Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
Hand-painted icons of the four Evangelists
The four Evangelists, seated at their desks with the book open, inspired from above: this is the image of how the Word of God reaches humankind. In Byzantine churches they are painted on the four pendentives that support the dome, because the Gospel upholds the whole building.
The symbols: the tetramorph
The four living creatures come from the vision of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1) and from Revelation (4:7); Saint Irenaeus and Saint Jerome associated them with the four Evangelists.
Saint Matthew · man or angel
His Gospel opens with the human genealogy of Jesus. Feast on 21 September (16 November in the East).
Saint Mark · lion
His Gospel opens with the voice crying in the wilderness. Patron of Venice; feast on 25 April.
Saint Luke · ox
His Gospel begins with Zechariah's sacrifice in the Temple. Tradition regards him as the first iconographer: he is patron of painters and artists; feast on 18 October.
Saint John · eagle
His Gospel soars from the first line: «In the beginning was the Word». He is often painted as an old man on Patmos, dictating to his disciple Prochorus. Feast on 27 December (26 September in the East).
A series of four icons
The Evangelists are often commissioned as a coordinated series, for a church, an ambo, a chapel, a library or a study. Individually, the icon of one's namesake evangelist is a gift for a Matthew, a Mark, a Luke, a John; Saint Luke, patron of physicians and artists, is also a gift for those in these professions. Like every icon by Concetta Basile, it is fully gilded with 23¾ karat gold, with inscriptions in Greek or Latin, and is commissioned with an offering proportionate to the time and materials of the work.