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
Mark 10:2-12 (31st Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,364
Mark 10:23-32 (31st Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,517
Mark 10:29-31, 42-45 (St. Jacob) 1 min 4,182
Mark 10:32-45 (5th Sunday of Great Lent) 2 mins 4,669
Mark 10:46-52 (32nd Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,422
Mark 11:1-11 (Monday after the Prodigal Son) 1 min 4,837
Mark 11:11-23 (32nd Tuesday after Pentecost) 2 mins 5,412
Mark 11:23-26 (32nd Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,940
Mark 11:27-33 (32nd Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,262
Mark 12:1-12 (32nd Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,505
Mark 12:13-17 (33rd Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 2,548
Mark 12:18-27 (33rd Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 2,598
Mark 12:28-37 (33rd Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,142
Mark 12:38-44 (33rd Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,288
Mark 13:1-8 (33rd Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,361
Mark 13:14-23 (Tuesday after the Publican and the Pharisee) 1 min 4,883
Mark 13:24-31 (Wednesday after the Publican and the Pharisee) 1 min 4,543
Mark 13:31-14:2 (Thursday after the Publican and the Pharisee) 1 min 4,715
Mark 13:9-13 (Monday after the Publican and the Pharisee) 1 min 4,888
Mark 14:10-42 (Tuesday after the Prodigal Son) 4 mins 5,124
Mark 14:3-9 (Friday after the Publican and the Pharisee) 1 min 4,925
Mark 14:43-15:1 (Wednesday after the Prodigal Son) 3 mins 5,152
Mark 15:1-15 (Thursday after the Prodigal Son) 1 min 5,080
Mark 15:16-32 (6th Passion Gospel) 2 mins 7,251