“Sing praises with understanding” (Psalm 47:7)
August 6, 2021
Psalm is a melody of praise. The Psalmist Prophet David witnessed his daily praise saying, “Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.” (Psalm 118:164)
The way of which Christians expresses their praise hinge on our comprehension of God’s words; Singing ought to be with understanding. The word understanding is profound judgment and thus we sing wisely and but not be misled by heresies and worldliness as its value more, rather than music.
The Psalmist advises us in this particular, and so doth the Apostle Saint Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians. He said, “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” (1 Corinthians 14:15)
For the past 1,300 years, Church scholars and laities have been praising God with the song of Saint Jared. His Melodies including Geez, Ezl, and Arara’i hymns, learned in the angelic world, signify the unity of the Trinity. Whilst Geez is likened to the Father, means glory and praise to Him. The Ezel is the symbolization of Son of God and his suffering and salavtion. Ararai is also an example of the Holy Spirit; it is a melody to show that we are endowed with the Holy Spirit.
The rites, traditions, and instruments of Saint Jared’s hymn, which the Holy Church preserves for us to give thanks to God, have a perfectly orthodox message. Therefore, Orthodox Incarnation hymns must follow the pattern of Saint Jared’s hymn, which was regularly sung by the Fathers of our Holy Church. This is because a song is orthodox if it is inspired by the message, the melody, the instrument, and the way we sing. As mentioned above, spiritual songs help us to express our gratitude in an orderly way, accompanied by flute, percussion, lyre and Ethiopian harp.
However, we can see that some of the orthodox hymns that we hear in recent times have changed their content, and some have even turned into song and heresy. As the prophet David said, “Sing with understanding” We need to identify the orthodox hymns, and especially the songs of repentance that praise our God, commemorate the feasts and ceremonies, and intercede in times of trouble. (Psalm 47:7)
Orthodox hymns should be sung as same our Fore religious fathers sung in melody of Saint Jared, rhythm, and ritual. We shall be aware the hymns that have been and will be sung at ancient times, as well as Sunday school students, are in line with the church’s creed, canon, and tradition.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Incarnation Church has taught of the utilization of hymns in written and unwritten law, as it is the basis of Saint Jared’s hymns. It is the style of singing and melody. Therefore, we must all take responsibility for the implementation of this structure and pass it on to future generations!
May God help us to praise and serve him; Amen.