Hymns and singing in the early church

Singing psalms and hymns in worship and at home. Part of Worship.

Odes of Solomon 7Anonymous · ca. 100–200
Odes of Solomon 16Anonymous · ca. 100–200
Odes of Solomon 26Anonymous · ca. 100–200
Acts of John 93Anonymous · ca. 150–200 · John tells that the Lord's body was sometimes solid and sometimes immaterial and left no footprints, and that before his arrest he led the disciples in a hymn and ring dance.
Evening hymn (Phos hilaron)Anonymous · second or third century · An ancient evening hymn praises Jesus Christ as the joyful light of the Father's glory and gives glory to the Trinity at lamp-lighting.
Sibylline Oracles 8.491ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Eighth Book ends: instead of incense and blood sacrifice, Christians are bidden to praise the imperishable God, begetter of all, with pure hearts, love, generous hands, and psalms.
The Instructor 2.4.41Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Flutes and pipes suit beasts and idolaters, and sensual music corrupts; the instruments of Psalm 150 are to be understood spiritually as the tongue, mouth, body, and church.
The Instructor 2.4.43Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · At meals Christians should love God through thanksgiving and psalms and their neighbor through good conversation; singing to the lyre or cithara, as David did, is not blameworthy.
The Instructor 2.4.44Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Blessing God with psalms at meals and before sleep is fitting; Greek drinking songs imitated the Hebrew psalms; love songs and soft, chromatic music are to be avoided.
The Instructor 3.12.101Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · The work ends with a prayer to the Word, Instructor and Teacher, and a hymn to Christ the Savior as shepherd, fisher of men, and nourishing milk of his children, praised with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Exhortation to the Greeks 1.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 190–200 · Leave the mountains of the pagan mysteries for Zion: the Word of God sings a new song that heals grief.
Miscellanies 6.11.88Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · David the harpist-prophet is the example of music; the ancient Hebrew psalmody was a model even for Terpander, and the lyre signifies the Lord, his ministers, and the saved people, while the harmony of law, prophets, and gospel is the church's symphony.
Miscellanies 6.11.90Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Psalms sung at table calm desire and praise God, but sensual music must be rejected; astronomy and geometry train the soul, serve practical life, and lead from the sensible to the intelligible.
Miscellanies 7.7.49Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Whoever converses with God must be pure; the life of the one who knows is a continual festival of prayer, praise, Scripture reading, psalms, and hymns, together with giving to the needy, and he prays everywhere, often silently.
On Prayer 27Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Some add the Alleluia and responsorial psalms to their prayers, a good practice that honors God.
To His Wife 2.8Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · Rich Christian women marry pagans out of worldliness, but marriage between two believers, sealed by the church's blessing and shared in prayer, fasting, and worship, is supremely happy.
Acts of Thomas 6Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · At the feast Thomas eats nothing and anoints himself; a cupbearer strikes him, Thomas foretells his punishment, and begins the Wedding Hymn of the maiden, daughter of light.
Didascalia 5.10Anonymous · first half of the third century
Spurious Greek introduction to the Psalms, fragment 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · The Psalms are the second book of teaching after Moses, in which David introduced a new worship by hymns that goes beyond the sacrificial law.
Commentary on Daniel 2.29Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-204 · The three youths' prayer and hymn in the furnace: confession of sin, then a summons to all creation, in order, to bless the Lord, ending with themselves.
Fragments on Job, column 79Origen · ca. 220-254 · Heretics mock the law and the prophets and sing their own teachers' psalms, while the speeches of Job's friends were recorded because they are useful except where they accuse Job.
PG 12:1059Origen · ca. 220-254 · Origen’s proof from the Hexapla that “diapsalma” stands for Hebrew selah, and the start of his general notes on psalm titles: the three psalms “for the winepresses” signify the churches.
PG 12:1069Origen · ca. 220-254 · Origen finishes the title of Psalm 33 (LXX), discusses psalms without musical titles, and explains “the hymns of David have failed” at the end of Psalm 71 (LXX) by the Greek versions.
PG 12:1071Origen · ca. 220-254 · Psalm 71 (LXX) can refer only to Christ; Origen discusses the meaning of “diapsalma” and argues that not every psalm entitled “psalm” was sung to the psaltery (Psalms 50 and 3 LXX).
