(This is why reading church history makes you Protestant!)
I always entreat you, and do not cease entreating you, not only to pay attention here to what I say, but also when you are at home, to persevere continually in reading he divine Scriptures… Do not let anyone say to me those vain words, worthy of heavy condemnation, “I cannot leave the courthouse, I administer a business in the city, I practice a craft, I have a wife, I am raising children, I am in charge of a household, I am a man of the world; reading the Scriptures is not for me, but for those who have been set apart, who have settled on the mountaintops, who keep this way of life continuously.”
What are you saying, man? That attending to the Scriptures is not for you, since you are surrounded by a multitude of cares? Rather it is for you more than for them. They do not need the help of the divine Scriptures as much as those do who are involved in many occupations. The monks, who are released from the clamour of the marketplace and have fixed their huts in the wilderness, who own nothing in common with anyone, but practice wisdom without fear in the calm of that quiet life, as if resting in a harbour, enjoy great security; but we, as if tossing in the midst of the sea, driven by a multitude of sins, always need the continuous and ceaseless aid of the Scriptures. They rest far from the battle, and so do not receive many wounds; but you stand continuously in the front rank, and you receive continual blows. So that you need more remedies.
Your wife provokes you for example, your son grieves you, your servant angers you, your enemy plots against you, your friend envies you, your neighbour curses you, your fellow soldier trips you up, often a lawsuit threatens you, poverty troubles you, loss of your property gives you grief, prosperity puffs you up, misfortune depresses, and many causes and compulsions to discouragement and grief, to conceit and desperation, surround us on all sides, and a multitude of missiles falls from everywhere.
Therefore we have a continuous need for the full armour of the Scriptures… we need the divine medicines too heal the wounds that we have received and to protect us from those that we have not yet received but will. We must thoroughly quench the darts of the devil and beat them off by continual reading of the divine Scriptures.
(From Chrysostom’s third sermon on Lazarus and the rich man (AD389)
Jots and Scribbles 