A Psalter for Prayer: An Adaptation of the Classic Miles Coverdale Translation, Augmented by Prayers and Instructional Material Drawn from Church Slavonic and Other Orthodox Christian Sources

by Anonymous, David Mitchell James (Editor), Myles Coverdale (Translator)

Reaching back hundreds of years, this volume is the first major English edition to include all the prayers needed to read the Slavic Psalter at home in the Orthodox tradition. The contents include many texts traditionally printed in Orthodox Psalters and not easily found in English. With psalms and biblical canticles adapted from the classic Coverdale translation of the Book of Psalms and the King James Version of the Bible, this record has been carefully edited to agree with the original Greek of the Septuagint as well as with the Latin and Slavonic church translations.

Genres: Christianity, Reference, Nonfiction, Faith, Christian, Religion, Prayer

368 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2011

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Mark]

I am very familiar with the original Coverdale Psalter and a number of classic English Psalters. I highly recommend this work. The adaptations/corrections to Coverdale are excellent. The use of the ancient eastern 20 Kathismas and the traditional pre and post psalter prayers are wonderful.

For those unfamiliar with the 20 "sittings" of Kathismas, each is broken down into 3 sections. Any Layperson can easily pray through the Psalms in 20 days.

[Jackson Swain · Rating 5 out of 5]

It feels like this was made in a lab to be my perfect Psalter. An adaptation of the Coverdale I love so much, with the numbering and translation conformed where necessary to the Septuagint and divided into the 20 kathismas, along with additional prayers and patristic resources throughout. And all in a well-bound hardback with large font and thick pages. I can’t even think of anything that would make this psalter any better.

I initially bought the small pocket version, but I loved it so much I bought the larger hardback for home and now carry the pocket version with me on the go. The only complaint I can think of is that the cover and binding on the pocket version are a little bit stiff. Everything else more than makes up for that. 5 stars from me.

[Dcn Peter Markevich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't say I've sat down and read this Psalter cover to cover, or compared it critically to other English editions. But I have used this edition for its intended purpose - as an integral part of the Orthodox Church's divine services. The "traditional English" works because it's authentic. This is the Cloverdale psalter, adapted and amended in slight ways to fit the Septuagint Greek. The additional materials translated from the Church Slavonic Psalter, provided in no other English edition, are also a huge plus side of this Psalter.

[Josef Muench · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gorgeous volume. Very unique resource—Coverdale translation corrected to the LXX, but preserving the Latin titles, and including numerous patristic texts on the psalms, as well as other rites, hymns, etc. Some of the vocabulary takes some getting used to, but that’s not a negative. The prayers at the end of each kathismata are really profound and saturated with biblical allusions. I wish there were a resource akin to this for Lutheran users.

[Robbie Deacon · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Psalter for Prayer: Pocket Edition" is an Eastern Orthodox adaptation of the Coverdale translation of the Psalms. It includes the 150 canonical Psalms as well as Psalm 151. This version is very compact, has three ribbons, and a stiff leatherette cover. The pages are thick and there is no ghosting.

I've been praying the psalms devotionally for some time, and having a dedicated psalter with the psalms nicely organized is helpful. This translation is more poetic than the translations I use for Bible study, and I don't mind the old English (thees and thous are kinda fun). Some of the KJV-esque translation choices are odd, such as the use of "unicorn" in Psalms 22 & 92, but overall the psalms flow nicely. If you don't like the language of the King James Bible, you won't enjoy this translation.

The 151 psalms are organized into 20 "Kathismas," each of which is organized into 3 "stasis." Each stasis is 1-3 psalms. It takes about 15m to pray a Kathisma out loud, so if you pray one a day you'll get through all of the Psalms every 20 days. Orthodox monks pray through the Psalter every week, which would be 2-3 Kathismas a day, 30-45m of prayer. The book includes some information about different orders for praying the psalms and some bonus prayers, but I wish it included more instructional material; as a non-orthodox person much of the devotional terminology is foreign to me.

The first two Stasis have some short prayers at the end (basically a Glory Be... and a Jesus prayer) and the third Stasis of each Kathisma has more substantial prayers. These prayers add a lot to the practice of praying the psalms. The end prayers are penitential in their tone; all of them include an acknowledgment of one's sinfulness followed by a prayer for God's mercy. They're poetically done and are useful for meditation. This works really well during evening prayer when one is reflecting on the day. There is also one Marian prayer in each set of end prayers that those who are uncomfortable with invoking saints will want to skip.

Overall, praying psalms from this Psalter has been a welcome addition to my devotional life! It is a bit redundant to have a book of psalms if you already have a bible that includes them, but the division of psalms into sections and the additional prayers make it worthwile.

[Guy Mengel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Psalter for Prayer...

Wonderful book of prayer using the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Great for every day use! All the Orthodox prayers before and after formal prayer are included.

[William Work · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent translation with all of the prayers and troparions.

[Zaina · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those books you return to often, if not daily. I still prefer my pocket psalter but this is a nice kindle alternative.