PG 12:1073Origen · ca. 220-254 · The title “in hymns” and the victory titles (“for the end”) of Psalms 4, 6 and 53 (LXX); the Psalms are not in chronological order, which raises the question of their arrangement.
PG 12:1205 (Ps 12–13 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · The end of LXX Psalm 12 (Ps 13): the saved sing and add practice to contemplation; LXX Psalm 13 (Ps 14), whose heading is lost: the fool’s denial of God leads to a corrupt life; salvation from Zion is Christ, who comes from the Father; captivity is the fall from knowledge into ignorance.
PG 12:1303 (Ps 31–32 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 31 LXX (32):5–11 (confession, horse and mule, boasting in afflictions) and beginning of Ps 32 LXX (33): the lyre and the ten-stringed harp as body and spirit, and the new song.
PG 12:1433 (Ps 46–47 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 46 LXX (47):4–10 (God went up with a shout; the throne of God is Christ) and beginning of Ps 47 LXX (48): the Lord great in his city.
PG 12:1479 (Ps 60–61 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 60 LXX (61) (paying vows daily, singing for ever) and beginning of Ps 61 LXX (62): the psalm of the coming Judge; the soul of the Saviour subject to God and shaken only a little.
PG 12:1489 (Ps 63–64 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · End of Ps 63 LXX (64) (the upright from the nations) and beginning of Ps 64 LXX (65): the hymn in the heavenly Zion, flesh becoming spirit, the chosen few, and Christ as the holy temple.
PG 12:1623 (Ps 118 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on the end of Psalm 119 (LXX 118): the hymn poured out by those filled with the bread that is the Word, psalms for men and hymns for angels, and the lost sheep sought.
PG 12:1673 (Ps 148–149 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 148:4–14 and Psalm 149:1–5: the waters above the heavens as rational natures, the new song of the new man, "made" according to the image and "formed" from dust, and the meek exalted to the land of the Jerusalem above.
PG 12:1677 (Ps 150 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Psalm 150:1–5: praise among the holy, the firmament of faith, the trumpets of Numbers and of the resurrection, and the instruments of the psalm as the soul, the mind, and the Church.
Refutation of All Heresies 5.10.2Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · The Naassene psalm tells of the soul's wanderings and of Jesus descending with seals to reveal the hidden way.
Refutation of All Heresies 6.37.7Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · Hippolytus quotes Valentinus's psalm, which sets out the hierarchy of being from flesh up to the depth.
Refutation of All Heresies 9.21.3Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 222–235 · They eat bread and one dish in silence, with blessing and hymns before and after.
Address of Thanksgiving 16Gregory Thaumaturgus · ca. 238–245 · Leaving Origen, Gregory is like Adam expelled from paradise, the prodigal son, the exiles in Babylon, and the man who fell among robbers.
Homilies on Exodus 6.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The first song of Scripture is sung after victory with a timbrel, the crucified flesh, and “gloriously honoured” points to Christ, glorified humbly in his incarnation and cross but gloriously at his second coming.
Homilies on Judges 6.3Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The "kings" summoned to hear are believers who rule themselves under Christ; the "satraps" hear only outwardly; only the pure can sing to the Lord.
Homilies on Judges 9.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Gideon's test at the water figures baptism, after which Christ's soldiers must stand firm; the three hundred bear the number of the Trinity and fight with the torches of good works and the trumpet of preaching.
Homilies on Psalms 36-38 5.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The mouth of the righteous should speak only wisdom, which is Christ; even the unlearned share in wisdom by faith and prayer and must not despise those who study, and the future tense points to the age to come, when all will be disciples of wisdom.
Homilies on Psalms 36-38 8.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The title “for Jeduthun” refers to one of the Levites appointed to sing God’s hymns; David composed the psalm and gave it to him to sing, and “to the end” corresponds to “for the victor” in other Greek versions.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 0.81Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The second song is sung at the well in Numbers, the third in Deuteronomy, and the fourth by Deborah, whose name means 'bee'.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 0.82Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · Deborah's song follows victory; the fifth song is David's in 2 Samuel 22 and the sixth David's in 1 Chronicles 16, which correspond to Psalms 18, 105 and 96.
