Character and features of each of the four Gospels / 1. Gospel of Matthew

The main book for any Christian to read is the Bible. Its main parts are the Old and New Testaments, which tell about God. And if the Old Testament speaks of the path of the Jewish people as God’s chosen ones, then the New Testament calls each and everyone to follow Christ. Most often, it is recommended to start reading the Holy Scriptures with the New Testament, although it is not at the very beginning of the Bible.

In order to correctly understand the deep meanings of sacred lines, one’s own understanding is often not enough. A person, due to his spiritual misunderstanding, can significantly distort what was said many centuries ago. That is why our Church has always advised reading the Holy Scriptures not on their own, but with authoritative interpretations.

The Holy Scriptures contain all the truths of the Christian Church.

The New Testament also consists of several books, the main ones being the four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is these Gospels that are considered canonical and reliably convey the events of the earthly life of Jesus Christ. In addition to them, there are so-called apocrypha - descriptions whose authorship has not been reliably established or contain dubious meanings. The apocrypha is not always false or distorted, but in order not to harm your own soul, it is better to read the canonical Gospels. And the first of them belongs to the Apostle Matthew. Let's look at it in more detail.

What is the Gospel of Matthew about?

The main thing that the Evangelist Matthew tells us about is the life and work of Jesus Christ from the beginning of his preaching until the Resurrection. The text was originally intended for Jews, therefore it contains many references to the Old Testament and ancient prophecies. Matthew's purpose was to show that with the coming of the Messiah the prophecies that were written down by the ancient fathers are fulfilled.

The first thing Matthew begins his story with is the genealogy of Jesus Christ, which begins with Adam and ends with Joseph, the Betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos. Such detail is needed in order to show that Christ came to earth for every person - both those who lived before and those born after.

All four Gospels (the word “Gospel” translated from Greek means “good news”) tell about the life and teaching of Christ the Savior, His miracles, suffering on the cross, death and burial, His glorious Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into heaven. Mutually complementing and clarifying each other, they represent a single whole book that does not have any contradictions or disagreements in the main and main things. The traditional symbol for the four Gospels is the chariot that the prophet Ezekiel saw at the river Chebar (1: 1-28) and which consisted of four creatures - a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle. These creatures, each individually, became symbols of the evangelists. Christian art since the fifth century depicts St. Matthew with a man or angel, St. Mark - with a lion, St. Luke - with the calf, St. John - with an eagle. The symbol of the Evangelist Matthew became a man because in his Gospel he especially emphasizes the human origin of the Lord Jesus Christ. Symbol of St. Mark is a lion, a royal animal, a symbol of power and strength, for St. Mark brings out in particular the royal omnipotence of the Lord, gives in his Gospel a strong, vivid impression of the miracles of Christ, thereby emphasizing the royal greatness of the Lord. In his Gospel, Jesus Christ is not the “son of David”, as in Matthew, but the Son of God, Lord and Ruler, King of the universe. Symbol of St. Luke – a calf (a calf as a sacrificial animal in the Old Testament). St. Luke speaks primarily of Christ as the great High Priest who offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. The Orthodox Church compares St. John to an eagle, since St. John, with the special sublimity of his thoughts and even the very majesty of his style, soars high in the sky, like an eagle. Of the four Gospels, the content of the first three - Matthew, Mark and Luke - largely coincides, close to each other, both in the narrative material itself and in the form of presentation; The fourth Gospel of John in this regard stands apart, differing significantly from the first three, both in the material presented in it, and in the style itself, the form of presentation. In this regard, the first three Gospels are usually called “synoptic”, from the Greek word “synopsis”, which means “presentation in one general image”. But although the first three Gospels are very close to each other both in plan and in content, which can easily be located in the corresponding parallel tables, each of them, however, also has its own characteristics. Thus, if the entire content of the individual Gospels is determined at 100%, then in Matthew it turns out that 58% of the content is similar to the others and 42% is different from the others; for Mark – 93% similar and 7% different; in Luke - 41% similar and 59% different, in John - 8% similar and as much as 92% different. Similarities are noticed mainly in the rendering of the sayings of Christ the Savior, while differences are seen in the narrative part. When Matthew and Luke literally agree with each other in their Gospels, Mark always agrees with them; the similarity between Luke and Mark is much closer than between Luke and Matthew; when Mark has additional features, Luke usually has them too, which cannot be said about features found only in Matthew; and, finally, in those cases where Mark does not report anything, the Evangelist Luke often differs from Matthew. The Synoptic Gospels tell almost exclusively about the activities of the Lord Jesus Christ in Galilee, St. John is in Judea. Forecasters talk mainly about miracles, parables and external events in the life of the Lord, St. John discusses its deepest meaning and cites the Lord’s speeches about the most sublime objects of faith. The main difference between the weather forecasters and St. John - in the conversations of the Lord they conveyed. Among weather forecasters, these conversations are very simple, easily understandable, and popular; in John - they are deep, mysterious, often difficult to understand, as if they were intended not for the crowd, but for some closer circle of listeners. But this is so: the weather forecasters cite the speeches of the Lord addressed to the Galileans, simple and ignorant people, John conveys mainly the speeches of the Lord addressed to the Jews, scribes and Pharisees - people experienced in the knowledge of the Law of Moses, who stood more or less highly at the stages of education of that time. In addition, John had a special goal - to reveal as fully and deeply as possible the teaching about Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and this is a topic, of course, more difficult to understand than the parables of the weather forecasters, which are so understandable and easily understandable to everyone. In addition, the Gospel of John was written much later than the other three Gospels, at the end of the first century, around 96 after Christ, while the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70. To better understand the Gospel, let us take a closer look at the personality and life of each of the four evangelists, and the circumstances under which each of the four Gospels was written.

1. Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was one of Christ's 12 apostles. Before being called to apostolic service, he was a publican, that is, a tax collector, and for this he was unloved by his Jewish compatriots, since publicans collected taxes for the Romans, the heterodox enslavers of the Jewish people. Touched to the depths of his soul by the mercy of the Lord, who called him immediately after the Savior performed the miracle of healing the paralytic (Matthew 9:9), despite the general contempt for him of the Jews and especially the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people - the scribes and Pharisees, Matthew wholeheartedly accepted the teaching of Christ and I especially deeply understood its superiority over the traditions and views of the Pharisees, which bore the stamp of only external righteousness, conceit and contempt for sinners. For the same reason, the evangelist took especially close to his heart the cause of saving his native Jewish people, and therefore his Gospel was written primarily for Jews. Matthew sets out to prove to them that Jesus Christ is exactly the Messiah about whom the Old Testament prophets predicted. Therefore, Matthew begins his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, wanting to show the Jews His descent from David and Abraham, and makes a huge number of references to the Old Testament in order to prove the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies on Him. The purpose of the first Gospel is also clear from the fact that St. Matthew, mentioning Jewish customs, does not explain their meaning and significance, as other evangelists do. Having written his Gospel for his Jewish compatriots (it is believed that in the 8th year after the Ascension of the Lord), St. Matthew preached for them in Palestine for a long time, but then he retired to preach in other countries and ended his life as a martyr in Ethiopia in the 60th year after the Nativity of Christ.

2. The Gospel of Mark. The Second Gospel was written by St. Mark, who also bore the name of John, was a Jew by origin, but was not one of the 12 apostles of the Lord, therefore he could not be such a constant companion and listener of the Savior as St. Matthew. He wrote his Gospel from the words and under the guidance of St. Apostle Peter. He himself, in all likelihood, was an eyewitness only to the last days of the Lord’s earthly life. Mark subsequently participates in the first journey of St. Apostle Paul to Perga (a city located on the southern coast of Asia Minor). According to legend, St. the Apostle Peter installed St. Mark as the first bishop of the Alexandrian Church. In Alexandria, the Apostle Mark baptized many residents of this city, which aroused the hatred of the pagans against him, and they decided to kill Saint Mark. Having learned about this, the holy apostle consecrated a bishop and ordained three presbyters. The pagans attacked Saint Mark while he was performing divine services. He was beaten and thrown into prison. The next day, the crowd dragged the holy Apostle through the streets of the city to the judgment seat, but on the way Saint Mark died with the words: “Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.” The pagans wanted to burn the body of the apostle. But when the fire was lit, everything went dark, thunder rang out and an earthquake occurred. The pagans fled in fear, and the Christians took the body of the holy apostle and buried it in a stone tomb. It was April 4, 1963. The Gospel of Mark is essentially a recording of the oral sermon of St. Apostle Peter, which St. Mark did this at the request of the Christians living in Rome. The very content of the second Gospel clearly indicates that it is intended for Gentile Christians. The pagans, unlike the Jews, were not familiar with the Old Testament, so St. Mark, unlike the Evangelist Matthew, says very little about the relationship of the Savior’s teaching to the Old Testament and very rarely provides references to the Old Testament holy books. Even the Sermon on the Mount, which explains the superiority of the New Testament canon over the Old Testament, is omitted. St. Mark, speaking about a city, often explains where this city is located. From this we can conclude that the apostle wrote his Gospel for people who were not familiar with the geography of Judea, Galilee and the surrounding areas, that is, not for the Jews. At the same time, we find Latin words in this Gospel, such as “speculator” (“squire”, 6:27), “centurio” (“centurion”, 15:44-45). Basically, the content of the Gospel of Mark is very close to the content of the Gospel of Matthew, but differs from it in greater brevity and conciseness.

