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 21:12-14, 17-20 (9th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,981
Matthew 21:18-22 (10th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,205
Matthew 21:18-43 (Holy Monday Matins) 3 mins 4,604
Matthew 21:23-27 (10th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,976
Matthew 21:28-32 (10th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,953
Matthew 21:33-42 (13th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,832
Matthew 21:43-46 (10th Thursday after Pentecost) - 4,403
Matthew 22:1-14 (14th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,343
Matthew 22:14 (2 Sundays before the Nativity) 1 min 4,431
Matthew 22:15-22 (For Civil Holidays) 1 min 4,088
Matthew 22:15-23:39 (Holy Tuesday Matins) 7 mins 5,869
Matthew 22:23-33 (10th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,946
Matthew 22:35-46 (15th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,822
Matthew 23:1-12 (14th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,928
Matthew 23:13-22 (11th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,023
Matthew 23:23-28 (11th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,867
Matthew 23:29-39 (11th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3,834
Matthew 24:1-13 (15th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,211
Matthew 24:13-28 (11th Thursday after Pentecost) 2 mins 3,918
Matthew 24:27-33, 42-51 (11th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,850
Matthew 24:3-35 (Holy Monday – Presanctified) 4 mins 4,267
Matthew 24:34-44 (16th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,174
Matthew 24:36-26:2 (Holy Tuesday – Presanctified) 7 mins 4,380
Matthew 25:1-13 (17th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,711