Against Celsus 8.66Origen · ca. 248 · Celsus rightly says one must die rather than blaspheme God, but then urges hymning the Sun and Athena; Origen answers that Christians praise the sun as God's creature, which itself praises God, but reject Athena and her myths.
Against Celsus 8.67Origen · ca. 248 · Christians hymn only God and his Son, as sun, moon, and stars do, not Athena; nor will they swear by the emperor, since whatever they rightly receive, like bread, wine, and oil, comes from God's providence.
Commentary on Matthew 16.25Origen · ca. 246–248 · The indignant chief priests stand for bishops whose lives dishonour their office and who despise and accuse simple, fervent believers; Christ defends the children, from whose mouths God perfects praise.
To Donatus 16Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 246 · Cyprian ends the talk and invites Donatus to sing psalms at their evening meal.
Oxyrhynchus hymn (P. Oxy. 15.1786), lines 1–5Anonymous · late 3rd cent. · The end of a Christian hymn on a papyrus from Oxyrhynchus: all creation is bidden to keep silence while the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are praised, and the heavenly powers answer 'Amen'.
Symposium 11.2Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · Led by Thecla, the virgins sing an alphabetical hymn to Christ the Bridegroom, with the refrain “I keep myself pure for you,” recalling chaste figures from Abel to Mary and ending in praise of the Father.
Commentary on the Apocalypse 5.3Victorinus of Pettau · late 3rd century · The new song of the elders is the Christian confession of the new things done in Christ.
Church History 2.17.13Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Philo (quoted): they also compose hymns to God in various metres.
Church History 2.17.22Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Philo describes night vigils, responsive hymns, sleeping on straw, and a diet of bread, water, salt, and hyssop, which Eusebius equates with the Christian Easter vigil.
Church History 3.33.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Pliny, alarmed by the number of martyrs, told Trajan that Christians only sang to Christ at dawn and forbade adultery and murder.
Church History 5.28.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus, Melito, and the church's early hymns all proclaim Christ as God.
Church History 7.30.10Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · They say he banned hymns to Christ and had women sing hymns in his own honour at Easter.
Church History 8.9.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · As some were condemned, others rushed forward to confess Christ and went to death singing psalms and hymns.
Church History 9.1.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Crowds sang psalms in the streets, exiles returned joyfully, and even former persecutors rejoiced with them.
Testament of Our Lord 1.26Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 1.32Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 1.43Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 2.22Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 2.24Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Divine Institutes 6.21.9Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Sing God's praises.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.20.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Poets must be made to praise good men; Christian children learn the Psalms.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.22.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · The Hebrews used only inspired songs in worship.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.24.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Christians sing hymns at meals under the care of their overseers.
Preparation for the Gospel 12.32.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 313–324 · Plato: the whole city, slave and free, men and women, should sing its hymns.
2Anonymous · 4th–5th century · In prison the Forty sing Psalm 91 and Christ appears to them.
4Anonymous · 4th–5th century · Cyrion recalls God's help in battle and leads them in Psalm 54.
Martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste 6Anonymous · 4th–5th century · In prison the Forty sing Psalm 123 and Christ encourages them.
11Anonymous · 4th–5th century · The martyrs' legs are broken; they die singing Psalm 124.
Theophany 3.78Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 325–337
Letter to Marcellinus 10Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Unlike the other books, the Psalter portrays the movements of each reader's soul and gives him the very words with which to repent, endure, give thanks, and praise.
Letter to Marcellinus 11Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Readers take the words of the patriarchs and prophets as others' words, but the Psalms they speak as their own.
Letter to Marcellinus 14Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Athanasius classifies the psalms by kind—narrative, prayer, petition, confession, prophecy, praise, thanksgiving, and others.
Letter to Marcellinus 15Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Athanasius begins a guide to which psalm to use in each circumstance: blessing, persecution, thanksgiving, morning prayer, fear of God's threat, and conspiracy.
Letter to Marcellinus 16Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Further psalms for occasions: praise for salvation, the winepress song, Christ's victory, trust under trouble, refuge from wickedness, and long persecution.
Letter to Marcellinus 17Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for those who hear blasphemy, seek to know the citizen of heaven, are surrounded by enemies, marvel at creation, comfort the afflicted, or dedicate a house.
