Read the words aloud

Devote yourselves to the Scriptures. Love reading and studying them. The more I hear the Psalter and the poetic canons, the more I want to hear them. They are so close to life and engaging that I cannot have enough of them. Read clearly and distinctly, word by word. Read the words aloud and listen to them; that’s a great help. And where you come across a particularly meaty passage, read it again to understand it better. What can I say? I listen to the words again and again with an unquenchable thirst. They sweeten the soul. That is what is important.

And so since you will thirst for the words of the poetic canons, of the Psalter and of all the church service books and since you will desire to read, hear and take them to heart, as soon as the simantron sounds, you will run at once with love and eagerness to hear the first words of the daily cycle of prayer, ‘On rising from sleep, we fall down before You, Good Lord.’ That’s the way to achieve the object of your desire. The soul then reverts to its original luster, to its primeval state, to its ancient beauty. What does God say, On whom shall I look, if not on the meek and peaceful man who fears my words (Isaiah 66:2, LXX). Christ gives grace to the person who loves His words and all good things come easily to him.

Elder Porphyrios, Wounded by Love, pages 163-164

“Remember who your teachers were…”
2 Timothy 3:14