Mark the Evangelist

Mark the Evangelist (Greek: Markos) (1st century) is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. He also accompanied Paul and Barnabas in Paul's first journey. After a sharp dispute, Barnabas separated from Paul, taking Mark to Cyprus (Acts 15:36-40). Later Paul calls upon the services of Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, and Mark is named as Paul's fellow worker. He is also believed to be the first pope of Alexandria by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church. His evangelistic symbol is the winged lion.

Biblical and traditional information

Though it is possible that the various uses of the name 'Mark' in the New Testament refer to different people, it is far more likely that they are one and the same person. So the John Mark in Acts (12:12, 25, 15:37) mentioned simply as John in 13:5 and 13:13 and as Mark in 15:39 is the same person as the Mark mentioned by Paul in (Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy, 4:11; 24) and by the author of 1 Peter 5:13. Mark of the Pauline Epistles is specified as a cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10); this would explain Barnabas' special attachment to the Mark of Acts over whom he disputed with Paul (Acts 15:37-40). Mark's mother was a prominent member of the earliest group of Christians in Jerusalem; it was to her house that Peter turned on his release from prison. The house was a meeting-place for the brethren, "many" of whom were praying there the night Peter arrived from prison (Acts 12:12-17). Evidence for Mark's authorship of the Gospel that bears his name originates with Papias.

A number of traditions have built up around Mark, though none can be verified from the New Testament. It is suggested that Mark was one of the servants at the wedding feast at Cana who poured out the water that Jesus turned to wine (John 2:1-11). Mark is also said to have been one of the Seventy Apostles sent out by Christ (Luke 10); the servant who carried water to the house of Simon the Cyrenian, where the Last Supper took place (Mark 14:13); the young man who ran away naked when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:51-52); and the one who hosted the disciples in his house after the death of Jesus, and into whose house the resurrected Jesus Christ came (John 20). These connections are considered by most to be mere wishful thinking.

The tradition that he eventually went to Alexandria and was the first to preach the Gospel there probably has more basis in fact. He is said to have performed many miracles, and established a church there, appointing a bishop, three priests, and seven deacons.

When Mark returned to Alexandria, the people there are said to have resented his efforts to turn them away from the worship of their traditional Egyptian gods. In AD 68 they killed him, and tried to burn his body. Afterwards, the Christians in Alexandria removed his unburned body from the ashes, wrapped it and then buried it in the easterly part of the church they had built.

Fate of his remains

In 828, relics believed to be the body of St. Mark were stolen from Alexandria by Italian sailors and were taken to Venice. A basilica was built there to house the relics.

Copts believe that the head of the saint remained in Alexandria. Every year, on the 30th day of the month of Babah, the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates the commemoration of the consecration of the church of St. Mark, and the appearance of the head of the saint in the city of Alexandria. This takes place inside St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria, where the saint's head is preserved.

In 1094, during the construction of a new basilica in Venice, St. Mark's relics could not be found. However, it is said that "the saint himself revealed the location of his remains … by extending an arm from a pillar." The newfound remains were placed in a sarcophagus in the basilica. ^*

In June 1968, Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria sent an official delegation to Rome to receive a relic of St. Mark from Pope Paul VI. The delegation consisted of ten metropolitans and bishops, seven of whom were Coptic and three Ethiopian, and three prominent Coptic lay leaders. The relic was said to be a small piece of bone that had been given to the Roman pope by Giovanni Cardinal Urbani, Patriarch of Venice. Pope Paul, in an address to the delegation, said that the rest of the relics of the saint remained in Venice. The delegation received the relic on June 22, 1968. The next day, the delegation celebrated a pontifical liturgy in the church of St. Athanasius the Apostolic in Rome. The metropolitans, bishops, and priests of the delegation all served in the liturgy. Members of the Roman papal delegation, Copts who lived in Rome, newspaper and news agency reporters, and many foreign dignitaries attended the liturgy.

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Biblical and traditional information

Fate of his remains

See also