When and why is Psalm 115 read?
Psalm 115 is part of the XVI Kathisma. In accordance with ancient monastic traditions, it is read at Saturday services. During Lent, the book of Psalms is read twice a week. Therefore, the text of Psalm 115 is heard in the church on Tuesdays and Saturdays at this time.
During church prayer, songs from the psalms are read in Church Slavonic. During cell prayer, it is allowed to read Psalm 115 in Russian. This allows a person to better understand and realize the deep meaning of prayer.
The Orthodox Church recommends turning to Psalm 115 for protection from the deception and lies of those around you. This prayer should also be read regularly by those who are inclined to deceive their loved ones.
Orthodox Life
Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) told us which psalm you need to read in order to bring order to your life.
The words of Psalm 115 are beautiful and amazing. Their simplicity and precision tune the soul and mind to the highest spiritual mood.
“The human soul acquires qualities corresponding to its activity,” writes St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov).
Therefore, it is so important to constantly lead your soul from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith.
All “impressions that constitute the property of the soul at the hour of its death remain its property forever, serving as a guarantee of either its eternal bliss or its eternal disaster,” according to Ignatius (Brianchaninov).
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"Oh my God! I am Your servant, I am Your servant and the son of Your handmaid; You have loosed my bonds. I will offer you a sacrifice of praise, and I will call on the name of the Lord.”
Lord, You freed me from empty and unnecessary actions and words, from the incessant pursuit of things alien to my soul, and with Your hand took away from me everything destructive and destructive.
You filled with Yourself all the voids of my heart and showed me the light of Truth, giving me true joy and consolation.
You helped me throw out of life everything that was dragging me down, burdening my spirit, everything superficial and useless. And took their place. You took upon yourself my infirmities and called my will out of oblivion and madness.
You filled my life with meaning, becoming its main Meaning.
“I believed, and therefore I said, I am greatly contrite.”
I say this because I believe. And You are the only concern of my soul. My care. I regret the time when I did not answer Your call, when I was not full of You.
"Every man is a lie."
Feeling more and more Your presence and Your gracious help, I realize that in comparison with Your greatness, goodness, and truth, any person, even the best, is deceitful and insignificant. Therefore, my hope is only in You, Lord.
The relationship between the Creator and creation can never be compared to the relationship between one creation and another.
“God is both further from us and closer to us than any other being. He is further from us because the very difference between the one who has the fundamental principle of His existence in Himself and the one to whom this fundamental principle must be given is such that in comparison with it the difference between an archangel and a worm is insignificant. He is the creator and we are the creation. He is the original and we are the derivative. But at the same time and for the same reason, the intimacy between God and the worst of creatures is closer than any intimacy between two creatures,” noted Clive Lewis.
Love for God is inherent in man at his creation. This is the root of life, without which there is no life itself. Every moment is a gift from the Creator, our being glows only thanks to His energies and His will, our thoughts are guided by His power communicated to us.
The Creator is perfect. His creations are created with genius and mastery and are perfect in Him, His love. If we complain about our fate, our destiny, then in this case we strive not for more love, but for less.
Only faith in the Lord and His will and a conscious desire to submit to it returns everyone to God’s originally conceived plan for us.
This is the beginning of the beginning. The beginning of our union with God, opening the door to eternal bliss for the soul.
Recorded by Natalya Goroshkova
Interpretation
The psalmist in this song talks about the misfortunes and troubles he experienced, which his loved ones did not want or were unable to help him cope with. This disappointment in people taught the author to place his hopes exclusively on the Lord and expect salvation only from him. A more detailed interpretation of Psalm 115 is possible by analyzing all its verses separately:
- Verse 1-3: the author talks about how he found himself in cramped circumstances and the people around him not only did not help him, but on the contrary, they deceived and opposed him. He comes to the conclusion that human help is always deceptive and only turning to God can provide protection.
- Verse 4-5: The “cup of salvation” here refers to the “cup of thanksgiving” that the Jews raised in gratitude for healing from illness or salvation from trouble. By lifting the “cup of salvation,” the psalmist thereby makes unbreakable vows to the Lord.
- Verse 6-10: The author makes a promise to publicly glorify the Lord, to fulfill all the vows given to him. The psalm ends with a declaration of praise to God (Hallelujah).
Based on the interpretation of Psalm 115, we can conclude that faith in a person is possible only on the basis of deep faith in God. Only it allows hope to be born for a man disfigured by evil and sinful, who, in spite of everything, continues to remain the crown of the Creator’s creation and can, with repentance, take the path of truth.
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What does the text of the powerful prayer Psalm 115 tell about?
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The short text of Orthodox Psalm 115 clearly illustrates the state in which its unknown author was. Considering that in the second verse of the psalm “I said in my rashness: every man is a lie” (Ps. 115: 2), the word “rashness” was most likely used in the meaning of “frenzy, impulse,” then it becomes clear that this The song was written after disappointment in one of the close people experienced by its author.
According to the interpretation of Psalm 115, the troubles and misfortunes experienced by the psalmist, in which people could not (or did not want) to help him, taught him to place all his hopes only on God, and expect salvation only from Him.
Christian Psalm 115 is a prayer against deception
In the text of Psalm 115, the cup of salvation refers to the cup of thanksgiving, which, according to ancient tradition, the Jews drank during the Passover supper. In this case, the thanksgiving cup acts as a prototype: the author of Psalm 115 compares his state with that experienced by a believer in Jehovah on the most important and bright holiday. The phrase “The death of His saints is precious in the eyes of the Lord” says that sometimes death becomes deliverance, and that God often delivers His righteous from illness and suffering, taking them to Himself in time. Listening online and reading Psalm 115 is recommended for people suffering from the habit of lying.
