Saint Mark, a Jew by birth, came from the tribe of Levi, from a priestly tribe, and originally lived in Jerusalem. In Hebrew, Mark was called John; His name, Mark, is Latin. He added this name to the Hebrew 1 later before leaving for a foreign country, when he and the Apostle Peter went to preach the Gospel in the capital of the then world - Rome. According to the tradition accepted by the Orthodox Church, in agreement with the testimony of some ancient writers, 2 he was one of the seventy disciples of the Lord and, therefore, he himself was an eyewitness to some events in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the narration of the Evangelist Mark himself about the betrayal of our Lord Jesus Christ to death in the city of Gethsemane 3, mention is made of a certain young man who, while all the disciples of the Lord left Him, alone followed the Divine Prisoner, wrapped in linen over his naked body, but was captured soldiers, left the linen in their hands, and fled naked from them (Mark 14:51-52). The youth's attire 4 showed that he came out suddenly at night in response to the noise of the people, no doubt from the house to which the helicopter belonged. Even in ancient times, there was a legend that the said young man was Mark himself, and that the heliport of Gethsemane belonged to the family from which Mark came. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies that the mother of the Evangelist Mark, Mary, had her own house in Jerusalem 5, in which the Apostle Peter found refuge after his miraculous rescue from prison by an Angel (Acts 12:1-12). After the Lord’s ascension into heaven, during the persecution of Christians, this house served as a place of prayer meetings for many Jerusalem believers and a place of refuge for some of the Apostles. Thus, Saint Mark, in his mother’s house, had the opportunity to constantly be in communication with Christians, participating in their prayer meetings, and to get closer to the Apostles themselves. He entered into especially close communication with the Apostle Peter, who had a kind of fatherly love and affection for him, as can be seen from the words of the Apostle Peter himself, who in his letter calls Mark his son, saying: “The Church of Babylon, chosen like you, and Mark my son, greet you.”(1 Peter 5:13). Saint Mark's uncle was Saint Apostle Barnabas 6, a Levite by origin, originally from the island of Cyprus. Through him, Saint Mark became known to another supreme Apostle - Saint Paul, when this latter, after his miraculous conversion to faith in Christ (Acts 9), first arrived in Jerusalem 7.Having entered into close communication with these two supreme Apostles - Peter and Paul, withSaint Mark became the closest collaborator and executor of the commands entrusted to him by one or the other of these great Apostles.

Around 44 or 45 years after the Nativity of Christ, a great disaster befell the Christians of Jerusalem. At the sight of the proliferation of Christians in Jerusalem, the malice of the enemies of Christ's faith - the Jews - reached its highest degree. Fueled by hatred of Christians, the Jews attacked their homes and mercilessly plundered all their property, so that Christians had to endure great famine. Hearing about such a plight of the brothers in Christ, the Antiochian Christians immediately came to their aid and, having made a collection among themselves, personally instructed Barnabas and Paul, who were in Antioch at that time, to deliver relief to the Christians in Jerusalem. Arriving in Jerusalem and fulfilling the assignment of the Antiochian Christians, Barnabas and Paul returned to Antioch and this time took Mark with them (Acts 12:25). From that time on, Mark, having become a collaborator with Barnabas and Paul, took upon himself the great feat of Apostolic labors in preaching the gospel of the faith of Christ to Jews and pagans. Together with Paul and Barnabas, Saint Mark took part in their first Apostolic journey from Antioch, as their closest assistant for preaching the Gospel 8. Together with Paul and Barnabas, Mark was in the seaside city of Seleucia 9, from here he sailed to the island of Cyprus and walked it from east to west from Salamis to Paphos. Here in Paphos, Mark was an eyewitness to the miraculous defeat by blindness, according to the word of the Apostle Paul, the sorcerer of the Jewish Barius, named Elimas, who tried to turn away the proconsul Sergius from faith in the Lord, who called Barnabas and Paul to listen to the word of God (Acts 13: 6-12). But having arrived in the city of Perga 10, Mark left the Apostle Paul and Barnabas and returned to Jerusalem to his mother’s house. Upon arrival in Jerusalem, Mark joined the Apostle Peter and soon went with him on an Apostolic journey to preach the Gospel to Rome. At this time there were already believers in Christ in Rome. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies that between the eyewitnesses of the extraordinary change that took place in the Apostles after the descent of the Holy Spirit on them and the listeners of the first sermon of the Apostle Peter about Christ the Savior 11 were Jews and proselytes who came from Rome, that is, pagans converted to Judaism (Acts 2 :10-41). These people, upon their return to Rome, undoubtedly brought their faith in Christ there and communicated it to others there. There is no doubt that even after this, many Jews who lived in Rome in large numbers, visiting Jerusalem annually on holidays, already filled with the teachings of the Gospel, and hearing there preaching about Christ, returned to Rome as Christians. Finally, many Christians came to Rome, as the capital of the world, from everywhere on civil and other matters and helped to increase the number of believers in Christ there. The Holy Apostle Peter, through his preaching and miracles, with the assistance of St. Mark, further spread and established the Church of Christ in Rome, converting many people to Christ, both Jews and pagans. Hearing the holy words of the Gospel preaching from the lips of the Apostles and burning with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Roman Christians were not satisfied with the oral preaching of the Apostles about Jesus Christ alone, but wished to have a written monument of the teachings orally taught to them. They approached the companion of the Apostle Peter, Saint Mark, and with prayer asked him to write down all the holy words that he and Peter told them about Christ the Lord, and to leave them this holy scripture as a monument. Mark fulfilled the good desire of the Roman Christians and wrote his Gospel for them, in which 12, outlining the events from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ during His stay on earth, he accurately wrote down, as much as he remembered, what the Lord taught and did, carefully taking care at the same time, so as not to miss something from what was heard, or not to change it. Mark gave what he had written to the Apostle Peter for review, and Saint Peter, by his testimony, confirmed the truth of the Gospel written by Mark and approved it for reading in churches 13. Therefore, the Gospel of Mark was accepted by all churches without any contradiction, as Apostolic Scripture, inspired by God 14.

After his labors in Rome, Saint Mark, at the command of the Apostle Peter, went to preach the Gospel to the city of Aquileia, located on the northern shore of the Adriatic Sea. In this rich city, called the second Rome 15, Mark founded a church; Moreover, he visited other places along the Adriatic Sea with the preaching of the Gospel, establishing churches of God everywhere. After this, Saint Mark, by order of the Apostle Peter, went to Egypt to preach the Gospel. This was, as Eutyches, Patriarch of Alexandria testifies, in the ninth year of the reign of Claudius 16. In Egypt, a pagan country adjacent to Palestine, since the time of Alexander the Great 17 and the Egyptian king Ptolemy Lagus 18 there have been a lot of Jews. They inhabited entire cities here, had their own synagogues, their own Sanhedrin, even a temple 19 like the Temple of Jerusalem, as well as priests and Levites according to the Law of Moses. Here in Egypt, by order of King Ptolemy Philadelphus 20, the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament were translated from Hebrew into Greek, through which the Divine revelation about the salvation of the human race became accessible to the pagans themselves. Here, in the memory of the people, that significant fall of the idols of one Egyptian temple was still vivid, which accompanied, according to the testimony of the Church Fathers, the arrival of the holy family with the Infant Jesus, who fled from the hands of the cruel Herod. Finally, it could even be that in this country there were witnesses to the miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, who brought the seeds of Christ’s teaching here too. All this greatly prepared the inhabitants of Egypt to accept Christian teachings and promised great success for the preaching of Saint Mark. And indeed, when Mark, the first of the Apostles arriving in Egypt, began preaching the Gospel, proclaiming to people freedom from the devil 21, then at the very beginning of his preaching 22 a great many husbands and wives believed in Christ. In Alexandria itself, the main city of Egypt, Saint Mark founded a church and was its first bishop.