Letter to Marcellinus 18Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for the persecuted, the newly baptized, common worship, rescue from enemies, rejecting the heretics' claim that evil is natural, warning against envy of the wicked, mercy to the poor, and remembering God's past benefits.
Letter to Marcellinus 20Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for repentance, slander, betrayal, hiding from a persecutor, escape, false friends, hypocrites, flight to the desert, and enemies who lie in wait.
Letter to Marcellinus 21Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for praise, teaching on the resurrection, mercy, the prosperity of the wicked, God's anger, confession, shaming pagans and heretics, distress, the desecration of God's house, and feasts.
Letter to Marcellinus 22Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for when enemies threaten God's house, for longing for his dwelling, for release from captivity, against schisms, for confidence in God, and for the Sabbath and the Lord's day.
Letter to Marcellinus 23Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for the days of the week—Monday, Friday (the day of the cross), Wednesday (the day of betrayal)—and for the rebuilding of God's house, the Lord's reign, instruction, and approach to the Judge.
Letter to Marcellinus 24Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for discouragement, blessing God, praise, faith in prayer, spiritual progress (the Songs of Ascents), repentance after captivity to sinful thoughts, testing, and a tyrant enemy.
Letter to Marcellinus 25Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms for blessing God's goodness, for singing to the Lord, for one raised to office among his brethren (the 151st), and for psalms with the Alleluia response.
Letter to Marcellinus 27Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · The Psalms are sung not for pleasure but so that God is praised with full voice and so that the singer's soul is brought into harmony with itself.
Letter to Marcellinus 28Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Melodious psalmody is an image of the harmony of a soul guided by the mind of Christ; the Psalms calm, heal, correct, and strengthen it.
Letter to Marcellinus 29Athanasius of Alexandria · uncertain, after 335 · Psalms must be sung with understanding; then, like David's playing before Saul, they bring the soul into order and calm, as the body's members become strings for the Spirit.
Tricennial Oration (In Praise of Constantine) 10.5Eusebius of Caesarea · 335–336 · In the palace priests now sing hymns, and the gospel joins humanity to God.
Catechetical Lecture 13.25Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Amos foretold the darkness at noon during the Passover feast, and the Psalms foretold the soldiers dividing Christ's garments and casting lots for his tunic.
Life of Antony 39Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · Antony recounts his own encounters: demons flattered, threatened, appeared as soldiers, beasts, and false light, sang psalms, and shook his cell, but were routed by prayer and the psalms.
Hymns 1.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · An alphabetical hymn to Christ, eternally begotten of the Father and born of the Virgin, celebrating the Son's full equality and mutual indwelling with the Father; it breaks off at the letter T.
Letter 207Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil answers the clergy of Neocaesarea, who opposed him over doctrine, his monks, and his night psalmody, defending the antiphonal psalmody common to the churches and urging them to keep the faith of Gregory Thaumaturgus.
Homilies on the Psalms 1.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil opens his homily on Psalm 1 by praising the book of Psalms as a storehouse of every kind of teaching, sweetened by melody so that it is learned without effort.
Homilies on the Psalms 1.2Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil continues his praise of psalmody, explains why the Psalms are sung to the psaltery, and begins on the opening verse of Psalm 1 as the foundation of the whole book.
Homilies on the Psalms 29.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil distinguishes “psalm” (action) from “song” (contemplation), reads the “dedication of the house” of Christ's incarnation and of the Church's renewal, and asks how man can “exalt” God.
Homilies on the Psalms 29.3Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 30:2–4 Basil teaches that God answers at once, that the soul is raised from Hades and the pit of sin by Christ, and that only the holy truly sing psalms.
Homilies on the Psalms 32.1Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · Basil expounds Ps 33:1–5: the righteous rejoice in God himself; praise befits only the upright; the cithara and ten-stringed psaltery are bodily deeds and the mind keeping the ten commandments; the new song is the spiritual sense; all creation leads to faith; and God joins mercy to judgment.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 21Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's twenty-first rule: partaking of Christ's body and blood is necessary for eternal life, must be done with understanding and worthily, in remembrance of his obedience unto death, and with hymns.
Tractates on the Psalms 0.19Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Hilary defines "psalm," "song," "song of a psalm," and "psalm of a song" by the relation of instrument and voice.
