A Psalter for Prayer: An Adaptation of the Classic Miles Coverdale Translation, Augmented by Prayers and Instructional Material Drawn from Church Slavonic and Other Orthodox Christian Sources

By Holy Trinity Publications

Reaching back hundreds of years, this volume is the first major English edition to include all the prayers needed to read the SlavicPsalter at home in the Orthodox tradition. The contents include many texts traditionally printed in Orthodox Psalters andnot easily found in English. With psalms and biblical canticles adapted from the classic Coverdale translation of the Book of Psalms and the King James Version of the Bible, this record has been carefully edited to agree with the original Greek of the Septuagint as well as with the Latin and Slavonicchurchtranslations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Holy Trinity Publications
• Release date: Oct 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9780884651987

Book preview

Printed with the blessing of

His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch

of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia,

and of His Grace, the Right Reverend Jerome,

Chairman of the Synodal Translation Committee.

1st Edition © David Mitchell James 2009

2nd Edition © David Mitchell James 2011

2nd Edition Revised © David Mitchell James 2018

ISBN: 978–0-88465–474–2 (Hardback 7 inch x 10 inch)

ISBN: 978–0-88465–188–8 (Hardback 8.5 inch x 11 inch)

ISBN: 978–0-88465–418–6 (Pocket Edition)

ISBN: 978–0-88465–198–7 (ePub)

ISBN: 978–0-88465–234–2 (Mobi/Kindle)

Library of Congress Control Number 2010917032

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Preface

The Athanasian Creed

A Brief Summary of the Faith

The Letter to Marcellinus

St. Basil the Great on the Psalms

Sayings of Augustine the Teacher, and Others, on the Power of the Psalms

A Commentary of Theodoret on the Fifth Psalm

Extract from St. John Chrysostom’s Panegyric on the Psalms

For All Who Wish to Chant the Psalter

How the Psalter Is to Be Said Throughout the Whole Year

The Seven Bow Beginning

Prayers Before Reading the Psalter

The First Kathisma

Psalm 1. Beatus vir, qui non abiit &c.

Psalm 2. Quare fremuerunt gentes?

Psalm 3. Domine, quid multiplicati?

Psalm 4. Cum invocarem

Psalm 5. Verba mea auribus

Psalm 6. Domine, ne in furore

Psalm 7. Domine, Deus meus

Psalm 8. Domine, Dominus noster

Prayers After Reading the First Kathisma

The Second Kathisma

Psalm 9. Confitebor tibi

Psalm 10. In Domino confido

Psalm 11. Salvum me fac

Psalm 12. Usque quo, Domine?

Psalm 13. Dixit insipiens

Psalm 14. Domine, quis habitabit?

Psalm 15. Conserva me, Domine

Psalm 16. Exaudi, Domine

Prayers After Reading the Second Kathisma

The Third Kathisma

Psalm 17. Diligam te, Domine

Psalm 18. Cœli enarrant

Psalm 19. Exaudiat te Dominus

Psalm 20. Domine, in virtute tua

Psalm 21. Deus, Deus meus

Psalm 22. Dominus regit me

Psalm 23. Domini est terra

Prayers After Reading the Third Kathisma

The Fourth Kathisma

Psalm 24. Ad te, Domine, levavi

Psalm 25. Judica me, Domine

Psalm 26. Dominus illuminatio

Psalm 27. Ad te, Domine

Psalm 28. Afferte Domino

Psalm 29. Exaltabo te, Domine

Psalm 30. In te, Domine, speravi

Psalm 31. Beati, quorum

Prayers After Reading the Fourth Kathisma

The Fifth Kathisma

Psalm 32. Exultate, justi

Psalm 33. Benedicam Domino

Psalm 34. Judica, Domine

Psalm 35. Dixit injustus

Psalm 36. Noli æmulari

Prayers After Reading the Fifth Kathisma

The Sixth Kathisma

Psalm 37. Domine, ne in furore

Psalm 38. Dixi, custodiam

Psalm 39. Expectans expectavi

Psalm 40. Beatus qui intelligit

Psalm 41. Quemadmodum

Psalm 42. Judica me, Deus

Psalm 43. Deus, auribus

Psalm 44. Eructavit cor meum

Psalm 45. Deus noster refugium

Prayers After Reading the Sixth Kathisma

The Seventh Kathisma

Psalm 46. Omnes gentes, plaudite

Psalm 47. Magnus Dominus

Psalm 48. Audite hæc, omnes

Psalm 49. Deus deorum

Psalm 50. Miserere mei, Deus

Psalm 51. Quid gloriaris?

