"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 meaning of the passages of Scripture."
-St. Isaac of Nineveh
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I understand this passage to be saying that the reading and the serious study of Scripture is indispensable to growing as a Christian.
St. Isaac (along with many of the Fathers) had a three step process in envisioning the sanctification or growth process of Christians. The first involved the putting to death of sinful habits, passions, and all of those things that tie us to the world (money, fame, even unhealthy ties to family). This takes a lot longer than most people think. The means of separating from these passions include fervent prayer, fasting, vigils, etc. And in the quote I put on the board, he says that the reading of Scripture is one of the most, if not the most, important.
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