Evangelists
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(bringers of good news) (Eph. 4:11) — the name given to those apostles and their fellow workers in the Christian Church who not only preached the Gospel by word, but also set it down in writing, namely: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The first and last were of the Twelve, the second and third of the Seventy Apostles. In the early Church this title was applied also to other fellow workers of the apostles and their successors who served the work of gospel preaching, though they left no writings behind them — such as, for example, the deacon Philip (Acts 21:8), and Timothy, disciple and companion of the Apostle Paul (1 Tim. 4:5), “the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches” (2 Cor. 8:18); he assisted St. Paul in gospel preaching and probably for this reason belonged to the number of the evangelists.
On the basis of the words of the Apostle Paul (Eph. 4:11) it may be thought that evangelists generally held a high place in the Apostolic Church, since in the passage cited they are placed immediately after the apostles and prophets, and above pastors and teachers of the Church.