Psalm 52. Dixit insipiens

Psalm 53. Deus, in nomine

Psalm 54. Exaudi, Deus

Prayers After Reading the Seventh Kathisma

The Eighth Kathisma

Psalm 55. Miserere mei, Deus

Psalm 56. Miserere mei, Deus

Psalm 57. Si vere utique

Psalm 58. Eripe me de inimicis

Psalm 59. Deus, repulisti nos

Psalm 60. Exaudi, Deus

Psalm 61. Nonne Deo?

Psalm 62. Deus, Deus meus

Psalm 63. Exaudi, Deus

Prayers After Reading the Eighth Kathisma

The Ninth Kathisma

Psalm 64. Te decet hymnus

Psalm 65. Jubilate Deo

Psalm 66. Deus misereatur

Psalm 67. Exurgat Deus

Psalm 68. Salvum me fac

Psalm 69. Deus in adjutorium

Prayers After Reading the Ninth Kathisma

The Tenth Kathisma

Psalm 70. In te, Domine, speravi

Psalm 71. Deus, judicium

Psalm 72. Quam bonus Israel!

Psalm 73. Ut quid, Deus?

Psalm 74. Confitebimur tibi

Psalm 75. Notus in Judæa

Psalm 76. Voce mea ad Dominum

Prayers After Reading the Tenth Kathisma

The Eleventh Kathisma

Psalm 77. Attendite, popule

Psalm 78. Deus, venerunt

Psalm 79. Qui regis Israel

Psalm 80. Exultate Deo

Psalm 81. Deus stetit

Psalm 82. Deus, quis similis?

Psalm 83. Quam dilecta

Psalm 84. Benedixisti, Domine

Prayers After Reading the Eleventh Kathisma

The Twelfth Kathisma

Psalm 85. Inclina, Domine

Psalm 86. Fundamenta ejus

Psalm 87. Domine Deus

Psalm 88. Misericordias Domini

Psalm 89. Domine, refugium

Psalm 90. Qui habitat

Prayers After Reading the Twelfth Kathisma

The Thirteenth Kathisma

Psalm 91. Bonum est confiteri

Psalm 92. Dominus regnavit

Psalm 93. Deus ultionum

Psalm 94. Venite, exultemus Domino

Psalm 95. Cantate Domino

Psalm 96. Dominus regnavit

Psalm 97. Cantate Domino

Psalm 98. Dominus regnavit

Psalm 99. Jubilate Deo

Psalm 100. Misericordiam et judicium

Prayers After Reading the Thirteenth Kathisma

The Fourteenth Kathisma

Psalm 101. Domine, exaudi

Psalm 102. Benedic, anima mea

Psalm 103. Benedic, anima mea

Psalm 104. Confitemini Domino

Prayers After Reading the Fourteenth Kathisma

The Fifteenth Kathisma

Psalm 105. Confitemini Domino

Psalm 106. Confitemini Domino

Psalm 107. Paratum cor meum

Psalm 108. Deus laudem

Prayers After Reading the Fifteenth Kathisma

The Sixteenth Kathisma

Psalm 109. Dixit Dominus

Psalm 110. Confitebor Domino

Psalm 111. Beatus vir

Psalm 112. Laudate, pueri

Psalm 113. In exitu Israel

Psalm 114. Dilexi, quoniam

Psalm 115. Credidi

Psalm 116. Laudate, Dominum

Psalm 117. Confitemini Domino

Prayers After Reading the Sixteenth Kathisma

The Seventeenth Kathisma

Psalm 118. Beati immaculati

Prayers After Reading the Seventeenth Kathisma

The Eighteenth Kathisma

Psalm 119. Ad Dominum

Psalm 120. Levabo oculos

Psalm 121. Lætatus sum

Psalm 122. Ad te levavi oculos meos

Psalm 123. Nisi quia Dominus

Psalm 124. Qui confidunt

Psalm 125. In convertendo

Psalm 126. Nisi Dominus

Psalm 127. Beati omnes

Psalm 128. Sæpe expugnaverunt

Psalm 129. De profundis

Psalm 130. Domine, non est

Psalm 131. Memento, Domine

Psalm 132. Ecce, quam bonum!

