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 15:16-41 (Holy Friday Royal Hours – Third Hour) 3 mins 5,552
Mark 15:22-25,33-41 (Friday after the Prodigal Son) 1 min 3,798
Mark 15:43-47 (10th Passion Gospel) 1 min 7,274
Mark 15:43-47; 16:1-8 (3rd Sunday after Pascha) 2 mins 6,077
Mark 16:1-8 (2nd Matins Resurrection Gospel) 1 min 5,547
Mark 16:9-20 (3rd Matins Resurrection Gospel) 1 min 5,966
Mark 2:1-12 (2nd Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 6,305
Mark 2:14-17 (3rd Saturday of Lent) 1 min 5,911
Mark 2:18-22 (12th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,134
Mark 2:23-3:5 (1st Saturday of Lent) 1 min 5,918
Mark 3:13-19 (13th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,132
Mark 3:20-27 (13th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,225
Mark 3:28-35 (13th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,693
Mark 3:6-12 (13th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,082
Mark 4:1-9 (13th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,944
Mark 4:10-23 (14th Monday after Pentecost) 2 mins 3,946
Mark 4:24-34 (14th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,629
Mark 4:35-41 (For Travelers by Air or Sea) 1 min 5,205
Mark 5:1-20 (14th Thursday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,042
Mark 5:22-24,35-6:1 (14th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,993
Mark 5:24-34 (For the Sick) 1 min 4,729
Mark 6:1-7 (15th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,914
Mark 6:14-30 (Forerunner) 2 mins 4,255
Mark 6:30-45 (15th Thursday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,002