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Friends-

Can anybody tell me about this publication? I'm looking to buy a Psalter. Has anybody here received spiritual benefit from the book? How do you fit it into your daily prayer?

Do tell!

Columcille

[ 05-22-2002: Message edited by: Columcille ]

The best service books I have seen translated, at least according to the Greek, come from Holy Transfiguration Monastery - Boston.

This book is not only a good translation but the wording is geared for chanting, it is laid out nice, large text for reading, has the prayer for the dead which is read at the end of each kathisma, and it even has a small glossary with the order of readings.

I typically don't use it privatley, most of my families prayers already have most of what we need inserted.

Hope this helps.

Columcille,

The English is King James style, a turn off for some. But besides this I can not see buying this translation and supporting an institution as rabidly anti-Catholic as the Holy Orthodox Church of North America, of which Holy Transfiguration Monastery is a part.

In stead, I would recommend the Septuagint Psalms by Baron Jose de Vinck and Father Leonid Contos. This translation is the one used in Byzantine Daily Worship, Byzantine Book of Prayer, and The Office of Vespers of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great. It is also the standard translation used by the Melkites and in most of the Ruthenian Sevices compiled by the Monsignor Levkulic.

I also recommend the Psalter by the Monks of New Skete.

Both of the above are good translations and very good for chanting. Both can be obtained from Light and Life. The latter can also be ordered directly from New Skete.

In Christ,
Lance

Lance, I don't see how the monks at HTM are "rabidly anti-catholic", they are Catholic.

Dear Columcille,

Oops, I have a copy of the Psalter according to the Seventy - it was recommended to me by Fr. Serge Keleher years ago!

The Jordanville Prayerbook, a gem, also contains some anti-Catholic references. The St Herman Calendar contains a feast in honour of the return of 3 million Uniates to Orthodoxy and so on and so forth.

I highly recommend this Psalter, however, as it is just a great translation.

Once you start reading it, this Psalter "takes over" your soul. After a while, it feels like Divine Grace is dripping on you from Heaven!

It also contains the 9 Biblical Odes at the back and not every Psalter contains those you know!

There is likewise an invaluable liturgical guide, indicating when the Kathismata are to be read in what liturgical seasons, which Psalms are read for which Hours etc.

There is also a method outlined for reading the Psalter over the body of a reposed Christian.

The format is user-friendly, the print is nice and big. You just pick it up and away you go!

It has become a kind of "Standard" Orthodox Psalter.

As for the anti-Catholicism bit, well, the RC's haven't been exactly "ecumenical" with the Orthodox in Russia lately, have they?

Get that Psalter - you won't regret it!

Alex

Columcille,

While the Holy Transfiguration Monastery and the New Skete publications are two excellent translations of the Septuagint psalms, I recommend that you get a copy of the “Grail Psalms”. The “Grail Psalms” are translated from the Hebrew but are the English language text authorized for use in the Roman Catholic Church. It is an inspired translation - understandable modern English and very prayable and singable. It is available in paperback for about US$10.00. Make sure to look for the original translation and not the inclusive language version as the latter has been rejected for liturgical use. This will allow you not only to pray the psalter but to eventually memorize it. If you would like a hardcover version I highly recommend “The Abbey Psalter” which is a beautiful hand written, larger print version. If you decide to choose this translation and have trouble locating either please let me know and I will find a source for you.

You can see and online version of the Grail Psalms at http://www.angelfire.com/il/psalter/index.html

Administrator

Alex-

Thank you very much. Thats quite a review. I believe I will purchase this based on yours, and Mr. Death's, recommendation.

Lance, thank you also for your input. I will look at your recommendations as well.

Columcille

Administrator-

Thank you also. I am familiar with the Abbey Psalter and you are correct. It is beautifully written. I saw it on Amazon.com some time ago, but the size was a bit too much. I believe its something like 12"x8", a bit cumbersome for holding in one's hands at prayer.

Thanks again!

Columcille

Dear Columcille,

Yes, and the words of the Administrator and of Lance are not to be taken lightly!

