Among the didactic books, there is one special book, a book
of prayer. What Christian — not only Orthodox, but of any confession or sect —
does not know the Psalter, or at least the penitential Fiftieth Psalm? Here is
a book for all, for prayer in all its forms, for all occasions: in grief, in
times of hopelessness and desperation, when one is afraid, surrounded by
enemies, surrounded by unbelief and crime; in personal woes and communal
disasters; for tears of repentance after a fall, and in the joy after receiving
consolation; when feeling reverent exultation, the need to give thanks, to bear
witness to one's faith, to strengthen one's hope and to send up pure praise to
God when contemplating the greatness and beauty of His creation. In the
Psalter, there are many thoughts addressed to one's own soul, much advice, and
many words of consolation. Therefore, the exceptionally extensive use of the
Psalter in the Church of Christ is not surprising. Not a single divine service could be
conducted without psalms. Some of the psalms are read several times during the
course of one day's cycle of divine services. And besides this, the entire
Psalter is read through in church in the form of the kathismata not less
than once a week. Finally, all Orthodox services are also interspersed with
individual verses from the psalms, in the form of prokeimena, alleluia verses,
verses for "God is the Lord," refrains to stichera, and other short
prayers of petition, repentance and praise. Christian prayers recorded in the
New Testament very often borrow expressions from the psalms.
The Psalter is Christianized in the full sense of
the word. This means that the Church puts a Christian meaning into all its
expressions, and the Old Testament element retreats into the background. The
words "rise up" and "arise, O Lord," direct our thoughts to
the Resurrection of Christ; words about captivity are understood in the sense
of captivity to sin; the naming of peoples hostile to Israel as spiritual
enemies; the name of Israel as the people of the Church; the appeal to
slaughter our enemies as an appeal to struggle with passions; the salvation
from Egypt and Babylon as salvation in Christ from idolatry. In almost every
verse of the Psalter the Church finds a reflection of the New Testament, of
some event, or thought, feeling, or confession of faith, hope and love. By
citing verses from the psalms in their New Testament sense, the Apostles
themselves in their writings, have taught us to approach the Psalter in this
way.
Some psalms contain expressions and even groups of
verses which are not clear, not only in the Slavonic text, but even in their
ancient languages, in the original Hebrew and in the Greek translation; but
next to them are verses which are brilliantly expressive. How many psalms there
are which are completely clear and beautifully express our states of soul, and
express them in prayer so fully that it is as if the divinely inspired chanter
composed them not in some distant age, but in our times and for us!
Finally, there is one book among the didactic
which speaks not of wisdom, not of prayer, but of love. This is the "Song
of Songs," about the bride and her beloved. At first impression, this book
can appear to be just a beautiful, lyric song. Many liberal commentators, who
do not subscribe to the voice of the Fathers of the Church, interpret it in
just this way. However, if we read the prophets, we see that, in the Old
Testament, the image of the bride and her beloved is used in an elevated sense
of the covenant between God and the chosen people. If this book entered the
canon of the Israelite's sacred books, it did so because Old Testament
tradition understood it in a lofty, symbolic sense. In the New Testament,
without using the poetic form, Saint Paul employs the same symbol when, speaking of the husband's
love for his wife, he compares it with Christ's love for the Church. In church
hymns we often hear the same image of the bride and her betrothed, as a symbol
of the burning love of a Christian soul for the Saviour: "Thy lamb, O
Jesus, crieth out with a loud voice: I long for Thee, O my Bridegroom, and I
endure sufferings as I seek for Thee..." we sing in the dismissal hymn to
a woman martyr. A similar expression of the soul's love for Christ is also
encountered in the writings of the Christian ascetics.
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