I don’t normally write for the Chancellor’s Diary on Mondays, but I want to wish all Canadian readers a blessed Thanksgiving Day, which is marked on the second Monday in October and coincides with Columbus Day in the US. The Canadian celebration hearkens back to Harvest Festival thanksgiving and isn’t associated with the Pilgrims.
Since the…
I love Thee O Lord my strength;
the Lord is my firm foundation [rock], my refuge [fortress] and my deliverer.
—Psalm 18:1
Psalm 18 perfectly illustrates how the psalms are woven into Orthodox liturgical life.
This first verse, for example, is normally said quietly by the priest as he kisses the holy gifts before the singing of the…
Short diary entry today. I’m driving up to Saint Tikhon’s Seminary in the morning to be there in time for the 75th anniversary celebrations early this afternoon and into the evening. Father Eric Tosi (Secretary) and Melanie Ringa (Treasurer) are driving in too. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon is already there.
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Patriarch Tikhon served the North American Church from 1898 until 1907 as a tireless missionary bishop, criss-crossing Canada and the United States to establish parishes and encourage the clergy and laity of the multi-ethnic Church over…
They track me down; now they surround me; they set their eyes to cast me to the ground. They are like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking ambush. Arise, O Lord! confront them, overthrow them! (Psalm 17:11-13)
Psalm 17 is familiar to anyone who comes to church in time to hear the Third Hour being read before Liturgy (the Hours…
As for the saints in the land, they are the noble in whom is all my delight.
I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
(Psalm 16:3,8)Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure.
For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit.
(Psalm…
O Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tent? Who shall dwell on thy holy mountain?
(Psalm 15:1)
This verse is used on the feast of our Lord’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. But the “holy mountain” is also the common name for Mount Athos, the 1000-year old community of 20…
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
(Psalm 14:1)
This verse is not so much about principled atheists, but practical atheists, which we all are in those dark moments when we stubbornly follow our own will and passions and eclipse God from our decision-making. Liturgically we use this verse at the 9th Hour on Holy…
1 How long, O Lord? Wilt thou forget me forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; illumine my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 lest my enemy say, “I have…
Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts.
May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue—
those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips…
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…