The Psalter according to the Seventy, if I might add a final Celtic twist here, would have been the Psalm arrangement most familiar to the Celtic Monks of old.

St Maelruain's Rule ordered the praying of the Psalms in groups of 50 with the 9 Biblical Odes following. Or else 3 Biblical Odes following each "50."

One problem I find with really modern translations is that they engage our intellect way too much.

The nice thing with a dignified, old style translation like that of Holy Transfiguration Monastery is that it seems to bring you into a state of contemplation in the heart.

Again, as for the anti-Catholicism thing, I don't know where you draw the line. The OCA canonized St Alexis Toth who often described Eastern Catholic missionaries as "jerks" in his diaries. Are they anti-Catholic and are we not to have anything to do with them? Yet, Byzantine Catholics who post here say they have his icon etc.

Happily, there is no anti-Catholicism evident anywhere in the Psalter according to the Seventy.

(Isn't Mr. Death's screen name a bit strident? Shouldn't he think about tempering it down a bit? )

Alex

Alex,

Fr. Serge recommended the Psalter According to the Seventy to me as well, and I plan to get it as soon as I can. It sounds like a very good Psalter indeed...

+Тимофей, рабъ Божій

Dear Rab Bozhey, Timofey!

Fr. Keleher, God bless him, used to hide his smiles when he came across my initial squeamishness about the icon of the Pillars of Orthodoxy, the St Herman Calendar etc. etc.

As I leafed through my first such calendar, I came across that feast of the return of the 3 million "Uniates to Orthodoxy."

"Father?" I asked with deep apprehension in my voice.

"Oh, yes," Fr. Keleher said gleefully. "I cross that out each year . . ."

Every Byzantine Catholic priest should experience an "Alex" at least once in their pastoral lives, don't you think?

Alex

Christ is Risen!
In terms of its regular use in prayer, the Psalter is broken out into 20 Kathismata (literally from the Greek, while sitting, which is how the congregation is postured while it is read) and its reading is spread out so the entire Psalter is read over the course of one week between Vespers and Matins, twice a week during the Great Fast.

The HTM translation is good, although I personally prefer the New Skete version. The Abbey Psalter is also good as the Administrator has so wisely pointed out. Several Greek Catholic service books for the Divine Praises have made use of this version. There is also a version translated to English from the Church Slavonic translation of the Greek by Father Shary/St. Joseph's Institute in 1985. This version has penitential prayers in it at the end of each Kathisma so that the Psalter can be used alone in continual recitation as in ancient monastic usage.
Subdeacon Randolph, a sinner

Dear Rev. Subdeacon,

You're too late, Columcille is going with the HTM translation.

Call it "double-teaming" by OOD and myself.

We Old Calendarists can be formidable . . .

Alex

Yeah, that's for sure - I caught my 9-year old son Nikolai lecturing someone on why following the Old Calendar was so important the other day...chip off the ol' block

My wife prefers the HTM, so you have some sympathy in our house. I'm just an old diak, looking for the most singeable version which New Skete seems to be. It's like the difference between Baked Alaska and tirimisu. Both are damn good.
Subdeacon Randolph, a sinner

I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned the new Psalter translation from the OCA Archdiocese of Canada. The title is "The Psalter According to the Seventy - that is, The Septuagint". I purchased a hard-cover copy at St. Vladimir's around Christmas time for $30. I think a soft cover edition is only around $20. Check their website [svots.edu] .

This particular edition is in "modern" English, although sometimes it seems to be a little too literal in following the arrangement of Greek vocabulary. A plus to this book is that it contains all the Kathisma prayers, the Nine Scriptural Odes, the Exaltations for Matins, and a whole bunch of neat stuff. Personally, I prefer to read and chant from the Grail Psalter (since it is very poetic and pleasing to the ears, and since it uses the Septuagint numbering) but I still recommend this new translation, even if you only use it for the supplementary material. It's worth it. Who knows, you may love it!

-David