EVANGELISTS, the inspired authors of the Gospels. The word is derived from the Greek εγγελύσθαι, formed of εν, bene, well, and αγγελος, angel or messenger.
The denomination of evangelists was likewise given in the ancient church to those who preached the gospel in different parts, without being attached to any particular church, being either commissioned by the apostles to instruct the nations, or having of their own accord abandoned every worldly attachment, and consecrated themselves to the sacred office of preaching the gospel. In this sense it is, according to some interpreters, that St. Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, is called the evangelist in the twenty-first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Again, St. Paul, writing to Timothy (Ep. ii. chap. iv. ver. 5), bids him do the work of an evangelist; whilst the same apostle (Eph. iv. 11) ranks the evangelists after the apostles and prophets.