Chancellor’s Diary

by Fr. John Jillions

January 17, 2014

Psalm 55

I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.

(Psalm 55:2-3)

Psalm 55 is read on Holy Thursday and Holy Friday as we recall Christ’s betrayal, his anguish in Gethsemane, his arrest, suffering and crucifixion. These events are also remembered daily at the Sixth Hour, and Psalm 55 is read then…

January 16, 2014

Psalm 54

For the end: among the hymns of instruction by David, when the Ziphites came and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”

Save me, O God, by Thy name,
 and vindicate [judge] me by Thy strength.
Hear my prayer, O God;
 give ear to the words of my mouth.

Psalm 54: heading, 1-2 (Wednesday vespers prokeimenon)

Ziph
The Wilderness of…

January 15, 2014

Psalm 53

The fool thinks in his heart: “God is not present.”
Psalm 53:1a (Anchor Bible)

None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands, no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong;
no one does good, not even one.
Romans 3:10-12 (Psalm 53:1b-3)

If you go back and compare Psalm 14 with Psalm 53 you’ll see…

January 14, 2014

Psalm 52

For the choirmaster, a poem of David, when Doeg the Edomite went and warned Saul, ‘David has gone to Ahimelech’s house’

But God will break you down for ever;
 he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
 he will uproot you from the land of the living.
(Psalm 52: heading, 5)

The heading for Psalm 52 was most likely added long…

January 10, 2014

Psalm 51: Purge Me with Hyssop

For I know my transgressions,
 and my sin is ever before me…
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Fill me with joy and gladness;

let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.
(Psalm 51:3, 7-8)

Hyssop
Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)

Psalm 51 is used more than any other…

January 8, 2014

Psalm 50

Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. 

…you thought that I was one like yourself.
(Psalm 50:7, 21)

lion

God, as C.S. Lewis says of Aslan, is not a tame lion. There is always the danger that we presume on our special relationship, think we can get chummy with God because of our history and our worship…

January 7, 2014

Psalm 49

My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
(Psalm 49:3)

This verse was sung as the prokeimenon on January 1st as we commemorated Saint Basil the Great, and is frequently used when a holy bishop, one of the Fathers of the Church, is celebrated.

Psalm 49 has a number of thought-provoking…

January 3, 2014

Psalm 48

We ponder your steadfast love [Hesed], O God, in the midst of your temple.
(Psalm 48:9 RSV)

Appearance Christ
Appearance of Christ to the People (Alexander Ivanov, 1806-1858, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow)

Hesed is one of the key words of the Hebrew Bible. In Greek eleos, mercy. In Latin misericordia. It has a range of nuances, as shown in the various…

January 2, 2014

Psalm 47: uniting earth to heaven

God has gone up with a shout,
the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
(Psalm 47:5)

Ascension
The Ascension

Psalm 47 is used throughout the feast of our Lord’s Ascension. So we begin 2014 with a psalm that represents the end of Jesus’ ministry. In His Ascension Jesus does what was intended from His birth: He fully unites…

December 20, 2013

Christmas Tree

Dear friends,

The Chancery offices will close this afternoon for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ and will reopen December 27th. I will return to writing the Chancellor’s Diary after the New Year, on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Every year when we take out the Christmas decorations at our home we also take out The Oxford Book of…

December 19, 2013

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength…Therefore we will not fear.
The Lord of hosts is with us.
Be still and know that I am God.
(Psalm 46:1,7,10)

Psalm 46 is read at the First Hour on Christmas because it hints at the Good News. “The Lord of hosts is with us” is repeated twice (verses 7 and 11), an echo of Isaiah’s “God is with…

December 18, 2013

Psalm 45: “In anticipation proclaiming Christ to all”

Today is the preview of the good will of God, of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. The Virgin appears in the temple of God, in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. Let us rejoice and sing to her: Rejoice, O Divine Fulfillment of the Creator’s dispensation.

(Feast of the…

December 17, 2013

Psalm 44

Arise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for thy name’s sake.
 
O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have declared it unto us.
Psalm 44:26,1 (Resurrection matins, tone 4 prokeimenon)

Valley Bones
The valley of the dry bones (Ezekiel)

The use of these verses at the Sunday resurrection matins during the year shows that the psalm points…

December 13, 2013

Psalm 43

Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me,

let them bring me to thy holy hill
 and to thy dwelling!
Psalm 43:3 (Transfiguration, entrance hymn)

In addition to commemorating Saint Herman of Alaska we are remembering Father Alexander Schmemann, one of the architects of the Orthodox Church in America, who reposed on this day…

December 12, 2013

Psalm 42

As a deer longs 
for flowing streams,
 so longs my soul
 for thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
(Psalm 42:1)

Deer
“As a deer thirsts…”
Deer in Paradise
Deer drinking from four rivers of paradise (Church of San Clemente, Rome)

Spiritual thirst is at the heart of the Christian life. Many translations of Psalm 42 use pants, “as a deer…

December 11, 2013

Psalm 41

Blessed is the man who cares for the poor and the weak
(Psalm 41:1)

Care for the poor is a constant theme in the Scriptures.

He who despises his neighbor is a sinner,
 but happy is he who is kind to the poor. (Proverbs 14:21)

He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,
 and he will repay him for his deed. (Proverbs 19:17)

He…

December 10, 2013

Psalm 40 and Nelson Mandela

Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired,

but a body hast thou prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God,’ 
as it is written of me in the roll of the book.
(Psalm 40:6-8 (LXX), Hebrews 10:5-7)

Here the Greek…

December 9, 2013

Psalm 39

I said I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue
(Psalm 39:1)

Saint Nikolai Velimirovich (1881-1956), or Saint Nikolai of Zicha, the great Serbian bishop who suffered under the Nazis and after the war ended his days living at Saint Tikhon’s Monastery, was a prolific speaker and writer. But he taught that one who seeks to…

December 4, 2013

Psalm 38

Do not forsake me, O Lord!
 O my God, be not far from me!
Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!
(Psalm 38: 21-22)

We hear Psalm 38 regularly as the second of the six matins psalms. It’s a prayer for healing from sickness and sin, for deliverance from enemies and injustice, for times of feeling abandoned. It is also associated…

December 3, 2013

Psalm 37

“The Lord guides a man safely in the way he should go” (Ps 37:23).

Saint Innocent of Alaska left behind this verse as a theme for the sermon to be preached at his funeral, when he died in 1878 as Metropolitan of Moscow. Throughout his life he felt the guidance of God. This was the case in 1823 when as a successful young priest in…