“Let God arise”: Why do we speak of a past event as though it were future?

Home prayer. Photo: napensii

This is a good question – it touches on a subtle point of Church Slavonic and on the theological meaning of the prayer.

It should be stressed from the outset that the expression “Let God arise” is not a reference to some future event that has not yet taken place. It is a form of the imperative or optative mood, which in English we render with phrases such as “let it be,” “let it come,” or “hallowed be.” For example, in the Lord’s Prayer we say: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.” But when we say this, we are not claiming that the Kingdom of God does not yet exist, or that God’s will is not already active. It is a moment of invocation – a prayer for God’s action here and now.

As for the words “Let God arise,” their meaning could be rendered most precisely as: “May God rise up.” In other words, we are asking God to manifest His power; we are asking Him to act.

It should also be remembered that this prayer is not taken from the New Testament. It is the opening of Psalm 67: “Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered.” The psalm was written long before the Incarnation of Christ, and the Prophet David is asking God to reveal His power against His enemies.

Yes, the Church received this psalm as prophetic, and the Holy Fathers saw in it a reference to the Resurrection of Christ. But above all, they also understood it as pointing to the spiritual victory over the enemy of the human race.

Thus, we are not praying for Christ to rise from the dead – He rose once and for all. We are praying that the power of His Resurrection may act now, in this very moment. That is, “let God arise” in our life, in this hour, against those “enemies” that overcome us – passions, temptations, and spirits of evil.

St. John Chrysostom and other Fathers interpret this psalm precisely in this way: as an unceasing invocation of the power of God, already revealed in the Resurrection, but meant to act in the life of every believer.

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