Evangelist

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In theNew Testament this word, in its substantive form, occurs only three times:Acts 21:8;Ephesians 4:11;2 Timothy 4:5. It seems to indicate not so much an order in the earlyecclesiastical hierarchy as a function. The Apostles, indeed, were evangelists, inasmuch as they preached the Gospel (Acts 8:25;14:20;1 Corinthians 1:17); Philip likewise was both adeacon (Acts 6:5) and an evangelist (Acts 8:4-5;8:40;21:8); in like manner was St. Timothy exhorted bySt. Paul to do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).

From the various statements contained in theNew Testament, we may gather with some probability that evangelists were travelling missionaries, occasionally solemnly set apart, as seems to have been the case with Sts. Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), to go about and preach the Gospel, yet sometimes with a settled place of abode, as Philip at Cæsarea, and Timothy at Ephesus. They were endowed with a specialcharisma to preach to those unacquainted with theChristian Faith and pave the way for the more thorough and systematic work of thepastors and teachers. But their office, as such, seems to have extended no further, so, for instance, we understand fromActs 8:4 sqq., that Philip, who preached successfully inSamaria andbaptized many, was not qualified to impart the Holy Ghost to the converts (verse 14). Accordingly,St. Paul, in his list of the gifts bestowed by Christ for the edification of theChurch,Ephesians 4:11 (in1 Corinthians 12:28, they are omitted), mentions the evangelists in the third place, only after the Apostles and the Prophets. In the writings of theApostolic Fathers, no reference is made to evangelists; travelling missionaries are sometimes called "apostles", sometimes also, as in theDidache, they are styled "teachers".

In the laterecclesiastical literature the wordevangelist, perhaps sporadically still used for some time in its old sense (Eusebius,Church History V.10), received in most parts of theChurch, another meaning. Applied occasionally to the reader in the Liturgy (Apost. Const., III), even to thedeacon (Lit. of St. John Chrysost., P.G., LXIII, 910), it became gradually confined to the writers of theFour Gospels (Eusebius,Church History III.39, etc.. It is exclusively in this sense that common modern parlance employs it.

As early as the second century,Christian writers sought in Ezechiel's vision (i, 5 sqq.) and in Apoc. (iv, 6-10) symbolical representations of the Four Evangelists. The system which finally prevailed in theLatin Church, consisted in symbolizing St. Matthew by a man, St. Mark by a lion, St. Luke by an ox, and St. John by an eagle (see SYMBOLISM). It is fully explained bySt. Jerome (In Ezech., i, 7) and had been adopted bySt. Ambrose (Expos. Ev. S. Luc., Proœm.),St. Gregory the Great (In Ezech., Hom. I, iv, 1), and others.St. Irenæus, on the one hand, andAugustine, followed by theVenerable Bede, on the other, had devised different combinations.Christian artists followed in the footsteps of theecclesiastical writers, and made use, in different manners, of the four traditional figures to represent the Evangelists. Among the most remarkable works of this description it will suffice here to mention only the oldmosaics of the churches of S. Pudentiana, S. Sabina, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Paolo fuori le Mura, atRome.

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