Psalter?

[peregrinus2017]

So when I came to accept Orthodoxy, I started my prayer life fresh, using an Orthodox prayer book as the main focus of my prayer. I really feel the need to reincorporate singing of psalms, so I ordered A psalter for prayer from HTM, same place I got my prayer book. I just cannot get along with it. The language just seems so clunky and non chantable. I realise that English isn't a very chant friendly language. Is there something out there that might work better for me? The ancient faith psalter says in its description that it is 'eminently singable'. Is this the case? Does anyone have any other recommendations? Thank you.

 

[gzt]

I agree that theirs is often barely English. I also don't support their schismatic monastery.

Psalter for Prayer is an adaptation of the Coverdale, it's a very nice book and the translation is much more reasonable. A Psalter for Prayer

(Edit: the above is actually a bit confused - you say psalter for prayer and HTM - I presumed you meant the HTM Psalter and not the Coverdale one, in which case I was recommending the Coverdale. The HTM one is far worse)

I haven't gotten my hands on the Ancient Faith Psalter, but what I've been looks good: The Ancient Faith Psalter The language seems much better, but, again, not having gotten my grubby mitts on it, I don't know how it handles everything. (Edit: yes, I do see you mention this - the excerpt I see, though, looks good)

 

[archer75]

The HTM translation is just awful. Clunky, unclear, ugly. Don't give up.

 

[archer75]

I'll send my HTM psalter to anyone who wants it, btw.

 

[Anhelyna]

I use the Canadian OCA Palter - ''The Psalter According to the Seventy that is the Septuagint
ISBN 0-9688818-0-7

I've been using it for several years - and my GodPapa uses it in the Liturgical Texts for Services that he prepares

 

[ArmyMatt]

I have leafed through the Ancient Faith Psalter and it looks pretty good to me, do I say go for it.

 

[truefiction1]

So when I came to accept Orthodoxy, I started my prayer life fresh, using an Orthodox prayer book as the main focus of my prayer. I really feel the need to reincorporate singing of psalms, so I ordered A psalter for prayer from HTM, same place I got my prayer book. I just cannot get along with it. The language just seems so clunky and non chantable. I realise that English isn't a very chant friendly language. Is there something out there that might work better for me? The ancient faith psalter says in its description that it is 'eminently singable'. Is this the case? Does anyone have any other recommendations? Thank you.

I like the Ancient Faith Psalter the best. It "flows" for me like sung prayer rolling off the lips. I also have the Psalter for Prayer, but I don't use that one for chanting the Psalms but only as a reference for prayers said before and following the chanting of Psalms.

 

[peregrinus2017]

Thank you for all the replies. I will probably get a copy of the ancient faith psalter and see how that goes.

Anhelyna, do you know where I might find a copy of that psalter? I am interested, but my googlefu doesn't seem up to locating it.

Just as a point of interest, if you go to the ancient faith store ebook section, the samples of the books there seem to be fairly extensive. You can read fully the first nine psalms of the ancient faith psalter, enough to get an idea of the language and structure. I am going to purchase this, but would like to find the psalter Anhelyna mentioned.

 

[All4Christ]

Here is a page from the Ancient Faith Psalter

 

[Ioustinos]

I have the HTM Psalter and agree that the wording is just very difficult. I trip over it so much whenever I would try to use it so I looked for other Psalters like you.

The Psalter I use is the Kathisma Psalter with Canticles from the Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery in Otego, NY. It is cheap, $15, and comes with a spiral binding so it is easy to use and lays flat. The English is modern and flows well. I recommend giving it a shot.

I am at work at the moment but if you are interested I can upload a sample page tomorrow if you are interested in checking it out. Just let me know.

 

[archer75]

Let's keep talking about psalters! Good topic!

I have a marked-up Book of Common Prayer adapted for Ortho-use, but someday, when I'm loaded down with cash, I'd like to get another with an idiom that I like and the texts marked up as kathismas and so on. I read these suggestions with delight!

 

[Ioustinos]

I use the Canadian OCA Palter - ''The Psalter According to the Seventy that is the Septuagint
ISBN 0-9688818-0-7

I've been using it for several years - and my GodPapa uses it in the Liturgical Texts for Services that he prepares

I've been interested in checking this version out but I haven't been able to find anywhere that sells copies.

 

[truefiction1]

I began chanting the Psalter daily as a new rule I'd decided to take on. It is powerful to pray in the very words given by the Holy Spirit for this purpose. I have a couple of versions of the Psalms on Kindle. This makes it ideal for chanting in the Church when all the lights are off at night, just as long as the battery doesn't die.

 

[Anhelyna]

Thank you for all the replies. I will probably get a copy of the ancient faith psalter and see how that goes.

