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
Acts 2:1-11 (Sunday of Holy Pentecost) 1 min 5,625
Acts 2:14-21 (BRIGHT TUESDAY) 1 min 5,261
Acts 2:22-38 (BRIGHT WEDNESDAY) 2 mins 5,020
Acts 2:38-43 (Bright Thursday) 1 min 4,536
Acts 20:16-18,28-36 (7th Sunday after Pascha) 1 min 5,461
Acts 20:7-12 (6th Saturday after Pascha) 1 min 6,005
Acts 21:1-7 (For Travelers by Air or Sea) 1 min 3,801
Acts 21:26-32 (7th Tuesday after Pascha) 1 min 4,371
Acts 21:8-14 (7th Monday after Pascha) 1 min 4,888
Acts 23:1-11 (7th Wednesday after Pascha) 2 mins 4,343
Acts 25:13-19 (7th Thursday after Pascha) 1 min 4,001
Acts 26:1-5,12-20 (Saints) 2 mins 4,143
Acts 27:1-44;28:1 (7th Friday after Pascha) 5 mins 4,341
Acts 28:1-31 (7th Saturday after Pascha) 4 mins 5,540
Acts 3:1-8 (BRIGHT FRIDAY) 1 min 4,863
Acts 3:11-16 (BRIGHT SATURDAY) 1 min 6,586
Acts 3:19-26 (2nd Monday after Pascha) 1 min 4,613
Acts 4:1-10 (2nd Tuesday after Pascha) 1 min 4,566
Acts 4:13-22 (2nd Wednesday after Pascha) 1 min 4,395
Acts 4:23-31 (2nd Thursday after Pascha) 1 min 4,379
Acts 5:1-11 (2nd Friday after Pascha) 1 min 4,615
Acts 5:12-20 (2nd Sunday after Pascha) 1 min 5,853
Acts 5:21-33 (2nd Saturday of Pascha) 2 mins 5,594
Acts 6:1-7 (3rd Sunday after Pascha) 1 min 5,725