A kathisma is one-twentieth of the Book of Psalms. The Orthodox Church divides the 150 Psalms into twenty sections called kathismata, and we read through them as part of our daily services and personal prayer.
The word itself means “sitting” in Greek. That’s what people did. When a kathisma was being read or chanted in church, the congregation would sit and listen. They’d stand at certain points for the doxology (“Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit”), but mostly they sat. It’s a practical name for a practical thing.
Each kathisma contains somewhere between six and twenty psalms, divided roughly equally. Well, mostly equally. Psalm 118 in the Septuagint (that’s Psalm 119 if you’re using a Protestant Bible) is so long it gets its own kathisma all by itself. The other nineteen kathismata each contain multiple psalms grouped together so they can be read in one sitting, usually about fifteen to twenty minutes if you’re reading at a normal pace.
How We Use Them
In monasteries and parishes that follow the full daily cycle of services, the kathismata appear at Vespers and Matins. Typically one kathisma gets read at Vespers and two or three at Matins, depending on the day. This pattern means the entire Psalter gets read through once a week. Every week, all 150 Psalms.
During Great Lent things intensify. The kathismata get added to the Little Hours (First Hour, Third Hour, Sixth Hour, Ninth Hour), and the whole Psalter gets read twice each week instead of once. It’s part of the Lenten discipline, immersing ourselves more deeply in the prayer of the Church.
Most parishes in North America don’t serve the full daily cycle. St. Michael’s, like many Antiochian parishes, serves Vespers on Saturday evening and Sunday morning Matins (usually as part of Orthros before the Liturgy). But even if you don’t hear kathismata read at every service, they’re still part of the Church’s rhythm. Many Orthodox Christians pray them at home.
Praying Kathismata at Home
You don’t need to be a monk to pray the kathismata. Plenty of laypeople include them in their personal prayer rule. The basic approach is simple: get an Orthodox Psalter (one that uses the Septuagint numbering, like the one in the back of most Orthodox prayer books), find out which kathisma is assigned for the day, and read it.
Each kathisma is divided into three sections called stases (from the word for “standing”). You read through the first stasis, pause for “Glory to the Father…” and maybe sit back down. Then the second stasis, another “Glory to the Father…” Then the third. At the end of the whole kathisma there are usually short prayers or troparia you can say.
Some people pray the kathisma assigned to Vespers in the evening and the Matins kathismata in the morning. Others just pick one kathisma a day and work through the Psalter over the course of twenty days. There’s flexibility here. The point isn’t legalism. The point is soaking yourself in the Psalms, which have been the Church’s prayer book since the beginning.
If you work a rotating schedule at one of the plants around Beaumont, you know your prayer life has to be adaptable. Praying a kathisma when you can, maybe on your lunch break, maybe before bed, connects you to the same prayers being said in monasteries on Mount Athos and parishes in Beirut and living rooms in Alaska. It’s the Church at prayer.
Why the Psalms Matter
The Psalms aren’t just Old Testament poetry. They’re the prayer Christ himself prayed. He knew them by heart. He quoted them from the Cross. The early Christians prayed them constantly, and the Church has never stopped. When you pray a kathisma, you’re praying with King David, with the Mother of God, with St. Anthony of the Desert, with every Orthodox Christian who’s ever lived.
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware writes about how the Psalms teach us to pray with our whole selves, our anger, our joy, our confusion, our gratitude. Everything’s in there. You don’t have to edit yourself or put on a spiritual face. The Psalms do that work for you.
If you’re new to Orthodoxy and wondering where to start, try this. Get a Psalter. Find Kathisma 1 (Psalms 1 through 8). Read it slowly. Don’t worry about understanding every verse or feeling something profound. Just read it. Then tomorrow read Kathisma 2. Keep going. By the time you finish all twenty, you’ll have read the entire Book of Psalms, and you’ll understand something about Orthodox prayer that no explanation can quite capture.
You can ask Fr. Michael for a Psalter if you don’t have one, or check Ancient Faith Publishing’s website, they publish several editions. The rhythm of the kathismata is there waiting for you whenever you’re ready.