Tractates on the Psalms 65.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The shout of joy is the church’s battle cry against the devil, heard in its prayers, hymns, and responses.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.7.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Wherever he sojourns, the psalmist sings God's justifications, teaching that the psalms should be kept in the heart and constantly sung.
Tractates on the Psalms 137.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist sings before the angels, who watch and guard the faithful, as Elisha's servant saw the angelic host around them.
Tractates on the Psalms 143.17Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'new song' is the praise of the one invisible God now sung by all nations, no longer confined to Judea, as Psalm 96 proclaims.
Tractates on the Psalms 149.1Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Psalm 148 called all creation to praise and reserved the hymn to Israel, the saints near to God; Psalm 149 now calls for a new song beyond all that.
Tractates on the Psalms 149.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The new song belongs to the saints, the spiritual Israel and children of the heavenly Zion, rejoicing in Christ their king, as in the music at the prodigal son's return.
Commentary on Ephesians 5.19Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Believers are to speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and songs, singing in their hearts, and give thanks always to the Father in the name of Christ.
Oration 5.35Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory urges a festival of spiritual joy, not pagan revelry, and forbids revenge on the former persecutors, leaving them to God.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 14:15Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Prayer and psalm-singing should engage both the Spirit and the understanding.
Commentary on Colossians 3:16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers should sing Christ's praise in psalms and hymns from the heart, for God, not for human favour.
Commentary on Ephesians 5:19Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Those who live well are filled with the Spirit and praise God in song from the heart, not the lips alone.
Letter 46.12Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They contrast the busy, worldly life of Rome, figured as Babylon in Revelation, with the quiet, psalm-singing countryside of Bethlehem.
Letter 108.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome describes the rule of Paula's convent at Bethlehem: three companies of women united in prayer at the set hours, common dress and property, strict separation from men, graded correction, and tender care of the sick.
On the Holy Spirit 29.73Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Origen, Julius Africanus, the ancient lamp-lighting hymn, and the martyr Athenogenes also glorify the Spirit with the Father and the Son.
Ancoratus 23.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · They offered only praise, already anticipating the new covenant.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.57.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · Psalms are sung between the readings, with the people responding.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.47.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The morning hymn begins with the angels' song.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.48.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The evening hymn begins with Psalm 113.
Life of Macrina, part 10Gregory of Nyssa · ca. 380 · Crowds gather for an all-night vigil; Gregory arranges the singing, and with bishop Araxius carries the bier in a candle-lit procession to the church of the martyrs where their parents lie.
Chapter 1Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas traces sacred song back to Moses’ song at the Red Sea, sung by choirs of men and women, to Deborah, and to Moses’ warning song in Deuteronomy.
Chapter 3Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas praises the Psalms as a medicine for every age and condition, sweetened by song, and containing all that the prophets and gospels teach.
Chapter 5Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas says the church’s psalms are songs of God that please him, and that the Psalmist calls all creation to praise.
Chapter 6Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas cites the Psalmist’s praise seven times a day and all day long, and says such praise was David’s shield against Goliath and his enemies.
Chapter 7Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas cites New Testament song: Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s praise, the angels at Christ’s birth, the children’s Hosanna, and the hymn sung by Christ with his disciples.
Chapter 8Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas says that the church’s vigils join the unceasing praise of the angels in Revelation and the songs of Moses, Hannah, Isaiah, Habakkuk, Jonah and the three young men.
Chapter 10Nicetas, bishop of Remesiana · ca. 380–414 · Nicetas asks the congregation to sing with understanding and with one voice, without theatrical display, and to keep silence during the readings.
Book of Heresies 129.5Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · David set up four choirs of singers in Jerusalem.
Book of Heresies 129.6Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · David sang psalms to Christ three times daily with the people.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 40Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Christians should persist in psalms, hymns, and prayers for one another, for kings, and for all.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 24.9Egeria · ca. 381-395 · At cockcrow the Anastasis is opened and three psalms are said.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 24.12Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The monks continue psalmody until dawn.
Exposition of Psalm 118 0.3.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The title Alleluia means praise of God; Psalms 110 and 111 (Greek numbering) are also alphabetic.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.25.3Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · God’s statutes should be our hymns, sung with spirit and mind, lest we forget them.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.26.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Christ, the true Solomon, gave his church singers whose psalms drive away evil spirits, as David’s did for Saul.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.26.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Holy music invites the Spirit, as with the prophets and in the house of the prodigal’s father.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.29.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Singing frees the mind from cares, as David sang free of bodily passions.
