Those four images are found both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet sees a fire out of which come four living creatures with multiple faces: the face of a man, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle. Likewise in the Book of Revelation chapters 4 and 7, John of Patmos beholds the “four living creatures” around God’s throne, described in this way: There were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. The first beast was like a lion. The second beast was like an ox. The third beast had a face like a man. The fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
It was the early Church fathers who first thought of these figures as allegorical representations of the four evangelists, but they did not try to match each of the symbols to a particular gospel. It was Saint Jerome, the great Scripture scholar who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, who matched the symbols according to the way that each gospel began.
Matthew was assigned the figure of the man because his gospel begins with the human genealogy of Jesus.
Mark was assigned the lion because his gospel opens in the wilderness with John the Baptist crying out in a loud voice.
Luke’s Gospel begins with the sacrifice of Zechariah. Calves and oxen were used in sacrifice in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, so Luke is assigned the ox.
John is assigned the eagle because of the high soaring flight of his thoughts in the Prologue.
Submitted by Monsignor Michael J. Motta, D.Min.
Director of the Office of Religious Education
Director of the Office of Religious Education
Archdiocese of Hartford
