Advice for Studying the Scriptures?

[JamesR]

Well, I've decided that this summer might be a good opportunity to try and become more scripturally literate since I hardly ever read the Bible. I was wondering if anyone here had any Orthodox advice for studying the scriptures. When I see how deeply the Fathers understood the scriptures it amazed me; they had entire books memorized and were able to notice the connection between different passages all the time. Surely, I most likely won't become like the Fathers, but maybe I can at least become more scripturally literate than I am now. I was thinking of starting with the New Testament, and then moving to Old Testament books like Ecclesiastes and the Psalms.

[Azul]

I heard St. John Chrysostomus read the entire New Testament daily.

[Ortho_cat]

Well, I've decided that this summer might be a good opportunity to try and become more scripturally literate since I hardly ever read the Bible. I was wondering if anyone here had any Orthodox advice for studying the scriptures. When I see how deeply the Fathers understood the scriptures it amazed me; they had entire books memorized and were able to notice the connection between different passages all the time. Surely, I most likely won't become like the Fathers, but maybe I can at least become more scripturally literate than I am now. I was thinking of starting with the New Testament, and then moving to Old Testament books like Ecclesiastes and the Psalms.

do u have an OSB?

[Big Chris]

I heard St. John Chrysostomus read the entire New Testament daily.

I've heard the same about Origen.

[Asteriktos]

When monks went to the monastery of St. Pachomius, one of the first thing they had to do was memorize a section of Scripture, so they'd always have it with them (of if they couldn't read, they were taught how to). The point is not to know all the verses, but to have it become part of how you think, so that in whatever situation you are in you will have Scripture at the ready. I particularly like James (not that I've memorized it all), though the Psalms, the Sermon on the Mount, and many other passages would also work. The important thing is to put it into action once you've read it.

Also, fwiw, this may interest you  

I heard St. John Chrysostomus read the entire New Testament daily.

I've heard the same about Origen.

Doubtful, unless that's all they did all day. If you don't believe me, try this: read 10 pages of a Bible, time how long it takes you to read it, and then do the math to figure out how long it'd take you to read the entire NT.

[mabsoota]

or u could start small and build up!
try to read 1 or 2 chapters of the new testament each day, and choose one verse from those chapters to memorise.

depends how good u are at memorising stuff, it took me several months to memorise just one prayer!
http://www.coptic.net/prayers/Thanksgiving.txt
(this one, which is our most prayed prayer after the Lord's prayer)

if u want to vary it, read one chapter from NT and one psalm each day (u can split psalm 118 (119) into several parts as it is very long!). once u have finished all the psalms, u can read one chapter from the NT and one from OT every day. once u finish NT, i think it's best to re-read it, together with an OT chapter until u finish all the Bible. at this rate it would take roughly 3 years or so to read the whole Bible.
if u are a fast reader, u can do more, but it's better to start small and keep it up then to try to memorise a whole book of the Bible and stop several weeks later after one chapter!
not that i would ever try that...
 

[Tags:]

OrthodoxChristianity.net > Moderated Forums > Faith Issues (Moderator: Michał Kalina) > Topic: Advice for Studying the Scriptures?