The study of inspired Scripture is the primary way to learn what our duty is in life. In it, we find not only instruction about conduct, but also accounts of the lives of blessed men and women. . . If we devote ourselves to imitating these saints, then no matter which virtue we may feel ourselves lacking, we can find in Scripture, as if in a medical clinic, the proper medicine for our particular ailment. . . We’re taught endurance by Job. He remained the same when the circumstances of life began to turn against him. In one moment, he was plunged from wealth into poverty, and from being the father of beautiful children into a childless man. He kept the right attitude in his soul all through these changes without being crushed. He wasn’t even stirred to anger against the friends who came to comfort him, but ended up trampling on him and making his troubles worse. When artists paint by imitating another artist’s work, they must constantly look at the model, doing their best to transfer its features to their own work. In the same way, those who seek to perfect themselves in every form of moral excellence must keep their eyes focused on the lives of the saints. . . In this way, they can make the saints’ virtues their own by imitation.
– St. Basil the Great