In the 2nd canon of the 7th Ecumenical Council, we find this statement: "Therefore we decree, that every one who is raised to the rank of the episcopate shall know the psalter by heart, so that from it he may admonish and instruct all the clergy who are subject to him." Does anyone know if this memorizing the Psalter is still strictly practiced?
Also, In an interpretation of this canon provided by those who compiled the Church Fathers volumes on CCEL, this curious paragraph is found:
"And it should be noted that formerly not only the clergy, but also the lay people, learned the Psalms, that is the whole Psalter, by heart, and made a most sweet sound by chanting them while about their work. But as time went on, little by little this pious custom of reciting the Psalter and of imposing its recitation and a meditation thereon at certain intervals, slipped away to the clergy only and to monks and nuns, as to those specially consecrated to the service of God and to meditation upon the divine words, as Lupus points out." - Intrepretation given by Van Espen
This seems like a very unlikely statement to me, as it tends to go against all that I've read about Church history. I know that the citizens of Constantinople (and other cities) would discuss theology in the market place and such, but I was under the impression that Biblical literacy was in most centuries exceedingly low. St. John Chrysostom, for instance, decried the people's neglect of the Scriptures: "For which of you when in his house takes some Christian book in hand and goes over its contents, and searches the Scriptures? None can say that he does so" (Homily 32 on John; cf Homily 19 on Acts)
For another example, consider the process that a new monk went through when they came under the Rule of Saint Pachomius. If they were illiterate, the new monk was first taught how to read. As soon as they were literate though, The Rule of Saint Pachomius states: "he shall be given twenty psalms to learn, or two of the Apostle's epistles, or part of another book of Scripture," for "Everyone in the monastery shall learn letters and memorize something of the Scriptures, at least the New Testament and the Psalter." (Source). This seems both to presuppose that laymen would probably not have memorized a number of Psalms (let alone the whole Psalter), and that the monks would have to memorize the Psalter as part of their monastic rule.
Yet, obviously this Van Espen fellow has some document or study in mind--I doubt Mr. Schaff would have allowed such an interpretation in if it had no basis whatsoever (though I would think that it would have to be a flimsy basis). So... any thoughts? 