Scripture Readings - New Testament Readings

New Testament Readings

The books of the Bible which contain the revelation of God since the coming of Christ: the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the seven General Epistles, the fourteen Epistles of Saint Paul, and the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse).

The center of the New Testament part of the Bible is the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John who are called the four evangelists, which means those who wrote the gospels. Gospel in Greek is ‘evangelion’ which, as we have seen, means the “glad tidings” or the “good news.”
In the New Testament scripture there is also the book of the Acts of the Apostles, written by St. Luke. There are fourteen letters called the epistles (which simply means letters) of the Apostle Paul, though perhaps some, such as the Letter to the Hebrews, were not written directly by him. Three letters are also ascribed to the Apostle John; two to the Apostle Peter; and one each to the Apostles James and Jude. Finally there is the Book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse, which is ascribed to St. John as well.
For the Orthodox, the Bible is the main written source of divine doctrine since God Himself inspired its writing by His Holy Spirit (see 2 Tim 3:16 and 2 Pet 1:20). This is the doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible, namely that men inspired by God wrote the words which are truly their own human words—all words are human!—but which nevertheless may be called all together the Word of God. Thus, the Bible is the Word of God in written form because it contains not merely the thoughts and experiences of men, but the very self-revelation of God.
The center of the Bible as the written Word of God in human form is the person of the Living Word of God in human form, Jesus Christ. All parts of the Bible are interpreted in the Orthodox Church in the light of Christ since everything in the Bible leads up to Christ and speaks about Him (Lk 24: 44). This fact is symbolized in the Orthodox Church by the fact that only the book of the four gospels is enthroned on the altars of our churches and not the entire Bible. This is so because everything in the Bible is fulfilled in Christ.

Reading Read Time Hit Count
Jude 1:1-7; 17-25 (Apostle and Evangelist Luke) 2 mins 2858
Ephesians 1:1-9 (16th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 3814
Galatians 1:1-10,20-2:5 (14th Thursday after Pentecost) 2 mins 3773
James 1:1-12 (Vespers, Apostle) 1 min 4165
I John 1:1-7 (St. John) 1 min 4605
II Peter 1:1-10 (33rd Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3232
II Corinthians 1:1-7 (10th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 3886
III John 1:1-15 (Monday before lent) 2 mins 4670
II John 1:1-13 (Friday after the Prodigal Son) 2 mins 4764
I Peter 1:1-2;10-12;2:6-10 (32nd Friday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4321
Titus 1:5-2:1 (28th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 4341
I Timothy 1:1-7 (26th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4061
II Timothy 1:1-2; 8-18 (27th Friday after Pentecost) 2 mins 3936
II Thessalonians 1:1-10 (25th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 3913
I Thessalonians 1:1-5 (23rd Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 3862
Colossians 1:1-3; 7-11 (21th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3898
Philippians 1:1-7 (19th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 3991
Hebrews 1:1-12 (1st Saturday of lent) 1 min 5963
I Corinthians 1:1-9 (6th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4416
Romans 1:1-7,13-17 (1st Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4521
Luke 1:5-25 (Forerunner Conception) 2 mins 5199
Mark 1:1-8 (Sunday before Theophany) 1 min 6204
Matthew 1:1-25 (Sunday Before Nativity) 3 mins 6397
John 1:1-17 (Sunday of Holy Pascha) 1 min 6599