Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
So, if the Bible talks about using why did the Church, for over a thousand years, not use instruments in worship? First, let me confirm that instruments were indeed used in Temple worship. We have Jewish writings from the first century (and a little earlier and later) that give us the details of how Temple worship was conducted. And, they did indeed use instruments. It may, however, surprise you that some of the instruments named above were not allowed in Temple worship.
2 Chronicles 29.25-26: He set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer … for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
Nehemiah 12:27: At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres. [Trumpets are mentioned in Ezra.]
The first century Jewish writings confirm that only cymbals, harps, lyres, and trumpets were used in the worship, and the rest were not allowed. And the trumpets were not used as musical instruments, but to make announcements. They trumpeted for the beginning of worship, and here is something that will interest you Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics. The trumpets were blown three times exactly at the time when the sacrifice was made. The Mishna even specifies what type of sound was to be produced! Does that sound to you like the three times the “bells” are rung at the time of the consecration of the bread and wine?
BTW, the tambourine, flute, other strings, and dancing were only for private worship or occasions such as the victory at the crossing of the Jordan or returning the Ark of the Covenant to the Temple, what some people call open-air civic activities. In synagogue worship, neither the cymbals nor the trumpets were used. Again, let me stress that we have non-Biblical historical Jewish writings that confirm what I have just written. The few Psalms that mention other instruments are associated with war victories or outdoor celebrations such as the Feast of Tabernacles. The one exception is Psalm 150, but even there it mentions both the sanctuary and the mighty heavens (in other words outdoors where other instruments could be used in civic or private celebration).
One Protestant writer, who is in favor of some use of instruments in worship, looked at the Biblical and extra-Biblical evidence and concluded:
The standard of God remains—that musical instruments should be modest in character, limited in number, and that they should never be allowed to overwhelm the intelligent and sincere offering of worship emanating from the minds and hearts of believers. The idea that the Old Testament sanctions the musical antics of the present time is based on an extremely superficial and mistaken view of the biblical data.
Worship is not for human exhibitionism—God resists the proud. It is not to show off or to admire human artistic ability. Musical aids must never be allowed to turn worship into entertainment. They must never interfere with the spiritual character of worship.
So if at least some instruments were used in the Temple worship, why were no instruments permitted in Church worship for so long?
“They trumpeted for the beginning of worship, and here is something that will interest you Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics. The trumpets were blown three times exactly at the time when the sacrifice was made. The Mishna even specifies what type of sound was to be produced! Does that sound to you like the three times the “bells” are rung at the time of the consecration of the bread and wine?”
Can’t speak for all parishes of the Western Rite Vicariate, but some Western Orthodox parishes do practice the rigning of the sanctus bells three times during consecration of the host and chalice, mine included.
Thanks, I always appreciate getting more insight into Western Rite. Your priest is practicing a tradition of thousands of years then, all the way back to Solomon. GRIN.
While I know there are theological justifications for no instruments (and I rather like a cappella worship) I think the reason is more earthly than theological:
1) Church worship largely comes from the synagogue and table-fellowship traditions of Judaism rather than table. There was vocal singing here, but no instruments.
2) As a persecuted minority, worshipping in secret – or quiet, anyway – the Church didn’t trumpet her presence to the neighbours.
3) As a *poor* minority also, see #2.
4) by the time the church went public all of the above had evolved theology to support it as well as the most ancient liturgical credo, “we’ve never done it that way before.”
Again, I prefer a cappella singing to the point that I can not call what congregations with organs do “singing”. It’s more like Instrumental Blaring with voices accompanying. The only exception being percussion… (I’d include bells there!), although I recognise that as a seriously western adoption (I’d include bless there!). But given the scriptural witness, it’s hard to imagine the church started out with a theological justification.
BTW, I’ve been in many ER Orthodox churches with organs – including at least one cathedral.
Very helpful post. I enjoy your blog and have enjoyed reading your “spots” on the Internet Monk. Thanks.
I’m enjoying this series a lot. Who is the last quote from?
