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
Hebrews 3:5-11, 17-19 (29th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,754
Hebrews 4:1-13 (29th Tuesday after Pentecost) 2 mins 4,431
Hebrews 4:14-16;5:1-6 (3rd Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 6,348
Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1-8 (29th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,493
Hebrews 6:13-20 (4th Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 5,923
Hebrews 6:9-12 (4th Saturday of Lent) - 6,032
Hebrews 7:1-6 (29th Thursday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,161
Hebrews 7:18-25 (29th Friday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,201
Hebrews 7:26-28;8:1-2 (Saint) 1 min 6,555
Hebrews 7:7-17 (Meeting of Our Lord Jesus Christ) 1 min 4,837
Hebrews 8:7-13 (30th Monday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,223
Hebrews 9:1-7 (Entry of the Most-Holy Theotokos) 1 min 8,987
Hebrews 9:11-14 (5th Sunday of Great Lent) 1 min 5,624
Hebrews 9:24-28 (5th Saturday of Great Lent) 1 min 6,112
Hebrews 9:8-10,15-23 (30th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,697
I Corinthians 1:1-9 (6th Tuesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,525
I Corinthians 1:10-17 (8th Sunday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,683
I Corinthians 1:18-2:2 (Holy Friday Vespers) 2 mins 4,231
I Corinthians 1:18-24 (Exaltation of the Precious Cross) 1 min 4,840
I Corinthians 1:26-29 (12th Saturday after Pentecost) - 3,917
I Corinthians 1:3-9 (11th Saturday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,606
I Corinthians 10:1-4 (Blessing of Water) - 4,567
I Corinthians 10:12-22 (8th Wednesday after Pentecost) 1 min 4,377
I Corinthians 10:23-28 (Saturday after the Prodigal Son) 1 min 5,757