Listen to the video prayer Psalm 115 in modern Russian
Read the text of the Orthodox prayer Psalm 115 in Russian
Hallelujah.
I believed, and therefore I said: I am greatly broken. I said in my rashness: every man is a liar. What will I repay to the Lord for all His good deeds to me? I will accept the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord before all His people. The death of His saints is precious in the sight of the Lord! Oh my God! I am Your servant, I am Your servant and the son of Your handmaid; You have loosed my bonds. I will offer you a sacrifice of praise, and I will call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord before all His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem! Hallelujah.
Psalter, text of Psalm 115 in Church Slavonic
Beliefs, the same words; I have greatly humbled myself. I died in my frenzy; every man is a lie. What shall I repay to the Lord for all that I have repaid? I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord; I will offer my prayers to the Lord before all his people. Honored before the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am thy servant, I am thy manservant, and the son of thy maidservant; I tore apart my bonds. I will devour a sacrifice of praise for you, and in the name of the Lord I will call. I will offer my prayers to the Lord before all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of you, Jerusalem.
Psalm 22
Psalm to David
1 The Lord feeds me and deprives me of nothing. 2 In a green place, there you will settle me, on the water you will raise me in peace. 3 Convert my soul, guide me in the paths of righteousness, for your name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk into the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me, Your rod and Your club, that comfort me. 5 Thou hast prepared a table before me against those who were cold against me; thou hast anointed my head with oil, and Thy cup maketh me drunken, like a mighty power. 6 And Your mercy will marry me all the days of my life, and make me dwell in the house of the Lord for many days.
Psalm 23
Psalm to David, one from the Sabbath
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness, the world, and all who live on it. 2 He founded food on the seas, and prepared food on the rivers. 3 Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? or who will stand in the place of His saints? 4 He is innocent in his hand and pure in heart, who does not take his soul in vain, and does not swear by his sincere flattery. 5 This one will receive blessings from the Lord, and alms from God his Savior. 6 This is the generation of those who seek the Lord, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. 7 Lift up the gates of your princes, and lift up the everlasting gates, and the King of glory will come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord is strong and strong, the Lord is strong in battle. 9 Lift up the gates of your princes, and lift up the everlasting gates, and the King of glory will come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.
Glory:
According to the 3rd kathisma, the Trisagion according to Our Father:
The same troparia, voice 3: Living on earth, my soul, repent: the dust in the grave does not sing, it does not take away sins. Cry out to Christ God: Knower of the heart, I have sinned, before even condemning me, have mercy on me.
How long, my soul, do you remain in sin? How long will you accept the change of repentance? Take in mind the coming judgment and cry out to the Lord: Know your heart, even if you have sinned, do not even judge me, have mercy on me.
Glory: At the Last Judgment I am convicted without verbiage, I am condemned without witnesses, for the books of conscience are unbent, and hidden deeds are revealed. Before you test what I have done in this public disgrace, God, cleanse me and save me.
And now: the misunderstood and incomprehensible is, O Lord God-gracious, a terrible sacrament done for You: the incomprehensible thing, having conceived, You gave birth to flesh, overlaid with Your pure blood: His O Pure One, like Thy Son, pray to save all who sing Thee.
Lord, have mercy (40) and prayer:
Lord Almighty, Word of the Eternal Father, Self-perfect God Jesus Christ, mercy for the sake of Your unconditional mercy, never separate Your servants, but always rest in them Yay, do not forsake me, Thy servant, O All-Holy King, but give me, unworthy, the joy of Thy salvation and enlighten my mind with the light of the knowledge of Your Gospel, bind my soul to the love of Your Cross, decorate my body with Your dispassion, pacify my thoughts and save my nose from creeping, and do not destroy me recklessly Take care of me, O Good Lord, but test me, O God, and understand my heart mine, test me and guide me in my paths, and see if the path of iniquity is in me, and turn me away from it, and guide me on the eternal path. For You are the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, and we ascribe glory to You with Your Beginning Father and the Most Holy, and Good, and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages, amen.
Kathisma fourth
Psalm 24
Psalm to David
1 To You, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul, my God, in You I have trusted, so that I will never be ashamed; let my enemies mock me, 2 for all those who endure You will not be ashamed. 3 Let the wicked be ashamed in vain. 4 Tell me Your ways, O Lord, and teach me Your paths. 5 Guide me in Your truth, and teach me that You are the God of my Savior, and I have endured You all the day. 6 Remember Your tender mercies, O Lord, and Your mercies, which have been from everlasting. 7 The sin of my youth and my ignorance do not remember; according to Your mercy, remember me, for the sake of Your goodness, O Lord. 8 The Lord is good and right; therefore He will give a law to those who sin in the way. 9 He will guide the meek in judgment, He will teach the meek in His way. 10 All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, to those who seek His covenant and His testimony. 11 For your name's sake, O Lord, cleanse away my sin, for it is much. 12 Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will lay the law on his path according to his will. 13 His soul will dwell in good things, and his seed will inherit the earth. 14 The Lord is the power of those who fear Him, and He will show His covenant to them. 15 I will lift up my eyes to the Lord, for He will pluck out my noses from the snare. 16 Look upon me and have mercy on me, for I am the only begotten and the poor. 17 The sorrows of my heart have multiplied, and lead me away from my needs. 18 See my humility and my labor, and forgive all my sins. 19 My enemies saw that they had multiplied, and they hated me with unrighteous hatred. 20 Preserve my soul and deliver me, that I may not be put to shame because I trusted in Thee. 21 I cleave to kindness and righteousness, for I have suffered You, O Lord, 22 O God, deliver Israel from all his sorrows.
