Christian tradition...

Christian tradition, however, says that he was a painter and that he died as a martyr. He is described as “a disciple of the apostles”[^2] which clearly means he learned not directly from Jesus but from his twelve apostles. His Gospel provides an account of the birth of Jesus, tells of his ministry and ends with the passion and alleged “resurrection”. He is author of a twelve-volume literary work, the Gospel and the Acts, and is the most literary of the New Testament writers.

The approximate date of his death or “martyrdom” is given as 66 A.D. St. Matthew, also named Levi, is said to be a publican (tax collector) of Capernaum, a city in northeast Palestine on the Sea of Galilee. He was employed as a tax collector by Herod Antipas, tetrach of Galilee. He is described as one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. He is author of the first synoptic Gospel which, like the rest, gives an [^1] The city of Antioch is situated on the banks of the river al-Asi (Orontes).

It was founded about 300 B.C. by Celeucus I (Nicator) who died in 280 B.C. Celeucus I was a general of Alexander the Great. Antioch is the city where the followers of Jesus Christ were called “Christians” (rather than Nazarines) for the first time. It is the seat of a Melchite, or Maronite, and a Jacobite patriarch.

It fell to the Persians in 538 A.D., to the Arabs in 637 (16 A.H.), to the Byzantians from 969 - 1084 (358 - 477 A.H.), to Seljuk Turks in 1085 (478 A.H.), to the Crusaders in 1098 (491 A.H.), to Egyptian Mamlukes in 1268 (666 A.H.), and to Ottoman Turks in 1516 (922 A.H.). It was transferred to Syria by Western powers in 1920 (1339 A.H.) but restored to Turkey in 1939 (1358 A.H.). This is why the reader sometimes sees Antioch identified as a Syrian town and sometimes as a Turkish one!

What a busy little town! [^2] Encyclopedia Britannica II, Vol. 11, p. 178. (67) account of the birth of Jesus, tells of his ministry, and ends with the passion and alleged “resurrection”. The Bible offers scanty and uncertain information about him. Everything about his character, conduct, conviction and life is subject to debate and is never ascertained... He wrote his Gospel, the first of the four, in Hebrew.

His Gospel is also attributed to Matthew who is said to be one of the twelve apostles or disciples. St. John is the son of Zebedee, a fisherman from the Galilee, and Salome. He is the younger brother of St. James the Greater, also one of the twelve disciples of Jesus.