This psalm in its prophetic meaning refers to the Church created by the Savior. Thus, according to the interpretation of Sts. Cyril and Athanasius of Alexandria, "life," that is, the Old Testament way of life, is nothing compared to the "mercy of God," that is, salvation in Christ, which has been revealed to all who turn to Him (v. 4). In the words: "For my soul may be filled with fat and oil, and my lips shall praise Thee with lips of joy" (v. 6), the Holy Fathers see an indication of the salvific Mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ [18]. "By the right hand of the Father," according to St. Athanasius of Alexandria, the prophet calls Christ the Saviour, who receives all who turn to Him (v. 9). Such, according to St. Cyril of Alexandria, "are brought in by His right hand, that is, by Christ." They are a royal people, Christians, who will be vouchsafed the Kingdom of Heaven, and therefore are rightly called "kings" (v. 12) [8] (See also 1 Cor. 4:8. – Author's note).

Psalm 87

According to the explanation of the Holy Fathers (Athanasius of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea), this psalm prophesies the death of Christ and His descent into hell (vv. 4-7). With this interpretation, the inscription becomes clear: about Maeleph, that is, about rejoicing (spiritual), as if contradicting the sorrowful content of the psalm. After descending into hell with His soul, the Saviour freed the righteous languishing there, who rejoice together with the angels [12]. By accepting voluntary death for us, freedom in the dead (v. 5), He removed the curse ("wrath" of God) from the human race, stopped the "waves" of God's "wrath" that rolled over it (vv. 8, 17).

This psalm speaks of the Saviour's sorrow for His people who did not receive Him (vv. 10, 19) and of the disciples who forsook Him during their torment (vv. 9, 19). The entire psalm, understood in the messianic sense, is Christ's prayer to His Father.

Psalm 102

Concerning this psalm, St. Athanasius of Alexandria writes: "The new people of the pagans are taught by this psalm to sing songs to God, the great benefactor. And these good deeds are the efface of sin and the glory of the Resurrection" [8]. This is a psalm about the New Testament Church, about those spiritual gifts that the Savior brought to mankind: "cleansing from iniquity" (that is, the remission of sins in the sacrament of repentance), "healing from infirmities" (v. 3), "deliverance from incorruption," that is, from the power of the devil and the passions, and granting His children "mercy and bounty" (v. 4) and the fulfillment of their "good desires" (v. 5). The Saviour, trampling down death by His death, opened to people the way to salvation, the possibility of the renewal of the soul (v. 5) in the sacrament of baptism. As Blazh. Theodorite, "and this renewal in holy baptism was also granted to us by the Lord, and, having cut off the decrepitude of sin, He made young from those who were old (see Is. 40,31)” [11]. The theme of God's mercy to sinful mankind runs like a red thread through the entire psalm (verses 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 17).

St. The Fathers see in this psalm both an indication of the future resurrection of the dead and the granting of a new incorruptible body to man (vv. 3-5). In comparing the soul of man with a soaring eagle, which "can openly look at the light of the sun," St. Eusebius sees an indication of "the future life in its extreme light" [7]. And then he writes: "And this eagle is Christ, Who after His ascension sat down in Heaven on the throne at the right hand of the Father, and His kingdom possesses all" (v. 19). The messianic theme of the psalm introduces us to the New Testament. For this reason, this psalm is sung on feast days at the Liturgy (it is part of the pictorial antiphons).

Psalm 142

According to the interpretation of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, this psalm opens with the prayer of the prophet, who "in the presence of all mankind, persecuted and oppressed by the prevailing Satan, beseeches God the Father to deliver him by the coming of the Only-begotten" [8]. The prophet reminds us of the ancient promises of the Messiah (v. 5), "prays that the morning Resurrection of Christ may come, by whom we have mercy" (v. 8). Morning is the time of the Resurrection of the Savior, who showed us the path that every Christian should follow (v. 8). This "path," in the words of St. Athanasius, is the teaching of the Gospel, but Christ Himself is also called by this word (John 14:6).

The psalm covertly shows the persecution of Christ, His passion, death on the cross, and the entombment (v. 3). "Confusion of the heart" (v. 4), in the words of St. St. John Chrysostom, "signifies an exceedingly great tribulation," of which the Saviour Himself speaks (John 12:27; Mark 14:33-34), and v. 7 — the spirit has disappeared. Mine, turn not Thy Face away from Me — the Holy Fathers interpret it as "the voice of Christ to God the Father in the time of passion" [18] (cf. Psalm 21:2-3).

The psalm is framed by the theme of God's righteousness and truth (vv. 1, 11). In addition to their direct meaning, these are the names of the Son of God; and the mercy of God, in the messianic understanding, is "the most pure passion of Christ" [18]. The 142nd Psalm also contains the teaching about the Holy Spirit. St. Basil the Great, explaining verse 10 of the Psalm, emphasizes that the grace of the Holy Spirit is "not acquired, but is in His very nature" [7]. And the "right land" (v. 10), into which the righteous enter by the grace of the Holy Spirit, is the kingdom of heaven [18]. Thus, this psalm in a hidden form speaks of the Holy Trinity.