Yes, absolutely. The Psalms are for you.
Not just for priests or monastics, not just for church services. The Psalter has been the prayer book of God’s people for three thousand years, and it’s meant for your kitchen table or your bedroom icon corner just as much as it’s meant for the altar.
The Orthodox Church has always understood the Psalms as prayer in its purest form. These aren’t just poems about God. They’re prayers to God, given by God. When you pray Psalm 51, you’re using the words King David used when the prophet Nathan confronted him about Bathsheba. When you pray Psalm 23, you’re speaking the same comfort that’s sustained believers through plagues, persecutions, and yes, hurricanes. The Psalms cover everything: rage, doubt, praise, terror, gratitude, confusion. There’s a Psalm for when you’re working night shift at the refinery and can’t sleep during the day. There’s a Psalm for when your Baptist mother-in-law asks again why you “turned Catholic.”
How We Pray Them
Most Orthodox Christians include at least one or two Psalms in their daily prayer rule. Morning prayers often include Psalm 51 (the great penitential Psalm) and one of the morning Psalms. Evening prayers might include Psalms 4 or 91. You’ll find these in most Orthodox prayer books.
But you can go deeper. The Psalter is divided into twenty sections called kathismata, and there’s an ancient practice of praying through the entire Psalter over the course of a week. That’s about three kathismata a day. During Great Lent, many Orthodox Christians pray through it twice a week. This isn’t required. It’s not a rule that earns you salvation points. But it’s a practice that’s shaped Orthodox spirituality for centuries, and it’s available to laypeople just as much as to monks.
When you pray the Psalms at home, you’re not performing a religious duty. You’re letting God’s words become your words. St. Athanasius wrote that the Psalms are unique because they give us the very words we need for whatever we’re experiencing. Angry? Psalm 109. Grateful? Psalm 103. Scared? Psalm 27. The Psalter teaches us how to pray when we don’t know what to say.
Practically Speaking
Start small. If you’re new to Orthodoxy or new to praying the Psalms, don’t try to pray a kathisma right away. Pick one Psalm and pray it slowly each morning for a week. Psalm 63 is good for mornings. Psalm 4 works well at night. Let the words sink in. Notice which verses catch you.
If you want to pray a kathisma, the traditional way is to stand before your icons, light a candle if you have one, and chant or read the Psalms slowly. Each kathisma is divided into three sections called stases. After each stasis, you say “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to You, O God” three times, then “Lord, have mercy” three times. It sounds complicated written out, but it becomes natural quickly.
The point isn’t to rush through them. Fr. Thomas Hopko used to say that if you’re praying the Psalms and not understanding them, you’re going too fast. These are prayers, not a reading assignment. Let them work on you.
Talk to Fr. Michael about adding Psalms to your prayer rule. He can help you figure out what’s realistic for your schedule, especially if you’re working rotating shifts or dealing with young kids. The goal is consistency, not perfection. Better to pray one Psalm every day than to pray a whole kathisma once and then give up because it felt overwhelming.
The Psalter is your inheritance as an Orthodox Christian. It’s been praying the Church for millennia, and now it can pray you too.