Psalm 133. Ecce nunc

Prayers After Reading the Eighteenth Kathisma

The Nineteenth Kathisma

Psalm 134. Laudate Nomen

Psalm 135. Confitemini

Psalm 136. Super flumina

Psalm 137. Confitebor tibi

Psalm 138. Domine, probasti

Psalm 139. Eripe me, Domine

Psalm 140. Domine, clamavi

Psalm 141. Voce mea ad Dominum

Psalm 142. Domine, exaudi

Prayers After Reading the Nineteenth Kathisma

The Twentieth Kathisma

Psalm 143. Benedictus Dominus

Psalm 144. Exaltabo te, Deus

Psalm 145. Lauda, anima mea

Psalm 146. Laudate Dominum

Psalm 147. Lauda, Ierusalem

Psalm 148. Laudate Dominum

Psalm 149. Cantate Domino

Psalm 150. Laudate Dominum

Psalm 151. Pusillus eram inter fratres meos

Prayers After Reading the Twentieth Kathisma

The Canticles

The First Canticle

The Second Canticle

The Third Canticle

The Fourth Canticle

The Fifth Canticle

The Sixth Canticle

The Seventh Canticle

The Eighth Canticle

The Ninth Canticle

Prayers After Reading the Psalter

The Megalynaria & Selected Psalms for the Principal Feasts

The Rite Chanted Following the Departure of the Soul from the Body

Reading the Psalter for the Departed

The Commemoration

The Rite for Singing the Twelve Psalms

From the Fathers Concerning the Cell Rule

The Hymn of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

Appendix: The Numbering of the Psalms

Preface

PREFACE TO THE 2011 EDITION

The idea for this Psalter began more than 40 years ago, when I first noticed that the Church Slavonic Psalter has special prayers after each kathisma, not found in English. And though, in the ensuing years, a number of translations of the Psalter have appeared for the benefit of English-speaking Orthodox Christians, only one—The Psalter According to the Seventy: that is, the Septuagint, by the Archdiocese of Canada of the Orthodox Church in America—has any of the supplementary prayers and instructional matter customarily found in a standard Church Slavonic Psalter. However, since the translation of that Psalter is in contemporary English, and some of the traditional content of a Church Slavonic Psalter is omitted, I decided to try to provide a fuller version in traditional English.

It should be pointed out that there are two types of Church Slavonic Psalter. The first type, called The Psalter Explained (Толкованная Псалтирь, Tolkovannaya Psaltir), is intended for the study of the theological meaning of the psalms and contains commentary on each psalm from the fathers of the Church. An example of the type of commentary that may be found in such Psalters can be seen in Johanna Manley’s Grace for Grace: The Psalter and the Holy Fathers.

The second, more common, type of Church Slavonic Psalter is the Liturgical or Augmented Psalter (Следованная Псалтирь, Sledovannaya Psaltir), which is arranged for liturgical use and for the devotional recitation of the psalms as an act of prayer. The present Psalter is of this type.

In addition to the psalms and canticles, a Church Slavonic liturgical Psalter typically contains the following elements:

•  A Rule of the Holy Fathers

•  St. Basil the Great

•  Sayings of Augustine the Teacher

•  A Commentary of Theodoret on the Fifth Psalm

•  Prayers Before Reading the Psalter

•  The Prayers Following Each Kathisma

•  Prayers After the Completion of Several Kathismata, or the Whole Psalter and the Canticles

•  The Commemoration

•  The Rite for Singing the Twelve Psalms

•  From the Fathers, Concerning the Cell Rule

Other materials that may also be included, depending on the edition, are:

•  The Athanasian Creed

•  A Brief Summary of the Faith, With Questions and Answers Concerning Theology, by Blessed Anastasius of Antioch and St. Cyril of Alexandria

•  Chapter 17 from The Typicon

•  The Megalynaria and Selected Psalms for the Principal Feasts

•  The Rite Chanted Following the Departure of the Soul from the Body

The Church Slavonic Psalter printed by Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, New York, in 1959 is a good example of this type. Since that Psalter is also probably the most widely distributed and accessible version of the Church Slavonic Psalter in the West, it has been chosen as the model for this English adaptation with the following differences:

•  The Letter to Marcellinus is included, because St. Athanasius’ text, complete or in excerpts, is a feature of a number of Greek and Slavonic Psalters.

•  The polemical material on the Sign of the Cross has been omitted, since the Old Rite controversy has been resolved.

•  Texts are given in full throughout, rather than simply using the customary Church Slavonic abbreviations.

•  Instructions are provided for the recitation of the Psalter for the Dead.

