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 6:45-53 (15th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3948
Mark 6:54-7:8 (16th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 3637
Mark 6:7-13 (Saint Mark) 1 min 5024
Mark 7:14-24 (16th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3767
Mark 7:24-30 (16th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 3702
Mark 7:31-37 (4th Saturday of Lent) 1 min 5774
Mark 7:5-16 (16th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3566
Mark 8:1-10 (16th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3713
Mark 8:11-21 (30th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 6140
Mark 8:22-26 (30th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 5532
Mark 8:27-31 (5th Saturday of Great Lent) 1 min 6140
Mark 8:30-34 (30th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 5729
Mark 8:34-38; 9:1 (3rd Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 5752
Mark 9:10-16 (30th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 5866
Mark 9:17-31 (4th Sunday of Great Lent) 2 mins 6107
Mark 9:33-41 (30th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 6509
Mark 9:42-10:1 (31st Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 5801
Matthew 1:1-25 (Sunday Before Nativity) 3 mins 6516
Matthew 1:18-25 (Eve of the Nativity) 1 min 5710
Matthew 10:16-22 (3rd Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 19193
Matthew 10:23-31 (3rd Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 6779
Matthew 10:32-33; 37-38; 19:27-30 (1st Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4548
Matthew 10:32-36; 11:1 (3rd Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 7261
Matthew 10:37-11:1 (7th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4482