Mark the Evangelist 1 Mark the Evangelist "Saint Mark" redirects here. For other uses, see Saint Mark (disambiguation). Mark the Evangelist Evangelist, Martyr Born 1st century AD Cyrene, Pentapolis of North Africa, according to Coptic tradition Died traditionally 68 AD Honored in All Christian churches Feast April 25 Patronage Barristers, Venice, Egypt, Mainar is the purported (מרקוס :Mark the Evangelist (Latin: Mārcus; Greek: Μᾶρκος; Coptic: Μαρκοϲ; Hebrew traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. One of the Seventy Disciples, Mark founded the Church of Alexandria, one of the original three main episcopal sees of Christianity. His feast day is celebrated on April 25, and his symbol is the winged lion. Mark's identity According to William Lane (1974), an "unbroken tradition" identifies Mark the Evangelist with John Mark, and John Mark as the cousin of Barnabas.[1] However, Hippolytus of Rome in On the Seventy Apostles distinguishes Mark the Evangelist (2 Tim 4:11), John Mark (Acts 12:12, 25; 13:5, 13; 15:37), and Mark the cousin Mark the Evangelist symbol is the winged lion of Barnabas (Col 4:10; Phlm 1:24). According to Hippolytus, they all belonged to the "Seventy Disciples" who were sent out by Jesus to saturate Judea with the gospel (Luke 10:1ff.). However, when Jesus explained that his flesh was "real food" and his blood was "real drink", many disciples left him (John 6:44–6:66), presumably including Mark. He was later restored to faith by the apostle Peter; he then became Peter’s interpreter, wrote the Gospel of Mark, founded the church of Africa, and became the bishop of Alexandria. According to Eusebius of Caesarea (Eccl. Hist. 2.9.1–4), Herod Agrippa I in his first year of reign over the whole Judea (AD 41) killed James, son of Zebedee and arrested Peter, planning to kill him after the Passover. Peter was Mark the Evangelist 2 saved miraculously by angels, and escaped out of the realm of Herod (Acts 12:1–19). Peter went to Antioch, then through Asia Minor (visiting the churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, as mentioned in 1 Pet 1:1), and arrived in Rome in the second year of Emperor Claudius (AD 42; Eusebius, Eccl, Hist. 2.14.6). Somewhere on the way, Peter picked up Mark and took him as travel companion and interpreter. Mark the Evangelist wrote down the sermons of Peter, thus composing the Gospel according to Mark (Eccl. Hist. 15–16), before he left for Alexandria in the third year of Claudius (43). In AD 49, about 19 years after the Ascension of Jesus, Mark traveled to Alexandria [cf. c. 49 [cf. Acts 15:36–41] and founded the Church of Alexandria - today, both the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria claim to be successors to this original community.[2] Aspects of the Coptic liturgy can be traced back to Mark himself.Wikipedia:Citation needed He became the first bishop of Alexandria and he is honored as the founder of Christianity in Africa. According to Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. 2.24.1), Mark was succeeded by Annianus as the bishop of Alexandria in the eighth year of Nero (62/63), probably, but not definitely, due to his coming death. Later Coptic tradition says that he was martyred in 68.[3][4][5] The Gospel of Mark was written by an anonymous author.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] The Gospel wasn't written and does not claim to be written by direct witnesses to the reported events.[][14][15] Biblical and traditional information Evidence for Mark the Evangelist's authorship of the Gospel that bears his name originates with Papias.[16] Scholars of the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School are "almost certain" that Papias refers to John Mark.[17] However, Catholic scholars have argued that identifying Mark the Evangelist with John Mark and Mark the Cousin of Barnabas has led to the downgrading of the character of Barnabas from truly a "Son of Comfort" to one who favored his blood relative over principles. Identifying Mark the Evangelist with John Mark also led to identifying him as the man who carried water to the house where the Last Supper took place (Mark 14:13), or as the young man who ran away naked when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:51–52). The Coptic Church accords with identifying Mark the Evangelist with John Mark, as well as that he was one of the Seventy Disciples sent out Icon, St. Mark the Evangelist, 1657. by Christ (Luke 10:1), as Hippolytus confirmed. Coptic tradition also holds that Mark the Evangelist hosted the disciples in his house after Jesus' death, that the resurrected Jesus Christ came to Mark's house (John 20), and that the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples at Pentecost in the same house. Furthermore, Mark is also believed to have been among the servants at the Marriage at Cana who poured out the water that Jesus turned to wine (John 2:1–11).[] According to the Coptic tradition, Saint Mark was born in Cyrene, a city in the Pentapolis of North Africa (now Libya). This tradition adds that Mark returned to Pentapolis later in life, after being sent by Saint Paul to Colossae (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24. Some, however, think these actually refer to Mark the Cousin of Barnabas), and serving with him in Rome (2 Tim 4:11); from Pentapolis he made his way to Alexandria. When Mark returned to Alexandria, the pagans of the city resented his efforts to turn the Alexandrians away from the worship of their traditional gods.Wikipedia:Citation needed In AD 68 they placed a rope around his neck and dragged him through the streets until he was dead.[18] Mark the Evangelist 3 Where Saint John Mark (son of Mary) is distinguished from Saint Mark, the composer of the earliest Gospel that we have, Saint John Mark is celebrated on September 27th (as in the Roman Martyrology) and the writer of the Gospel on April 25th. In addition to Saint John Mark's in Jerusalem, the Parish Church of Chester Hill with Sefton in the Diocese of Sydney (Anglican Church of Australia) is Saint John Mark's and it celebrated its patronal festival on September 27th. And icon of Saint John Mark on Cyprus, painted by a Russian Orthodox monk at Walsingham, was formerly in that church and is now in Christ Church Saint Laurence in Sydney. Relics of St. Mark In 828, relics believed to be the body of St. Mark were stolen from Alexandria by two Venetian merchants with the help of two Greek monks and taken to Venice.[19] A mosaic in St Mark's Basilica depicts sailors covering the relics with a layer of pork and cabbage leaves. Since Muslims are not permitted to touch pork, this was done to prevent the guards from inspecting the ship's cargo too closely. "History records no more shameless example of body snatching," as John Julius Norwich put it.[20] Donald Nicol explained this act as "motivated as much by politics as by piety", and "a calculated stab at the pretensions of the Patriarchate of Aquileia." But instead of being used to adorn the church of Grado, which claimed to possess the throne of St. Mark, but was kept secretly by Doge Giustiniano Participazio in his modest palace. Possession of St. Mark's remains was, in Nicol's words, "the symbol not of the Patriarchate of Grado, nor of the bishopric of Olivolo, but of the city of Venice." In his will Doge Giustininao asked his widow to build a Mark the Evangelist listening to the winged lion, basilica dedicated to St. Mark, which was erected between the palace Mark, image 21 of the Codex Aureus of Lorsch and the chapel of St. Theodore Stratelates, who until then had been or Lorsch Gospels patron saint of Venice.[21] In 1063, during the construction of a new basilica in Venice, St. Mark's relics could not be found. However, according to tradition, in 1094 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. Copts believe that the head of St. Mark remains in a church named after him in Alexandria, and parts of his relics are in Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Cairo. The rest of his relics are in the San Marco Cathedral in Venice, Italy. Every year, on the 30th day of the month of Paopi, 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 Cathedral in Alexandria, where the saint's head is preserved. 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 Saint Athanasius the Apostolic in Rome.