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 4,054
Mark 6:54-7:8 (16th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,713
Mark 6:7-13 (Saint Mark) 1 min 5,132
Mark 7:14-24 (16th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,860
Mark 7:24-30 (16th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,786
Mark 7:31-37 (4th Saturday of Lent) 1 min 5,864
Mark 7:5-16 (16th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,666
Mark 8:1-10 (16th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,807
Mark 8:11-21 (30th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 6,233
Mark 8:22-26 (30th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,601
Mark 8:27-31 (5th Saturday of Great Lent) 1 min 6,245
Mark 8:30-34 (30th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,811
Mark 8:34-38; 9:1 (3rd Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 5,889
Mark 9:10-16 (30th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,963
Mark 9:17-31 (4th Sunday of Great Lent) 2 mins 6,204
Mark 9:33-41 (30th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 6,615
Mark 9:42-10:1 (31st Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,887
Matthew 1:1-25 (Sunday Before Nativity) 3 mins 6,605
Matthew 1:18-25 (Eve of the Nativity) 1 min 5,820
Matthew 10:16-22 (3rd Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 19,275
Matthew 10:23-31 (3rd Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 6,872
Matthew 10:32-33; 37-38; 19:27-30 (1st Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,638
Matthew 10:32-36; 11:1 (3rd Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 7,353
Matthew 10:37-11:1 (7th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,594