Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

Saint Jerome tells us that Matthew's Gospel was originally written in Hebrew.  

Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetimes publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first 

published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was 

afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been 

preserved until the present day in the library at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered. I have 

also had the opportunity of having the volume described to me by the Nazarenes of Beroea, a city of 

Syria, who use it.

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Jerome's assertion is confirmed by Eusebius, who was a student of Pamphilus. Eusebius actually studied under 

Pamphilus at the library of Caesarea.

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 Eusebius himself must have seen, read, and studied the Hebrew 

version of Matthew's Gospel. Thus he states unequivocally and without need to cite any evidence that 

Matthew's Gospel was originally written in Matthew's native tongue, Hebrew. 

    Jerome gives us further evidence that Matthew's Gospel was originally written in Hebrew. He tells us that 

copies of the Hebrew version were to be found in Alexandria:   Pantaenus was sent to India by Demetrius 

bishop of Alexandria, where he found that Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles, had preached the advent 

of the Lord Jesus according to the gospel of Matthew, and on his return to Alexandria he brought this with 

him written in Hebrew characters. 

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 The name Pantaenus refers to Saint Pantaenus, who lived about 100 

years before Eusebius.

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 The name  India,  during the time of Pantaenus, was used to refer to various areas 

east of the Red Sea, including Arabia, Persia, and Parthia, but not present day India.

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    Matthew originally wrote his Gospel in Hebrew and published it first in Judea, so that, when he went on a 

long missionary journey, they would have a written record of the life and teaching of Christ. But, if most of the 

other Twelve Apostles were still in Judea teaching, Matthew would have had much less incentive to make a 

written record of the Gospel for the Hebrew speaking Christians of Judea. Thus, Matthew wrote his Gospel, 

not only because he was about to leave Judea on a missionary journey, but also because most of the other 

Apostles had left or were soon to leave on missions of their own. Determining the time frame for Matthew and 

the other Apostles' departures from Judea is the key to dating his Gospel. The Apostle Bartholomew, for 

example, seems to have left Judea soon after Matthew completed his Gospel, since he took the Hebrew version 

of Matthew's Gospel with him when he left Judea for his missionary journeys east of Judea. 

    According to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, at the time of the Virgin Mary's Dormition, Bartholomew 

was already in Asia, east of the Red Sea,

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 which is one area where this apostle is believed to have preached 

the Gospel.

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 The other Apostles also came to Ephesus for the Virgin Mary's Dormition from various far off 

places where they were preaching the Gospel. Thus, by this time (

A.D.

 34), Matthew, Bartholomew, and the 

other Apostles had already left Judea on various missionary journeys. Matthew must have written the Hebrew 

version of his Gospel sometime before 

A.D.

 34, since he wrote the Gospel before he and most of the other 

Apostles left Judea. But the Gospel of Mark was most likely written after the Dormition of the Virgin Mary 

(

A.D.

 34), just prior to Mark's missionary journey to Egypt. Therefore, Matthew's Gospel was written before 

Mark's Gospel. 

    When did Matthew leave Judea for his missionary journeys? According to Acts, all of the Twelve Apostles 

(Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot, being the 12th Apostle) were still in Judea (Acts 5:27   6:6) at the time 

of the appointment of the first Deacons of the Church. The Twelve gathered together and decided to appoint 

these deacons in the year 

A.D.

 21, a Sabbatical year (as explained above). Matthew was still in Judea in 

A.D.

21. There was some persecution of the early Church in Judea about the time of the martyrdom of Saint 

Stephen (Acts 8:1). However, Acts specifically states:  and they were all scattered throughout the region of 

Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.  (Acts 8:1). Notice here that even the disciples who fled this 

persecution did not go far. They were only scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. And the Apostles 

themselves were not scattered at all, that is, they remained in Jerusalem and Bethany. This minor persecution 

occurred about the time that Pilate left Judea for Rome in late 

A.D.

 21 or early 

A.D.

 22. 

    Tiberius died in March of 

A.D.

 22 (see chapter 13). Gaius (Caligula) succeeded him as emperor. The nearly 

four year reign of Gaius is not a likely time for any major persecution of the early Christian community. Gaius 

hated the Jews because he thought himself to be a god and they refused to worship him.

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 Those Jewish 

leaders who might wish to harm the Christians did not have the support of the Roman government at this 

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