Greetings in our Lord,
I have spent the last while reading through various posts on your blog. I have immensely enjoyed your knowledge and humor to communicate and discuss various hot topics of the day. A little background. I have come from a evangelical (Baptist) background. I have a degree from a christian university and a seminary degree and am a ordained minister in the Baptist church. I have served our Lord for the last 13 years in ministry around the world. About eight years ago while serving internationally our family went through several deep crises which led us step by step, I believe by my Lord, to consider and learn from various strains of Christian belief. Although I do not have time to go into detail about this journey of faith it has led me to the door of the Orthodox church. I say door because I am still outside looking for what the Lord would have me learn from the Orthodox tradition. I have found myself here before at other church traditions, including the Charismatic and Reformed traditions, but never before felt led to walk through those doors. It remains to be seen whether the Lord will lead to me to walk through the door of the Orthodox church, but I am deeply enjoying the discussions I am having with various Orthodox theologians through the joys of my Kindle. I am also being deeply challenged by the things the Lord is teaching me through your tradition. I also find myself currently residing on the island of Cyprus, an obvious Orthodox influenced country. I look forward to many meaningful discussions with whoever the Lord leads me to here. What amazes me is that over the last few years, before my conversation began with the Orthodox church, the Lord led me to a personal theology which more reflects Orthodoxy than my own tradition.
So after the long introduction and background, here is my thoughts. As I said I am deeply challenged by the theology and spiritual practice I am learning from Orthodoxy. But I am still getting my mind wrapped around the connection between the faith of the Orthodox and the form of worship. I see the need for liturgy. I see the need for a form which focuses the total person on Christ and does not distract. As I have stated, I have walked through and served in almost all of the veins of evangelical worship and practice. I grew up in traditional church with Piano and Organ singing hymns. To me the organ was distracting, but the simple Piano aided my worship. After this I walked through “seeker sensitive” services with their light worship and secular salvation songs. I struggled through this and left feeling lacking in true worship. Over the last few years the modern worship movement has deeply touched my heart. I mean not contemporary christian music, but worship music focused on the worship of God.
So after more background, here is my question. For a tradition that recognizes that God can make “Holy” and spiritual certain non-human material objects such as a cross or icons or water or bread (which I now agree with) and see these as aids to worship, why do you have such a hard time seeing God making Holy instruments dedicated to Him in praise. As another person noted, the reasons against use of instruments seem to be human, cultural, technical or practical reasons, not theological. I can see why God would not require the use of worships as most churches over the course of history and even in modern times are simple people living in poor circumstances. Persecution meant that worship was required to be simple and quite as it is in China and Iran and other persecuted churches. But also I do not see God in any way warning against the use of instruments, but otherwise challenging us to use them for Praise.
I guess my thought are that simple instrumentation such as piano and guitar combined with voices in harmony lead me to worship in a deep way. I believe we should use all of ourselves to worship the Lord and the Lord has made many to be talented musicians. So would it be possible to use instruments and a different style of music, combined with the ancient liturgy of the Orthodox to create a Orthodox church which is faithful to the ancient tradition while welcoming to the many like myself from another culture (non-byzantine)? The way I see it, it was the early Eatern Orthodox church missionaries which were first to translate the scriptures and liturgy into Slavic and national languages and therefore bring ancient faith into the context of the people, at times against the desire of the church leadership of the day and the Latin church. Could we not do the same thing today and welcome many like myself who see immense value in the teaching of the church but struggle when I try to worship at a Orthodox church? Maybe God will change my heart to find a fuller form of worship here, but for now, it is a struggle. Any thoughts?
Blessings,
Adam Simpson
Well, look through the various comments and posts on this issue. I did mention that some Orthodox churches do have either a piano or organ and use them to guide their choirs. Interestingly enough, some of the African Orthodox in the Patriarchate of Alexandria have been known to use drums. But, let me make two comments:
1. Remember that the problem with saying that the reasons are simply human, cultural, technical, etc., is that you are also saying that the same mistake was made by centuries of Christians, all the way into the Reformation. And, it included Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Protestant.
2. If that many centuries of Christians from various theological traditions can be so wrong on a subject on which they all agree, then what else are they wrong on? And, how do you know that we “modern” Christians are the ones who are right and those centuries of Christians are the ones who are wrong?