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…
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)
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…
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…
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)
Psalm 51 is used more than any other…
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)
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…
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…
We ponder your steadfast love [Hesed], O God, in the midst of your temple.
(Psalm 48:9 RSV)
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…
God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
(Psalm 47:5)
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…
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…
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…
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…
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)
The use of these verses at the Sunday resurrection matins during the year shows that the psalm points…
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…
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)
Spiritual thirst is at the heart of the Christian life. Many translations of Psalm 42 use pants, “as a deer…
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…
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…
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…
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…
“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…