“Singing” is one of the ways we speak to God in our prayers.
Chanting helps us especially in the struggle we are waging to speak to the Lord. “Nothing else elevates the soul, gives it wings, frees it from the earthly, frees it from the bonds of the body, makes it live spiritually and casts aside the worries of life like harmonious melodies and rhythmic divine praise… Spiritual psalms are of great benefit, abundant in reward, and an abundance of sanctification, so that chanting becomes the foundation of spiritual life. The words of the hymns purify the soul on the one hand, and the Holy Spirit blows quickly and visits every chant on the other hand.” “He who chants with purity, as St. John says, renews himself and becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
It is not enough for the soul that chants in its quest to attract the grace of the Holy Spirit to chant according to the rules of music, but it must also be in harmony with the angelic hymns. Chrysostom emphasizes with regard to church chanting, saying: “It is not a sin at all for an old man or a young man or a person with a discordant voice to not understand anything at all about chanting and rhythm. What we ask for here is a sober soul, an untroubled mind, a contrite heart, a pure thought and a clear conscience.”
“Sing to God, you righteous ones,” exhorts the prophet David. St. Basil the Great observes: “Christians with pure hearts and all righteous ones, that is, believers in God, can sing to God, for they have tuned their spiritual rhythms appropriately… Purify your hearts so that you may bear spiritual fruits, so that when you have become righteous you will then be able to sing to God with wisdom and understanding.”
We can glorify God without ceasing: “The soul is a musician, a skilled artist, but the body is a musical instrument, like a lyre… And God, intending to teach you that you must always praise and bless him, has always made the musical instrument.”
But in the Orthodox Church, musical instruments are not used. Every believer is a divinely made instrument. If the player (i.e. the soul) keeps the instrument pure, then it is ready and suitable for glorifying God, because honorable praise is born of piety, nourished by a good conscience, and accepted by God in heaven, as St. John Chrysostom says.”
From the bulletin of the Diocese of Latakia
15/1/2006
