Whatever faith a person professes, each has its own shrines. Be it the cross, the Bible, the Koran, the scriptures, even the holy cities. One of these shrines is the Psalter.
Holy bible book
The Psalter (or sometimes the "Psalter") is a book that is part of the Bible. In turn, it contains 150 in the Hebrew version and 151 in the Slavic and Greek songs. These prayer songs are called psalms. Sometimes the psalter is called psalms.
The Psalter takes its name from the Greek "psalthyrion", which means the name of a stringed musical instrument. It was this instrument that accompanied the singing of psalms by the prophet David during the Old Testament divine service. The authors of these sacred songs, as can be judged from the inscriptions in the book, were mainly Moses, Solomon, David and others. But, since the 73 Psalms are signed with the name of King David and the rest, apparently unsigned, are also his creation, the Psalms are called so: The Psalms of King David.
All psalms have the form of a person's prayerful appeal to God, but not all have the same meaning. So, some of them are praiseworthy, others are teaching, still others are grateful, and some are repentant. Some of the psalms are predictive (there are about twenty of them), they tell, in particular, about the life of Jesus Christ and about his Church.
Divine service
During divine services, as it was during the times of the Old Testament Church, in the Orthodox Church the Psalter is the main book. Moreover, for different types of worship, they use their own psalms, which are suitable for this particular service. Some of them are read in whole, and some - in parts. According to the Church Rule, during the week (the church name of the week) the entire Psalter must be read, and during Great Lent this holy book must be read twice during the week.
In the church tradition, the Psalter is divided into 20 kathisma, or parts, in between which it is allowed to sit. At this time, in the ancient church, the explanation of the read psalms was carried out.
Psalm
The singing of psalms is of great importance in the ancient tradition of spiritual practice, which is the basis of Orthodox asceticism. Psalm singing is one of the three main parts in hesychasm. The other two are weakening passions and patience in prayer. Psalm singing is just an integral part and a condition of cleansing from passions. By singing psalms, the believer can find the way to salvation. They are saturated with holiness and the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The Psalter gives a person the right direction of activity and is, in fact, a life law for a believer. That is why psalm singing helps to find the way to God, and therefore the way to oneself.
