Saint Matthew

St. Matthew the Evangelist, was one of the Twelve Disciples and his name was Levi. He was the one sitting at the receipt of custom outside the city of Capernaum, when the Lord Christ said to him, "Follow Me." He left all, rose up, and followed Him. He made for the Lord Christ a great feast in his own house. That made the Pharisees murmur against Him saying to His disciples, "Why do your teacher eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:27-32)

He preached in the land of Palestine and Tyre and Sidon. Then he went to Ethiopia. He entered the city of priests and converted them to the knowledge of God. When he wished to enter the city, he met a young man who told him, "You will not be able to go in unless you shave off the hair of your head and carry palm branches in your hand." He did as the young man told him. And, as he was thinking about that, the Lord Christ appeared to him in the form of the young man who had met him earlier, and after He encouraged and comforted him, disappeared. He realized that this young man was the Lord of Glory Himself.

He then entered the city as one of its priests. He went to the temple of Apollo and found the high priest, and talked with him concerning the idols that they were worshipping. He explained to him how those idols did not hear or sense anything and how the true Mighty Lord is He who created the Heaven and Earth. The Lord made through him a wonder: a table came down to them from Heaven and a great light shone around them. When Hermes the priest saw this wonder, he asked him, "What is the name of your God?" The apostle replied, "My God is the Lord Christ." Hermes, the priest, believed in Christ and many people followed him.

When the Governor of the city knew that, he ordered them burned. It happened at that time that the son of the Governor died. St. Matthew the Apostle prayed and made supplications to God to raise the son and the Lord answered him and raised the child from death. When the Governor saw that, he and the rest of the people of the city believed. St. Matthew baptized them and ordained a bishop and priests, and built a church for them.

After he had preached in other countries, he went back to Jerusalem. Some of the Jews which had been preached to, and had believed and been baptized by him, asked him to write down what he had preached to them. He wrote the beginning of the Gospel attributed to him in the Hebrew language but he did not complete it. It was said that he finished it during his preaching in India, in the first year of the reign of Claudius and the ninth year of the Ascension. His martyrdom was consummated by stoning by the hands of Justus the Governor, and his body was buried in Carthage of Caesarea by some believers, in a holy place.

As an apostle, Matthew followed Christ up to the time of His passion. He also witnessed the Resurrection, and was present at the Ascension. Afterwards he was in the upper room awaiting the Holy Spirit. From the early times, he has been regarded as the author of the first Gospel, written in the second half of the first century. He preached the Gospel among the Hebrews for fifteen years before going to other countries such as Persia, and Syria.

Christian traditions differ on the subject of his martyrdom. Some place it in Ethiopia, others at Persia. As for the kind of torture inflicted on him, it is not known whether he was burned, stoned or beheaded.

INSPIRATIONAL EVENT: Listen to what Jerome said: “The tax collector and the sinners who ate with Jesus saw that a publican had turned from his sins to better ways. They realized that he found the way of penance. For that reason they also did not despair on salvation. They did not come to Jesus stuck in their former sins, but doing penance. As Jesus said, “I CAME NOT TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS” (Mt 9:13). The Lord attended the banquet of sinners so that he might teach and offer spiritual food to those who had invited Him”.

Matthew the Evangelist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Matthew the Evangelist (מתי "Gift of the LORD", Standard Hebrew and Tiberian Hebrew Mattay; Septuagint Greek Ματθαιος, Matthaios) is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Matthew. He was the son of Alphaeus, and was a publican or tax-collector at Capernaum. On one occasion Jesus, coming up from the side of the lake, passed the custom-house where Matthew was seated, and said to him, "Follow me." Matthew arose and followed him, and became his disciple (Matthew 9:9).

He is called Levi in Luke (5:27). Although Mark calls him Matthew in his list of the apostles, when recounting the story how the publican is called to be a disciple, he calls him Levi (2:14). Some explain this discrepancy by saying he formerly was known as Levi, but then he changed it, possibly in grateful memory of his call, to Matthew. The same day on which Jesus called him he made a "great feast" (Luke 5:29), a farewell feast, to which he invited Jesus and his disciples, and probably also many of his old associates. The last notice of him in the New Testament is in Acts 1:13. He is one of the few disciples mentioned by name in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, suggesting he was of more importance in the early church than surviving evidence indicates. The time and manner of his death are unknown.

Some traditions say that Matthew was martyred in Ethiopia, others say that he was martyred in Hierapolis of Parthia. According to Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, Matthew the Evangelist was martyred in Hierapolis, and the Matthew who replaced Judas Iscariot among the twelve apostles is the one who died in Ethiopia.

He is recognized as a saint in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. The Eastern Orthodox celebrate his feast day on November 16, whereas September 21 is observed in certain other churches.

Like the other three Evangelists, Matthew is often depicted in Christian art. His particular attribute is a winged man, a reference to the angel who is supposed to have dictated to him as he wrote. The three paintings of his life by Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio) in the church of San Luigi Dei Francesci in Rome are among the landmarks of Western art.