The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, also known as John Mark (Acts
12:12), was one of the Seventy Apostles, and was also a nephew of St
Barnabas (June 11). He was born at Jerusalem. The house of his mother
Mary adjoined the Garden of Gethsemane. As Church Tradition relates, on
the night that Christ was betrayed he followed after Him, wrapped only
in a linen cloth. He was seized by soldiers, and fled away naked,
leaving the cloth behind (Mark 14:51-52). After the Ascension of the
Lord, the house of his mother Mary became a place where Christians
gathered, and a place of lodging for some of the Apostles (Acts 12:12).
St
Mark was a very close companion of the Apostles Peter and Paul (June
29) and Barnabas. St Mark was at Seleucia with Paul and Barnabas, and
from there he set off to the island of Cyprus, and he traversed the
whole of it from east to west. In the city of Paphos, St Mark witnessed
the blinding of the sorcerer Elymas by St Paul (Acts 13:6-12).
After
working with the Apostle Paul, St Mark returned to Jerusalem, and then
went to Rome with the Apostle Peter. From there, he set out for Egypt,
where he established a local Church.
St Mark met St Paul in
Antioch. From there he went with St Barnabas to Cyprus, and then he went
to Egypt again, where he and St Peter founded many churches. Then he
went to Babylon. From this city the Apostle Peter sent an Epistle to the
Christians of Asia Minor, in which he calls St Mark his son (1 Pet
5:13).
When the Apostle Paul came to Rome in chains, St Mark was
at Ephesus, where St Timothy (January 4) was bishop. St Mark went with
him to Rome. There he also wrote his holy Gospel (ca. 62-63).
From
Rome St Mark traveled to Egypt. In Alexandria he started a Christian
school, which later produced such famous Fathers and teachers of the
Church as Clement of Alexandria, St Dionysius of Alexandria (October 5),
St Gregory Thaumatourgos (November 5), and others. Zealous for Church
services, St Mark composed a Liturgy for the Christians of Alexandria.
St Mark preached the Gospel in the inner regions of Africa, and he was in Libya at Nektopolis.
During
these journeys, St Mark was inspired by the Holy Spirit to go again to
Alexandria and confront the pagans. There he visited the home of
Ananias, and healed his crippled hand. The dignitary happily took him
in, listened to his words, and received Baptism.
Following the
example of Ananias, many of the inhabitants of that part of the city
where he lived were also baptized. This roused the enmity of the pagans,
and they wanted to kill St Mark. Having learned of this, St Mark made
Ananias a bishop, and the three Christians Malchos, Sabinos, and
Kerdinos were ordained presbyters to provide the church with leadership
after his death.
The pagans seized St Mark when he was serving
the Liturgy. They beat him, dragged him through the streets and threw
him in prison. There St Mark was granted a vision of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Who strengthened him before his sufferings. On the following
day, the angry crowd again dragged the saint through the streets to the
courtroom, but along the way St Mark died saying, “Into Your hands, O
Lord, I commend my spirit.”
The pagans wanted to burn the saint’s
body, but when they lit the fire, everything grew dark, thunder
crashed, and there was an earthquake. The pagans fled in terror, and
Christians took up the body of St Mark and buried it in a stone crypt.
This was on April 4, 63. The Church celebrates his memory on April 25.
In
the year 310, a church was built over the relics of St Mark. In 820,
when the Moslem Arabs had established their rule in Egypt and oppressed
the Christian Church, the relics of St Mark were transferred to Venice
and placed in the church named for him.
In the ancient
iconographic tradition, which adopted symbols for the holy Evangelists
borrowed from the vision of St John the Theologian (Rev 4:7) and the
prophecy of Ezekiel (Ez. 1:10), the holy Evangelist Mark is represented
by a lion, symbolizing the might and royal dignity of Christ (Rev 5:5).
St
Mark wrote his Gospel for Gentile Christians, emphasizing the words and
deeds of the Savior which reveal His divine Power. Many aspects of his
account can be explained by his closeness to St Peter. The ancient
writers say that the Gospel of Mark is a concise record of St Peter’s
preaching.
One of the central theological themes in the Gospel of
St Mark is the power of God achieving what is humanly impossible. The
Apostles performed remarkable miracles with Christ (Mark 16:20) and the
Holy Spirit (Mark 13:11) working through them. His disciples were told
to go into the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures (Mark 13:10,
16:15), and that is what they did.
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