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ST See also: tetrarch See also: Herod
.
The circumstances of his See also: call to become a follower of Jesus, received as he sat in the " customs See also: house " in one of the towns by the See also: Sea of Galilee—apparently Capernaum (Mark ii
.
1, 13), are briefly related in ix
.
9
.
We should gather from the parallel narrative in Mark ii
.
14, See also: Luke v
.
27, that he was at the. See also: time known as " Levi the son of Alphaeus " (compare See also: Simon Cephas, See also: Joseph See also: Barnabas) : if so, " See also: James the son of Alphaeus " may have been his
See also: brother
.
Possibly " See also: Matthew " (Yahweh's gift) was his Christian surname, since two native names, neither being a patronymic, is contrary to Jewish usage
.
It must be noted, however, that Matthew and Levi were sometimes distinguished in early times, as by See also: Heracleon (c
.
170 A.D.), and more dubiously by See also: Origen (c
.
Celsum, 62), also apparently in the See also: Syriac Didascalia (sec. iii.), V. xiv
.
14 . It has generally been supposed, on the strength of Luke's account (v . 29), that Matthew gave a feast in Jesus' honour (like Zacchaeus, Luke xix . 6 seq.) . But Mark (ii . 15), followed by Matthew (ix . 1o), may mean that theSee also: meal in question was one in Jesus' own home at Capernaum (cf. v
.
1)
.
In the lists of the Apostles given in the Synoptic Gospels and in Acts, Matthew ranks third or See also: fourth in the second See also: group of four—a See also: fair See also: index of his relative importance in the apostolic age
.
The only other facts related of Matthew on See also: good authority concern him as Evangelist
.
See also: Eusebius (H.E. iii
.
24) says that he, like See also: John, wrote only at the spur of
See also: necessity
.
" For Matthew, after preaching toSee also: Hebrews, when about to go also to others, committed to writing in his native See also: tongue the Gospel that bears his name; and so by his writing supplied, for those whom he was leaving, the loss of his presence." The value of this tradition, which may be based on See also: Papias, who certainly reported that " Matthew compiled the Oracles (of the See also: Lord) in See also: Hebrew," can be estimated only in connexion with the study of the Gospel itself (see below)
.
No See also: historical use can be made of the artificial See also: story, in Sanhedrin 43a, that Matthew was condemned to See also: death by a Jewish See also: court (see Laible, Christ in the See also: Talmud, 71 seq.)
.
According to the Gnostic Heracleon, quoted by See also: Clement of Alexandria (Strom. iv
.
9), Matthew died a natural death
.
The tradition as to his ascetic See also: diet (in Clem
.
Alex
.
Paedag. ii
.
16) may be due to confusion with See also: Matthias (cf
.
Mart
.
Matthaei, i.)
.
The earliest See also: legend as to his later labours, one of Syrian origin, places them in the See also: Parthian See also: kingdom, where it represents him as dying a natural death at See also: Hierapolis (= Mabog on the See also: Euphrates)
.
This agrees with his legend as known to See also: Ambrose and Paulinus of See also: Nola, and is the most probable in itself
.
The legends which make him See also: work with Andrew among the Anthropophagi near the Black Sea, or again in Ethiopia (See also: Rufinus, and See also: Socrates, H.E. i
.
19), are due to confusion with Matthias, who from the first was associated in his Acts with Andrew (see M
.
See also: Bonnet, Acta Apost. apocr., 1898, II. i
.
6.i)
.
Another
legend, his Martyrium, makes him labour and suffer in See also: Mysore
.
He is commemorated as a See also: martyr by the See also: Greek Chufch on the 16th of See also: November, and by the See also: Roman on the 21St of See also: September, the scene of his martyrdom being placed in Ethiopia
.
The Latin Breviary also affirms that his See also: body was afterwards translated to See also: Salerno, where it is said to lie in the See also: church built by Robert Guiscard
.
In Christian
See also: art (following See also: Jerome) the Evangelist Matthew is generally symbolized by the "See also: man"in the imagery of Ezek. i. ro, Rev. iv
.
7
.
For the historical Matthew, see Ency
.
Bibl. and Zahn, Introd. to New Test., ii
.
506 seq., 522 seq
.
For his legends, as under MARK . (J . V . |
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