The Holy and Glorious Apostle and Evangelist Matthew.
The holy Apostle Matthew, who was also called Levi, was the son of Alphaeus and had Galilee as his homeland. A publican before being called by Christ, he became one of the Twelve Apostles, and an Evangelist. While still in Palestine, he wrote his Gospel first in Hebrew, being also the first of all to write the Gospel. When he is depicted in icons, there is portrayed next to him the likeness of a man, one of the symbolic living creatures mentioned by Ezekiel (1:10), which, as Saint Irenaeus writes, is a symbol of our Saviour’s Incarnation.
Saint John Chrysostom, in his thirtieth homily on Saint Matthew’s Gospel, calls the office of publican or tax-collector “one full of all insolence and boldness, and a mode of gain whereof no fair account could be given, a shameless traffic, a robbery under cloak of law,” then observes that whereas Saints Mark and Luke hid Matthew from this opprobrium by calling him Levi instead of Matthew (Mark 2:14, Luke 5:27, 29), Saint Matthew himself, both out of humility and to show the power of Christ – “For He that hath power to undo all our offenses, why marvel if He even make this man an apostle?” – refers to himself openly by his own name (Matt. 9:9). See Homily XXX on Saint Matthew’s Gospel, NPNF, Vol. X, p. 199.
The above account is taken from the Great Horologion,
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