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
Galatians 6:14-18 (Holy Friday Royal Hour – First Hour) 1 min 4590
Galatians 6:2-10 (16th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 3938
Hebrews 1:1-12 (1st Saturday of lent) 1 min 6072
Hebrews 1:1-12 (Eve of the Nativity of Christ) 1 min 5440
Hebrews 1:10-14;2:1-3 (2nd Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 6015
Hebrews 1:10-14;2:1-3 (Eve of the Nativity) 1 min 5329
Hebrews 10:1-18 (30th Wednesday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4268
Hebrews 10:32-38 (3rd Saturday of Lent) 1 min 6919
Hebrews 10:35-11:7 (30th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 4152
Hebrews 11:17-23;27-31 (31th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4359
Hebrews 11:24-26,32-40 (1st Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 6116
Hebrews 11:33-12:2 (1st Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4750
Hebrews 11:8, 11-16 (30th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 3578
Hebrews 11:9-10; 32-40 (Sunday Before Nativity) 1 min 5543
Hebrews 12:1-10 (40 Martyrs of Sebaste) 1 min 4957
Hebrews 12:25, 26, 13:22-25 (31st Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4387
Hebrews 12:28-29;13:1-8 (Lazarus Saturday) 1 min 6812
Hebrews 12:6-13; 25-27 (In Times of Fear of Earthquake) 1 min 3555
Hebrews 13:17-21 (Saint) 1 min 4524
Hebrews 13:7-16 (Saint) 1 min 5414
Hebrews 2:11-18 (Annunciation to the Most-Holy Theotokos) 1 min 8437
Hebrews 2:2-10 (Angels) 1 min 4679
Hebrews 3:1-4 (Church) - 4578
Hebrews 3:12-16 (2nd Saturday of Lent) 1 min 6197