Prayer & Worship How do you implement the Psalter in your prayer rule?

Roosh

Roosh

Cardinal
Orthodox
I'm curious how some of you pray the Psalms. I'm still experimenting, but here's the little that I do currently:

Morning prayer: Towards the end I pray Psalms 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142 (The "Six Psalms)

Evening prayer: Psalm 4

Eventually I'd like to move to praying the entire Psalter every so X days or weeks.
 
Roosh said:
I'm curious how some of you pray the Psalms. I'm still experimenting, but here's the little that I do currently:

Morning prayer: Towards the end I pray Psalms 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142 (The "Six Psalms)

Evening prayer: Psalm 4

Eventually I'd like to move to praying the entire Psalter every so X days or weeks.
Click to expand...
I have the Ancient Faith Psalter* and I really like that, it's organized into kathismata and stases in the same order monastics read them during the week. During Lent I read at least a kathisma a day. During the Nativity Fast I tried doing more but I ended up failing - I hit my limit. Now I just read a stasis a day before bed.

Your method sounds much more conducive to memorizing them.

*This psalter is a high quality book as far as its construction and it's taken a lot of abuse without showing too much wear. Ancient Faith gets a bad reputation in more based Orthodox circles but this book is fine for my purposes. Some people may have issues with the translations.
 
I've written a bit about this elsewhere here and on Twitter, but what I do is pray one stasis (section of Psalms) in my morning prayers, and another during the evening prayers (sometimes two in the evening.) In both, I do this before the start of the numbered prayers, somewhat preserving the feel of where kathismata of Psalms are chanted in the monastic hours. The benefit of this approach is that you will read the entire Psalter every 1.5-2 months or less if you generally keep this pattern, and in just one year you'll (hopefully? Probably?) get a deeper appreciation of the Psalms and absorb them better when you hear them chanted in Church services.

The problem with the monastic style of reciting the entire Psalter in a week is that it's hard to adapt for the layman, who's usually just doing morning and evening prayers instead of all the Hours, so you wind up praying a couple of Psalms constantly while never praying the rest. I think praying the middle stasis in the middle of day and the third at evening prayers would be a great pattern, but I haven't managed to successfully keep this yet.

(For those unfamiliar with the Orthodox breakdown of the Psalms, the Psalter is broken down into twenty kathismata, groupings of Psalms; and each kathisma is further broken down into three stases, usually have 3-5 Psalms depending on the length of the Psalms. Each stasis ends with "Glory to the Father... Alleluia... Lord have mercy... Glory to the Father..." making these sections easy to distinguish in Orthodox Psalters.)

I use the Psalter According To The Seventy by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, which in addition to being in my opinion the best English translation of the Psalms, is the version used by my ROCOR parish for all of their services. Also available in a pocket edition, though I usually use the bigger one. HTM's translation is used for all the Psalms in the Jordanville Prayer Book and Horologion, so it will maintain the same consistency as the style of language in those books.

As much as I love this particular Psalter, you're probably best off using the same translation as the parish you attend. This will help you to memorize the Psalms and absorb them better than if you're frequently hearing different versions.

In ROCOR usage, the HTM Psalter is probably the most commonly used, though they're pushing A Psalter For Prayer in an attempt to get away from dependency on HTM. While not a bad translation, being an adaptation of the Myles Coverdale Psalter in traditional Anglican use but "corrected" based on the Septuagint Psalms, I find it's rather dull compared to HTM's (and even the original Coverdale translation) and people at my parish don't like it much. However, the supplementary material in this book is excellent, so if your parish uses this Psalter it's not a bad way to go.
 
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Roosh said:
I'm curious how some of you pray the Psalms. I'm still experimenting, but here's the little that I do currently:

Morning prayer: Towards the end I pray Psalms 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142 (The "Six Psalms)

Evening prayer: Psalm 4

Eventually I'd like to move to praying the entire Psalter every so X days or weeks.
Click to expand...

I'm not Orthodox but I am planning to attend Liturgy tomorrow morning at a ROCOR monastery near where I live to start taking some steps. I can answer from my current practice... 12 Psalms each morning, first reading the Psalm silently and making sure it's clear in mind, then aloud. I've been all the way around the book quite a few times now, and it's one of the best things I ever started doing.

After getting this discipline down I've been able to add readings from the Prophets and Gospels, usually 2-3 chapters from each, sometimes much more. I've been around all 4 Gospels now quite a few times as well.

I got the idea from one of the anecdotes in a book you recommended, "Wisdom of the Desert Fathers." Thank you for that.
 
