Reading Scripture as an Orthodox Christian
In brief
Orthodox Christians read the Bible constantly — but they read it as a book of the Church, not a book each reader decodes alone. That means reading with the mind of the community that wrote and canonized it: within the liturgy, alongside the Fathers, and in the light of Christ, to whom every page points. Daily reading is warmly encouraged; the Church even supplies a schedule of readings, so the faithful move through the Scriptures together, year by year.
The Bible is the Church's book
Orthodoxy holds Scripture in the highest honor — it is chanted, kissed, carried in procession, and stands at the center of every service. But Orthodoxy does not read it as a text dropped from heaven into the hands of the isolated individual. The Church existed before the New Testament was written; it was the Church that recognized which books were Scripture and which were not. So the Bible comes to us already inside a community, with a way of reading attached. To read it "as an Orthodox Christian" is to read it from within that community rather than against it.
This is what stands behind the Orthodox reserve toward sola scriptura — the idea that the Bible alone, privately interpreted, is a sufficient guide. St. Peter warned that "no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Peter 1:20), and the Ethiopian official in Acts, asked if he understood what he read, answered, "How can I, except some man should guide me?" (Acts 8:31). The Bible is not less than enough; it is so full that it must be read in company. This is the heart of Scripture and Tradition: the Bible read within the living stream that carries it.
Reading with the Church and the Fathers
Reading with the Church means, first, letting Christ be the key. On the road to Emmaus the risen Lord "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27) — and that is how the Church still reads, finding Christ foreshadowed throughout the Old Testament (see typology). It means, second, reading in the company of those who read before us. The Church Fathers are not infallible one by one, but where they agree they hand down the mind of the Church, and their commentaries keep a modern reader from mistaking a private hunch for the Gospel.
St. John Chrysostom, who preached verse by verse through much of the Bible, put the danger plainly: "This is the cause of all evils, the not knowing the Scriptures." He pleaded with ordinary layfolk to own the sacred books and read them at home, not to leave them to clergy. Orthodoxy has always wanted its people in the Scriptures — but formed by the Church's mind as they read, so that study deepens communion instead of breeding a private religion.
How to actually do it
The most natural way in is the Church's own rhythm. The Gospel and Epistle appointed for each day form a lectionary — a yearly cycle of readings — so that a Christian who follows it is carried through the New Testament in step with the whole Body, not wandering at random. Many keep a simple daily habit: the day's appointed readings, or a chapter of the Gospel, read prayerfully, unhurried, asking God to open the heart before opening the book.
The Fathers counsel reading Scripture the way one reads a letter from someone who loves us: slowly, with attention, willing to be changed. Read "all scripture" as "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16) — that is, expecting it to correct you, not merely to furnish arguments. Pair it with the Church's worship and the Fathers' guidance, bring the hard questions to a priest or spiritual father, and over time the Scriptures cease to be a book you master and become the air you breathe.