When was the "Evangelist" title first applied to the Gospel authors? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are known as the &quot;Four Evangelists&quot; because they are believed to have written the four canonical Gospels. The word &quot;evangelist&quot; means a messenger of good news, but is usually used by Christians to refer to those who preach the Gospel to the lost. While it's easy to understand why it is also used for the Gospels' authors, as these books are messages of the good news, it does have a different sense. While we think of evangelists as people whose primary ministry was the direct preaching of the Gospel, this was not necessarily the case with the Gospel authors.
This question is a simple one: when in church history was the title &quot;Evangelist&quot; first applied to the Gospel authors for their role in writing the Gospel texts? If it is not known who first called them evangelists, then what is the earliest clear mention of them with this title?
When was the title Evangelist applied to the four gospels?  We find it was within the first 150 years of Christ's ascension.
Irenaeus who wrote circa 175 CE

The law and the prophets and evangelists have declared that Christ was born of a virgin, and suffered on the cross; was raised also from the dead, and taken up to heaven; that He was glorified, and reigns for ever.
-Fragments of Irenaeus LIV

Ignatius so-called Letter to Antiochans, quoting the Evangelists John and Matthew

The Evangelists, too, when they declared that the one Father was “the only true God,”1229 did not omit what concerned our Lord, but wrote: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”1230 And concerning the incarnation: “The Word,” says [the Scripture], “became flesh, and dwelt among us.”1231 And again: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”1232
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Irenaeus Against Heresies, wherein he calls Luke an evangelist

But surely if Luke, who always preached in company with Paul, and is called by him “the beloved,” and with him performed the work of an evangelist, and was entrusted to hand down to us a Gospel, learned nothing different from him (Paul), as has been pointed out from his words, how can these men, who were never attached to Paul, boast that they have learned hidden and unspeakable mysteries?
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Fragments of Clement of Alexandria who wrote circa 200 CE

“Which are now,” he says,3719 “reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you.” The old things which were done by the prophets and escape the observation of most, are now revealed to you by the evangelists. “For to you,” he says,3720 “they are manifested by the Holy Ghost, who was sent;” that is the Paraclete, of whom the Lord said, “If I go not away, He will not come.”3721 “Unto whom,”3722 it is said, “the angels desire to look;” not the apostate angels, as most suspect, but, what is a divine truth, angels who desire to obtain the advantage of that perfection.
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Tertullian quoting Matthew and Luke writing circa 225

And justly does the evangelist1240 write, “The law and the prophets (were) until John” the Baptist. For, on Christ’s being baptized, that is, on His sanctifying the waters in His own baptism,1241 all the plenitude of bygone spiritual grace-gifts ceased in Christ, sealing as He did all vision and prophecies, which by His advent He fulfilled. Whence most firmly does he assert that His advent “seals visions and prophecy.”
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