A PATRISTIC COMMENTARY The Gospel According to SAINT MARK FR. TADROS Y. MALATY 2003 Translated by DR. GEORGE BOTROS English Text revised by Nagui Abd-El-Sayed Dr. Nora El-Agamy COPTIC ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CENTER Orange - California 5 In our study of the Gospel according to St. Matthew we experience the joyful tidings of our Lord Jesus Christ. A gospel which God has prepared through His saintly prophets, so as that we may receive it as an entrance to His eternal kingdom. And now, in the Gospel of St. Mark, we enjoy the same good news, but from another aspect, we see our Lord Jesus Christ laboring on our behalf during His ministry, especially His accepting passion and crucifixion much more than through His words and sermons. This is especially apparent in the acceptance of this passion, suffering, and crucifixion. This gospel was written to the Romans, who were dependent upon the human strength and contemporary authority, with its violent tendencies. Consequently, this gospel introduces the Lord Christ as the One true authority, through His humility and love, proved in this passion and crucifixion. It is as though the Spirit of God compels us to live by the Spirit of our King, carrying on the Spirit of strength, of labor, by love and passion. Moreover, I would like to draw attention to the interpretation of this book. Since we encounter incidents dealing with the life and works of the Lord Christ which were previously mentioned in our interpretation of “The Gospel according to St. Matthew,” quoting several Church Fathers, I suggest that the reader for the sake of avoiding repetition refers to the previous interpretation, together with the introduction of new concepts. Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty 6 A BIOGRAPHY OF SAINT MARK HIS UPBRINGING1 St. Mark was born in ‘Cyrene,’ one of the cities of Pentapolis in Libya, in a town called ‘Ebryatolis,’ from Jewish parents related to the tribe of Levi2. His father’s name is ‘Aristopolis,’ and his mother ‘Mary’ was a pious woman, of some stature among the early Christians of Jerusalem3. Mark had two names (Act 12:12, 25; 15:37): John, a Hebrew name which means “the kingdom of God,” and Mark a Latin name which means “Hammer.” St. Mark was a relative of Barnabas, the Apostle. (nephew or cousin Col. 4:10). His father was also a cousin of St. Peter’s wife. He learned and mastered both Greek and Latin. After the barbarians attacked their home, they left Cyrene to Palestine, where he and his mother enjoyed the company of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark’s mother, Mary, was one of the women who ministered to the Lord with their resources. She offered her house to the Lord to eat the Passover with His disciples in the upper room. There, He washed their feet and gave them the Sacrament of the Eucharist. By that, her house became the first church in the world, consecrated by the Lord Himself through His holy presence and His practicing of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. In that same upper room, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples (Act 2:1-4), and in it the disciples assembled. St. Mark was one of the seventy apostles chosen by the Lord for ministry4, as testified by Origen5 and by St. Epiphanus6. St. Mark attended the wedding of Cana of Galilee; and he was the man carrying the pitcher of water who met the two disciples sent by Lord Jesus to prepare the Passover (Mk. 14:13,14; Lk. 22:11). He 1 ﻟدراﺳﺔ ﺣﻳﺎة اﻟﻘدﻳس ﻣﺎر ﻣرﻗس اﻟرﺳوﻝ ﺑﺗوﺳﻊ راﺟﻊ ﻛﺗﺎب ﻗداﺳﺔ اﻟﺑﺎﺑﺎ ﺷﻧودة اﻟﺛﺎﻟث ﻓﻲ ﻫذا اﻟﺷﺄن. 2 ﺗﺎرﻳﺦ اﻟﺑطﺎرﻛﺔ ﻟﺳﺎ وﻳ رس ﺑن اﻟﻣﻘﻔﻊ ك 13، ص 13. 3 J. D. Douglas: Dict. of Christian Church, p. 632. 4 اﻟﻘوﻝ اﻹ ﺑ رﻳ زي ﻟﻠﻌﻼﻣﺔ ا ﻟ ﻣ ﻘ رﻳ زي، طﺑﻌﺔ 1898، ص 18. ﻣﺻﺑﺎح اﻟظﻠﻣﺔ ﻻﺑن ﻛﺑر، ك 4. 5 De Reta in Deum Fide. 6 Adv. Haer. 51:5. 