3. Gospel of Luke. Who was the writer of the third Gospel of St. Luke, we don’t know exactly. It is generally accepted that St. Luke was a pagan by origin, who may have converted to Judaism. By occupation he was a doctor and a painter. According to legend, he painted the first icons of the Mother of God. Saint Luke also painted icons of the holy supreme apostles Peter and Paul. From the fact that his Gospel contains the Lord’s instructions to the 70 disciples, set out in great detail (Luke 10-1:16), they conclude that he belonged to the 70 disciples of Christ. From the book of the Acts of the Apostles it is clear that starting from the second journey of St. Apostle Paul, Luke becomes his constant collaborator and almost inseparable companion. There is information that after the death of St. Paul St. Luke preached and died a martyr's death in Achaia. St. Luke wrote his Gospel in the years 62-63 in Rome at the request of a certain noble man, Theophilus, who lived in Antioch, for whom he then wrote the book of the Acts of the Apostles. At the same time, he used the accounts of eyewitnesses and some written records that already existed then about the life and teaching of the Lord. These records and narratives were subjected to the most careful research, and therefore his Gospel is particularly accurate. Theophilus, for whom the Gospel was written, was not a resident of Palestine and had not been to Jerusalem, so Luke makes a lot of geographical explanations. The main idea of ​​the Gospel of Luke is that the Messiah-Christ came to earth not only for the Jews, but also for the pagans, and is the Savior of the whole world, of all people. Therefore St. Luke brings the genealogy of Jesus Christ to the ancestor of all humanity, Adam, and to God Himself.

4. Gospel of John. The Fourth Gospel was written by Christ's beloved disciple St. John the Theologian. St. John was the son of the Galilean fisherman Zebedee and Salome. Zebedee was apparently a wealthy man, for he had workers and was not an insignificant member of Jewish society, for his son John had an acquaintance with the high priests. His mother Solomiya was the daughter of Joseph the betrothed, served the Lord and was one of the myrrh-bearing women. John was first a disciple of St. John the Baptist. Hearing his testimony about Christ, he and Andrew immediately followed Christ. He became a constant disciple of the Lord after a miraculous fishing trip on Lake Gennesaret, when the Lord himself called him along with his brother Jacob. Together with Peter and his brother Jacob, he was honored with special closeness to the Lord, being with Him in the most important and solemn moments of His earthly life. The Lord, being on the cross, entrusted His Most Pure Mother to John, saying to him: “Behold, your mother” (19:27). After the Ascension of the Lord we often see St. John together with St. the apostle Peter. Since the destruction of Jerusalem (70th year after R.H.), the place of life and work of St. John is made in Ephesus in Asia Minor. King Trajan for his preaching to St. John was exiled in prison to the island of Patmos. While there, he wrote his Gospel. After the death of Trajan, blessed John returned from the island, settled in Ephesus and lived to be 120 years old, where he died of his own death, according to legend, a very mysterious one (John 21:23: “And the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die. But Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but: if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? The fourth Gospel was written by John at the request of the Ephesian Christians or even the Moloasian bishops. The purpose of writing the fourth Gospel was to complement the narrative of the first three evangelists. While the first three evangelists often narrate the same events and quote the same words of the Lord, John's Gospel is very different from them in its content, containing narrations of events and citing the speeches of the Lord, of which there is often no mention in the first three Gospels. The Gospel of John in ancient times was called the “Spiritual Gospel”, since it begins with the teaching about the Divinity of the Savior, and then contains a whole series of the most sublime speeches of the Lord, in which His Divine dignity and the deepest mysteries of faith are revealed. No one revealed as fully, deeply and convincingly as John in his Gospel and in his three conciliar epistles of the Christian teaching about the two main commandments of the Law of God - about love for God and about love for neighbor - which is why St. John is also called the “apostle of love.”

3.4.1.1. indicate places in the New Testament that speak of the prediction of the coming of the Savior; 3.4.1.2. talk about the earthly life of the Savior and the twelve feasts, the passion of the Lord and the Holy Resurrection; 3.4.1.3. talk about the calling of the apostles and know their names, or know the sources where they can be found; 3.4.1.4. talk about the miracles in Canna of Galilee, the resurrection of Lazarus; saturation with bread and casting out demons; 3.4.1.5. tell about two parables (to choose from): about the sower, about the rich man and Lazarus, about the prodigal son, about the publican and the Pharisee. 3.4.2. Have a general understanding of the Acts of the Apostles

How is this Gospel different from others?

The original version of the text was written in Aramaic, unlike the rest of the books, which were in Greek. However, the original was very quickly lost, and the Greek translated version entered the canon.

In this text, the activities of Christ during His earthly life are considered in the following contexts:

• Prophet;
• High Priest;
• Legislator.

As in other parts of the Bible, Matthew focuses specifically on the features of the new teachings of Jesus Christ for the Jews. Despite the great similarity with the remaining synoptic Gospels, it is in the text from Matthew that we can see unique stories:

• healing of blindness of two people;
• liberation from the possession of a mute demoniac;
• a story about a fish with a coin inside.

The parable of the sower is recorded in chapter 13 of the Gospel of Matthew.

Since in all the Gospels many meanings are conveyed through the language of parables, the holy Apostle Matthew also gives similar stories, namely:

• a parable about a feast at a wedding festival;
• a parable about the use of talents;
• the parable of the vineyard and many others.