HISTORY OF ANCIENT PSALM TEXTS Sacred Art of Living Research Library © Translations and text by Professor Richard Groves

1. EGYPTIAN PAPYRUS 3rd c. Late copy of the Papyrus of Ani or Egyptian Book of the Dead. Text in cursive hieroglyphs with colorful miniatures designed in the 13 c. BCE. Central graphic shows a Judgment Scene depicted by the weighing of one’s heart against a feather on the other end of scale. If one’s heart were heavy with regret, unfinished business, or the pull of selfish desires, then the deceased could not enter heaven. Several texts in this classical work are also found verbatim in the Hebrew Book of , “pointing to the mutual influence of the Egyptian and early Hebrew cultures.” according to Sir Wallace Budge who first translated the text from hieroglyphics in the late 19th c. Text from Papyrus Ani also found in Psalm 26:02 “Weigh my heart, O Lord. You will search my inner most being and test my soul.”

2. HEBREW 8th c Manuscript translating the Hebrew Psalter into Latin from Cordoba, Spain, city of Jewish scholarship and interfaith collaboration. Parchment found in the library of an Iberian medical clinic established in the 8th c. by Abd al-Raman I. :1-4 “Happy the person who does not follow advice that leads to destruction nor walks in the way of evil or sits in the company of the arrogant but delights in the paths of the Holy One and meditates on this way day and night. This one is like a tree planted near running water that will yield its fruit in due season and whose leaves will never fade. Whatever such a person does, is bound to prosper.”

3. ARAMAIC CODEX 9th c An early ‘codex [Roman invention that replaced the scroll, which was the first form of books in all Eurasian cultures]. The term is used only for manuscripts (hand-written) books, produced from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages. Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history from the time of the ancient Assyrian Empire. It is the original language of large sections of some biblical books and is the language of the Babylonian Talmud. Aramaic was the native language of Jesus. Text from the Gospel according to Matthew quotes psalm passages pronounced by Jesus at the time of his death. It is one of few Aramaic passages retained in Christian Scripture. Psalm 22:01 “Eli, Eli lema sabachtani. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

4. GREEK CODEX 11th c. Codex Vaticanus with early Greek text of scripture. While all Christian scriptures were written originally in Greek, most Hebrew scriptures were later translated from their original language into Koine Greek in the 2nd century BCE. This apocryphal text is from the First Book of Esdras which is concerned with issues of the afterlife. The fanciful artwork depicts the souls of the dying stripping their clothes to begin swimming upstream with the help of angels and the holy ones who went before them. The psalm text quoted here is the so-called final or short psalm of which is found in most copies of the but not in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible. My hands made a harp, my fingers fashioned a lyre… It was he who sent his messenger and took me from my father's sheep, and anointed me with his anointing oil.

5. ARABIC KOR’AN 13th c This copy of the holy book of Islam was hand written by nomadic Berber tribesmen in the southern deserts of modern Morocco. The left hand illustrates a text that includes a beloved verse from the psalms [of which there are many throughout the Kor’an]. The right hand shows one of nearly 100 pages from a family record kept in the back of the book with special prayers of dying relatives [as a last will and testament] over many centuries. This book was a gift to the Groves’ from a Berber mullah in thanksgiving for their research in Morocco into Muslim perspective on the Ars Moriendi tradition. Psalm 122:8 For my brethren and companions’ sake I will say, "Peace be within you!” 6. BEAUNE HOSPICE DOCUMENT 15th c This page is from a journal kept in the archives at the hospice in Beaune, France. It records the observations of nurses regarding what supports the emotional state of persons who are seriously ill. The particular reference here is to practices that include the use of medicines, herbs and anointings [in this case, of the ears and chest] together with prescribed psalms set to music. The marginal note refers to the combination of practices which seems to support a patient’s suffering. The ‘queen of psalms’ is quoted as a particularly soothing medicine for those who may be anxious. Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God…

7. SLAVONIC ORTHODOX MANUAL 15th c From Eastern Europe [modern Bulgaria] this intact book includes a manual of instructions for working with the sick and dying. Central to the entire text is the Book of Psalms manuscripted in Old Church Slavonic, an early Slavic dialect written in the Cyrillic [Greek-based] alphabet. The opening page cites the Hebrew text of a psalm which references and encourages the use of other psalms. Psalm 47:07 “Sing praise to God with psalms… sing praise with the psalms of joy.”

8 & 9 SPANISH CUSTOMARY 16th c This intact book was given to the Groves by the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of Montserrat near Barcelona, Spain. It is rare because it records some practices of the Ars Moriendi a century after the movement was suppressed by the Inquisition. Under the title of Office for the Dead, there remain references to prescriptive practices to ease the suffering of those in transition. The book originally was created in the 16th century and bequeathed to a Convent of nuns near Montserrat who operated a hospice. Set entirely to music, these psalm prayers were sung liturgically by women monastics who continued to serve the dying from different cultural and religious traditions in spite of danger during this time to do so. The glossae or “chart notes” recorded by the infirmarian refers to a female patient who was dying of complicated breathing. The instruction suggests repeating the psalm prayer set to a comforting mode of music. The prayer is based on the sentiment of a psalm, “Remember me, O, God, for your breath is my life.” Psalms 104:29-30 “If you take away our breath we perish but when you send forth your breath, we are created anew…”

10. IRISH MANUSCRIPT 16th c. A Latin manuscript before the dissolution of monasteries in Ireland [ca. 1537]. The Hospitallers of St. Brigit also used the psalms as a means of providing emotional and spiritual solace during times of crisis. The marginalia [chart note] instructs the companion to the dying [an ‘anamcara’ or soul friend] to repeat the prescribed psalm prayer at least twice while holding a lit candle near the person’s head. Psalm 37:25 “Neither in my youth nor now that I am old have I seen a compassionate person rejected by God…”

11. LUTHERAN MANUAL 18th c By the 16th century, the Reformation in Northern Europe created the availability of scripture texts in the vernacular or language of the average person. Martin Luther’s translation of the psalms into German was especially beloved. This Pastoral Manual based entirely on the book of psalms is rare because it contains the notes of a pastor who used it in visiting with the sick. This and other similar manuals demonstrate that some traditions of the medieval Ars Moriendi were not lost but morphed according to different needs and times. The right page of the book is an example of the practice of “prescriptive psalmody.” The text of the psalm is an inspiration for care givers and receivers alike as indicated by the pastor’s hand written note: It is possible to both cry and be glad at the same time [*location indicated in text below]. Psalm 47: 1-9 All you peoples, clap your hands, shout to God with cries of gladness.* For God is a great and awesome Ruler… We are God’s chosen beloved.

The art of living and the art of dying merge through the healing words and sounds of the psalms… The American Book of Living & Dying: Lessons in Healing Spiritual Pain Richard Groves and Henriette Klauser, 2006