Here Saint Mark worked hard in the feat of enlightening with the light of Christ's faith both Jews and pagans, who had hitherto been in the darkness of idolatry. Having then improved the churches in Alexandria and the cities adjacent to it by ordaining bishops and other clergy to them, Saint Mark then left the Egyptian country. Where he went from here and whether he was in Jerusalem at the Apostolic Council 23 is unknown. But when the Apostle Paul, before setting off on his second Apostolic journey 24, was with Barnabas in Antioch, then, as the book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies, here Saint Mark also met with them and from here, together with his uncle Barnabas, he went to his homeland in Cyprus (Acts 15 :36-40). Having worked together with Barnabas for some time in the exploit of the gospel of Christ, Mark another time went to Egypt, where at the same time or a little later the Apostle Peter arrived. Preaching the gospel in different countries of Egypt and establishing churches in them, the Apostles at this time, among other things, laid the foundation of the Church of Christ in the Egyptian city of Babylon, from where Peter wrote his first conciliar letter to the Christians of Asia Minor (1 Peter 5:13). Saint Mark stayed in Egypt until the eighth year of the reign of Nero 25.

Subsequently, Saint Mark again united with the Apostle Paul and became one of his collaborators. During the stay of the Apostle Paul in prison in Rome 26, Saint Mark, along with some other persons, shared the evangelistic labors of this Apostle. In his letter to the Colossians, written from Rome at this time, the Apostle Paul calls Mark one of his few co-workers for the Kingdom of God, who were a consolation for him at this time (Colossians 4:10-11). As can be seen from the same letter to the Colossians, Mark, by order of the Apostle Paul, went from Rome to Asia Minor, to the Phrygian city of Colossae (Colossians 2:8-18), to counteract the false teachers who were seducing the Colossian Christians 27 . Where Saint Mark spent the next few years is unknown. But by the time close to the days of the death of the Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 4:11), Saint Mark was in Asia Minor, precisely in the city of Ephesus, in the fatherland of Saint Timpheus, bishop of the Ephesian Church. At this time, the Apostle Paul, who was in prison for the second time in Rome, wrote a letter to Timothy, in which he, summoning Timothy to Rome to his aid, instructed him to “bring with him Mark, as well, as he is useful in the service” 28 . Here in Rome, Saint Mark witnessed the martyrdom for Christ of both of his teachers, the great and supreme Apostles of Christ Peter and Paul, who at the same time suffered for Christ in Rome; Paul, as having the right of a Roman citizen, was beheaded by the sword, and Peter was crucified on the cross.

After the death of his great teachers - the Apostles Peter and Paul, the holy Evangelist Mark again went to Egypt to improve the church he founded. He worked a lot in the feat of preaching the faith of Christ in Alexandria itself. Alexandria, the capital of Egypt, was the center of Greek learning. There was a famous book depository here, pagan science flourished here; For her sake, people flocked here from everywhere, so that the city was crowded with scientists, philosophers, rhetoricians and poets. Even the Jews, who lived in large numbers in Alexandria, were carried away by pagan learning. To strengthen the faith of Christ and in order to counteract the learned pagans and Jews, Saint Mark laid the foundation of a Christian catechetical school in Alexandria. In subsequent times, this school became the center of Christian education and became famous for the fact that famous teachers of the Church came out of it, such as Panten, Clement, and some of the Fathers of the Church, such as Dionysius of Alexandria, Gregory the Wonderworker and others.

Taking care of the organization of church services, Saint Mark compiled the order of the liturgy and handed it over to the Christians of the Alexandrian church. This order of liturgy was preserved for a long time in this church and in subsequent centuries. In the worship of Egyptian Christians (Copts), some prayers attributed to the Evangelist Mark have been preserved to this day.

Having improved the Alexandrian church, the holy Evangelist Mark, in his concern for preaching Christ’s teaching, did not abandon with his attention and zeal the inhabitants of other cities and localities of Egypt, but as a strong and valiant ascetic, Mark, led by the Spirit of God, hurried with all zeal and zeal to preach everywhere Christ's teachings. He visited many interior countries of Africa, and was in Libya, Marmorica, Cyrenaica and Pentapolis. All these countries were mired in the darkness of pagan idolatry. Throughout the cities and villages and at crossroads, idols were built, in which idols were placed and in which sorcery, prophecy and sorcery were performed. Passing through these cities and villages preaching the Gospel, Saint Mark enlightened the hearts of people who were in the darkness and darkness of idolatry with the light of Divine teaching, while at the same time performing great miracles among them. With one word of Divine grace, he healed the sick, cleansed lepers, and cast out unclean and fierce spirits. And his preaching, accompanied by great and wondrous miracles, was a tremendous success. Idols fell, idols were overthrown and broken, people were cleansed and enlightened, baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Under the Evangelist Mark, churches of God were established everywhere, and the Church of Christ flourished in the Egyptian countries. Under the influence of the holy words of the sermon of the Evangelist Mark and under the influence of the high purity and holiness of the virtuous life of himself, the Egyptian Christians, under the influence of Divine grace, in their exploits to achieve salvation showed so much purity and height of perfection that their lives, filled with the holiness of Christian virtue, served the subject of great surprise and praise from even the pagans and unbelieving Jews. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, and Nikephoros (Xanthopulos), church historians, preserved in their books the testimony of a certain Philo, a Jewish philosopher, who, praising the virtuous life of Egyptian Christians, says:

They (i.e. Christians) abandon all concern for temporary riches and do not care about their estates, not considering anything on earth to be theirs, dear to them. Some of them, abandoning all concern for everyday things, leave the cities and settle in secluded places and gardens, avoiding being with people who disagree with them in life, so as not to have obstacles in virtue from them. They consider abstinence and mortification of the flesh to be the foundation on which alone a good life can be built. Not one of them eats or drinks before evening, and some do not start eating until the fourth day. Others, experienced in the interpretation and understanding of Divine Scripture, being filled with a thirst for knowledge and feeding on the spiritual food of thought of God, spending time in the study of Scripture, forget about bodily food until the sixth day. None of them drinks wine, and they all do not eat meat, adding only salt and hyssop to bread and water. Among them live women who have raised themselves in a virtuous life and have become so accustomed to it that they remain virgins until old age. But they preserve virginity not under compulsion, but out of free will, excited by jealousy and love for wisdom, which forces them to renounce bodily pleasures and strive to acquire not mortal, but immortal offspring, which only a soul that loves and strives for God can give birth to. . The Holy Scriptures are explained by them allegorically, through the discovery of implied and hidden meaning and secrets; for Scripture, in their opinion, is like a living being: verbal expressions constitute its visible body, and the thought and secret hidden under these expressions constitute its invisible soul. They get up early to praise God and pray, to sing and listen to the word of God - separately men and separately women. Some of them fast continuously for seven weeks. The seventh day is held in great veneration. In preparation for it and other holidays, they lie down to rest on the bare ground. The divine service is performed by priests and deacons, over whom the bishop rules.

Such a fragrant garden of Christ was planted and cultivated by the holy Evangelist Mark through his much painful labors in the countries of Egypt; there he was also the first bishop, having a holy throne in Alexandria, where he suffered a painful death, being the first martyr of the Alexandrian church.

Blessed Simeon Metaphrastus 30 tells the following about the suffering and martyrdom of Saint Mark. Saint Mark, during his stay in Kyrenia - the city of Pentapolis, where he worked in the exploits of the gospel of Christ's teaching and the structure of the Church of Christ, received a command from the Holy Spirit to go from there to preach the Gospel to Alexandria of Fariti 31. Obedient to the commands of the Holy Spirit, Mark hurried with all zeal to a new feat. Having informed the brethren of the Lord’s command to go to Alexandria, after a farewell meal with the Christians, encouraged by their blessing, he sailed from Kyrenia to Alexandria. On the second day he reached Alexandria and, leaving the ship, came to a certain place called Mendion. Here, at the entrance to the city gates, his sandals fell in half, which the saint took as a good omen. Seeing a shoemaker immediately repairing old shoes, the saint gave him his sandal to repair. The shoemaker, while repairing his sandal, accidentally pierced his left hand with his tool and, crying out in pain, called on the name of God.