Anhelyna, do you know where I might find a copy of that psalter? I am interested, but my googlefu doesn't seem up to locating it.

I know when we were told about it we ordered copies from the actual publishers

This is what info I can get from the book itself

Copyright 2001 by the Archdiocese of Canada Orthodox Church in Canada
All rights reserved - [then the ISBN number]
Published for the Archdiocese of Canada Orthodox Church in America by
TheWORDsmith
"where there's the WORD, there's the WAY"
Westport, Ontario

National Library of Canada Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Orthodox Church in America, Archdiocese of Canada. Psalter
The Psalter according to the Seventy: that is the Septuagint
Ecclesiastical text
ISBN 0-9688818-0-7
I. Title
BX370.A5 2001 223'.205209 C2001-900522-9

Best of luck ! It's not a big book - roughly 8.75x5.75x1.25 ins but beautifully arranged. I can peacefully stand in Church and chant read a complete Kathisma when necessary without feeling my arms are ready to drop off or being in danger of dropping the book because it's too heavy

I have the dreadful feeling it may have been a limited print run - but it could well be worth contacting the publishers - it was in both hard back and paperback versions when we got it

 

[archer75]

Any decisions from the OP here?

 

[peregrinus2017]

I ordered an electronic copy of the ancient faith psalter. It has been a little less than two weeks, so I haven't quite worked through it twice. It has pretty good flow, though I find that I need to carefully attend to the wording in places. I have never prayed the psalms with such structure before, and am still working out how best to incorporate it. I have been chanting the first daily kathisma after my morning prayers, and the third before my evening prayers, and fitting the second somewhere in between during the day. I have found that it is so much better if I can sing them out with a good amount of volume, but this is not something I can do in the morning or evening so as not to disturb my wife and children. Letting loose when I am alone in the car waiting for someone is great though. On a related note, can someone recommend any commentaries on the psalms by the early church fathers? There are many parts that I would like to understand better.

 

[All4Christ]

I enjoy the Ancient Faith Psalter audible book as well...it’s great for driving in the car.

 

[jamesdm49]

I ordered an electronic copy of the ancient faith psalter. It has been a little less than two weeks, so I haven't quite worked through it twice. It has pretty good flow, though I find that I need to carefully attend to the wording in places. I have never prayed the psalms with such structure before, and am still working out how best to incorporate it. I have been chanting the first daily kathisma after my morning prayers, and the third before my evening prayers, and fitting the second somewhere in between during the day. I have found that it is so much better if I can sing them out with a good amount of volume, but this is not something I can do in the morning or evening so as not to disturb my wife and children. Letting loose when I am alone in the car waiting for someone is great though. On a related note, can someone recommend any commentaries on the psalms by the early church fathers? There are many parts that I would like to understand better.

You should just be aware that the Ancient Faith Psalter is a quite idiosyncratic version of an Orthodox psalter. Not only is it based on the Masoretic Hebrew, rather than the Septuagint Greek, which perhaps explains why it entirely omits Ps 151, but, more seriously, the psalm inscriptions are omitted. Besides being the subject of a commentary by St. Gregory of Nyssa, called “Treatise on the Inscriptions of the Psalms”, the psalm inscriptions are found in all the manuscript sources, both Greek and Hebrew. As for commentaries, a good place to start is a terrific book by Johanna Manley, called “Grace for Grace: the Psalter and the Holy Fathers“, which provides commentaries from the fathers of the Church for the entire psalter. It might seem expensive at $80, but when you think how many books you would have to buy to find all these commentaries, and to have them so handily arranged in one place, it’s a great bargain.

 

[archer75]

You should just be aware that the Ancient Faith Psalter is a quite idiosyncratic version of an Orthodox psalter. Not only is it based on the Masoretic Hebrew, rather than the Septuagint Greek, which perhaps explains why it entirely omits Ps 151, but, more seriously, the psalm inscriptions are omitted. Besides being the subject of a commentary by St. Gregory of Nyssa, called “Treatise on the Inscriptions of the Psalms”, the psalm inscriptions are found in all the manuscript sources, both Greek and Hebrew. As for commentaries, a good place to start is a terrific book by Johanna Manley, called “Grace for Grace: the Psalter and the Orthodox Church“, which provides verse by verse commentaries from the fathers of the Church for the entire psalter. It might seem expensive at $80, but when you think how many books you would have to buy to find all these commentaries, and to have them so handily arranged in one place, it’s a great bargain.

Is it suitable for use as a Psalter, too?

 

[jamesdm49]

If you’re asking about Joanna Manley’s “Grace for Grace”, she used the Boston Psalter as her base text. Not my favorite, but it was the best option at the time, and certainly still in wide use.