what he was doing, and at that time he was receiving the people: “I sing to my God, until I am.” And he could say so, for he, indeed, lived according to the holy commandments of God, his life was, indeed, true godly singing. This singing is spiritual life.
When the strings of a psalter are not tuned as they should, when they sound out of tune, discordant, it is impossible to play it. She cannot make harmonious sounds, she cannot produce the right song. So in a person, when his feelings are not brought into harmony and do not have a common consonant aspiration towards God, when a person still loves sin, or when sin against the will of a person rapes him, then he cannot emit the harmonious sounds of spiritual life, cannot fully with your life, with all your behavior, with all your feelings, sing the holy song, the Divine song. You need to force yourself to put yourself in order, you need to work hard for the sake of the Lord, endure all the hardships and inconveniences in the struggle with yourself, with your passions, for it is said: “By enduring the Lord, you listened to me and heard my prayer. And bring me up from the pit of passions and from the clay of the mire, and set me on the stones of my feet and straighten my steps: and put in my mouth a new song, a song to our God” (Ps. 39: 1-4). We must endure and wait for God's mercy.
When one learns to play the violin, then at first the player produces very unpleasant, irregular, sharp sounds, they are so unpleasant that it seems that he would run away wherever his eyes look from these sounds. But gradually a person gets used to it, learns to play, the sounds become more and more correct, and finally, the gentle beautiful sounds of wonderful music flow. Some people succeed faster, others take longer; sometimes, no matter how hard he tries, the player just doesn’t get it right; it always turns out differently than he would like. It takes patience.
So it is in spiritual life. A person wants one thing, but he does something completely different, not what he wants. His mind wants one thing, but his feelings demand another. And a person sees and feels painfully that this is not all right, he understands that he is not doing well, not as he should, he even becomes despondent, seeing that he is not succeeding in the fight against passions, that his spiritual life is not improving . But no, you don’t need to be discouraged, you need to endure... You need to patiently force yourself to do every virtue for the Lord’s sake, soberly monitor all your feelings, thoughts, deeds, you need to call on the Lord God for help, you need to come to humility and realize that your actions are without the Divine a person will not have time to help. And when, finally, the vessel of the soul and body of man is prepared, when the strings of his psalter are tuned in all humility, patience and piety... then the time will come and wonderful singing will be heard, and beautiful wondrous sounds of spiritual life will flow and “they will see many and fear and trust in the Lord "(Ps. 39:4), for from union with the Lord this indescribable singing results.
There is a piano standing, ready to play, its strings are taut, it is open... but silent. Why is she silent? - Because there is no player. Who is this player? This player is the Holy Spirit, as it is said: “Let us come to him and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). The Holy Spirit will come and unite the feelings of soul and body cut by sin, and then man will begin to live in God and for God.
Father Barsanuphius told me the mysterious meaning of this psalm. I remember we had lunch with him. After lunch, Father went to the washstand, washed his mustache, took a towel and, wiping his mustache, said to me: “Father Nikolai, look at Zigaben’s interpretation of the words of the psalm: “In the ten-stringed psalter I sing to You.”
I read it and it contained a brief historical and mysterious interpretation. Father listened and said: “This has now been revealed to me.”
And then I thought: “Here is a man wiping his mustache after dinner, and spiritual secrets are being revealed to him. Such spiritual illumination happens to spiritually minded people who sing to God throughout their entire lives, regardless of time or situation, sometimes completely unexpectedly and not in prayer, but like Father Fr. Barsanuphius dined, and secrets were revealed to him. He apparently understood the deep mysterious meaning of both church prayers and St. Scriptures. “I heard, O Lord, the sight of Your sacrament, I understood Your works and glorified Your Divinity” (Irmos 8, chapter 4 hymn). Amen.
“My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing and sing in my glory, Arise my glory, arise psaltery and harp, I will arise early. Let us confess to You among the people, Lord, I will sing to You among the nations” (Ps. 56:8-10; 107:1-4).