Hearing this exclamation, the Apostle rejoiced in spirit, seeing in this an indication that the Lord would arrange a prosperous path for him. The wound on the shoemaker’s hand was very painful, and blood flowed profusely from it. Saint Mark, spitting on the ground, made clay and, anointing his wound, said:

In the name of Jesus Christ, who lives forever, be healthy.

And immediately the shoemaker’s wound closed and his hand became healthy. The shoemaker, seeing such strength in the man standing before him and the effect of his words, as well as the purity and holiness of life in his gaze, turned to him with a request, saying:

I beg you, man of God, come into my house and stay with me, your servant, even for a day, in order to share a meal with me, because you have shown mercy for me today.

The Apostle, joyfully agreeing to his request, said:

May the Lord give you the bread of life, the bread of heaven.

And that man immediately took the Apostle and brought him into his house with great joy. Entering the house, Saint Mark said:

May the blessing of the Lord be here! Let us pray, brothers, to God.

And everyone together made a prayer to God. When, after prayer, they sat down to eat, the shoemaker, kindly starting the conversation, asked the saint:

Father! who are you? And where does such power come from in your word?

Saint Mark replied:

I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The man said:

I would like to see this Son of God.

Saint Mark replied:

I'll show it to you!

And he began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and explain from the prophets what was predicted by them about our Lord. The man, listening to his sermon, said:

I have never heard the Scripture that you explain to me; I heard only from the Iliad, the Odyssey and from what the Egyptian youths study.

Then Saint Mark, continuing his sermon about Christ, showed him with all clarity that the wisdom of this age is “riot” 32 before God. That man believed in everything that Saint Mark told him, and, seeing his miracles, he himself was baptized and his whole house was baptized with him, and with them a great multitude of people from that area were baptized. The man's name was Ananias. The number of believers there multiplied day by day. Then the leaders of the city, hearing that a certain Galilean who had come to them was blaspheming their gods and forbidding them to sacrifice to them, sought to kill Saint Mark and gathered for a meeting on how to capture him. Saint Mark, having learned about this decision of theirs, hastened to appoint Ananias and three presbyters as bishop for the believers - Maleon (or Malchus), Savin, Kerdon, seven deacons and eleven clergy for church services and, fleeing from there, came again to Pentapolis. Having stayed here for two years, establishing the brethren who were there and installing bishops, presbyters and clergy in the surrounding countries and cities, St. Mark returned again to Alexandria. Here he found the brethren increasing in number and prospering in the grace and faith of the Lord. There was already a Christian temple in Alexandria, built near the sea on a place called “Vukul” 33. At the sight of the temple, Saint Mark rejoiced and, kneeling, glorified God. Saint Mark stayed in Alexandria for quite a long time. The Christians of that church multiplied in number and, strengthening in their faith, openly reproached the Greeks for idolatry. The Hellenic mayors, having learned about Saint Mark’s stay in their city and hearing that he performed great miracles: he healed the sick, restored hearing to the deaf, gave sight to the blind, were inflamed with hatred and envy against him, and looked for him. Not finding him for a long time, they, gathering in their pagan temples, gnashed their teeth and angrily exclaimed:

Oh, what trouble this sorcerer and sorcerer causes us!

The blessed holiday of Easter was approaching. And so on April 24, on the day of the bright Resurrection of Christ, which this time coincided with the pagan holiday in honor of Serapis, the pagans found an opportunity to capture Saint Mark. The Holy Evangelist performed Divine service on this day. The wicked pagans saw this as an opportunity and, having gathered in a large crowd on the occasion of their holiday, suddenly attacked the church. They grabbed Saint Mark, tied him with ropes and, dragging him through the streets and outskirts of the city, shouted:

Let us lead this ox into the ox-shed, that is, into the ox-shed.

Saint Mark, enduring torment, thanked the Lord, saying:

I thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, that You have made me worthy to endure this suffering for Your name.

The saint was dragged along the ground, strewn with sharp stones, so that his body, tormented by the stones, was covered with wounds, and the blood flowing abundantly from them stained the entire path. The wicked pagans, tormented in this way, threw him into prison, and, when evening came, they gathered for advice on what kind of death to put him to death. At midnight, an Angel of the Lord appeared to the Apostle-martyr and strengthened him for the feat of martyrdom with the notification of his impending bliss in heaven; then the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to him, comforting him with His appearance. The next morning, a frantic crowd of pagans took the Apostle out of prison and dragged him through the streets of the city. The saint could not bear such torment and soon died, thanking God, praying to Him and saying:

Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit! 34

The insatiable anger of the pagans was not satisfied with the death of the Apostle: they decided to burn his body. The fire had already been lit, when suddenly sudden darkness, terrible thunder, an earthquake, rain and hail scattered the crowd of wicked people, and the rain extinguished the fire. Pious Christians, reverently taking the body of the saint, buried him in a stone coffin at the place of their prayer meetings.

A church was built over the relics of St. Mark in 310, and they remained in Alexandria until the 9th century. In the first half of this century, 35 when the rule of the Mohammedan Arabs and the Monophysite heresy completely weakened Orthodoxy in Egypt, the relics of the holy Evangelist were transferred to Venice, near which (in Aquileia) he labored for some time in preaching the Gospel: there they rest to this day in a magnificent temple dedicated to his name. A very ancient manuscript of the Gospel of Mark is kept here, written on thin Egyptian papyrus, according to legend, by the hand of the Evangelist himself 36.

1 According to the custom of the Jews of that time.

2 Origen, presbyter of Alexandria, 3rd century, Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, 4th century. and others.

3 Vertograd - garden.

4 Linen wrapped over a naked body.

5 There is a tradition that Easter was celebrated by the Lord Jesus Christ in the house of Mark’s mother, Mary.

6 His memory is June 11th.

7 Around the year 39 or 40 after the Nativity of Christ.

8 In 44 or 45.

9 On the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

10 In Asia Minor.

11 Of whom about 3,000 men were baptized.

12 As Papias testifies.

13 In his Gospel, Evangelist Mark primarily describes the actions of the Savior, especially miraculous ones, which had a greater influence on the minds of the pagans than teaching.

14 The time of its writing falls approximately on the 46th year of the Birth of Christ.

15 Because the Roman emperors loved to live in it.

16 Around 49 AD.

17 Reigned from 334-324. BC

18 324-284 BC

19 Near the town of Iliopoda.

20 Around 271 BC.

21 Just as Moses once proclaimed here to the children of Israel deliverance from the heavy yoke of Pharaoh.

22 As the historian Eusebius testifies.

23 Around 60 or 51 AD.

24 From 52 to 55 years old.

25 Reigned from 54 to 68.

26 From 61 to 63 AD.

27 Around '67.

28 Contemporary of St. Apostles.

29 Bitter grass.

30 Church writer of the 9th century.

31 Alexandria was called Faritian because the small city of Pharos was annexed to it, where there was a large high pillar on which ships were lit at night, a fire to indicate the way to the harbour, arriving by sea.

32 Riotousness is madness, foolishness (Cf. 1 Cor. 1:18-22).

33 Vukul, i.e. place for feeding oxen, from Greek. words - bull.

34 Saint Mark died during the reign of Nero, around 68 AD.

35 In 828.

36 From Mark, the Holy Gospel, according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church, except for special cases, is read at the liurgy from 11 to 17 weeks after Pentecost, then from 29 to 34, excluding Saturdays and Sundays, and on Saturdays and Sundays of Holy Pentecost, except Sundays of the first week . On the icons the Evangelist Mark is depicted together with a lion. A note was made about this image at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark. His gospel begins with the story of the appearance of John the Baptist, who, with his preaching about repentance and the approach of the Kingdom of God, announced the Judean desert, was the voice of one crying in the desert, and in this respect was likened to a lion living and roaring in the desert. The Patriarchs of Alexandria, who rightly honor Saint Mark as the founder and patron of their church and the first Patriarch of Alexandria, in their epistles teach a blessing with these words: “may there be the blessing of the Lord Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint Mark the Evangelist,” and on their seal they have an image of a winged lion holding Gospel.