Exposition of Psalm 118 7.29.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · For the saints even the law’s precepts are songs, as Moses sang after crossing the sea.
Exposition of Psalm 118 8.52.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · In the spiritual midday we feast with Christ; in the night of temptation we must rise, pray, and sing psalms until he dawns.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.25.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Instructed in both Testaments, the church holds Christ in prayer and kisses him in psalmody.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.26.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The church rouses Christ with the praise of the congregations.
Exposition of Psalm 118 19.32.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Begin the day with hymns and the Beatitudes.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.17.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · One who has tasted God’s sweet precepts pours forth hymns.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.18.1Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Only one taught by God, the one teacher, can sing his hymn.
Exposition of Psalm 118 22.18.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · One cannot sing God’s song in fear of punishment or in sin’s captivity.
Letter 29.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · In the afternoon the crowd grew; Augustine contrasted their spiritual feast with the drinking in the Donatists' basilica, and the day ended with evening prayer and hymns.
Letter 55.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine gives the rule for local customs: follow what helps a better life unless it causes greater harm, and he commends the singing of psalms against Donatist criticism.
Letter 94.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Paulinus suggests that the risen saints will praise God with real tongues and voices, perhaps in the unutterable angelic speech Paul heard in paradise.
Letter 101.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine sends the sixth book of On Music, expresses his longing to see the deacon Julian, and admits he does not know the metre of David's psalms.
On Order 1.22Augustine of Hippo · 386–387 · At daybreak Licentius sings the psalm verse "God of hosts, turn us," which Monica had rebuked him for singing in the latrine the evening before.
Homilies on Matthew 2.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Moral exhortation: worldly cares cloud the soul like smoke; Christians know theater songs but not psalms; lay people need Scripture more than monks; hearing God's word reforms, as it reformed the Corinthians and David.
Homilies on Matthew 55.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom praises the desert monks, who end their one frugal meal with a thanksgiving hymn that recalls the judgment, quotes the hymn, and explains each phrase as teaching trust in God, love for all, spiritual joy and abundance in good works.
Homilies on Matthew 68.3John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Contrasting the theater’s bitter pleasures with the monks’ life, Chrysostom describes the monks of the mountains, free of care, like Adam before the fall and like the angels, rising before dawn to sing hymns and pray for a good defense at the judgment, then working for the poor.
Hexameron (Exameron) 3.23Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The sea's islands shelter ascetics, and the church at worship, singing psalms antiphonally, is like the sea.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.36Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Resuming after a pause, Ambrose turns to the birds he had forgotten, whose songs at dawn and dusk shame men who neglect psalms.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.2.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Angels and the heavenly host praise God in song.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.3.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · David gave us psalm-singing to restore something of the heavenly delight Adam lost.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.4.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · All Scripture breathes God's grace, but the Psalms are especially sweet; even Moses broke into song at the Red Sea.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.4.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Moses and Miriam sang at the Red Sea, and Moses gave the law its memory in a song.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.5.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · God takes delight in song both as praise and as a means of reconciliation.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.5.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Moses' two songs, in Exodus and Deuteronomy, light up his whole work.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.6.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Songs are rare elsewhere in Scripture, but constant in David.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.6.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Daniel, Habakkuk and Solomon each left one song.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.9.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · A psalm is wholly its own, and is the praise and joy of the whole people.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.9.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The psalm serves day and night and makes one song from many voices.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.9.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Psalm-singing suits every age and both sexes, women included.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.9.4Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Children learn the psalms gladly, and the psalm creates its own silence in church.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.9.5Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The psalm is sung by kings and peoples alike and makes the people one.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.9.6Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · In the singing people the Spirit plays without error, and the psalm softens hard hearts.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.10.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · What is learned with sweetness in the psalms is retained.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.11.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The psalm is an instrument of virtue played by the Spirit; its strings of dead gut teach us to die to sin.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 1.12.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · We must sing inwardly and with the mind, not for the body's pleasure.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.65.3Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Faith brings the spirit of wisdom; prayer before dawn and psalmody redeem.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.40.2Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · The psalmist sings in joy, while Paul was still in the contest, though he too sang with spirit and mind.