These words were repeated several times by Elder Hieroschemamonk Anatoly (Zertsalov), the head of the Optina Hermitage Skete (+ 1894) before his death.
How much deep, mysterious meaning lies in these divinely inspired words of the Psalmist. You begin to reflect on this topic, and there is no end to the reflections: so immense, deep, is the wondrous content that lies in these words of the psalms.”
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
Psalter, psalm 3, 5
Among the books of Holy Scripture, the book of Psalms occupies a special place. Written long before the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is the only book of the Old Testament that was entirely included in the liturgical charter of the Christian Church and occupies a prominent place in it.
The Psalter consists of one hundred and fifty prayer chants addressed to God. In ancient times, most of these chants were performed in the temple to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument like a harp. It was called the psalter. From him these chants received the name psalms. The most famous author of these prayers is King David. Most of the psalms belong to him, which is why their collection is also called the Psalter of David.
All books included in the canon of Holy Scripture of the Old Testament are revered as inspired, that is, written by godly men under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and are useful for reading. But the book of psalms is worthy of special veneration, for, in the words of St. Athanasius the Great, “like a garden, it contains within itself the plantings of all other books of Holy Scripture.” It miraculously combines the teaching of a pious life, and reminders of the law given by God, and the history of the people of God, and prophecies about the Messiah and his Kingdom, and mysterious indications of the Trinity of God, the mystery of whose existence was until time hidden from Old Testament man.
The Psalms, prophesying about the promised Savior, are striking in the accuracy and clarity of their revelations. “...They pierced my hands and my feet...They divide my garments among themselves and cast lots for my clothes,” sounds in a psalm written a thousand years before Christ’s death on the Cross. “And those who crucified Him divided His garments, casting lots,” we read in the Gospel.
But the most important and most valuable thing is that it describes and depicts the movements of the human soul, yearning for God. The shackles of sin, like a stone, pull a person to the bottom, into the darkness of hell, but he, overcoming this weight, rushes to the mountain peaks, towards the divine light.
The Holy Spirit, through the mouth of the authors of the psalms, said everything that our heart experiences at different moments in life, said it in a way that we could not say. “In the words of this book, all human life, all states of the soul, all movements of thought are measured and embraced, so that beyond what is depicted in it nothing more can be found in a person,” says St. Athanasius.
The Psalter can be likened to a mirror in which a person knows himself, knows the movements of his soul. The Psalms, judging by what a person’s soul suffers from, teach him how to act in order to heal his weakness.
The one who trusts in God and lives, keeping His commandments, will remain forever, will find salvation and bliss already in earthly life. This is one of the most important spiritual testaments of the Psalter, which helps a person survive the most difficult moments of his life.
It is not surprising that the favorite book of ancient Christians was the Psalter. They accompanied their entire lives with psalmody, inspiring themselves with deeds of piety. The psalm was on the lips of both the martyr going to his death and the hermit who had withdrawn from the world. And in everyday life, Christians did not abandon the Psalter. “The farmer,” writes Blessed Jerome, walking behind the plow and singing “Hallelujah”; the reaper covered with sweat sings psalms, and the vinedresser, cutting off the grape branches with a crooked knife, sings from David.”
In the ancient Church there was a custom of learning all the psalms by heart, so this book was loved and revered. Already in the times of the apostles, the Psalter received particularly wide use in Christian worship. In the modern liturgical charter of the Orthodox Church, it is customary to divide the Psalter into 20 sections - kathisma. Psalms are read in the church daily during every morning and evening service. During the week, the book of Psalms is read in its entirety, and Lent is read twice during the week.
As has already been said, in ancient times, in the Old Testament Church, musical instruments were used during worship and prayer: percussion - cymbals, wind instruments - trumpets and string instruments - psalms. But in the Orthodox Church there is no instrumental music, the voice of man-made instruments is not heard. In an Orthodox church, only the voice of man is heard - this God-created instrument, renewed by the Holy Spirit and bringing a “new song” to God. His vocal cords are the sweetest strings to God's ears, his tongue the best cymbal. When a person sings or reads psalms, he becomes a mysterious harp, the strings of which are touched by the skillful fingers of the Holy Spirit. And this man can, together with King David, exclaim to God: “How sweet is Your word to my throat. More than honey to my lips."