1. The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark is an apostle from the 70s.
2. The symbol of Saint Mark is a winged lion.
3. He was born in the city of Cyrene - the main city of ancient Libya, a state in North Africa. This fact is especially significant for the Coptic Orthodox Church, which honors the Apostle Mark as its founder and preacher of Christianity in Africa. There is also a version that the Apostle Mark was born in Jerusalem.
4. The full name of the apostle is John-Mark.
5. He came from a Jewish family.
6. The name Mark is of Latin origin. It is believed that the Apostle Mark had a good education (Alexandria, the cultural center of the Hellenistic world, was located east of Cyrene) and spoke the language of the Romans.
7. The mother of the Apostle Mark owned a house in Jerusalem, where the first Christians gathered. It was adjacent to the Garden of Gethsemane.
8. It is believed that the young man described in the Gospel of Mark, who “wrapped his naked body in a veil” followed Christ after the betrayal of Judas, and then, when “soldiers grabbed him... he, leaving the veil, ran away from them naked” - was the apostle himself Mark.
9. Saint Mark was the closest companion of the apostles Peter, Paul and Barnabas. He was a relative of the Apostle Barnabas - a nephew or cousin.
10. The Gospel of Mark was obviously intended for Gentile Christians: it omits important Jewish references to the Old Testament, but provides explanations regarding Jewish customs.
11. Holy Apostle Mark founded the Church in Egypt and was the first bishop in Alexandria.
12. Together with the Apostles Paul and Barnabas, Saint Mark was in Seleucia, Cyprus, and met with the Apostle Paul in Antioch.
13. When the Apostle Paul was in prison in Rome, the Apostle Mark went there together with Saint Timothy of Ephesus.
14. It is believed that the Gospel of Mark was written in Rome in 62-63 and is a brief record of the sermon and stories of the Apostle Peter.
15. The Apostle Mark suffered martyrdom at the hands of a crowd of angry pagans in Alexandria on April 4, 63.
16. In 310, a church was built over the relics of St. Mark the Apostle in Alexandria.
17. In 820, when the rule of the Mohammedan Arabs was established in Egypt, the relics of the saint were transferred to Venice.

St. Mark's Cathedral(Italian: Basilica di San Marco - “Basilica of San Marco”) - cathedral Venice. Built in 829-832.

St. Mark's Church- Orthodox Church in Belgrade. Temple of the Serbian Orthodox Church, erected in 1931-1940.

St. Mark's Church- Catholic parish church V capital of Croatia Zagreb, a landmark and one of the oldest buildings in the city. It is believed that the church was built in the 13th century. The unique roof that makes the building so memorable was received in 1876-1882.

Church of St. Mark in Milan. First mentioned in 1254.

Apostle Mark (John-Mark). Fragment of a 12-episode documentary series (2014). Directed by Konstantin Golenchik. Author Yulia Varentsova.

Saint Mark, a Jew by birth, came from the tribe of Levi, from a priestly tribe, and originally lived in Jerusalem. In Hebrew, Mark was called John; His name, Mark, is Latin. He added this name to the Jewish one later before leaving for a foreign country, when he and the Apostle Peter went to preach the Gospel to the capital of the then world - Rome. According to the tradition accepted by the Orthodox Church, in agreement with the testimony of some ancient writers, he was one of the seventy disciples of the Lord and, therefore, he himself was an eyewitness to some events in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the narration of the Evangelist Mark himself about the betrayal of our Lord Jesus Christ to death in the city of Gethsemane, a certain young man is mentioned who, while all the disciples of the Lord left Him, alone followed the Divine Prisoner, wrapped in linen over his naked body, but was captured by soldiers , left the linen in their hands, and fled naked from them (Mark 14:51–52). The young man’s attire showed that he had suddenly come out at night in response to the noise of the people, no doubt from the house to which the helicopter town belonged. Even in ancient times, there was a legend that the said young man was Mark himself, and that the heliport of Gethsemane belonged to the family from which Mark came. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies that the mother of the Evangelist Mark, Mary, had her own house in Jerusalem, in which the Apostle Peter found refuge after his miraculous rescue from prison by an Angel (Acts 12:1–12). After the Lord’s ascension to heaven, during the persecution of Christians, this house served as a place of prayer meetings for many Jerusalemite believers and a place of refuge for some of the Apostles. Thus, Saint Mark, in his mother’s house, had the opportunity to constantly be in communication with Christians, participating in their prayer meetings, and to get closer to the Apostles themselves. He entered into especially close communication with the Apostle Peter, who had a kind of fatherly love and affection for him, as can be seen from the words of the Apostle Peter himself, who in his letter calls Mark his son, saying: “The Babylonian Church, chosen like you, welcomes you.” and Mark my son” (1 Peter 5:13). Saint Mark's uncle was Saint Apostle Barnabas, a Levite by origin, originally from the island of Cyprus. Through him, Saint Mark became known to another supreme Apostle - Saint Paul, when this latter, after his miraculous conversion to faith in Christ (Acts 9), first arrived in Jerusalem. Having entered into close communication with these two supreme Apostles - Peter and Paul, Saint Mark became the closest collaborator and executor of the commands entrusted to him by one or the other of these great Apostles.

44 or 45 years after the Nativity of Christ, a great disaster befell the Christians of Jerusalem. At the sight of the proliferation of Christians in Jerusalem, the malice of the enemies of Christ's faith - the Jews - reached its highest degree. Fueled by hatred of Christians, the Jews attacked their homes and mercilessly plundered all their property, so that Christians had to endure great famine. Hearing about such a plight of the brothers in Christ, the Antiochian Christians immediately came to their aid and, having made a collection among themselves, personally instructed Barnabas and Paul, who were in Antioch at that time, to deliver relief to the Christians in Jerusalem. Arriving in Jerusalem and fulfilling the assignment of the Antiochian Christians, Barnabas and Paul returned to Antioch and this time took Mark with them (Acts 12:25). From that time on, Mark, having become a collaborator with Barnabas and Paul, took upon himself the great feat of Apostolic labors in preaching the gospel of the faith of Christ to Jews and pagans. Together with Paul and Barnabas, Saint Mark took part in their first Apostolic journey from Antioch, as their closest assistant for preaching the Gospel. Together with Paul and Barnabas, Mark was in the seaside city of Seleucia, from here he sailed to the island of Cyprus and walked it from east to west from Salamis to Paphos. Here in Paphos, Mark was an eyewitness to the miraculous defeat by blindness, according to the word of the Apostle Paul, the sorcerer of the Jewish Barius, named Elimas, who tried to turn away the proconsul Sergius from faith in the Lord, who called Barnabas and Paul to listen to the word of God (Acts 13: 6-12). But, arriving in the city of Perga, Mark left the Apostle Paul and Barnabas and returned to Jerusalem to his mother’s house.

Upon arrival in Jerusalem, Mark joined the Apostle Peter and soon went with him on an Apostolic journey to preach the Gospel to Rome. At this time there were already believers in Christ in Rome. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies that between the eyewitnesses of the extraordinary change that took place in the Apostles after the descent of the Holy Spirit on them and the listeners of the first sermon of the Apostle Peter about Christ the Savior were Jews and proselytes who came from Rome, that is, pagans converted to Judaism (Acts 2: 10–41). These people, upon their return to Rome, undoubtedly brought their faith in Christ there and communicated it to others there. There is no doubt that even after this, many Jews who lived in Rome in large numbers, visiting Jerusalem annually on holidays, already filled with the teachings of the Gospel, and hearing there preaching about Christ, returned to Rome as Christians. Finally, many Christians came to Rome, as the capital of the world, from everywhere on civil and other matters and helped to increase the number of believers in Christ there. The Holy Apostle Peter, through his preaching and miracles, with the assistance of St. Mark, further spread and established the Church of Christ in Rome, converting many people to Christ, both Jews and pagans.

