The Symbols of the Evangelists
Symbols of the Gospel writers, symbols of Christ
Background
From ancient times the order of allotting of the symbols we have come to associate with the evangelists were not always the same. In the Book of Ezekiel 1:10 we read of a vision the prophet had of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. Because of the high regard these symbols held in ancient cultures they were often prominently assigned to the gospels. Around 160 A.D. we see the first ordering of the four gospels by the sequence of Matthew, John, Luke Mark. A possible reason for this order is because it wishes to give precedence to the two apostles. This order was matched to the order of the creatures in Ezekiel so that the man was assigned to Matthew, the lion to John, the ox to Luke, and the eagle to Mark. This Latin or " Western" pairing would have been used by Sts. Ambrose and Irenaeus among others of their time. The ordering we have in our gospels today, called the Greek or "Canonical" order, was adopted by St. Jerome around 400 A.D. when he wrote the Vulgate. Thus we now have the pairing of man with Matthew, Mark with lion, Luke with ox and John with eagle. Because of the influence Jerome's Vulgate had on the Church, this assignment of symbols is used to this day.
Content of this page
- Much analysis of the meaning and use of symbols has been culled from Richard Burrdige's work "Four Gospels, One Jesus?" which are cited.
- All images used on this website and in linked videos are provided for academic use by artstor.org.
- Where possible, primary sources are linked to online databases of the works of the fathers.
Created by Benjamin Kneib, Gregory Carl, and Iam Murphy