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
Matthew 15:21-28 (17th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,337
Matthew 15:29-31 (7th Friday after Pentecost) - 3,857
Matthew 15:32-39 (9th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,874
Matthew 16:1-6 (In Times of Drought) 1 min 4,134
Matthew 16:13-19 (Church, Apostles) 1 min 5,242
Matthew 16:20-24 (8th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,075
Matthew 16:24-28 (8th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,482
Matthew 16:6-12 (8th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,142
Matthew 17:1-9 (Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ) 1 min 5,280
Matthew 17:10-18 (8th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,755
Matthew 17:14-23 (10th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,544
Matthew 17:24-18:4 (10th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,253
Matthew 18:1-11 (9th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,020
Matthew 18:10-20 (Monday of the Holy Spirit) 1 min 6,012
Matthew 18:18-22; 19:1-2, 13-15 (9th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,032
Matthew 18:23-35 (11th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 6,053
Matthew 19:16-26 (12th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,544
Matthew 19:3-12 (11th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,567
Matthew 2:1-12 (Nativity of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ) 2 mins 9,358
Matthew 2:13-23 (Sunday after Nativity) 2 mins 6,135
Matthew 20:1-16 (9th Wednesday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,993
Matthew 20:17-28 (9th Thursday after Pentecost) 2 mins 3,833
Matthew 20:29-34 (12th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,794
Matthew 21:1-11, 15-17 (Matins Gospel of Palm Sunday) 2 mins 5,507