Hearing the holy words of the Gospel preaching from the lips of the Apostles and burning with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Roman Christians were not satisfied with the oral preaching of the Apostles about Jesus Christ alone, but wished to have a written monument of the teachings orally taught to them. They approached the companion of the Apostle Peter, Saint Mark, and with prayer asked him to write down all the holy words that he and Peter told them about Christ the Lord, and to leave them this holy scripture as a monument. Mark fulfilled the good desire of the Roman Christians and wrote his Gospel for them, in which, outlining the events from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, during His stay on earth, he accurately wrote down, as much as he remembered, what the Lord taught and did, carefully taking care In this case, how not to miss something from what you heard, or not to change it. Mark gave what he had written to the Apostle Peter for consideration, and Saint Peter, by his testimony, confirmed the truth of the Gospel written by Mark and approved it for reading in churches. Therefore, the Gospel of Mark was accepted by all churches without any contradiction, as Apostolic Scripture, inspired by God.

After his labors in Rome, Saint Mark, at the command of the Apostle Peter, went to preach the Gospel to the city of Aquileia, located on the northern shore of the Adriatic Sea. In this rich city, called the second Rome. Mark founded the church; Moreover, he visited other places along the Adriatic Sea with the preaching of the Gospel, establishing churches of God everywhere. After this, Saint Mark, by order of the Apostle Peter, went to Egypt to preach the Gospel. This was, as Eutyches, Patriarch of Alexandria testifies, in the ninth year of the reign of Claudius. In Egypt, a pagan country adjacent to Palestine, since the time of Alexander the Great and the Egyptian king Ptolemy Lagus there have been a lot of Jews. They inhabited entire cities here, had their own synagogues, their own Sanhedrin, even a temple like the Temple of Jerusalem, as well as priests and Levites according to the Law of Moses. Here in Egypt, by order of King Ptolemy Philadelphus, the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament were translated from Hebrew into Greek, through which the Divine revelation about the salvation of the human race became accessible to the pagans themselves. Here, in the memory of the people, that significant fall of the idols of one Egyptian temple was still vivid, which accompanied, according to the testimony of the Church Fathers, the arrival of the holy family with the Infant Jesus, who fled from the hands of the cruel Herod. Finally, it could even be that in this country there were witnesses to the miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, who brought the seeds of Christ’s teaching here too. All this greatly prepared the inhabitants of Egypt to accept Christian teachings and promised great success for the preaching of Saint Mark. And indeed, when Mark, the first of the Apostles to arrive in Egypt, began preaching the Gospel, proclaiming freedom from the devil to people, then at the very beginning of his preaching a great many husbands and wives believed in Christ. In Alexandria itself, the main city of Egypt, Saint Mark founded a church and was its first bishop.

Here Saint Mark worked hard in the feat of enlightening with the light of Christ's faith both Jews and pagans, who had hitherto been in the darkness of idolatry. Having then improved the churches in Alexandria and the cities adjacent to it by ordaining bishops and other clergy to them, Saint Mark then left the Egyptian country. Where he went from here and whether he was in Jerusalem at the Apostolic Council is unknown. But when the Apostle Paul, before setting off on his second Apostolic journey, was with Barnabas in Antioch, then, as the book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies, here Saint Mark also met with them and from here, together with his uncle Barnabas, he went to his homeland in Cyprus (Acts 15: 36–40). Having worked together with Barnabas for some time in the exploit of the gospel of Christ, Mark another time went to Egypt, where at the same time or a little later the Apostle Peter arrived. Preaching the gospel in different countries of Egypt and establishing churches in them, the Apostles at this time, among other things, laid the foundation of the Church of Christ in the Egyptian city of Babylon, from where Peter wrote his first conciliar letter to the Christians of Asia Minor (1 Peter 5:13). Saint Mark stayed in Egypt until the eighth year of Nero's reign.

Subsequently, Saint Mark again united with the Apostle Paul and became one of his collaborators. During the stay of the Apostle Paul in prison in Rome, Saint Mark, along with some other persons, shared the evangelistic labors of this Apostle. In his letter to the Colossians, written from Rome at this time, the Apostle Paul calls Mark one of his few co-workers for the Kingdom of God, who were a consolation for him at this time (Colossians 4:10-11). As can be seen from the same letter to the Colossians, Mark, by order of the Apostle Paul, went from Rome to Asia Minor, to the Phrygian city of Colossae (Colossians 2:8–18), to counteract the false teachers who were seducing the Colossian Christians. Where Saint Mark spent the next few years is unknown. But by the time close to the days of the death of the Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 4:11), Saint Mark was in Asia Minor, precisely in the city of Ephesus, in the fatherland of Saint Timothy, bishop of the Ephesian Church. At this time, the Apostle Paul, who was in prison for the second time in Rome, wrote a letter to Timothy, in which he, summoning Timothy to Rome to his aid, instructed him to “bring Mark with him, as well, as he is useful in the service.” Here in Rome, Saint Mark witnessed the martyrdom for Christ of both of his teachers, the great and supreme Apostles of Christ Peter and Paul, who at the same time suffered for Christ in Rome; Paul, as having the right of a Roman citizen, was beheaded by the sword, and Peter was crucified on the cross.

After the death of his great teachers - the Apostles Peter and Paul, the holy Evangelist Mark again went to Egypt to improve the church he founded. He worked a lot in the feat of preaching the faith of Christ in Alexandria itself. Alexandria, the capital of Egypt, was the center of Greek learning. There was a famous book depository here, pagan science flourished here; For her sake, people flocked here from everywhere, so that the city was crowded with scientists, philosophers, rhetoricians and poets. Even the Jews, who lived in large numbers in Alexandria, were carried away by pagan learning. To strengthen the faith of Christ and in order to counteract the learned pagans and Jews, Saint Mark laid the foundation of a Christian catechetical school in Alexandria. In subsequent times, this school became the center of Christian education and became famous for the fact that famous teachers of the Church came out of it, such as Panten, Clement, and some of the Fathers of the Church, such as Dionysius of Alexandria, Gregory the Wonderworker and others.

Taking care of the organization of church services, Saint Mark compiled the order of the liturgy and handed it over to the Christians of the Alexandrian church. This order of liturgy was preserved for a long time in this church and in subsequent centuries. In the worship of Egyptian Christians (Copts), some prayers attributed to the Evangelist Mark have been preserved to this day.

Having improved the church of Alexandria, the holy Evangelist Mark, in his concern for preaching the teachings of Christ, did not abandon with his attention and zeal the inhabitants of other cities and localities of Egypt, but as a strong and valiant ascetic, Mark, led by the Spirit of God, hurried with all zeal and zeal everywhere to preach Christ's teachings. He visited many interior countries of Africa, and was in Libya, Marmorica, Cyrenaica and Pentapolis. All these countries were mired in the darkness of pagan idolatry. Throughout the cities and villages and at crossroads, idols were built, in which idols were placed and in which sorcery, prophecy and sorcery were performed. Passing through these cities and villages preaching the Gospel, Saint Mark enlightened the hearts of people who were in the darkness and gloom of idolatry with the light of Divine teaching, while at the same time performing great miracles among them. With one word of Divine grace, he healed the sick, cleansed lepers, and cast out unclean and fierce spirits. And his preaching, accompanied by great and wondrous miracles, was a tremendous success. Idols fell, idols were overthrown and broken, people were cleansed and enlightened, baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Under the Evangelist Mark, churches of God were established everywhere, and the Church of Christ flourished in the Egyptian countries. Under the influence of the holy words of the sermon of the Evangelist Mark and under the influence of the high purity and holiness of the virtuous life of himself, the Egyptian Christians, under the influence of Divine grace, in their exploits to achieve salvation showed so much purity and height of perfection that their lives, filled with the holiness of Christian virtue, served the subject of great surprise and praise from even the pagans and unbelieving Jews. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, and Nikephoros (Xanthopulos), church historians, preserved in their books the testimony of a certain Philo, a Jewish philosopher, who, praising the virtuous life of Egyptian Christians, says:

