It would be long, beloved, to relate each thing that the history of the saints contains, especially since the matter requires that some things from the New Testament should be brought forward for the confirmation of the old and for your instruction. Therefore you will find first Zacharias, the father of the great John, after that long silence prophesying by way of a hymn. Nor did Elizabeth, long barren, after the son promised was brought forth, cease to magnify God from her very soul. When Christ was born on earth, the host of angels sounded forth praise: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke 2:14). The children, proclaiming in the temple, cried out: Hosanna to the Son of David (Matt. 21:15);
nor, when the Pharisees murmured with envy, did the Lord shut the mouths of the innocent, but rather opened them, saying to them: Have you not read the Scripture: Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? And if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out (Matt. 21:16, Luke 19:40). The Lord himself, a teacher in words, a consummator in deeds, in order to approve the most pleasing ministry of hymns, after a hymn was said went out with his disciples to the Mount of Olives. Who now will doubt, with such a proof, concerning the religion of psalms and hymns; when he who is adored and praised in psalmody by all the heavenly ones, is himself reported to have sung a hymn with his disciples?
And John in the Apocalypse relates that he, the Spirit revealing it, saw and heard the voice of many waters and of mighty thunders saying Alleluia; from which no one ought to doubt that this ministry of holy vigils, if it be celebrated with worthy faith and true devotion, is joined to the angels, who, it is established, without sleep, without occupation, unceasingly praise God in the heavens and bless the Saviour. Since these things are so, brethren, let us now with fuller confidence faithfully fulfil the mystery of hymns, believing that we have obtained a great grace from God, to whom it is granted to celebrate with so many and such great saints—the prophets, I say, and martyrs—the miracles of the eternal God. Here with David we confess to the Lord that he is good;
with Moses we sound forth the power of the Lord in those great songs; with Anna—who bears the figure of the Church, once barren, now fruitful—we are confirmed in heart in the praise of God; with Isaiah we sing psalms watching by night; with Habakkuk, with Jeremiah, with Jonah, those most holy seers, we sing while praying: with the three children likewise, as if set in the furnace, all creation being summoned, we sing psalms blessing the Creator of all. What is more advantageous than this usefulness, what more joyous than this delight, since we are both delighted by the Psalms, watered by prayers, and fed by the readings interposed? And truly, just as good banqueters are delighted by the variety of dishes, so our souls are fattened by manifold reading and the rendering of hymns.
Only, beloved, leaving off superfluous tales, let us sing psalms with intent sense and watchful mind, that we may not displease God. For thus the psalm exhorts us, saying: For God is king of all the earth, sing psalms wisely (Ps. 46:8), that is, intelligently, so that we may sing not only with the spirit—that is, the sound of the voice—but also with the mind, and may ponder the very thing we sing, lest the mind, captivated by tales and empty thoughts, should have fruitless labour. Let also the sound or melody that is consonant with holy religion be sung—not such as cries out tragic difficulties, but such as demonstrates true Christianity in you; not such as smacks of anything theatrical, but works compunction for sins.
But also the voice of you all ought not to be dissonant, but consonant. Let not one foolishly draw it out, or one lower it while another raises his voice; but let each one humbly strive to enclose his voice within the sound of the harmonizing choir, not by raising it outside, or by drawing it out as if for foolish display, unbecomingly putting it forth, nor wishing to please men. For we ought to perform the whole as it were in the sight of God, not out of zeal to please men. For we have also a model set forth, or example, of this consonance of voice—namely those three most blessed children, of whom the prophet Daniel relates: Then, he says, these three as if from one mouth uttered a hymn, and glorified God in the furnace, saying:
Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers (Dan. 3:51-52). You see that it is set down as a lesson that the three young men together praised God humbly and holily as with one mouth. And let us all likewise, as with one mouth, send forth the very same sound of the psalms and the very same modulation of voice in equal measure. But whoever cannot make himself equal to the rest, it is better for him to be silent, or to chant in a soft voice, than to drown out everyone with a clamorous voice; for thus he will fulfill the duty of his ministry, and will give no offense to the brethren who are chanting humbly.
If therefore the voice of us all is without offense, or in harmony like well-sounding cymbals of the lips, it will both delight us and edify those who hear, and our whole praise will be sweet to our God, who, as it is read, makes the like-minded to dwell in His house. For when the psalm is sung, let it be sung by all; when the lesson is read, with due silence let it be heard equally by all, so that while the reader reads, no one at all may drown it out with clamorous voices. And before it is read, all of you assemble together; but if anyone should arrive while the lesson is being celebrated, let him only adore God, and having signed his forehead, let him attentively lend his ear to the reading of God. The time for prayer lies open when we all pray; the time lies open, whenever you wish, and as often as you wish, to pray in private.
Do not grieve, on the pretext of the reading, that you have lost a reading, since not just anyone can always have it ready at hand; for ample time for that is always available. And do not suppose that little benefit accrues to you from hearing the sacred reading; for prayer itself becomes richer while the mind is fattened by a fresh reading, and runs through the images of divine things which it has lately heard. For Mary too, the sister of Martha, who sitting at the feet of Jesus, with her sister neglected, listened more intently to the word of the Lord, is confirmed by the Lord's own voice to have chosen for herself the good part.
For this reason too the deacon, with a clear voice in the house of God, admonishes all by his holy proclamation that, whether in praying, or in bending the knees, or in chanting, or in attentively hearing the readings, unity may be preserved by all; for God loves men of one mind, and makes them to dwell in His house. Those who dwell in that house are pronounced blessed in the psalm, because they shall praise the Lord forever and ever (Ps. 83:5). Amen.