"God's Law"
Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky
Saint Basil the Great“A psalm is the silence of the soul, the dispenser of peace. It softens the irritability of the soul and disciplines intemperance. It calms rebellious and disturbing thoughts. The psalm is a mediator of friendship, unity between distant people and reconciliation of those at war. For who can still consider as an enemy the one with whom he raises one voice to God? Therefore, psalmody gives us one of the greatest benefits - love.”
History of the composition and poetry of the Psalter
Psalterion, in Greek, is a stringed musical instrument, accompanied by which in ancient times prayer chants addressed to God were sung, hence the name psalms, and their collection began to be called the Psalter. The psalms were combined into one book in the 5th century BC. This book in its Hebrew original is a collection of hymns of religious and lyrical content and mood, which were performed during worship in the ancient Jerusalem temple during the era of state independence of the Kingdom of Judah. Therefore, they became unusually widespread both in the pre-Christian era and especially during early Christianity.
The Psalter was translated into the Slavic language from Greek in the initial period of the development of writing in Rus' by Saints Cyril and Methodius - after all, without its text it was impossible to perform a single church service. Since even in the early Christian era the Psalter satisfied various needs, there were editions of this book, depending on its practical purpose. This is how the main types of psalter texts arose: the Psalter followed (or “with recitation”), used in church services, and the Psalter explanatory (with interpretations of the text compiled by Athanasius of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrrhus and other early Christian authors). In the first half of the 16th century. In Moscow, a new translation from Greek of the explanatory Psalter was made by Maximus the Greek (Trivolis).
The texts of the 150 psalms that make up the Psalter were translated from Hebrew into Greek along with other parts of the Septuagint (translation of the books of the Old Testament by seventy commentators). An additional Psalm 151 was added to them, revealing the life of David, the king and poet, with whose name a significant part of the psalms are inscribed. Despite the fact that they are known under the name of David, there is no indication that they all belong to the king and the prophet. Saint Athanasius the Great believes that the inscriptions show who owns any psalm. David chose four captains of singers and two hundred and eighty-eight to serve them. Therefore, as can be seen from the inscriptions, the psalms of these four leaders are found. Thus, when it is said: a psalm to the sons of Korah, Etham, Asaph and Eman; this means that they sing the psalm. When it is said: a psalm of Asaph or Idithum, then it is shown that this psalm was spoken by Asaph or Idithum himself. If it is said: a psalm of David, it is shown that the speaker was David himself. When it is said: a psalm to David, it means that others are speaking about David.
In the Psalter of 150 psalms, part refers to the Savior - the Lord Jesus Christ; they are important in soteriological terms (soteriology is the doctrine of saving a person from sin). These psalms are called messianic (Messiah, from Hebrew, means Savior). There are messianic psalms in the literal and in the educational sense. The first ones talk about the coming Messiah - the Lord Jesus Christ. The latter tell about the persons and events of the Old Testament (King and Prophet David, King Solomon, etc.), prefiguring the New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.
Already in the early Christian era, the Greek translation of the Psalter formed the basis of Christian liturgy and hymnology. As part of the so-called “daily” services (midnight office, matins, hours, vespers and compline) about 50 separate psalms are used. In the modern liturgical Charter of the Orthodox Church, it is customary to divide the Psalter for convenience when using it during worship and in the home (cell) rule into 20 sections - kathisma (kathisma), from the Greek. “kafiso” - “sitting”, each of which is divided into three “Glory”, or articles.
In the ancient Church, during divine services, especially at Matins, after the psalms, which were sung standing, there were breaks for spiritual reflection on the sung psalms. During these reflections we sat. From such reflections arose chants called “sedals.” Subsequently, they began to sit while reading the psalms, and the name “kathisma” (that is, “sedalen”, “sedal”) was transferred to the psalms. In the Slavic Charter, the word “kathisma” is reserved for sections of the Psalter, and liturgical chants are called the Slavic word “sedalny”.