They (i.e., Christians) abandon all concern for temporary riches and do not care about their estates, not considering anything on earth theirs, dear to them. Some of them, abandoning all concern for everyday things, leave the cities and settle in secluded places and gardens, avoiding being with people who disagree with them in life, so as not to have obstacles in virtue from them. They consider abstinence and mortification of the flesh to be the foundation on which alone a good life can be built. Not one of them eats or drinks before evening, and some do not start eating until the fourth day. Others, experienced in the interpretation and understanding of Divine Scripture, being filled with a thirst for knowledge and feeding on the spiritual food of the thought of God, spending time in the study of Scripture, forget about bodily food until the sixth day. None of them drinks wine, and they all do not eat meat, adding only salt and hyssop to bread and water. Among them live women who have raised themselves in a virtuous life and have become so accustomed to it that they remain virgins until old age. But they preserve virginity not under compulsion, but out of free will, excited by jealousy and love for wisdom, which forces them to renounce bodily pleasures and strive to acquire not mortal, but immortal offspring, which only a soul that loves and strives for God can give birth to. . The Holy Scriptures are explained by them allegorically, through the discovery of implied and hidden meaning and secrets; for Scripture, in their opinion, is like a living being: verbal expressions constitute its visible body, and the thought and secret hidden under these expressions constitute its invisible soul. They get up early to praise God and pray, to sing and listen to the word of God - separately men and separately women. Some of them fast continuously for seven weeks. The seventh day is held in great veneration. In preparation for it and other holidays, they lie down to rest on the bare ground. The divine service is performed by priests and deacons, over whom the bishop rules.

Such a fragrant garden of Christ was planted and cultivated by the holy Evangelist Mark through his much painful labors in the countries of Egypt; there he was also the first bishop, having a holy throne in Alexandria, where he suffered a painful death, being the first martyr of the Alexandrian church.

Blessed Simeon Metaphrastus tells the following about the suffering and martyrdom of Saint Mark. Saint Mark, during his stay in Kyrenia - the city of Pentapolis, where he worked in the exploits of the gospel of Christ's teaching and the structure of the Church of Christ, received a command from the Holy Spirit to go from there to preach the Gospel to Alexandria of Fariti. Obedient to the commands of the Holy Spirit, Mark hurried with all zeal to a new feat. Having informed the brethren of the Lord’s command to go to Alexandria, after a farewell meal with the Christians, encouraged by their blessing, he sailed from Kyrenia to Alexandria. On the second day he reached Alexandria and, leaving the ship, came to a certain place called Mendion. Here, at the entrance to the city gates, his sandals fell in half, which the saint took as a good omen. Seeing a shoemaker immediately repairing old shoes, the saint gave him his sandal to repair. The shoemaker, while repairing his sandal, accidentally pierced his left hand with his tool and, crying out in pain, called on the name of God.

Hearing this exclamation, the Apostle rejoiced in spirit, seeing in this an indication that the Lord would arrange a prosperous path for him. The wound on the shoemaker’s hand was very painful, and blood flowed profusely from it. Saint Mark, spitting on the ground, made clay and, anointing his wound, said:

In the name of Jesus Christ. living forever, be healthy.

And immediately the shoemaker’s wound closed and his hand became healthy. The shoemaker, seeing such strength in the man standing before him and the effect of his words, as well as the purity and holiness of life in his gaze, turned to him with a request, saying:

I beg you, man of God, come into my house and stay with me, your servant, even for a day, in order to share a meal with me, because you have shown mercy for me today.

The Apostle, joyfully agreeing to his request, said:

May the Lord give you the bread of life, the bread of heaven.

And that man immediately took the Apostle and brought him into his house with great joy. Entering the house, Saint Mark said:

May the blessing of the Lord be here! Let us pray, brothers, to God.

And everyone together made a prayer to God. When, after prayer, they sat down to eat, the shoemaker, kindly starting the conversation, asked the saint:

Father! who are you? And where does such power come from in your word?

Saint Mark replied:

I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The man said:

I would like to see this Son of God.

Saint Mark replied:

I'll show it to you!

And he began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and explain from the prophets what was predicted by them about our Lord. The man, listening to his sermon, said:

I have never heard the Scripture that you explain to me; I heard only from the Iliad, the Odyssey and from what the Egyptian youths study.

Then Saint Mark, continuing his sermon about Christ, showed him with all clarity that the wisdom of this age is “riot” before God. That man believed in everything that Saint Mark told him, and, seeing his miracles, he himself was baptized and his whole house was baptized with him, and with them a great multitude of people from that area were baptized. The man's name was Ananias. The number of believers there multiplied day by day. Then the leaders of the city, hearing that a certain Galilean who had come to them was blaspheming their gods and forbidding them to sacrifice to them, sought to kill Saint Mark and gathered for a meeting on how to capture him. Saint Mark, having learned about this decision of theirs, hastened to appoint Ananias and three presbyters as bishop for the believers - Maleon (or Malchus), Savin, Kerdon, seven deacons and eleven clergy for church services and, fleeing from there, came again to Pentapolis. Having stayed here for two years, establishing the brethren who were there and installing bishops, presbyters and clergy in the surrounding countries and cities, St. Mark returned again to Alexandria. Here he found the brethren increasing in number and prospering in the grace and faith of the Lord. There was already a Christian temple in Alexandria, built near the sea on a place called “Vukul”. At the sight of the temple, Saint Mark rejoiced and, kneeling, glorified God. Saint Mark stayed in Alexandria for quite a long time. The Christians of that church multiplied in number and, strengthening in their faith, openly reproached the Greeks for idolatry. The Hellenic mayors, having learned about Saint Mark’s stay in their city and hearing that he performed great miracles: he healed the sick, restored hearing to the deaf, gave sight to the blind, were inflamed with hatred and envy against him, and looked for him. Not finding him for a long time, they, gathering in their pagan temples, gnashed their teeth and angrily exclaimed:

Oh, what trouble this sorcerer and sorcerer causes us!

The blessed holiday of Easter was approaching. And so on April 24, on the day of the bright Resurrection of Christ, which this time coincided with the pagan holiday in honor of Serapis, the pagans found an opportunity to capture Saint Mark. The Holy Evangelist performed Divine service on this day. The wicked pagans saw this as an opportunity and, having gathered in a large crowd on the occasion of their holiday, suddenly attacked the church. They grabbed Saint Mark, tied him with ropes and, dragging him through the streets and outskirts of the city, shouted:

Let us lead this ox into the ox-shed, that is, into the ox-shed.

Saint Mark, enduring torment, thanked the Lord, saying:

I thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, that You have made me worthy to endure this suffering for Your name.

The saint was dragged along the ground, strewn with sharp stones, so that his body, tormented by the stones, was covered with wounds, and the blood flowing abundantly from them stained the entire path. The wicked pagans, tormented in this way, threw him into prison, and, when evening came, they gathered for advice on what kind of death to put him to death. At midnight, an Angel of the Lord appeared to the Apostle-Martyr and strengthened him for the feat of martyrdom with the notification of his impending bliss in heaven; then the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to him, comforting him with His appearance. The next morning, a frantic crowd of pagans took the Apostle out of prison and dragged him through the streets of the city. The saint could not bear such torment and soon died, thanking God, praying to Him and saying:

Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit!

The insatiable anger of the pagans was not satisfied with the death of the Apostle: they decided to burn his body. The fire had already been lit, when suddenly sudden darkness, terrible thunder, an earthquake, rain and hail scattered the crowd of wicked people, and the rain extinguished the fire. Pious Christians, reverently taking the body of the saint, buried him in a stone coffin at the place of their prayer meetings.

A church was built over the relics of St. Mark in 310, and they remained in Alexandria until the 9th century. In the first half of this century, when the rule of the Mohammedan Arabs and the Monophysite heresy completely weakened Orthodoxy in Egypt, the relics of the holy Evangelist were transferred to Venice, near which (in Aquileia) he labored for some time in preaching the Gospel: there they rest to this day in a magnificent temple dedicated to his name. A very ancient manuscript of the Gospel of Mark is kept here, written on thin Egyptian papyrus, according to legend, by the hand of the Evangelist himself.

