St. John Chrysostom: On reading with care the Holy Scriptures

 Let us now after this be ashamed, and blush. A woman who had had five husbands, and who was of Samaria, was so eager concerning doctrines, that neither the time of day, nor her having come for another purpose, nor anything else, led her away from enquiring on such matters; but we not only do not enquire concerning doctrines, but towards them all our dispositions are careless and indifferent. Therefore everything is neglected. 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, but with most we shall find draughts and dice, but books nowhere, except among a few. And even these few have

the same dispositions as the many; for they tie up their books, and keep them always put away in cases, and all their care is for the fineness of the parchments, and the beauty of the letters, not for reading them. For they have not bought them to obtain advantage and benefit from them, but take pains about such matters to show their wealth and pride. Such is the excess of vainglory. I do not hear any one glory that he knows the contents, but that he hath a book written in letters of gold. And what gain, tell me, is this? The Scriptures were not given us for this only, that we might have them ill books, but that we might engrave them on our hearts. For this kind of possession, the keeping the commandments merely in letter, belongs to Jewish ambition; but to us the Law was not so given at all, but in the fleshy tables of our hearts. And this I say, not to prevent you from procuring Bibles, on the contrary, I exhort and earnestly pray that you do this, but I desire that from those books you convey the letters and sense into your understanding, that so it may be purified when it receiveth the meaning of the writing. For if the devil will not dare to approach a house where a Gospel is lying, much less will any evil spirit, or any sinful nature, ever touch or enter a soul which bears about with it such sentiments as it contains. Sanctify

then thy soul, sanctity thy body, by having these ever in thy heart, and on thy tongue. For if foul speech defiles and invites devils, it is clear that spiritual reading sanctifies and draws down the grace of the Spirit. The Scriptures are divine charms, let us then apply to ourselves and to the passions of our souls the remedies to be derived from them. For if we understand what it is that is read, we shall hear it with much readiness. I am always saying this, and will not cease to say it.

+St. John Chrysostom, from Homily 22 on the Gospel of St. John, #3

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov: Spiritual life and guidance in these last days

 The divine word and the words of the Holy Fathers are limitless, like sand in the ocean. By studying them without laziness, we can give instruction to those who come to us. Or it would be more proper to say that it is not we who give the advice (we are not worthy) but the Holy Fathers themselves inspired by the Holy Scriptures. All the holy ascetic writers of the last few centuries maintain that because of the general diminution of Spirit-inspired guides, the study of the Holy Scriptures (especially the New Testament) and the Fathers - as well as the assiduous and constant following of their advice in one’s life and in the guiding of others - is the only path to spiritual progress, given by God to the monastics of the last days. St Nilus announced that he would reject any monk who did not want to live according to this rule.¹ It is that important; it is that essential!

+St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, from The Field: Cultivating Salvation, chapter 34.
¹The Rule of St. Nilus of Sora

St. Isaac the Syrian: On devotion to learning from the Scriptures

 Nothing can so banish licentious habits from the soul and restrain memories which disturb and stir up troubling flames in the body as can avid devotion to the love of learning and searching investigation into the meanings of the passages of Scripture.

When the impulses of the soul plunge into the pleasure which comes from the wisdom stored in the words of Scripture, vigorously drawing understanding from it, a person will leave his body behind. Such a one will forget the world and all that is in it and will cancel from the soul all the memories which stir up images of the material world. Often the soul in wonder desists in its reflection from the use of habitual thoughts which come naturally to it, in the presence of the novelties which come to it from the sea of the Scripture's mysteries.

+St. Isaac the Syrian, from On Ascetical Life, First Discourse #16-17.

Jaroslav Pelikan: Witness to the Scriptures

 The British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Bible Society, and the Gideons all came into being at least partly in order to distribute Bibles and tracts that would bring reader everywhere to the faith. It would fly in the face of the historical evidence to suppose that the process has never worked that way. But if we probe the historical evidence, we will often find a human voice hovering somewhere in the vicinity of the written or printed page. When he just happened to read that particular passage from the New Testament, Augustine was responding to the mysterious voice of a child, whether a boy or a girl he did not know, that called out to him: "Pick it up and read it!" And the Bibles and tracts of the Bible societies were often distributed by the hand of a living and speaking human being, not just by mail or in a tract rack. No book of the Tanakh or the New Testament is addressed explicitly to unbelievers, though they are certainly present prominently in both.

Thus for every paragraph in a letter of every chapter in a spiritual autobiography detailing someone's conversion through reading the Book, there are hundreds in which it is the voice of a parent, friend, or stranger - perhaps sometimes even a teacher or preacher - that was the force which did the challenging and summoning and inviting.

+Jaroslav Pelikan, from Whose Bible is It? A Short History of the Scriptures,  The God Who Speaks.

St. Justin Martyr: Read the Scriptures

I would wish that all, making a resolution similar to my own, do not keep themselves away from the words of the Savior.¹ For they possess a terrible power in themselves, and are sufficient to inspire those who turn aside from the path of rectitude with awe; while the sweetest rest is afforded those who make a diligent practice of them. If, then, you have any concern for yourself, and if you are eagerly looking for salvation, and if you believe in God, you may - since you are not indifferent to the matter - become acquainted with the Christ of God, and after being initiated, live a happy life.
+St. Justin Martyr, from Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 8.
¹The Saint is here referring to the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament).