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
Luke 18:10-14 (4th Sunday before lent) 1 min 5,749
Luke 18:15-17;26-30 (10th Wednesday of Luke) 1 min 4,298
Luke 18:18-27 (13th Sunday of Luke) 1 min 4,349
Luke 18:2-8 (11th Saturday before Pascha) 1 min 4,816
Luke 18:31-34 (10th Thursday of Luke) - 4,148
Luke 18:35-43 (14th Sunday of Luke) 1 min 4,693
Luke 19:1-10 (15th Sunday of Luke, Zacchaios Sunday) 1 min 6,310
Luke 19:12-28 (10th Friday of Luke) 2 mins 5,568
Luke 19:29-40;22:7-39 (Monday before lent) 5 mins 5,081
Luke 19:37-44 (11th Monday of Luke) 1 min 4,293
Luke 19:45-48 (11th Tuesday of Luke) - 4,062
Luke 2:1-20 (Eve of the Nativity of Chris) 2 mins 6,064
Luke 2:20-21, 40-52 (Circumcision) 2 mins 5,234
Luke 2:22-40 (Meeting of Our Lord Jesus Christ) 2 mins 5,511
Luke 2:25-32 (Matins – Meeting of our Lord) 1 min 4,439
Luke 20:1-8 (11th Wednesday of Luke) 1 min 4,092
Luke 20:19-26 (11th Friday of Luke) 1 min 4,272
Luke 20:27-44 (12th Monday of Luke) 2 mins 4,274
Luke 20:45-21:4 (4th Saturday before lent) 1 min 6,267
Luke 20:9-18 (11th Thursday of Luke) 1 min 5,691
Luke 21:12-19 (12th Tuesday of Luke) 1 min 4,414
Luke 21:12-19 (Holy New Martyrs of Alaska) 1 min 4,016
Luke 21:28-33 (12 Thursday of Luke) 1 min 5,648
Luke 21:37-38, 22:1-8 (12th Friday of Luke) 1 min 4,455