Hermetic Seal said:
though they're pushing A Psalter For Prayer in an attempt to get away from dependency on HTM. While not a bad translation, being an adaptation of the Myles Coverdale Psalter in traditional Anglican use but "corrected" based on the Septuagint Psalms, I find it's rather dull compared to HTM's (and even the original Coverdale translation) and people at my parish don't like it much. However, the supplementary material in this book is excellent, so if your parish uses this Psalter it's not a bad way to go.
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I just got the pocket version of this. It's fantastic compared to the Ancient Faith Psalter I had been using. Like you say, the supplementary material and the prayers pre, post, and in between psalms are fantastic. Whereas before praying the psalms I felt like I was going through the motions, "A Psalter for Prayer" truly feels like I am doing a legitimate prayer service. Some of the language is clumsy in my opinion but much better than the modern English found in the Ancient Faith Psalter.
 
Roosh said:
I'm curious how some of you pray the Psalms. I'm still experimenting, but here's the little that I do currently:

Morning prayer: Towards the end I pray Psalms 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142 (The "Six Psalms)

Evening prayer: Psalm 4

Eventually I'd like to move to praying the entire Psalter every so X days or weeks.
Click to expand...
In Serbia a lot of confessors encourage people to try to include the Psalms in their weekly prayer cycle. It's possible to go through all 150 Psalms in a week, its not as difficult as one might think. The 150 Psalms are split into 20 "kathismas", 3 of which are read each day. Personally I have more time in the evening so I read one kathisma in the morning and 2 in the evening.

KATHISMA

Orthodox Church of the Mother of God, Mays Landing, New Jersey. A parish of the Orthodox Church in America.
churchmotherofgod.org churchmotherofgod.org
 