•  Letters of the Hebrew alphabet have been used in seven instances. The first instance is Psalm 118, which in the original Hebrew was composed of 22 octaves, each octave containing eight verses starting with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. A different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, therefore, has been used in the heading of each octave to remind us that the psalms were originally composed in Hebrew, and that we, as Orthodox Christians, are the direct heirs of the Old Testament faith. Similarly, in Psalms 24, 33, 36, 110, 111, and 144, Hebrew letters have been used to indicate that these psalms were originally composed as acrostics, in which each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

•  Likewise, the traditional Latin incipits of St. Jerome’s Gallican Psalter have been used as part of the heading for each psalm as a reminder that, for an entire millennium, the Christian West was an integral part of the Orthodox Church; indeed, that the Orthodox Catholic Church is not merely Eastern, but universal, and has a rich Western patrimony.

• The Hymn of St. Ambrose is included, by way of thanksgiving.

The Book of Psalms from the Miles Coverdale translation of the Bible, first published in 1535, has been chosen as the foundation for this adaptation, because of the sonority of its language and its aptness for reading aloud. Indeed, despite the fact that it was the first, its position as one of the most elegant translations of the psalms ever to appear in English remains unchallenged on purely literary grounds.

However, while every effort has been made to preserve as much of Coverdale’s superb language as possible, fidelity to the Septuagint text of the Greek original, which is the official text of the Orthodox Church, has been the chief concern. For that reason, this new text has been carefully compared to the Septuagint Greek text of Alfred Rahlfs, to St. Jerome’s Latin translation of the Septuagint Greek (the Gallican Psalter), and to the Church Slavonic.

The spelling of the original has been conformed to contemporary American usage. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint; versification follows the Church Slavonic; capitalization follows the Coverdale, except that personal pronouns relating to God are also capitalized, in accordance with contemporary Orthodox usage. In a small number of instances, wording from the King James or the Douay-Rheims translations was preferred to the Coverdale, as, for example, Psalm 41:2a. Translations were also made directly from the Church Slavonic, where necessary. Proper names and place names have been conformed to the usage of the King James Bible, from which Scripture readings are often taken in those places where traditional English is used.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Nikita Simmons for his consultation concerning the devotional and liturgical materials that precede and follow the psalms themselves, and for locating the Slavonic text of St. Athanasius’ Letter to Marcellinus; to Isaac Lambertsen for his translations of the prayers after the kathismata, the Rite Chanted Following the Departure of the Soul from the Body, and the Rite for Singing the Twelve Psalms; to Reader Gregory Levitsky for his translation of the Brief Summary of the Faith; and to Nathan Williams for his translation of the patristic commentaries of St. Basil, Blessed Augustine, and Theodoret. These have been subsequently edited for style, for which the editor accepts full responsibility. It would be remiss to omit mention of the Rev. Dr. Constantine Desrosiers of St. Xenia Church in Methuen, Massachusetts, who lent me his rare copy of the late Archimandrite Lazarus (Moore)’s The Psalms of David from the Septuagint (Madras: Diocesan Press, 1966), to which constant reference has been made. Archimandrite Lazarus’ translation was also used for the Commemoration. Reader Robert Stauffer, another cleric of St. Xenia Church, contributed immeasurably to the quality and consistency of the final text through his careful proofreading.

Finally, it is a great honor that this Psalter is being published by the Print Shop of St. Job of Pochaev at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, the same press that published the 1959 Church Slavonic edition upon which this English edition is based. I wish to express my particular gratitude to Archimandrite Luke, Abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery, for his faith in this project, as well as to the impressively competent team he has assembled to manage Holy Trinity Publications. Under their guidance, the original text has been further edited and redesigned for this new edition. Lastly, I wish to thank His Grace, Bishop Jerome of Manhattan, and His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, for their support in bringing this project to completion.

PREFACE TO THE 2019 EDITION

The continuing demand for A Psalter for Prayer is testimony to the value that Orthodox Christians place on the role of psalmody in their life of prayer. This newly formatted edition incorporates all the material from the 2011 edition in a size some will find convenient for personal use. Its chief advantage over the 2016 pocket edition is the inclusion of the Canticles and The Letter to Marcellinus. Aside from the correction of a handful of typographical errors, the attentive reader will note two other changes from the 2011 edition; the replacement of the Hebrew letters with verse numbers in Psalms 24, 33, 36, 110, 111, and 144, and a correction of the versification in Canticles Three, Four and Five. These changes were made for legibility and to conform to liturgical practice. I appreciate the opportunity to express my thanks, once again, to Archimandrite Luke and the team at Holy Trinity Publications for their ongoing support.

