Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Christ is Risen!

Congratulations with the second Sunday of Pascha!

All of last week we celebrated in an especially joyful way the Resurrection of Christ. Church services were performed daily, all the regular prayers, both in church and at home, were replaced with triumphant Paschal hymns, there was no fasting, mournful prayers for the reposed were absent. Everything was done in a special manner, in the spirit of Pascha. Today we return to the regular church order. The most characteristic element of regular Orthodox church services is the reading and singing of the psalms. The psalms are used at all the church services; along with this, many of you attentively read the Psalter at home. Despite this, perhaps we do not always devote enough attention to these marvelous prayers; therefore, this year let us try, with God’s help, to focus our thoughts on them and discuss them in the Sunday sermons.

Today, let us briefly discuss the psalms and the Psalter in general terms. Psalter is a Greek word that originally denoted not a book, but a stringed musical instrument similar to a small harp, which was often used by the ancient Jews to accompany their singing of the psalms. The Jews called the compilation of the psalms Tihillim, which means ‘praises’ in their language. Truly, one could characterize this book as a collection of hymns or prayers of praise to the Almighty.

The Psalter is a collection of 150 psalms. Various translations of Holy Scripture divide the psalms in different ways. The Slavonic Bible follows the Greek translation, which our Saviour and His disciples used, whereas English translations follow the modern Jewish numbering. The Psalter is one of the longest books of Holy Scripture. It was written by different authors including Moses, Solomon, and David, who authored around seventy psalms. These prayers were composed at various times, beginning with the days of Moses (approximately the 16th century B.C.) up to the time of the return of the Jews to the Promised Land from the Babylonian Captivity (the 6th century B.C.). We can assume that the Psalter in its current form was compiled sometime after the Babylonian Captivity.

Jews believe that the Psalter is composed of five separate collections or books of psalms (1st book: Psalms 1-40(41), 2nd book: Psalms 41(42)-71(72), 3rd book: Psalms 72(73)-88(89), 4th book: 89(90)-105(106), 5th book: Psalms 106(107)-150). Sometimes these divisions are shown in English Bibles. Each of these books begins with an introductory psalm that sets the tone for what is to follow and finishes with an especially festive hymn of praise. These five parts parallel the Pentateuch, i. e. the first five books of the Old Testament, in which all of the Jewish Law of the Old Testament is outlined. The Psalter is also a book of commandments, but it holds within itself not ritual laws, as the five books of Moses, but moral or ethical rules for how a person should relate firstly to God, and then, to his neighbour. This law, set out in the Psalter, is not only for the Jews, but also for us Christians.

The individual psalms are deep and heartfelt prayers of either individual people or of all Jewish society to God. The psalms reflect all the multifaceted sides of human life, from that which is most sorrowful to that which is most joyous. Practically all of the psalms contain words of praise towards the Lord God, despite many of them expressing unbearable human suffering. The arrangement of the psalms within the Psalter shows a deep hope in God’s help and a trust that in the end, the Lord will defeat the enemies of the saints and the Kingdom of God will come to be. We see this because in the first half of the book, most of the psalms are sorrowful entreaties for help, whereas the final psalms are especially joyful and full of praise. In such a way, both the individual psalms and the entire book as a whole prophesy about the Saviour of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, coming to free mankind from the most awful of sorrows, sin and death.

Through the prayers of the Holy Prophet of God David, today, when we begin to once again pray with the words of the Psalter, let us try to more attentively read the words of these wonderful prayers.

priest Alexis