Psalm 122
1. I was glad when they said unto me : We will go into the house of the Lord.
2. Our feet shall stand in thy gates : O Jerusalem.
3. Jerusalem is built as a city : that is at unity in itself.
4. For thither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord : to testify unto Israel, to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord.
5. For there is the seat of judgement : even the seat of the house of David.
6. O pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee.
7. Peace be within thy walls : and plenteousness within thy palaces.
8. For my brethren and companions’ sakes : I will wish thee prosperity.
Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God : I will seek to do thee good.
The version of Psalm 122 given above comes from the 1622 Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Although in the Orthodox tradition there is no special use of this psalm apart from the Presanctified Liturgy in Great Lent as part of the Antiphons, in the Anglican Church it is commonly used as an entrance hymn (introit) and as an anthem for the coronation of British kings and queens. The best known setting is by Sir Hubert Parry (verses 1-3, 6,7), composed in 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII.
Anglican use of this psalm draws on a parallel between Jerusalem and England, most famously expressed in William Blake’s 1808 poem Jerusalem (set to music by Parry in 1916) and inspired by the story that Jesus as a young man came to pagan England with Joseph of Arimathea. Beneath the poem, in his original handwritten version, Blake wrote, “Would to God that all the Lord’s people were Prophets,” Numbers chapter 11, verse 29.
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On England’s pleasant pastures seen!And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England’s green & pleasant Land.
I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand : Till we have built Jerusalem….The sentiments may be English and Anglican, but this is a worthy vision for Orthodox Christians wherever we find ourselves. Even in North America, our own “pleasant land.”
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“I was glad” was sung for Queen Elizabeth’s 50th anniversary celebration at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London in 2002.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YstlGy1Ld0
For stirring singing of “Jerusalem” on the last night of the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsGfg17eq1g.
Meeting of OCA Monastery Superiors
From yesterday evening and until Wednesday afternoon His Beatitude and I will be meeting with representatives of OCA monasteries for a conference on monastic life. We celebrated Divine Liturgy this morning in Saint Sergius Chapel.
Meanwhile, Father Eric Tosi and Cindy Davis are attending the Assembly of the Diocese of the South, which is taking place now in Dallas.