D. M. J.

Skowhegan, St. Gregory Palamas, A.D. 2018

The Athanasian Creed

Being the Confession of Faith of Our Father Among the Saints, Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria.

WHOSOEVER will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this, That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Spirit uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Spirit Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity, to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. Likewise also the Holy Spirit is of the Father, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other, none is greater, or less than another; but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together, and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

Concerning Christ

FURTHERMORE, it is necessary to everlasting salvation, that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the ages, and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the world; perfect God, and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting; equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father, as touching His Manhood. Who, although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ; one; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God; one altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven; He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

A Brief Summary of the Faith

With Questions and Answers Concerning Theology, by Blessed Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch the Great, and Cyril of Alexandria

Question: What is your Faith?

Answer: I am a Christian.

Question: What is a Christian?

Answer: He who lives in God, and abides in piety and good will.

Question: Concerning theology, how many natures do you confess?

Answer: I confess one nature.

Question: Of what kind?

Answer: Of God.

Question: What is God?

Answer: God is a blameless being, and the cause of everything; that is, He is all-powerful, almighty, and the underlying essence of every cause and nature.

Question: How can the Father be distinguished from the Son?

Answer: By their hypostases, inasmuch as the Father is unbegotten.

Question: How can the Son be distinguished from the Father?

Answer: By Their hypostases, inasmuch as the Son is begotten.

Question: How can the Holy Spirit be distinguished from the Father and the Son?

Answer: By Their hypostases, inasmuch as It proceeds.

Question: How do you believe?

Answer: I believe in one God, the Father; and in the only-begotten of Him, God the Son; and in one Holy Spirit, God, that proceeds from the Father.

Question: What is a being?

Answer: A being is something self-existent, which does not rely on another for its composition.

Question: How many hypostases do you confess in God?

Answer: I confess three hypostases: Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit.

Question: What is a hypostasis?

Answer: It is a person, one in essence, an image of the nature of the Father: the persons of God of which we speak are bodiless and without form.

Question: What is particular to each of the three hypostases, and what do they have in common?

Answer: Particular to the Father is unbegottenness; to the Son, begottenness; to the Holy Spirit, procession. Common to all of them are divinity and the kingdom.

Concerning Christ

Question: When you speak of the incarnation of Christ, how many natures do you confess?

Answer: I confess two natures: one divine, one human.

Question: What is the divine will?

Answer: The divine will was to cleanse the lepers, for Christ wished to demonstrate the divine will and action, saying to the leper, I will; be thou clean [Matthew 8:3].

Question: What is the divine action?

Answer: The divine action is for all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth [1 Timothy 2:4].

Question: What is the human will?

Answer: The human will is to ask for drink on the Cross.

Question: What is the human action?

Answer: The human action was to travel, to struggle, and the like.

Question: When you speak of the incarnation, how many hypostases do you confess?

Answer: I confess one hypostasis, for He is the only Son of God, and the Son of a virgin.

Question: In what manner is the Son a partaker of the Father and Holy Spirit?

Answer: He is a partaker through the divine nature, for He is wholly God.

Question: In what manner is He a partaker of man?

Answer: Through the nature of His becoming man, for He is wholly man.

Question: Why was the Son made incarnate, and not the Father, or the Holy Spirit?

Answer: So as to preserve the nature of His hypostasis; to be a Son to Him in heaven, and a Son on earth. Amen.

A Brief Summary of the Faith by St. Maximus, with Short Questions and Answers for the Orthodox Christian

Question: How many natures do you confess in the Holy, and Consubstantial, and Undivided Trinity?

Answer: I confess one nature.

Question: How many beings?

Answer: One being.

Question: How many forms?

Answer: One form.

Question: How many wills; that is to say, volitions?

Answer: One will.

Question: How many hypostases; that is to say, persons?

Answer: I confess three hypostases, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Question: Who was incarnate of the Holy Spirit?

Answer: The Son, the Word.

Question: How many natures do you confess in the Son of God, made man for the sake of us sinners?

Answer: I confess two natures: divine and human.

Question: How many beings?

Answer: I confess two beings: one consubstantial with the Father, in divinity; and a second, consubstantial with His Mother, in humanity.

Question: How many wills, so to say, volitions?

Answer: I confess two wills: divine and human.

Question: How many acts?

Answer: I confess two acts.

Question: How many hypostases?

Answer: One hypostasis, of God the Word.

Question: How many nativities?

