Psalter in Church Slavonic

Serbia

For Orthodox Christians, perhaps the most important section of the Bible (after the Gospels) is the Psalter, or the Book of Psalms. St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople in the fourth century CE, said that the Psalms were "first, last, and center" to Christian worship, and this is something that continues to be visibly lived out in the Orthodox Church.

In Eastern Orthodoxy, the Psalter is divided into 20 kathismata, or divisions, from the word for "sitting," since the congregation typically sits during the reading of the Psalms. These kathismata are further divided into three stases each, from the word which means to stand, since each stases typically ends with the "Glory Be to the Father" prayer, during which the congregation stands. The kathismata are read (often chanted) at morning and evening prayer each day, so that the entire Psalter is read each week. During Greek Lent, or the period of preparation before Easter, the schedule of readings intensifies, so that the Psalms are completely read through twice in a week. There are a number of other instances where the Psalms are read in the Orthodox tradition. For example, when an Orthodox Christian dies, typically his or her body is moved to the church on the night before burial. Friends and family then keep a vigil through the night, where they read the Psalter continuously over the person's body.

Within Eastern Orthodoxy, there are a number of different regional churches. These churches all hold to the same doctrinal beliefs, but the particular form of the liturgy might vary. One of these regional branches is the Russian Orthodox Church. When Cyril and Methodius traveled as missionaries to Monrovia in the ninth century CE, their desire was to plant an independent church that could conduct the liturgy in the local language. Therefore, the Psalter was one of the first books of the Bible they translated in the process creating a literary language now known as Church Slavonic.