On using the psalms as prayers

[Nina]

In one of the books of Geronda (Elder) Paisios, there is a chapter where it is written about how Saint Arseions of Kapadokia (Elder Paisios is the spiritual descendant of Saint Arsenios) used the Psalms as prayers and blessings for different occasions in addition to their liturgical use. I do not have the book in English to post the list here, however I found the list on line in this website (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/arsenios.html).

[Michael Stickles]

The book Unseen Warfare (Lorenzo Scupoli / Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain / Theophan the Recluse) also speaks of using the Psalms in formulating short prayers designed for frequent repetition.



[H]ow to achieve this constant abiding within, before God's face, with sober guarding of the heart? ... The method was invented of saying short prayers, which would keep the thought always within, before God's face, and would thus give it no chance of straying, nor of going outside. ... Thus, here is my advice: choose for yourself a short prayer or several such prayers, and by their frequent repetition arrive at the stage when they go on repeating by themselves on your tongue, and keep their thought focused on one point only - remembrance of God.

Everyone is free to choose his own short prayers. Read the Psalms. There you can find in every Psalm inspiring appeals to God. Choose from them those which are most closely related to your state and most appeal to you.


The above is from Chapter 50, "On Short Prayers". Chapters 46 through 53 are all specifically about prayer, and I highly recommend them (as well as the rest of the book).

In Christ,
Mike

[M.C. Steenberg]

I'm grateful to Mike for reminding me of the following from Unseen Warfare, which I've not read now in quite a long time:


Everyone is free to choose his own short prayers. Read the Psalms. There you can find in every Psalm inspiring appeals to God. Choose from them those which are most closely related to your state and most appeal to you.


One of the earliest memories I have of learning about the scriptures, was being told that the place of the psalms in the canon of scripture was assured by the fact that they are songs that sing to every condition of the heart. There are psalms that resonate with a peaceful mindset, and with the troubled; with the loving, and with the angry; with the fearful, with the confident. There is something for every condition of approach to prayer.

Many thanks for reminding me - in a roundabout way - of this!

INXC, dcn Matthew

[Anthony]

"So then, my son, let whoever reads this Book of Psalms take the things in it quite simply as God-inspired; and let each select from it, as from the fruits of a garden, those things of which he sees himself in need. For I think that in the words of this book all human life is covered, with all its states and thoughts, and that nothing further can be found in man. For no matter what you seek, whether it be repentance and confession, or help in trouble and temptation or under persecution, whether you have been set free from plots and snares or, on the contrary, are sad for any reason, or whether, seeing yourself progressing and your enemy cast down, you want to praise and thank and bless the Lord, each of these things the Divine Psalms show you how to do, and in every case the words you want are written down for you, and you can say them as your own."

St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus