Four Evangelists

on the Romanesque tympanum of the Church of St. Trophime in Arles. from the Echternach Gospels, here without wings. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels, because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence or even verbatim. While the periods to which the gospels are usually dated suggest otherwise, convention traditionally holds that the authors were two of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, John and Matthew, as well as two "apostolic men", Mark and Luke, whom Orthodox Tradition records as members of the 70 Apostles (Luke 10): • Matthew (Greek: Ματθαῖος, Matthaîos) – a former tax collector (Levi) who was called by Jesus to be one of the Twelve Apostles • Mark (Greek: Μᾶρκος, Mârkos) – a follower of Peter and so an "apostolic man" • Luke (Greek: Λουκάς, Loukas) – a doctor who wrote what is now the book of Luke to Theophilus. Also known to have written the book of Acts (or Acts of the Apostles) and to have been a close friend of Paul of Tarsus • John (Greek: Ἰωάννης, Iōannēs) – a disciple of Jesus and the youngest of his Twelve Apostles They are called evangelists, a word meaning "people who proclaim good news", because their books aim to tell the "good news" ("gospel") of Jesus. ==Symbols==

In iconography, the evangelists often appear in Evangelist portraits derived from classical tradition, and are also frequently represented by the symbols which originate from the four "living creatures" that draw the throne-chariot of God in the vision in Ezekiel 1 reflected in the Book of Revelation (ff), referred to as the four 'Seraphim', though neither source links the creatures to the Evangelists (of course the depiction of the Seraphim predates in chronology the writing of the New Testament which portrays the writers John, Luke, Mark, Matthew as symbolically embodied by the four Seraphim). Images normally, but not invariably, appear with wings like angels. When the symbols of the Four Evangelists appear together, it is called a Tetramorph, common in the Romanesque art of Europe such as church frescoes or murals. The meanings accruing to the symbols grew over centuries, with an early formulation by Jerome, When surrounding Christ, the figure of the man usually appears at top left—above Christ's right hand, with the lion above Christ's left arm. Underneath the man is the ox and underneath the lion is the eagle. This both reflects the medieval idea of the order of "nobility" of nature of the beasts (man, lion, ox, eagle) and the text of Ezekiel 1:10. From the 13th century, their use began to decline, as a new conception of Christ in Majesty, showing the wounds of the Passion, came into use. In Evangelist portraits, they sometimes appear to dictate to the writing evangelist. ==Naming==

Matthew is often cited as the "first Gospel account", not only owing to its place in the canon, but also in view of the patristic witness to this effect. However, most biblical scholars see the gospel account of Mark as having been written first and John's gospel account as having been written last of the four. It is customary to refer to the gospels phrased as "the Gospel of Matthew" or as "Matthew's Gospel", and so on. ==Depictions==

File:Peter Paul Rubens - The four Evangelists (1614).jpg|Rubens, 1614 File:The Four Evangelists (Abraham Bloemaert).jpg|Abraham Bloemaert, , Princeton University Art Museum File:MIMI 76F1 NS 161V 162R.jpg|Symbol facing evangelist portrait at the start of the Gospel of St. John; Egmond Gospels, Royal Library of the Netherlands File:CodxAmiatinusMaiestasDomini.jpg|Codex Amiatinus, earliest surviving complete Vulgate Bible, 8th century File:Karolingischer Buchmaler um 820 001.jpg|Carolingian depiction from an Aachen Gospel, 820 ==See also==