活动时期西元1世纪
耶稣十二使徒之一，相传为第一部福音书的作者。根据福音书的记载，当耶稣召唤马太跟从他时，他是一名税官，叫利未（Levi）。其他关于他的记载很少。〈马太福音〉是用来在犹太人中对犹太－基督教徒传教的，原文可能是用希伯来语所写，但现在有人怀疑〈马太福音〉是否由马太所作。传说中马太曾在被派往衣索比亚和波斯传教后又到犹太传教。关于他是否殉教而死，传说不一。

One of the Twelve Apostles, traditional author of the first Gospel. According to the Gospels, he was a tax collector known as Levi when Jesus called him to be a disciple¹. Other information about him is scarce. The Gospel of Matthew is directed at a Jewish-Christian audience in a Jewish environment and may have been written originally in Hebrew, but it is now doubted that the Apostle Matthew was its author. Tradition holds that Matthew conducted his ministry² in Judaea, after which he served as a missionary³ to Ethiopia and Persia. Legend differs as to whether he died a martyr's death.