Troparion of the Apostle Mark

Holy Apostle and Evangelist Marco,/ pray to the Merciful God,/ that forgiveness of sins// will grant to our souls.

Kontakion of the Apostle Mark

From on high we receive the grace of the Spirit, / you destroyed the rhetorical weaving, O apostle, / and, having caught all the tongues, O all-glorious Marco, / you brought it to your Master, / preaching the Divine Gospel.

Troparion of the Apostle and Evangelist Mark

Having learned from the supreme Peter, / you were an apostle of Christ / and you shone like the sun to countries, / you became the blessing of Alexandrios, blessed: / through you Egypt was freed from delusion, / enlightening everything with your gospel teaching, / like a light, a pillar of the church. / Of this For your sake, we honor your memory, we celebrate with light, / Marco Bogoglas, / pray to the good God with you, / that forgiveness of sins will be granted to our souls.

Celebration in honor Saint Mark the Evangelist celebrated in the Orthodox Church on May 8 according to the new style.

Life of the Apostle Mark
It is known about the Evangelist Mark that he was from Jerusalem and was the nephew of the Apostle Barnabas, who was an apostle from the age of seventy. His name was originally John, then John-Mark. It is known that the mother of the Apostle Mark Mary was a Christian, and followers of the Savior often gathered in their house, which adjoined the Garden of Gethsemane. In his Gospel, Mark talks about a certain young man who followed Christ on the night before the crucifixion (Mark 14:51-52). In him, Church Tradition sees the evangelist himself. After the Resurrection of Christ, Mark began his apostolic preaching and later founded the Church in Egypt, becoming the first Bishop of Alexandria. The Apostle Mark traveled widely preaching Christianity, visiting Libya, some areas of Africa and Rome. He is considered a companion of the holy supreme apostles Peter and Paul, as well as the holy apostle Barnabas. In Alexandria, the preaching and ministry of Saint Mark aroused discontent among the pagan population, which demanded that the bishop be imprisoned and tried, but at night Christ appeared to the bishop, encouraging him. When the apostle was taken to the place of trial in the morning, he died on the way. When the holy evangelist was dying, a prayer to God sounded from his lips: “Into Your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.”

Gospel of Mark
Although the authorship of the second Gospel is not indicated in the book itself, Church Tradition considers him to be the writer of the Apostle Mark. The exact time and place of writing are unknown, but it can be assumed that this Gospel was written between the years 60 and 70 in Rome. It is also possible that Mark wrote his Gospel from the words of the Apostle Peter, since he was his disciple. He wrote his Gospel addressing pagan Christians, since the narrative provides explanations of Jewish customs, the geography of Palestine, and also rarely contains references to the Old Testament writings, unlike other Gospels. The language in which the second Gospel was originally written is Greek, but the text also contains Latinisms that are not found in other gospel narratives. In modern biblical studies, there is an opinion that the Gospel of Mark was written first and served as the source for the evangelists Matthew and Luke to write their Gospels.
The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels, containing only sixteen chapters. The story of the life and preaching of Christ in Mark's narrative largely coincides with the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, but the evangelist cites several parables and episodes that are found only in his book. Thus, the Apostle Mark talks about the healing of a deaf man who was tongue-tied (7:31-37), as well as a blind man in Bethsaida (8:22 - 26) and two parables about sowing and shoots (4:26) and about waiting for the owner of the house (13:34 ).

Theft of the relics of the Apostle Mark
The Apostle Mark was buried in Alexandria, where he was a bishop, and his relics were there until the 9th century. However, in 828 the relics were transported to Venice. They say that Italian merchants, having heard about the persecution that began in Alexandria by the Muslim government, decided to save the relics of St. Mark from desecration. According to legend, they hid them in a large basket, covering them with pig carcasses on top. When the Muslims, checking the goods in the ship, saw pork, they were afraid of being defiled and did not want to touch the basket. Thus, the relics of the holy apostle were transported to Europe. In the hometown of the merchants, Venice, a large cathedral was built in which a shrine was placed, and the Apostle Mark began to be considered the patron saint of the city. In addition, Saint Mark is the patron saint of Egyptian Christians.

Iconographic images of the Apostle Mark
There are various iconographic images of the Evangelist Mark. Most often he is depicted sitting at a table and writing his Gospel. Shoulder images are also common, in which the saint holds a scroll or book in his hands.
Sometimes on icons behind the back of the Apostle Mark a lion is depicted as a royal animal, because in his Gospel he emphasizes the power and royal dignity of Christ.

Troparion, tone 3:
Having learned from the supreme Peter, / you were an apostle of Christ / and you shone like the sun to countries, / you became the blessing of Alexandrios, blessed: / through you Egypt was freed from delusion, / enlightening everything with your gospel teaching, / like a light, a pillar of the church. / Of this For your sake, we honor your memory, we celebrate with light, / Marco Bogoglas, / pray to the good God with you, / that forgiveness of sins will be granted to our souls.

Kontakion, voice 2:
From on high we receive the grace of the Spirit, / you destroyed the rhetorical weaving, O apostle, / and, having caught all the tongues, O all-glorious Marco, / you brought it to your Master, / preaching the Divine Gospel.

Magnification:
We magnify you, / Apostle of Christ Marko / and honor your illnesses and labors, / in the image of whom you worked / in the gospel of Christ.

Prayer:
Oh, glorious Apostle Marco, who gave up his soul for Christ and fertilized His pasture with your blood! Hear your children's prayers and sighs, now offered with a broken heart. Because we are darkened by lawlessness, and for this reason we are covered with troubles, like clouds, but with the oil of a good life we ​​are greatly impoverished, and we are not able to resist the predatory wolf who is boldly trying to plunder the heritage of God. O strong one! Bear our infirmities, do not separate from us in spirit, so that we may not be separated in the end from the love of God, but protect us with your strong intercession, may the Lord have mercy on all of us for your prayers for the sake of, may He destroy the handwriting of our immeasurable sins, and may He be honored with all the Saints of the blessed The kingdom and marriage of His Lamb, to Him be honor and glory, and thanksgiving and worship, forever and ever. Amen.

Apostle and Evangelist Mark (†68)

The Apostle and Evangelist Mark came from a priestly family, from the tribe of Levi, and was the nephew of the Apostle Barnabas. He was originally named John. Later he was nicknamed Mark ( Greek Markos, from lat. Marcus - "hammer") before departure to a foreign country, according to the custom of that time.

It is known that at first he was a disciple of John the Baptist. Later he became a disciple of the Apostle Peter. An ancient tradition has been preserved that Mark was the young man mentioned in the Gospel, who on the night of the Savior’s betrayal to death in the city of Gethsemane followed Christ, wrapping a veil over his naked body. Being captured by the soldiers, he left the veil in their hands and fled naked from them (Mark 14:51-52).

The mother of the Evangelist Mark, Mary, had her own house in Jerusalem, in which the Apostle Peter found refuge after his miraculous rescue from prison by an Angel. After the Lord’s ascension to heaven, during the persecution of Christians, this house served as a place of prayer meetings and a place of refuge for some of the Apostles, with whom Mark had the opportunity to constantly communicate. Mark was especially close to the Apostle Peter, and he even calls him his son. And soon, through the Apostle Barnabas, Mark met another apostle, Paul, who arrived in Jerusalem after his miraculous conversion to Christ.

Saint Mark becomes the closest companion of the apostles Peter, Paul and Barnabas. Together with the apostles Paul and Barnabas, Saint Mark was in Seleucia, from there he went to the island of Cyprus and walked all over it from east to west. In the city of Paphos, Saint Mark witnessed how the Apostle Paul struck the sorcerer Elimas with blindness.

After labors with the Apostle Paul, Saint Mark returned to Jerusalem to his mother’s house and went to Rome together with the Apostle Peter. The Apostle Peter, with his preaching and miracles, with the assistance of St. Mark, further spread and established the Church of Christ in Rome, converting many people to Christ, both Jews and pagans. This was the time of the first terrible persecution of the Church of Christ. Emperor Nero, who accused Christians of setting Rome on fire, ordered them to be crucified on crosses and doused with tar and set on fire so that they would burn like torches.

