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 4:25-5:13 (1st Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,998
Matthew 5:14-19 (Hierarchs) 1 min 5,048
Matthew 5:20-26 (1st Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,853
Matthew 5:27-32 (1st Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,482
Matthew 5:33-41 (1st Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,526
Matthew 5:42-48 (1st Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,747
Matthew 6:1-13 (Saturday before Lent) 1 min 7,294
Matthew 6:14-21 (Sunday before lent – Cheesefare) 1 min 7,785
Matthew 6:22-33 (3rd Sunday after Pentecost) 2 mins 5,640
Matthew 6:31-34; 7:9-11 (2nd Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 10,538
Matthew 7:1-8 (2nd Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,394
Matthew 7:15-21 (2nd Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,623
Matthew 7:21-23 (2nd Wednesday after Pentecost) - 18,133
Matthew 7:24-8:4 (3rd Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,613
Matthew 7:7-11 (At the Beginning of Every Good Work) 1 min 4,107
Matthew 8:14-23 (4th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,247
Matthew 8:14-23 (For the Sick) 1 min 4,186
Matthew 8:23-27 (2nd Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 17,837
Matthew 8:23-27 (In Times of Fear of Earthquake) 1 min 4,077
Matthew 8:28-34; 9:1 (5th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,719
Matthew 8:5-13 (4th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,347
Matthew 9:1-8 (6th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,860
Matthew 9:14-17 (2nd Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 52,852
Matthew 9:18-26 (6th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 5,141