Here's a page that lists all the Psalms depending on the problem you're having:
1 (1) When a tree or a vine is planted, so that it may bring forth fruit.
2 (2) So that God illumines those who go to meetings and councils.
3 (3) So that badness goes away from people, so that they do not torment unjustly their fellows.
4 (4) So that God heals the sensitive people who fell ill from depression because of the behaviour of hard-hearted people.
5 (5) So that God heals the wounded eyes that were bitten by a bad person.
6 (6) So that God frees the person who has been under a spell.
7 (7) For those who got damaged from fear, from the terrors and the intimidations of bad people.
8 (8) For those who are hurt by demons or by perverse people.
9 (9 & 10) So that the demons stop tormenting you in sleep or with fancies during the day.
10 (11) For hard-hearted couples that argue and divorce (when the hard-hearted man or woman torments their sensitive wife or husband).
11 (12) For mentally ill people who have badness and harm others.
12 (13) For those who suffer from their liver.
13 (14) For a terrible demon, continually three times a day for three days.
14 (15) So that robbers or thieves change their mind and return having done no harm, and having repented.
15 (16) So that the key is found when it is lost.
16 (17) For a grave and unjust accusation, three times a day for three days.
17 (18) When there is an earthquake or other natural disaster, or devastating rain with lightning.
18 (19) So that women give birth successfully.
19 (20) For the couples who for medical reasons cannot have children, so that God heals them and that they do not divorce.
20 (21) So that God softens the hearts of the rich and they give alms to the poor.
21 (22) So that God contains the fire, so that no big harm happens.
22 (23) So that God makes milder the very rebellious children that bring sorrow to their parents.
23 (24) So that the door opens when the key is lost.
24 (25) For people who temptation troubles a lot and so brings continual problems into their lives, making them lose their peace and complain.
25 (26) When somebody asks something good from God so that He gives it without the person getting harmed.
26 (27) So that God protects the peasants from the enemy army, so that they do not harm the people or their fields.
27 (28) So that God heals those who suffer from illnesses of nervous or mental origin.
28 (29) For those that the sea makes sick and who are afraid of the rough sea.
29 (30) For those that are in danger far away, in the territory of barbarous and unbelieving people, so that God guards them and illumines the people there to become peaceful and to come to know God.
30 (31) So that God gives enough grain and fruit when the weather is not good for agriculture.
31 (32) So that the travelers find their way when they are lost and suffering from it.
32 (33) So that God reveals the truth to those who were unjustly imprisoned, and so that they are set free.
33 (34) For those on the edge of death, when they are tormented by demons. Or, for the enemy army when it brings danger and enters the borders with ominous intentions.
34 (35) So that God frees the good people from the traps of the bad people, who take advantage of the people of God.
35 (36) So that animosity disappears completely after arguments and misunderstandings.
36 (37) For people badly wounded by criminals.
37 (38) When the jaws have pain coming from rotten teeth.
38 (39) So that the people who are abandoned and depressed find work, so that they stop being in sorrow.
39 (40) So that the love between employer and employee comes back when there has been exchange of heavy words.
40 (41) So that women give birth with success when the child comes prematurely into the world.
41 (42) For young people when they get ill from falling in love, and one person gets wounded and is in sorrow.
42 (43) So that the people get free from the prisons of an enemy nation.
43 (44) So that God reveals the truth to couples when there has been a misunderstanding, so that they come into mutual peace and love again.
44 (45) For those who suffer from heart or kidneys.
45 (46) For the young people that the enemy because of envy prevents from making a family (i.e. from getting married).
46 (47) So that the employee or the employer find peace, when the employee leaves offended by the employer, and so that the employee finds work.
47 (48) When gangs of criminals go robbing and grave disasters are happening: to be continually read for 40 days.
48 (49) For those who do a dangerous job.
49 (50) So that the people who are far from God repent and return to God and are saved.
50 (51) When, because of our sins and in order to correct us, comes the punishment of God (epidemics of illness and deaths for people or animals).
51 (52) So that the hard-hearted masters repent and become compassionate and do not torment the people.
52 (53) So that God blesses the nets and they get filled with fish.
53 (54) So that God illumines the rich people that have bought slaves so that they free them.
54 (55) So that the name of a family that had been unjustly accused is restored.
55 (56) For sensitive people, whose souls have been wounded by their fellows.
56 (57) For those people who suffer headaches coming from big sorrow.
57 (58) So that things come in a helping way for those who work with good intention, so that God prevents every perverse action of demons or crooked people.
58 (59) For those that cannot speak, that God gives them the ability to speak.
59 (60) So that God reveals the truth when a whole group of people is unjustly accused.
60 (61) For those that have trouble in their work either because of laziness or because of fear.
61 (62) So that God relieves from troubles the person who is weak, so that he is not dominated by the urge to complain.
62 (63) So that fields and trees bring forth fruit when the water is limited.
63 (64) When a person is bitten by a dog or wolf that had rabies. (He was also for giving them blessed water to drink).
64 (65) So that merchants prosper, so that they do not speak too much and take advantage of simple people.
65 (66) So that the evil one does not bring obstacles in the homes and cause families to be in sorrow.
66 (67) So that the places where hens are raised are blessed.
67 (68) So that the women whose pregnancies fail manage to endure and become healthy.
68 (69) When there is severe rain and the rivers overflow, taking with them people and houses.
69 (70) For sensitive people that get sad from little things and come to despair, that God gives them strength.
70 (71) For deserted people who become uninteresting to others [lit. "boring"] because of the devil's envy and come to despair, that they may find mercy and healing from God.
71 (72) So that God blesses the gatherings of the new agricultural production that the peasants bring home.
72 (73) So that the criminals repent.
73 (74) So that God protects the peasants that work in their fields when the enemy have surrounded the village.
74 (75) So that the barbarous employer becomes peaceful and does not torment his fellow human beings, the empoloyees.
75 (76) For a mother who is scared during her giving birth, so that God gives her braveness and protects her.
76 (77) When there is no mutual understanding between parents and children, that God illumines them, so that the children listen to the parents and the parents show love.
77 (78) So that God illumines those who lend so that they do not press their fellows for their debt, and so that they are compassionate.
78 (79) So that God protects the villages from the robbing and stealing of the enemy army.
79 (80) So that God cures a person whose face gets swollen and all his head is in pain.
80 (81) So that God takes care of the poor who are in need and sorrow and are depressed because of poverty.
81 (82) So that people buy the products of the peasants, so that the peasants are not sad and depressed.
82 (83) So that God prevents the bad people who want to do murders.
83 (84) So that God preserves all that is kept in the house, and the animals, and the products of the producers.
84 (85) So that God heals those who were wounded by robbers and moreover got psychologically damaged from terror.
85 (86) So that God saves the world when plague comes and people die.
86 (87) So that God extends the lives of those members of the family that are still urgently needed by the rest of the family.
