What came first the Gospel of St. Mark, or of St. Matthew

[buffalo]

Ignatius:

This is wonderful. I am very interested in this. Where can I find this information, for instance where “Historical evidence . . . point to Peter giving a series of talks during which he alternatively quoted from both Gospels while adding reminiscences of his own.” Thank you.

Read the Authors of the Gospels

From the paper:

The next quotations are of particular importance with regard to the subject of this booklet. They are quoted by Eusebius from Clement`s books.

		 “So greatly then did the brightness of true religion light up the minds of Peter`s hearers that 			they were not satisfied to have a once-for-all hearing nor with the unwritten teaching of the divine proclamation, 			but with appeals of every kind begged Mark, the follower of Peter, whose gospel we have, to leave them too a memorial 			in writing of the teaching given them by word of mouth. Nor did they cease until they had persuaded the man, and 			in this way became the cause of the written gospel according to Mark. And it is said that the Apostle, when the 			fact became known to him through the revelation of the Spirit, was pleased with the eagerness of the men and approved 			[or ratified] the writing for use in the churches.

		 Clement relates the anecdote in the sixth book of: `The Outlines` [Hypotyposes], and Papias, 			bishop of Hierapolis, also bears witness to it and to Peter mentioning Mark in his earlier letter. Indeed they 			say that he composed it at Rome itself, and that he indicates this when referring figuratively to the city as Babylon 			in these words: `The elect [the church] that is in Babylon greets you and so does my son Mark` ((EH 2. 15, 1-2 			and RO 166)).

		 `And again in the same books, Clement states a tradition of the very 			earliest presbyters about the order of the gospels; and it had this form. He used to say that the first written of the gospels were 			those having the genealogies. And that the Gospel of Mark had this formation. While Peter was publicly preaching the Word in Rome and proclaiming the 			gospel by the spirit, the audience, which was numerous, 			begged Mark, as one who had followed him for a long time 			and remembered what had been said, to write down the things he had said. And he did so, handing over the Gospel to those who had asked for it. And when Peter got to know about 			it, he exerted no pressure either to forbid it or to promote it … But John, last of all, being conscious that the 			exterior facts had been set forth in the [other] Gospels, after he had been urged by his friends and divinely moved 			by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel`. ((EH 6:14, 5-7 and RO 166r)).

		 In this last paragraph above, Clement of Alexandria clearly sets down which two gospels were 			the first to be written - Matthew and Luke. He is the only early historian to specifically write concerning the 			chronology of the Gospels. He said he was quoting the very earliest presbyters [note in the plural]. Other writers 			did not dispute his evidence.