Among all the books, the Psalter has certainly a very special grace, a choiceness of quality well worthy to be pondered; for, besides the characteristics which it shares with others, it has this peculiar marvel of its own, that within it are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed and, seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given. Elsewhere in the Bible you read only that the Law commands this or that to be done, you listen to the Prophets to learn about the Saviour's coming or you turn to the historical books to learn the doings of the kings and holy men; but in the Psalter, besides these things, you learn about yourself. You find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and down, its failures and recoveries.
From St. Athansius, Letter to Marcellinus (included in an edition of On the Incarnation, St. Vladimir's Press, 1998); qtd. Lutheran Forum, 37:2 (March 2008).
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