7 was also the young man who left his linen cloth and fled naked during the incident of the arrest of the Lord (Mk. 14:52)1. SAINT MARK AND THE LION St. Mark is symbolized by a lion; that is why the people of Venice, who consider him as their intercessor, chose the lion as their symbol, and set a statue of a winged lion at the square of St. Mark in their city. Some interpretations for the use of this symbol are the following: (1) It was claimed that St. Mark attracted his father Aristopolis to the Christian faith, while he was on a journey to Jordan. When they were confronted by a lion and a lioness the father asked his son to escape while he tried to distract the attention of the two beasts. The son assured his father, and in response to his prayer to the Lord Jesus Christ, both beasts split in half and died; and the father started to believe in the Lord Christ. (2) St. Mark opens his Gospel by saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness”... as if it was the voice of a lion, the king of animals, roaring high in the wilderness, preparing the way for the advent of the true King, our Lord Jesus Christ. Additionally, as this Gospel came to declare the authority of the Lord Christ, it was appropriate to symbolize Him by the lion; As it was said of the Lord that He is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5). (3) St. Ambrose considers, that, as St. Mark started his gospel with the proclamation of the authority of the divinity of the Lord Christ: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk. 1:1), it is appropriate to symbolize it by the lion2. HIS MISSIONARY WORK The apostle began his ministry with St. Peter the Apostle in Jerusalem and Judea. He joined the apostles Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey to Antioch, but, probably because of certain health reasons, he left them in Perga-Pemphilia, and returned to Jerusalem. 1 .B 41 ،A ، اﺑن ﻛﺑر R40 اﺑن اﻟﻣﻘﻔﻊ ص 15 2 In Luc. Praef. 8 When Barnabas asked that Mark accompany them on a second missionary journey, Paul declined. Barnabas and Mark then parted with Paul, and they went together to Cyprus, on a missionary tour of their own (Act 13:4-5), while Paul took Silas. Mark went to Cyprus a second time after the synod at Jerusalem (Act 15:39). There is no more mention of St. Mark in the book of Acts, as he headed to Egypt to establish the Church of Alexandria, after going first to his home of birth in Pentapolis, Libya. From there he set forth to the Oasis region, then to Upper-Egypt. Later on he entered Alexandria in the year 61 A.D. by way of its eastern gate. History tells us the story of how Anianus accepted the Christian Faith, as the first Egyptian to do so. When Mark’s footwear needed repair, he approached Anianus the shoemaker, who, as the needle pierced his finger, he uttered the words “O God the One.” St. Mark healed him in the name of Lord Christ, and began talking to him of “God, the One.” Anianus and his household accepted faith. As Christian faith quickly spread in Alexandria, St. Mark ordained Anianus a bishop, and with him three priests and seven deacons. The pagan mob rose in anger, which compelled St. Mark to leave Alexandria to Perga (Lybia), and from there he headed to Rome, where he joined St. Peter and St. Paul, to remain with them until their martyrdom in the year 64 A.D. When St. Mark returned to Alexandria in the year 65 A.D. to find out how the Christian faith had flourished, he decided to visit Pentapolis before getting back to Alexandria to be martyred at the district of ‘Bokalia.’ The people of Lebanon believe that St. Mark preached the new faith in their country; so also in Colosse (Col. 4: 10), in Venice, and Aquila, where he is considered as their intercessor. We end our talk about his missionary work with the words of the apostle St. Paul, as he was going through his final hours before martyrdom: “Get Mark and bring him with you, he is useful to me for ministry.” (2 Tim. 4:11). 9 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK TIME AND PLACE OF WRITING All scholars agree that the Gospel according to Mark is the oldest of all gospels. Many of them also believe it to be the main source from which the evangelists Matthew and Luke based their gospels. St. Irenaeus believes it to be written after the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul that is after the year 67 A.D. Most scholars agree to the time between the years 65 and 70 A.D.1 According to St. John Chrysostom, this gospel was written in Egypt2, but other scholars claim it was written in Rome. THE GOSPEL OF ST. MARK AND ST. PETER THE APOSTLE Certain scholars tried to credit the gospel of St. Mark to the Apostle Peter, considering St. Mark to be just a scribe or an interpreter for his relative St. Peter; and that this gospel is nothing but memoirs of St. Peter or sermons that St. Mark heard him give while they were together in Rome which he recorded after the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul. This point of view is totally rejected by the Orthodox Church.