87 (88) So that God protects all those who have no protector and are suffering from hard-hearted fellows.
88 (89) So that God gives strength to those who easily fall sick and are physically weak, so that they can work without getting tired and depressed.
89 (90) So that God brings rain when there is a drought, or that the wells bring forth water again if they have stopped doing so.
90 (91) So that the devil disappears when he appears in front of a person and brings him terror.
91 (92) So that God gives prudence to people so that they progress spiritually.
92 (93) So that God protects the ship when it is in great danger at sea. (He was also for throwing blessed water at the four corners of the ship).
93 (94) So that God illumines the disorderly people who cause problems to the nation and bring commotion to the people, causing trouble by disorder and divisions.
94 (95) So that no spells cause couples to start finding reasons for arguments and fights.
95 (96) So that God gives to the deaf people the ability to hear.
96 (97) So that spells go away from people.
97 (98) So that God gives comfort for those who are in sorrow so that they stop being depressed.
98 (99) So that God blesses and gives grace to those young people who want to leave everything and follow God. [I do not know how succesful is my translation here. To my Greek ear the exact phrase that is used would make me think of people who follow the monastic life but I am not sure. --Trans.]
99 (100) So that God blesses and makes real the desires of the people that are in accordance with His will.
100 (101) So that God gives graces and talents to the good and simple people.
101 (102) So that God blesses the people who hold offices of power so that they help the people with kindness and understanding.
102 (103) So that the monthly flow of blood comes to a woman when it is delayed.
103 (104) So that God blesses the possessions of the people that they are not sad and depressed, but glorify God.
104 (105) So that people repent and confess their sins.
105 (106) So that God gives illumination to people so that they do not move away from the way to salvation.
106 (107) So that God gives the woman who could not give birth the ability to do so.
107 (108) So that God humbles the enemies, so that they change their bad intentions.
108 (109) So that God cures the epileptics. Or, so that God has mercy on those who accuse unjustly and they repent.
109 (110) So that the younger have respect for the older.
110 (111) So that the unjust judges repent and judge justly the people of God.
111 (112) So that God protects the soldiers when they go to war.
112 (113) So that God gives blessings to the poor widow, so that she pays her debts and is saved from going to prison.
113 (114 & 115) So that God cures the mentally retarded children.
114 (116:1-9) So that God gives blessings and comfort to the sad poor little children, so that they are not looked down upon by the children of the rich and consequently feel depressed.
115 (116:10-19) So that God cures the horrible passion of lying.
116 (117) So that families keep unity and love and glorify God.
117 (118) So that God humbles the barbarians when they surround the village and bring fear, and that He reverses their bad intentions.
118 (119) So that God shatters the barbarians and humbles their action when they slay innocent women and children.
119 (120) So that God gives patience and forbearance to those people who have to live together with crooked and unjust people.
120 (121) So that God protects the slaves from the hands of the enemy so that they are not mutilated before they are set free.
121 (122) So that God cures those who suffer from the "evil eye".
122 (123) So that God gives eyesight to the blind and cures the eyes that are in pain.
123 (124) So that God protects people from snakes, so that they do not bite.
124 (125) So that God protects the fields of the just people from the bad people.
125 (126) So that God cures the people who suffer from continual headaches.
126 (127) So that God brings peace to a family when there are arguments.
127 (128) So that the badness of the enemy never approaches the homes, and that there is the peace and blessing of God in the family.
128 (129) So that God cures the people who suffer from migraines, or, so that God shows mercy to the hard and indiscreet people who bring sorrow to the sensitive.
129 (130) So that God gives braveness and hope to those who start a new job and do not know it well yet, so that they do not find extreme difficulty in their work.
130 (131) So that God gives repentance and comfort with hope to people so that they are saved.
131 (132) So that God shows pity to the world when because of our sins there are continual wars.
132 (133) So that God illumines the nations and they become friendly and the people find peace.
133 (134) So that God protects people from every danger.
134 (135) So that people concentrate at the time of prayer and their mind is united with God.
135 (136) So that God protects the immigrants when they abandon their homes and leave so that they are saved from the barbarians.
136 (137) So that God brings steadiness to the person with unsteady character.
137 (138) So that God illumines the masters of the place so that people's requests are treated with understanding.
138 (139) So that God stops the temptation of sensitive people by blasphemous thoughts.
139 (140) So that God makes peaceful the head of the family who has a very difficult character and brings suffering to all the family.
140 (141) So that God makes peaceful the barbarian master of a place who torments his fellows.
141 (142) So that God makes peaceful the rebel who is doing bad; then even if he is a Kurd he becomes a lamb. [St. Arsenios was living in Asia Minor. Kurds, who were often soldiers, had a reputation among other ethnic groups for being brutal fighters. --Trans.]
142 (143) So that God protects the mother throughout the pregnancy so that she does not loose the child.
143 (144) So that God pacifies the people when they are in unrest so that no civil war happens.
144 (145) So that God blesses the work of people so that it is well accepted by God.
145 (146) So that God stops the flow of blood from people who suffer from it.
146 (147:1-11) So that God heals the people who have been bitten and wounded in the jaws by bad people.
147 (147:12-20) So that God brings peace to the wild animals so that they do not harm people or farm produce.
148 (148) So that God makes the weather appropriate so that people have plenty and glorify God.
[These were from St. Arsenios. The following two are from Fr. Paisios of the Holy Mountain.]
149 (149) From gratefulness and thankfulness to God for His many kindnesses and for the plenitude of His love, that knows no limit and bears with us.
150 (150) So that God gives happiness and comfort to our sad brothers and sisters who are in far places, and to those of our brothers and sisters who are sleeping and are even farther away. Amen.
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And organized by topic:
AGRICULTURE: 1, 26, 30, 50, 52, 62, 66, 71, 83, 124, 147, 148
ANIMALS, Unfriendly: 63, 123, 147
CHILDREN: 22, 76, 109, 113, 114
DEATH AND DEPARTED: 33, 150
DISASTERS: 17, 21, 30, 50, 62, 68, 85, 89
HEALTH, Physical: 5, 12, 28, 36, 37, 44, 56, 58, 63, 79, 86, 88, 95, 102, 108, 122, 125, 128, 145, 146
HEALTH, Psychological: 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 24, 27, 41, 55, 56, 60, 61, 69, 70, 80, 81, 84, 97, 100, 103, 128, 136, 138
HEALTH, Women's: 18, 19, 40, 67, 75, 106, 142, 145
LAW AND GOVERNMENT: 14, 16, 32, 36, 47, 51, 59, 72, 82, 84, 93, 101, 108, 110, 137, 140, 141, 143
MAGIC AND DEMONS: 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 33, 57, 65, 90, 94, 96, 121
PEACE AND WAR: 26, 33, 42, 73, 78, 93, 107, 111, 117, 118, 120, 127, 131, 132, 135, 140, 141, 143
PEACE (among friends and family): 10, 19, 22, 35, 41, 43, 45, 54, 65, 76, 86, 94, 109, 116, 126, 127, 139
PROPERTY: 14, 15, 23, 47, 83, 103, 124
PROTECTION: 9, 13, 34, 47, 48, 57, 90, 133
SOCIAL CONCERNS: 20, 32, 35, 38, 51, 53, 59, 77, 80, 81, 87, 93, 101, 110, 112, 113, 114, 119, 124, 137, 140
SPIRITUALITY: 3, 9, 24, 25, 29, 49, 50, 57, 72, 91, 98, 99, 100, 104, 105, 108, 115, 119, 130, 134, 136, 149
TRAVEL AND EMIGRATION: 28, 29, 31, 92, 135, 150
WORK: 2, 38, 39, 46, 48, 51, 52, 57, 60, 64, 74, 81, 83, 100, 101, 103, 129, 137, 140,144
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catalogueofstelisabethconvent.blogspot.com

