Part 4 of a talk presented at Sts. Cyril & Athanasius of Alexandria Institute for Orthodox Studies Symposium “Prayer in the Church Fathers” on 17 February 2013, San Francisco, California.
[CONTINUED FROM A PREVIOUS POST]
Prayer Rule as a Tuning Fork
Some have likened the human soul to a musical instrument which needs to be tuned or a voice that requires training. Father Alexander Yelchaninov wrote that “just as there can be a properly trained voice, there can also be a properly trained soul.”[1] This is a very beautiful image because it presents the act of communion with God not as an exchange of ideas or information with the use of words, but as a song. Imagine two people who are enjoying singing a song together. They both know the words of the song by heart, they are not trying to learn any new information from those words—they are simply enjoying making music together. And this music, this joy, this song binds the two souls together—musical harmony creates harmony of souls. Of course, we still are the people of the book, not of music, and we read that in the beginning was the Word,[2] not a melody. But Christians of all denominations have always used music and singing in their worship. The idea that we sing in the presence of God seems fundamental to the way we understand our relationship with Him. Even the Word through whom all things came into being[3] is best imagined as a song, as the harmony of the Holy Trinity, rather than a conversation.
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Phroneo to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
