Evangelist
The Gospel of Matthew is traditionally attributed to Matthew the tax collector, one of the twelve apostles. The attribution goes back to Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60–130 CE), who wrote that "Matthew compiled the sayings in the Hebrew language, and each interpreted them as best he could." Scholars have debated what Papias meant — the surviving Gospel is in fluent Greek, not a translation, and draws heavily on Mark's Gospel.
Modern scholarship generally dates the composition to the 80s CE, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, which the text seems to reflect. The author was almost certainly a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian with scribal training — the Gospel shows sophisticated engagement with the Hebrew scriptures, careful structural organisation, and a distinctive interest in Jewish law and its fulfilment.
Whoever wrote it produced the most influential biography in human history. The Gospel of Matthew gave Christianity the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, the Great Commission, and the narrative framework that shaped two thousand years of Western art, ethics, and culture. It is the most quoted Gospel in the early Church fathers and stood first in every canonical ordering.