A church in Scarborough is planning to stage a Bible reading marathon lasting four days.The Epiphany of Our Lord Catholic Church, at 3200 Pharmacy Ave., has organized "a very unique event" starting March 20 in which parishioners will read the entire 73 books found in the Christian Bible non-stop for four consecutive days.
The readings will be in both English and Italian, according to a press release from the church.
The reading event was inspired by one of the church members' visit to a church in London, England five years ago where its members organized a similar "Bible read-a-thon."
The Epiphany reading session will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday with the local priest Father George Parayil reading from the book of Genesis.
The last chapters in the last book of the Bible, Revelations, will be read Monday evening, March 23.
The organizers of the reading marathon noted the exercise was chosen to coincide with the beginning of the Lent period in which Catholics embark on a fasting period that culminates with the celebration of Easter Sunday.
There are 365 members of the church that will take part in the reading, some of them chose to read at night as their sacrifice during Lent, and the figure represents the total number of days in the year. During the reading, normal church services will not be interrupted.