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 5,679
Mark 15:22-25,33-41 (Friday after the Prodigal Son) 1 min 3,896
Mark 15:43-47 (10th Passion Gospel) 1 min 7,417
Mark 15:43-47; 16:1-8 (3rd Sunday after Pascha) 2 mins 6,208
Mark 16:1-8 (2nd Matins Resurrection Gospel) 1 min 5,707
Mark 16:9-20 (3rd Matins Resurrection Gospel) 1 min 6,109
Mark 2:1-12 (2nd Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 6,437
Mark 2:14-17 (3rd Saturday of Lent) 1 min 6,035
Mark 2:18-22 (12th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,264
Mark 2:23-3:5 (1st Saturday of Lent) 1 min 6,058
Mark 3:13-19 (13th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,262
Mark 3:20-27 (13th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,351
Mark 3:28-35 (13th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,817
Mark 3:6-12 (13th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,196
Mark 4:1-9 (13th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,085
Mark 4:10-23 (14th Monday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,087
Mark 4:24-34 (14th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,759
Mark 4:35-41 (For Travelers by Air or Sea) 1 min 5,346
Mark 5:1-20 (14th Thursday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,238
Mark 5:22-24,35-6:1 (14th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,110
Mark 5:24-34 (For the Sick) 1 min 4,863
Mark 6:1-7 (15th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,044
Mark 6:14-30 (Forerunner) 2 mins 4,348
Mark 6:30-45 (15th Thursday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,124