Using the Psalter as a Book of Needs

catalogueofstelisabethconvent.blogspot.com catalogueofstelisabethconvent.blogspot.com
 
I also pray the 6 psalms(+doxology) with my morning prayers, and my priest recently recommended I also do one kathisma a day of psalms, so cycling through the psalter every 20 days. Then evening prayers include small compline, so 69 & 142. And obviously psalm 50 is included in both.

One reason I prefer the HTM prayer book over the Jordanville is that I like my morning/evening prayers to be more focused on psalms/services rather than the Jordanville style of having a list of ten or so prayers from various Saints instead. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just my preference and what I think I get more benefit from.
 
Tikhon said:
Can anyone recommend a good Psalter?


Thanks.
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Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Boston) Psalter has the best translation in my opinion, and is probably the best one to start with for that reason. I'd recommend their pocket Psalter for home use.

Holy Apostles Convent has one with a slightly more wooden translation but it has loads of great patristic commentary in the back.

And the Jordanville Psalter for Prayer is the only English Psalter I know of that has the troparia for after each kathisma included. Not a massive fan of their translation but that's subjective.

I use the pocket Boston and Jordanville Psalters daily(Psalms from the Boston, before/after prayers from the Jordanville). The Holy Apostles one I don't open nearly as often but it's good to have around for the commentary.
 
Roosh said:
I'm curious how some of you pray the Psalms. I'm still experimenting, but here's the little that I do currently:

Morning prayer: Towards the end I pray Psalms 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142 (The "Six Psalms)

Evening prayer: Psalm 4

Eventually I'd like to move to praying the entire Psalter every so X days or weeks.
Click to expand...
You probably know this by now since this post is a year old. But if you buy the green Holy Trinity Monastery psalter, it will have a reading rule towards the back of the book. If you follow the rule you’ll be reading the entire psalter once per week. Twice per week during Great Lent if you have the fortitude.
 
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