Answer: I confess two nativities: the first, before the ages, ageless, bodiless, shining forth from the Father, as does light from the sun; the second, the great God was born of the holy virgin Theotokos Mary, pre-eternal, co-unoriginate, invisible, unreachable, indescribable in divinity, nameless, and knowing the hearts of all men. The holy Theotokos bore one hypostasis, known to have two natures: one nativity, ageless, of the Father in divinity, and within time made flesh of her, born in the flesh. And if those who ask of us inquire, whether He Who was born of a Virgin has two natures, we say to them: Yes, He is of two natures, for He is God, and at the same time He is man. So it is with the crucifixion, and the resurrection, and the ascension: these are not of a nature, but of the hypostasis. For Christ suffered in two natures, His passionate nature was crucified: He hung on the cross in the flesh, but not in divinity. And if the inquirers ask of us further, did He die in two natures, we say to them: No, for it was not two natures crucified, but Christ was born, who was God the Word, who was made man and born, was crucified in the flesh, suffered in the flesh, died in the flesh, while His divinity was without passions.

Question: How many natures hung on the cross?

Answer: Jesus in two natures; His passionate nature hung on the cross in the flesh, but not in divinity. He who knows this summary is an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile [John 1:47]. If you wish to know further what is God, and how to worship Him: hear, and listen, and understand, and you will know in truth the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One holy, one volition, and one will, and one wisdom, and one power. For one was not before the ages, and one was of the ages, but together the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Son is in the Father, the Spirit is in the Son, they are one nature, and one Divinity. And He divides into three hypostases, and is also in unison, by the essential word. For this reason we speak of the Father, and glorify the Son, and confess the Spirit, calling them God, for the divine nature is common to them: to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Moreover, I say, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, these are not common names, but are particular to each of the hypostases; for the Father is not called the Son, neither is the Son called the Father, neither is the Holy Spirit called the Father or the Son: the Trinity is ever called God. And I speak of three hypostases, that is to say, three persons, in one form. In three persons we speak not of three beings, neither of three natures, nor of three gods, as the disciples of the thrice-accursed Arius, but we confess one God, and one being, and one nature in three hypostases. And we speak not of one hypostasis, as the accursed Sabellians do, but we confess, and pray to, and honor three hypostases, and three persons in one form, and one Divinity.

The Letter to Marcellinus

of Our Father Among the Saints, Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria, on the Interpretation of the Psalms.

I praise your steadfastness in Christ, Marcellinus. Not only are you bearing well your present trial, with its attendant suffering; you are even living under rule and, so the bearer of your letter tells me, using the leisure necessitated by your recent illness to study the whole body of the Holy Scriptures and especially the psalms. Of every one of those, he says, you are trying to grasp the inner force and sense. Splendid! I myself am devoted to the psalms, as indeed to the whole Bible; and I once talked with a certain studious old man, who had bestowed much labor on the Psalter, and discoursed to me about it with great persuasiveness and charm, expressing himself clearly, too, and holding a copy of it in his hand while he spoke. So I am going to write down for you the things he said:

Son, all the books of Scripture, both Old Testament and New, are inspired by God and useful for instruction [2 Timothy 3:16], as it is written; but to those who really study it, the Psalter yields especial treasure. Each book of the Bible has, of course, its own particular message: the Pentateuch, for example, tells of the beginning of the world, the doings of the patriarchs, the exodus of Israel from Egypt, the giving of the Law, and the ordering of the tabernacle and the priesthood; Joshua, Judges, and Samuel describe the division of the inheritance, the acts of the judges, and the ancestry of David; Kings and Chronicles record the doings of the kings, Ezra tells of the deliverance from exile, the return of the people, and the building of the temple and the city; the Prophets foretell the coming of the Saviour, put us in mind of the commandments, reprove transgressors, and for the Gentiles also have a special word. Each of these books, you see, is like a garden which grows one special kind of fruit; by contrast, the Psalter is a garden which, besides its own special fruit, grows also some of those of all the rest.

The creation, for instance, of which we read in Genesis, is spoken of in Psalm 18, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handy-work, and again in Psalm 23, The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the compass of the world, and all that dwell therein. He hath founded it upon the seas. The exodus from Egypt, which Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy record, is fitly sung in Psalms 77, 104, and 113. When Israel came out of Egypt, says this last, the house of Jacob from among a strange people, Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion. He sent Moses His servant, Psalm 104 declares, and Aaron whom He had chosen. To them He committed the words of His signs and of His wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness, and