In church, psalms are read daily during all morning and evening services. The Psalter is read in its entirety during each week, that is, week, and during Great Lent - twice during the week.
The home prayer rule is in deep prayer connection with church services: morning cell prayer, starting a new day, precedes the service and internally prepares the believer for it, evening prayer, ending the day, as it were, ends the church service. If a believer has not been to church for worship, he can include psalms in his home rule. The number of psalms may vary depending on the intentions and capabilities of the believer. In any case, the fathers and devotees of the church invite the believer to read the psalms daily, considering piety and purity of heart to be an indispensable condition for the spiritual benefits of reading and studying the psalms. Reading the Psalter brings great consolation, for this reading is accepted as a propitiatory sacrifice for the cleansing of sins, both those read and those commemorated. As St. Basil the Great writes, “The Psalter... prays to God for the whole world.”
In many places there is a custom of asking clergy in monasteries and churches to read the Psalter for the departed or for health, which is combined with giving alms. But, as St. Athanasius (Sakharov) writes, it is much more useful if we read the Psalter ourselves, showing that we personally want to work, without replacing ourselves in this work with others. The feat of reading the Psalter will be a sacrifice to God not only for those commemorated, but also for those who bring it, who labor in reading it. Those who read the Psalter receive from the word of God both great consolation and great edification, which they are deprived of by entrusting this good deed to others, and most often themselves not even being present at it.
Readings of the Psalms by parishioners
Psalter - this is a person’s turning to God. It is called the “Book of Praises” or “Book of Prayers.” Therefore, the cathedral reading of the Psalter with general remembrance is a prayer rule for each day of Lent. There is a tradition of cathedral (temple) reading of the Psalter, usually during Lent. The number of those reading the Psalter is equal to the number of kathismas of the Psalter, and at the same time they read the entire Psalter in one day, and during fasting each reader reads the Psalter in full 1 or 2 times. For each glory, worshipers remember each other, as well as each other’s relatives and friends, the clergy - mentors and servants of the temple.
Such a cathedral reading of the psalter unites and unites people, strengthens them spiritually, and serves as a consolation in sorrows. “As the Psalms pray for the future, sigh for the present, repent for the past, rejoice over good deeds, remember the joy of the Heavenly Kingdom” (Augustine the Teacher).
Spiritual benefits of reading the Psalms
No book of prayer can compare with the Psalter because of its comprehensive nature. The Greek philosopher and monk Euthymius Zigabenus calls the Psalter “...a public hospital where every disease is cured. Moreover, the surprising thing is that her words are befitting of all people - a feature characteristic of this one book, which represents an abundance of all contemplation and rules of life, a public treasury of instructions, containing only what is useful.
Reading the psalms is a conversation with God, edification of the soul and maintaining the unbreakable memory of divine words. For beginners, learning is the very first and main instruction; for those who are successful in learning, it is an increase in knowledge; for those who are finishing, it is confirmation in the acquired knowledge. The psalm is an invincible shield, the best decoration for leaders and those under authority, for warriors and for people completely unfamiliar with the art of war, for the educated and the uneducated, for hermits and for people taking part in state affairs, for priests and laymen, for those living on land and islanders, for farmers and sailors, for artisans and for those who do not know any craft at all, for men and women, for old men and young men, for people of every origin, age, position in the world, for people of every profession.
A psalm for a person is exactly the same as a breath of air, or the pouring of light, or the use of fire and water, or in general anything that is both necessary and useful for everyone. It is extremely surprising that those who work, without being distracted from their work by singing psalms, thereby alleviate its difficulty.”
“Here there is perfect theology, there is a prophecy about the coming of Christ in the flesh, there is a threat of God’s judgment. Here the hope of resurrection and the fear of torment are instilled. Here glory is promised, secrets are revealed.” Saint Basil the Great said all this about nothing other than the great, inexhaustible and universal treasury - the Psalter.
