The Orthodox Psalter
This section sets out the peculiar shape of the Orthodox Psalter: the Septuagint text and its numbering (which differs from the Hebrew by a consistent, mappable off-by-one plus two splits and two joins), the division of the 150 psalms into twenty kathismata and their stases for liturgical reading, the supernumerary Psalm 151, and the Nine Biblical Odes appended to the Psalter.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox
Overview
The Orthodox Christian who opens a Psalter finds a book organized differently from a Western Bible. Its text is the Septuagint, not the Hebrew Masoretic Text, and so its psalm numbers run one behind the familiar ones for most of the book; it is divided not only into 150 psalms but into twenty kathismata for reading through the week; it contains a 151st psalm absent from the Hebrew; and it carries, appended after the psalms, the Nine Biblical Odes on which the canons of Matins are modelled. This section explains each feature precisely. The first file gives the LXX/Hebrew numbering concordance in full and explains why the Church follows the Greek. The second sets out the kathismata and their stases, Psalm 151, and the Nine Odes.
Files
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| the-septuagint-psalter-and-the-numbering.md | The LXX as the Church’s Psalter; the precise concordance of the Greek and Hebrew numbering — the off-by-one, the two splits, the two joins |
| the-kathismata-psalm-151-and-the-nine-odes.md | The twenty kathismata and their three stases; the supernumerary Psalm 151; the Nine Biblical Odes appended to the Psalter |
See Also
- The Prayerbook of the Church — why this book is the Church’s prayerbook
- The Psalms in the Services — how the kathismata and fixed psalms fill the office
- The Orthodox Scriptures — the Septuagint as the Orthodox Old Testament
- Orthodoxy: Holy Scripture — the canon and the Greek text