Importanţa lecturării Sfintei Scripturi de către monahi
The importance of reading the Holy Scriptures by the monks

Summary/Abstract: Monks aims at living Christianity to the extent of perfection. As many studies attest, Holy Scripture has had from the beginning a very important role in monasticism. The moral rules of St. Basil the Great show us that the monks used the Holy Scriptures primarily as a rule of life. For this they focused their attention on everything that is said in the form of a command, representing the “new law”. For mystical and contemplative monks, the Bible was the quintessential means of elevating their mind to God. Reading the Holy Scriptures is a spiritual communion with God the Word. Monastic life was always led in the daily rhythm of prayer and work. Whatever the work the monks did, it was essential for them to keep their mind free for spiritual things. In addition to prayer and work, however, the monks of the early centuries were also busy with reading. For the Desert Fathers, uniting labor with the recitation of verses almost always borrowed from Holy Scripture was a must. It could have been the same verse repeated again and again or longer passages, because most monks used to know by heart a big part of the Holy Scripture. The method of reading the Scripture, according to Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite, is to go from the written word to the essential word and in doing so, the patristic comments are a safe guide.

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