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
III John 1:1-15 (Monday before lent) 2 mins 4,776
James 1:1-12 (Vespers, Apostle) 1 min 4,268
James 1:1-18 (31st Wednesday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,046
James 1:13-27 (Vespers, Apostle) 2 mins 4,372
James 2:1-13 (31st Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,077
James 2:14-26 (32nd Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,081
James 3:1-10 (32nd Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,054
James 3:11-4:6 (32nd Wednesday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,544
James 4:7-5:9 (32nd Thursday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,143
James 5:10-16 (For the Sick and In Times of Drought) 1 min 4,576
James 5:10-20 (Prophet Elijah) 2 mins 4,004
John 1:1-17 (Sunday of Holy Pascha) 1 min 6,805
John 1:18-28 (BRIGHT MONDAY) 1 min 5,568
John 1:29-34 (Forerunner) 1 min 5,231
John 1:35-51 (BRIGHT WEDNESDAY) 2 mins 5,919
John 1:43-51 (1st Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 5,959
John 10:1-9 (for Saints) 1 min 5,913
John 10:17-28 (5th Friday after Pascha) 1 min 5,017
John 10:27-38 (5th Saturday after Pascha) 1 min 5,943
John 10:9-16 (Saint) 1 min 6,931
John 11:1-45 (Lazarus Saturday) 4 mins 7,840
John 11:47-57 (6th Monday after Pascha) 1 min 4,709
John 12:1-18 (Palm Sunday) 2 mins 8,329
John 12:17-50 (Holy Wednesday Matins) 4 mins 4,622