Evangelists. In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles: Gospel according to Matthew; Gospel according to Mark; Gospel according to Luke and Gospel according to John.
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. 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: Matthew-a former tax collector who was called by Jesus to be one of the Twelve Apostles.
Mark-a follower of Peter and so an apostolic man,. Luke-a doctor who wrote what is now the book of Luke to Theophilus.
Also known to have written the book of Acts and to have been a close friend of Paul of Tarsus. John-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 of Jesus. 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