In these dire circumstances, when the full might of the Roman Empire fell upon a small community and Christians were in such great need of support, the word of the Gospel sounded.

The Roman Christians were not content with just the oral preaching of the Apostles about Jesus Christ, but wished to have a written monument of the teachings orally taught to them. Mark fulfilled their good desire and wrote his Gospel.

The Gospel of Mark in ancient times was unanimously recognized as authentic and was considered a reproduction of what he heard from the Apostle Peter as his teacher. In the words of Blessed Jerome, “in the compilation of this Gospel, Peter spoke, Mark wrote.” Since St. Mark wrote the gospel for pagans - Roman Christians, then it lacks what would be especially interesting for Jews: references to the Old Testament, genealogies, indications of the meaning of the Mosaic Law, etc. But there are many explanations necessary for pagans who are not familiar with Jewish traditions (for example, a remark about the custom of Jews to wash their hands before eating - VII, 8 and 4). St. Mark gives in his Gospel a strong, vivid impression of the miracles of Christ, thereby emphasizing the royal greatness of the Lord. His Jesus Christ is not the “son of David”, as in Matthew, but the Son of God, Lord and Commander, King of the universe.

That is why in iconography the symbol of St. The brand is a lion - a royal animal, a symbol of power and strength. The winged, many-eyed lion soaring over the Universe, proclaiming the Glory of the Lord, is borrowed from the Revelation of St. John the Theologian, who had a vision of four animals guarding the four corners of the Throne of the Lord and the four limits of paradise. Later, these animals were interpreted as symbols of the four evangelists: Matthew began to be symbolized by an angel, Mark by a lion, Luke by a calf, and John by an eagle. Each of them is winged and holds the Gospel.

After his labors in Rome, Saint Mark, at the command of the Apostle Peter, went to preach the Gospel in Egypt, where there had been a lot of Jews since the time of Alexander the Great. They inhabited entire cities here, had their own synagogues, their own Sanhedrin, even a temple like the Temple of Jerusalem, as well as priests and Levites according to the Law of Moses. Saint Mark's preaching was a great success. Coptic tradition says that the first Egyptian whom Mark converted to Christianity was a certain Anianus.

According to legend, Mark once walked to a small Egyptian town along a rocky path. Suddenly, the strap of his shoe broke. Mark asked the shoemaker to fix it. The shoemaker began to repair, unexpectedly injured his hand and exclaimed: “There is only one God!” Mark responded to his exclamation and miraculously healed the shoemaker’s hand. He then read the Bible to him and his entire family. It turned out that Anianus did not know the books of the prophets of the Old Testament and he knew only the works of Greek philosophers. Then Anianus believed and was baptized. After some time, Mark, sensing the beginning of persecution and persecution of Christians, appointed Anianus as bishop of a small community. In Alexandria itself, the main city of Egypt, Saint Mark founded a church and was its first bishop.

The Apostle Mark left Alexandria for a short time to travel together with the Apostle Paul to Antioch and with the Apostle Barnabas to Cyprus. Then he returned to Egypt again, where, together with the Apostle Peter, he founded many churches, including in Babylon. Quite often, the Apostle Mark went to other countries to preach the Gospel teaching; just before the death of the Apostle Paul, he visited him in Rome, where he was imprisoned. Here in Rome, Saint Mark witnessed the martyrdom of both apostles for Christ, who at the same time suffered for Christ in Rome; Paul, as having the right of a Roman citizen, was beheaded by the sword, and Peter was crucified on the cross.

After the death of his great teachers, Mark returns to Alexandria. The capital of Egypt was the center of Greek learning. There was a famous book depository here, pagan science flourished here; People from different regions flocked here. Here the Apostle Mark laid the foundation of a Christian school for the establishment of the Christian faith, later this school became the center of Christian education, such famous fathers and teachers of the Church as Clement of Alexandria, St. Dionysius, St. Gregory the Wonderworker and others came from here. Zealous for the organization of church services, the holy Apostle Mark compiled the order of the Liturgy for the Alexandrian Christians.

In the worship of Egyptian Christians (Copts), some prayers attributed to the Evangelist Mark have been preserved to this day. Currently, the Patriarchs of Alexandria, who rightly honor Saint Mark as the founder and patron of their church and the first Patriarch of Alexandria, in their epistles teach a blessing with the words: “may there be the blessing of the Lord Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint Mark the Evangelist,” and on their seal they have an image of a winged lion holding the Gospel.

Preaching the Gospel, the Apostle Mark traveled to Libya, Nectopolis, Marmorica, Cyrenaica and other areas of Africa. Under the influence of the preaching of the Evangelist Mark and under the influence of the high purity and holiness of himself, the Egyptian Christians reached such a height of perfection that their lives were the subject of great surprise and praise on the part of even the pagans and unbelieving Jews.

During these travels, Saint Mark received a command from the Holy Spirit to go to Alexandria again to preach and oppose the pagans. Mark, the first bishop of the Alexandrian Church, was also its first martyr. He suffered on the feast of Holy Easter, which happened at the same time as the pagan festival in honor of Serapis. When the apostle was performing the sacred act, the pagans, embittered by the success of his preaching, burst into the church, grabbed him, tied the apostle with ropes and dragged him through the streets and outskirts of the city, and then, tortured, threw him into prison. At midnight, an angel of the Lord appeared to the holy sufferer and strengthened him for the feat of martyrdom with the joyful news of impending bliss in heaven, and then the Lord himself consoled him with His appearance. The next morning, a frantic crowd furiously pulled the apostle out of prison and again mercilessly dragged him through the streets of the city, from which Mark soon died with the words: "Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit". It was April 25, 1968. The anger of the pagans was not satisfied with the death of the apostle - they decided to burn his body. The fire had already been lit, when sudden darkness, terrible thunder, an earthquake, rain and hail scattered the crowd of pagans who had fallen into confusion. Christians honorably buried the body of the apostle.

In 310, a church was built over the relics of St. Mark the Apostle. In 828, when the power of the Mohammedan Arabs was established in Egypt and the Christian Church was being pressed by non-believers, the relics of the saint were transported to Venice. The Venetian merchants Buono and Rustico, arriving in Alexandria, learned that Muslims had begun to destroy Christian churches to build mosques. Since legend connects the preaching of Christianity in the cities of the Venetian lagoon with the Apostle Mark, the merchants decided to save the relics of the saint from desecration and bring them to their city. To transfer the relic to the ship, the traders resorted to a trick: the body of the evangelist was placed in a large basket and covered with pork carcasses, which the Saracens could not touch even during customs inspection. For greater reliability, the basket was hidden in the folds of the sail of one of the ships.

A basilica was built especially for the relics of the Apostle Mark. St. Mark's Cathedral ( Italian Basilica di San Marco) - is today the cathedral of Venice (until 1807, the court chapel at the Doge's Palace) and is a rare example of Byzantine architecture in Western Europe.

In 1987, the cathedral was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A very ancient manuscript of the Gospel of Mark is kept here, written on thin Egyptian papyrus, according to legend, by the hand of the Evangelist himself.

After the relics were transferred to the city, the Apostle Mark replaced Saint Theodore as the heavenly patron of Venice, and the symbol of the city became the winged lion, images of which can be found everywhere in Venice. It was he who served as the prototype for the Golden Lion, the main prize of the Venice Film Festival, established in 1949.

Troparion, tone 3:
Having learned from the Supreme Peter, you were an Apostle of Christ, and you shone like the sun to the countries, having become more blessed with Alexandria's fertilization: by you Egypt was freed from delusion, enlightened by your gospel teaching all like the light of the church. For this reason, we celebrate your memory with great reverence, Marco theologian: pray to the good God that He may grant remission of sins to our souls.

Kontakion, voice 2:
From on high we receive the grace of the Spirit, you destroyed the rhetorical weaving of the Apostle, and having caught all the tongues of Marco, the all-glorious, you brought it to your Master, preaching the divine Gospel.