We pray them. The Psalms aren’t a book we study, they’re the Church’s prayerbook, and we use them that way every single day.
If you walk into Vespers or Matins at St. Michael’s, you’ll hear Psalms chanted. If you pick up an Orthodox prayer book, you’ll find Psalms woven through the morning and evening prayers. Monastics pray through the entire Psalter every week. Most laypeople take longer, but the pattern’s the same: we pray these words over and over until they become our words.
The Psalms show up everywhere in Orthodox worship. Vespers opens with Psalm 104. Matins includes six fixed psalms every morning (Psalms 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, and 142 in the Septuagint numbering). The Divine Liturgy uses psalm verses for the prokeimenon and communion hymns. We don’t just quote them, we pray them, sing them, chant them. They’re the backbone of our liturgical life.
Praying, Not Just Reading
There’s a difference between reading the Psalms and praying them. Reading means you’re gathering information. Praying means you’re talking to God using these words as your own. When you pray Psalm 50 (51 in most Bibles), you’re not studying David’s repentance, you’re repenting. When you pray Psalm 22 (23 in most Bibles), you’re not analyzing shepherd imagery, you’re trusting God to lead you.
This takes practice if you’re coming from a background where the Bible is primarily a text to study. And it can feel strange at first to pray words written three thousand years ago. But that’s exactly what the Church has done since the beginning. Christ Himself prayed the Psalms. The Apostles prayed them. We’re joining that same prayer.
Start slow. Pick one or two psalms and pray them each morning for a week. Psalm 50 (51 in most Bibles) is traditional for morning prayer, it’s the great penitential psalm. Psalm 90 (91 in most Bibles) works for evening. Say the words out loud if you can. Let them sit. Don’t rush through trying to “get it done.”
The Kathisma System
The Orthodox Psalter divides the 150 psalms into twenty sections called kathismata (one section is a kathisma). Each kathisma breaks into three smaller parts called stases. This system lets you pray through the whole Psalter in a structured way, weekly if you’re in a monastery, monthly if you’re a layperson with a job at the refinery and kids at home.
You don’t have to use the kathisma divisions right away. But if you get serious about praying the Psalms, you’ll want a Psalter that shows them. It helps you follow along with what the Church is praying in the daily cycle of services.
Some prayer books include a simplified rule: maybe one kathisma in the morning, one in the evening. Others suggest just the six morning psalms. Find what’s sustainable. Better to pray three psalms attentively every day than to burn out trying to do too much.
Reading the Psalms Christologically
Orthodox interpretation differs sharply from what you might’ve learned in a Protestant Bible study. We read the Psalms as prophecy about Christ.
When Psalm 21 (22 in most Bibles) says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots,” we don’t just see David’s suffering, we see the crucifixion. When Psalm 109 (110 in most Bibles) says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand,'” we hear the Father speaking to the Son. When Psalm 15 (16 in most Bibles) says, “You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption,” we see the resurrection.
The Church reads the Psalms this way. The Apostles quoted the Psalms this way in their preaching. The liturgy applies them to Christ constantly. On Good Friday we chant verses of Psalm 21 (22 in most Bibles). On Pascha we sing verses of Psalm 117 (118 in most Bibles). The Psalms tell the story of salvation, and Christ is at the center.
But they’re also our prayers. When you pray Psalm 142 (143 in most Bibles), “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications”, you’re asking for God’s mercy in your own life. The Psalms work on multiple levels at once. They’re about Christ, and they’re about us, because we’re being united to Christ.
Practical Advice
Get a prayer book from your parish or from Ancient Faith Publishing. The ones published by Orthodox sources will have the psalm numbering we use (which follows the Septuagint and differs slightly from Protestant Bibles). They’ll also show you which psalms go with morning and evening prayers.
Don’t worry if some psalms confuse you or make you uncomfortable. Psalm 136 (137 in most Bibles) ends with disturbing imagery about Babylon. Psalm 108 (109 in most Bibles) calls down curses. These aren’t easy texts. Pray them anyway, and ask your priest about them. The Church has wrestled with these passages for two thousand years, there’s wisdom available.
If you miss a day, start again the next day. The aim is forming a habit of prayer that shapes how you think and speak to God.
If you memorize one part of Scripture, make it the Psalms. They teach you how to pray in every circumstance, joy, sorrow, fear, thanksgiving, repentance. They give you words when you don’t have your own.
Come to Vespers on Saturday evening or Matins on Sunday morning and you’ll hear how we pray them together. Then take that same prayer home with you. The Psalms aren’t just for church, they’re for your kitchen table at dawn, your truck during lunch break, your bedside at night. They’re for wherever you need to talk to God.