Sermon 34.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The people must sing the new song with their lives as well as their voices; God’s praise is the holy Church itself, whose joy is God alone.
Sermon 163.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The new song belongs to the new man and the New Testament; Christ is God's salvation, longed for by the righteous of old and seen by Simeon, and the apostles, the heavens, proclaimed him to all the earth.
Sermon 243.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The fifty days after Easter signify the life to come, in which the saints will stand, see, love, and praise God with Alleluia without weariness.
Sermon 252.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The fifty days of Alleluia after Easter signify the eternal rest, whose whole activity will be the praise of God without weariness.
Sermon 255.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · To the sons of men belongs hope under God’s wings and the promise of the abundance of his house; now love sings Alleluia in hope and hunger, then it will sing in enjoyment.
Sermon 256.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Alleluia must be sung with life as well as voice; here we sing it anxiously, praying daily for forgiveness and deliverance from evil, the evil being ourselves, the law of sin in our members.
Sermon 256.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Even amid temptation Alleluia must be sung, for God is faithful; then the risen body will be immortal and the praise secure, but now we sing like travelers, to console our labor as we walk on in good.
Homily 14.4 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom describes the monks' day of night prayer, psalms, Scripture reading, work, fasting, and simple meals, free of the cares of the world.
Confessions 9.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine, Alypius, and Augustine's son Adeodatus are baptized at Milan; Augustine weeps at the church's hymns.
Confessions 9.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Congregational singing began at Milan during the siege of Ambrose's church by the Arian empress Justina.
Confessions 10.49Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine confesses that the beauty of sung psalms can draw him more than the words themselves.
Confessions 10.50Augustine of Hippo · ca. 397–401 · Augustine wavers between banning church music and approving it for its power to move the weak to devotion.
On the Work of Monks 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 400–401 · Monks who say they are occupied with prayer, psalms, and reading can sing psalms while working with their hands, and should obey the apostle whom they read.
Exposition of the Right Faith 18Anonymous · early 5th century (probably Theodoret) · The author closes with a hymn of victory to the Word, the true light.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 50Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · The answer explains Alleluia as “praise with song the One who is”; the explanation of Hosanna is lost.
Questions and Answers to the Orthodox 107Anonymous · 5th century (disputed) · The church keeps simple singing but rejects the instruments, dancing, and castanets fit for children; sung psalms calm the passions, repel evil thoughts, strengthen martyrs, and console the faithful as the sword of the Spirit.
Letter 39Firmus of Caesarea · early fifth century · Firmus asks an official to free a church singer from a slanderous charge.
City of God 17.14Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · David's psalms are almost all his prophecy; Augustine holds that David wrote all 150, some headed with other names for figurative reasons.
Seven Books of History against the Pagans 7.39.9Orosius · ca. 417–418 · Romans and Goths sing together.
The Institutes 2.2John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Western monasteries follow many different rules for the number of psalms; Cassian proposes the ancient Egyptian practice instead.
The Institutes 2.4John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The Egyptian monks sing twelve psalms at evening and night, followed by two readings, a rule they say an angel taught.
The Institutes 2.5John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The first monks of Alexandria, disciples of Mark, disputed how many psalms to sing, until an angel sang twelve and vanished.
The Institutes 2.7John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The Egyptian monks pray standing after each psalm, prostrate only briefly, and rise together with the one who concludes the prayer.
The Institutes 2.8John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Unlike the Gallic custom, in the East the Gloria Patri is not sung after each psalm but only after the antiphon.
The Institutes 2.11John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · Psalms are divided into short sections with prayers, sung with understanding rather than haste; no more than four brothers lead the singing.
The Institutes 3.6John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The new morning office did not alter the night psalms; Psalms 50, 62, and 89 were assigned to it.
Part 5, chapter 14Quodvultdeus of Carthage · ca. 445-450 · The author explains the structure of the book (three parts of forty chapters, twenty on the end, thirteen on glory, making 153 like the fish caught after the resurrection) and offers it as a spiritual substitute for every worldly pleasure: games, hunting, shows, building, feasts, and music, ending with a prayer.