There are times when we are just so angry and dispirited by the state of the world. Church life too can leave us bitterly disappointed and furious that leaders and people don’t live up to basic human standards of kindness, care and civility, let alone Christ’s example. The psalms allow us to react…
It has been a busy few days at the Chancery.
On Monday His Beatitude, Father Leonid Kishkovsky and I met with Gia Kereselidze, an award-winning filmmaker, and producer Lazarus Aliyev who presented their work in progress on a major…
The Lord is King [reigns]; He is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed, He is girded with strength.
Yea, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
2 Thy throne is established from of old;
Thou art from everlasting.3 The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
the floods have lifted up their voice,
the floods lift up their…
It is good to give thanks [to confess] to the Lord, to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High;
to declare Thy steadfast love in the morning, and Thy faithfulness by night…The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord, they…
For He will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
—Psalm 91:11-13Then the devil took [Jesus] to the holy city, and set Him on the…
Lord, Thou hast been our refuge [dwelling place] in all generations.
Before the mountains existed, and [before] the earth and the world were formed, even from age to age,
Thou art…Satisfy us in the morning with Thy steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.Make us glad as many days as Thou hast afflicted us,
and…
I will sing of thy steadfast love, O Lord, for ever;
with my mouth I will proclaim Thy faithfulness to all generations.
Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance,
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise Thy name.
—Psalm 89:1, 15, 12 (Transfiguration)
This is a long psalm (52 verses)…
O Lord, why dost Thou cast me off? Why dost Thou hide Thy face from me?
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer Thy terrors; I am helpless.
Thy wrath has swept over me; Thy dread assaults destroy me.
They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in upon me together.
Thou…
Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God.
Among those who know me I mention Rahab [Egypt] and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia—“This one was born there,” they say.
(Psalm 87:3,4)
Saint Augustine took this verse as the inspiration…
All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
Psalm 86:9-10
(Revelation 15:3-4)
Many psalms, like this one, are prayers that assume God is (or ought to be!) listening, answering and guiding His people.
Incline…
You have shown favor to Your land, O Lord;
You have turned back the captivity of Jacob!Mercy and truth have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other!
(Psalm 85:1, 10)
How a psalm is used liturgically is often a vital clue to its meaning in the life of the Church. So Psalm 85…
How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord;
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere…
I would rather be a doorkeeper [outcast] in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.Blessed are the men whose strength is in thee,
in whose…
O God do not keep silence; do not hold thy peace or be still, O God!
For lo, thy enemies are in tumult; those who hate thee have raised their heads.
They lay crafty plans against thy people…
They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
(Psalm 83:1-4)
Like many of the Psalms,…
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for to Thee belong all the nations! (Refrain)
God has taken His place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods He holds judgment.How long will you judge unjustly and accept the face of sinners?
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of…
Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Raise a song, sound the timbrel, the sweet lyre with the harp.
Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.I tested you at the waters of Mer′ibah…
I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of…
Lord, Lord, look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine which Thy right hand has planted, and establish it.
(Psalm 80:14-15)
This is the Bishop’s prayer over the…
Pour out Thy anger on the nations that do not know Thee, and on the kingdoms that do not call on Thy Name!
Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted Thee, O Lord!
(Psalm 79: 6,12)
Like Psalm 74, this prayer too comes in the midst of horrific violence, most likely in…
The Lord awoke as one asleep, and arose saving us.
He smote His enemies upon their backs, everlasting shame He gave them.
He rejected the dwelling of Joseph, and He chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.
(Psalm 78:65-68 [LXX] Holy Saturday, Communion Hymn)He rained down on them manna to…
Who is so great a god as our God? Thou art the God Who doeth wonders.
Thou hast made Thy power known among the peoples; with Thine arm hast Thou redeemed Thy people.
And I said: Now have I made a beginning; this change hath been wrought by the right hand of the Most High.
I remembered the works of the Lord; for I will remember Thy…
Pray and make your vows before the Lord our God!
In Judah God is known; His name is great in Israel!
Psalm 76:11, 1 (Sunday Prokeimenon, tone 8)
These prokeimenon verses are also used this weekend for Forgiveness Sunday (Slavic practice), the 5th Sunday of Lent (Greek practice) and the 5th Sunday after Pascha (Slavic practice). Verse 2…