Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as with the day of the memory of Saint Chariton the Confessor, a Palestinian monk of the 4th century, founder of one of the oldest and largest monasteries of the Judaean Desert. For the members of the Russian Church Abroad, St. Chariton and his monastery have a special meaning, for our Church owns the plot of land on which this monastery stands and it is our monastics that, after many years of neglect, reestablished the monastic way of life at this holy place.

Last week I briefly spoke to you about the Hours, that is, those short church services that are nowadays read either at the end of the All-Night Vigil or before the Liturgy. Today let us continue this topic and begin to discuss those psalms that are read at the Hours. Let us take note that at the beginning of each Hour, three specially chosen psalms are read. The 5th, 89th (90), and 100th (101) psalms are appointed to be read at the First Hour. Most often in parishes, including in ours, only the last of the three is read. On weekdays of Great Lent, we do read all three psalms. Today let us briefly discuss the 5th psalm, Give ear to my words, O Lord.

One can assume that this short and understandable psalm was composed by the Holy King David at the beginning of Absalom’s uprising, while David was still in Jerusalem. The author of these words begs God to hear his cry. He notes that his prayer must be heard, for God abhors wickedness, evil, and deceit – all vices which the enemies of the holy king have fallen into. Against the sinful pride of the rebels the author juxtaposes his own meekness and prays that the Lord be a guide for him. Continuing on, the Holy Prophet David calls on the Lord to judge His enemies for their ungodliness. The psalm ends on a high note, for the author is certain that when God judges the sinners, a blessed time of rest will dawn for the righteous. This psalm is perfectly suited to the First Hour, that is, to morning prayer, for it contains the following words: “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”

The 5th psalm contains much of interest which could be discussed at length, but today let us focus our attention on the following words: “Destroy (or judge, as in the Greek version of the Psalter) Thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against Thee.” Similar strong, even perhaps mean-spirited, words are often met in other psalms. To some, it might seem that words such as “judge Thou them,”“let them fall,” and “cast them out” do not reflect our high Christian morals. Would it not be better to say: have mercy on them, set them on the right path, accept their repentance? How can we harmonize the words of the Prophet David, which for centuries have been read throughout the world in Christian churches on a daily basis, with the commandment of our Saviour to love and forgive our enemies (Matthew 5: 44)?

This question can be answered in different ways. Blessed Augustine writes that King David in no wise cursed his enemies or called for them to be punished, but only foretold in prophecy that which was to happen. The Holy Hierarch John Chrysostom notes that the author takes no action against the enemies of God, but only asks that the Lord justly and mercifully judge them and curtail their evil designs. That same saint continues that it is natural for a righteous man to be indignant when God is maligned, while affronts directed towards him personally are counted as nothing. Although a Christian is obliged to forgive his personal enemies, on no account must he resign himself to evil, but instead, like David, he must with all his strength pray that evil and those who perpetrate it be stopped. Let our prayer for the triumph of God’s truth in this sinful world be as fervent as that of King David in the fifth psalm.

Today, when we celebrate the memory of Saint Chariton, after reflecting on the first psalm of the First Hour, it is easy for me to imagine a monk of the glorious monastery of today’s saint, in his little cave in the Judaean Desert, early in the morning, after a short rest, singing in the light of the rising sun the words of the 5th psalm: “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up…I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness…thou defendest (me): let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.” Sometimes it is so very difficult for us to pray in the morning. We might want to stay in bed an extra five minutes or to begin our day immediately. Sometimes it seems that we just don’t have the time for prayer in the morning. For some, it is hard to read the regular prayers from the prayerbook because they are so familiar that it is impossible to catch the meaning of the text. In such instances we can remember that image of the desert monk, join our prayerful voice to the prayers of the righteous from all the Christian generations, and read at least part of the magnificent 5th psalm.

priest Alexis