Everything about St Matthew totally explained
Matthew the Evangelist (מתי, "Gift of
the LORD",
Standard Hebrew and
Tiberian Hebrew:
Mattay or
Mattiyahu;
Septuagint Greek: Ματθαίος,
Matthaios,
Modern Greek: Ματθαίος [
Matthaíos]), most often called
Saint Matthew, is a
Christian figure, and one of
Jesus' Twelve Apostles. He is credited by tradition with writing
the Gospel of Matthew, and is identified in that gospel as being the same person as
Levi the
publican (tax collector).
Identity
The identity of Matthew the Evangelist is complex for a number of reasons. The gospel to bear the name "Matthew" was written anonymously, with
tradition ascribing authorship to Matthew at a later date. Both the style of Greek used and the means of describing events lead nearly all modern Biblical scholars to conclude that the author of the gospel wasn't a companion of the historic Jesus. Some scholars use the designation "Matthew the Evangelist" to refer to the anonymous gospel author, and "Matthew the Apostle" to refer to the Biblical figure described. Christian tradition holds that they're the same person.
Matthew's depiction in the
New Testament is likewise complex. In the gospels of
Mark and
Luke, as well as in
the Acts of the Apostles, Matthew is mentioned without any title, identifier, descriptions, or actions. Virtually nothing besides his apostleship can be determined from these accounts, and he isn't mentioned at all in the
Gospel of John or subsequent
epistles.
The
Gospel of Matthew, on the other hand, names Matthew as the tax collector called by Jesus, whom the other gospels name "Levi". This gospel subsequently gives Matthew the title "the tax collector" in his list of the Twelve Apostles. Christian tradition holds that Matthew and Levi were, in fact, two names for the same person (similarly, tradition posits a "
Jude Thaddeus" to reconsile the Jude of Luke and Acts with the Thaddeus of Matthew and Mark.) Modern Biblical scholarship holds this position as highly unlikely, however. Most exegetes posit that the writer of the Gospel of Matthew changed Levi's name to Matthew for his own theological reasons, possibly to ensure that all disciples called by Jesus (as Levi had been) were members of the Twelve. If one concludes that the Gospel of Matthew's stories of St. Matthew are based on Mark's stories of Levi, a different person, then one can say nothing about Matthew the Apostle besides the fact that he was one of the Twelve.
However, the
Catholic Encyclopedia asserts that Matthew once could have been called "Levi", according to . The Encyclopedia also states that "The fact of one man having two names is of frequent occurrence among the Jews." Other gospel passages that refer to Matthew or Levi are and .
Levi is described in Mark (and
synoptic parallels) as being a toll collector who was called by Jesus to follow him just as the Twelve Apostles were. He is called the "Son of Alphaeus", and his calling leads into a scene where Jesus is confronted by
Pharisees for eating with tax-collectors and sinners. It is possible that James, son of Alphaeus, had been distinguished from
James, son of Zebedee by the former's other name "Levi" and that James, son of Alphaeus was called to the Apostolate along with Luke.
Commemoration
Matthew is recognized as a
Saint in the
Roman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox and
Anglican churches. His
feast day is celebrated on
21 September in the West,
16 November in the East (for those churches which follow the traditional
Julian Calendar, 16 November currently falls on
29 November of the modern
Gregorian Calendar). He is also commemorated by the Orthodox, together with the other Apostles, on
30 June (13 July), the
Synaxis of the Holy Apostles.
Like the other
evangelists, Matthew is often depicted in
Christian art with one of the four living creatures of . The one that accompanies him is in the form of a winged man. The three paintings of Matthew by
Caravaggio in the church of
San Luigi dei Francesi in
Rome, where he's depicted as called by Christ from his profession as tax gatherer, are among the landmarks of Western art.
Further Information
Get more info on 'St Matthew'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://matthew_the_evangelist.totallyexplained.com">Matthew the Evangelist Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
