The Revised Standard version of Psalm 11:5-6 reads,
The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates him that loves violence. On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and brimstone…
The Greek Septuagint translation (3rd c. BC) has a very different text:
The Lord examines the righteous man…
Why dost thou stand afar off, O Lord? Why dost thou hide thyself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:)
The main reason the Psalms have endured as usable prayers for some three-thousand years is because they are profoundly honest. They express the genuine…
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will make all Thy wonders known.
(Psalm 9:1)
(First Antiphon, Nativity of Christ)
The heart has been understood in the Orthodox tradition as short-hand for one’s whole being. The Fathers frequently cite Proverbs 23:26 in this connection, “My son, give me your heart….” Likewise,…
Out of the mouths of babes and infants You have fashioned perfect praise!
O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is Your Name in all the earth!
Psalm 8: 2,1 (Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday)
That familiar expression “out of the mouths of babes,” when a child blurts out a truth unspoken by adults, comes from Psalm 8:1. This…
Yahweh my God, if I ever
soiled my hands with fraud,
repaid a friend evil for good,
spared a man who wronged me,
then let the enemy hound me down and catch me…
(Psalm 7: 3-4 Jerusalem Bible)
This is another prayer for deliverance from personal enemies. But the verse above could be troubling. “Spared a man who wronged me.” Wait a…
Father John Erickson receives honorary doctorate and delivers Father John Meyendorff Lecture
On Sunday evening Metropolitan Tikhon and I were at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary for the first annual Father John Meyendorff Lecture. Father John Erickson, retired long-time professor and former dean, gave a stirring and through-provoking…
Troparion—Tone 1
O Lord, save Your people, / And bless Your inheritance. / Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians / Over their adversaries. / And by virtue of Your Cross, / Preserve Your habitation.Kontakion—Tone 4
As You were voluntarily raised upon the cross for our sake, / Grant mercy to…
September 11th, a day to remember both the desperate fallenness of this world and the indestructible marks of its creation by our good and loving God. The unspeakable violence of a few terrorists alongside the courage and divine humanity…
The Lord hears me when I call to Him…
When I called, the God of righteousness heard me.
(Psalm 4:3,1)
(Monday evening prokeimenon)
Many of the Psalms, like this one, are prayers for deliverance from personal enemies. Biblical writers aren’t paranoid conspiracy spinners who see enemies…
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me. I am not afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about. (Psalm 3:5-6)
This is the first of the “Six Psalms” read at matins. There’s an obvious morning theme here (“I wake again”), but for Saint Augustine who commented extensively on…
Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the peoples imagine a vain thing? (Psalm 2:1)
I can’t hear these words without also hearing the furious music Handel wrote for them in the Passion section of his Messiah. The Psalm is read on Holy Friday at the First Hour. The book of Acts quotes these words (4:25-26), as the…
…His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
(Psalm 1:2-3)
Over the last year and a half or so I’ve been reflecting very briefly, when time permits, on the daily readings from…
“So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:3)
This holiday weekend marks three commemorations. Labor Day is on Monday 9/2, but Sunday September 1 is both the start of…
“For a great and effective door has opened for me and there are many adversaries”
(1 Cor 16:9)
“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked…
Last Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, before the closing banquet where he was honored, Father Thomas Hopko finished his series of reflections on stewardship by speaking about Christian action. But action requires money. There is little that can be done to significantly spread the…
From time to time during the Canadian Assembly Fr Thomas Hopko is giving brief theological reflections on church administration. Now that may sound deadly, but for anyone charged with the usually thankless tasks of admin from…
This will be a short diary entry today from Ottawa/Gatineau and the Archdiocese of Canada Assembly.
Yesterday the clergy synaxis began with hierarchical divine liturgy at 7:00 am presided by Bishop Irenee. The centrepiece…
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. (1 Cor 12:12)
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. (Matt 18:20)
We Orthodox…
Dormition at the Chancery began yesterday morning with the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Metropolitan Tikhon. Jessica Linke as usual…
Neither the tomb, nor death could hold the Theotokos, / Who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions. / For being the Mother of Life, / She was translated to life by the One who…