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St. Apostle and Evangelist Mark The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark from the 70 Apostles is distinguished from Mark, also called John in Scripture. The latter was a Jew, from the tribe of Levi, from a priestly tribe, his mother Mary lived in Jerusalem; she was visited by Ap. Peter (Acts 12:12). Mark John was the nephew of St. Barnabas (Col. 4:10), and through him Ap. became known. Paul and was his and Barnabas’s companion on their first Apostolic journey (Acts 12:25,13:5,13). When Barnabas is separated from Ap. Paul traveled to preach the Gospel, Mark John accompanied Barnabas (Acts 15:37–39). Subsequently, Mark became useful to Paul in his service (2 Tim. 4:11) and became his assistant (Phil. 1:23). The evangelist Mark was a Greek from Cyrene, a city in Pentapolis in Libya. Mark owes his turn to Jesus Christ to Apostle. Peter, who calls him his son (1 Pet. 5:13), of course in the sense that Ap. Peter gave birth to him through his gospel into a life of grace. Mark was Ap's companion. Peter and the narrator of his legends. The Gospel was preached by St. Mark on the shores of the Adriatic and in Egypt. Having been in Rome with the Apostle Peter as his companion, Mark, at the pious desire of the Roman pagan Christians, who wanted to have a written monument of the oral teaching of the Apostle Peter about Jesus Christ, wrote 10 years after the Ascension of the Lord in Greek the Holy Gospel, “which Peter praised and betrayed to the Church.” In his Gospel he primarily describes the actions of the Savior, especially the miraculous ones, which had a greater influence on the minds of the pagans than his teaching. A very ancient manuscript of this Gospel is still kept in Venice. Sent from Rome by the Apostle Peter, St. Mark, taking the Gospel he copied, around 49 A.D. moved to preach the faith of Christ in Alexandria, and in his place he left in Rome his disciple Hermogoras, who was ordained bishop of ancient Aquileia. Mark extended his saving sermon to the western regions of Africa: Libya, Marmarica, Cyrenaica or Pentapolis. The Church of Alexandria accepted from Mark the order of the liturgy he composed, which was preserved in his Church for a long time, and to this day some prayers attributed to Mark are preserved in the Divine Services of Egyptian Christians - Copts. Mark was the first bishop and martyr of the Alexandrian Church. The pagans of Alexandria, in the 14th year of the reign of Nero, or about 68 A.D., betrayed Saint Mark to martyrdom during their festival in Alexandria in honor of Serapis. Subsequently, in 828, the relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist were transferred from Alexandria to Venice, where they still rest. However, the Church of Alexandria honors St. Mark as his enlightener and patron. The Patriarch of Alexandria has still preserved in his seal the image of a winged lion holding the Gospel, adopted from the image of St. Mark the Evangelist, and in his epistles he gives the blessing: “May there be the blessing of the Lord Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos and St. Mark the Evangelist. The church calls St. Mark in his Divine Service, by the way, was the enlightener of Alexandria, in which “he destroyed the rhetorical weaving.” † Venerable Sylvester of Obnor According to the handwritten calendar, “Rev. Sylvester, abbot of the Resurrection Monastery, also on Obnor River, was a disciple of St. Sergius the Wonderworker.” Having received spiritual education under the guidance of the great Sergius, Sylvester, out of jealousy for the silent life, set out to look for a deserted place according to his spirit. He stopped in a dense forest on the banks of the Obnora River, set up a cross and a cell here, and began to struggle in prayer and fasting. For a long time the hermit remained unknown to people, performing feats of self-denial. One day one of the inhabitants of that region lost his way and unexpectedly saw the cell of a hermit. The hermit, dressed in rags, came out to the astonished man. The hermit was unpleasantly surprised by the appearance of a man in a deserted place, where he had never seen anyone before and did not want to see anyone. The traveler told the monk about himself, who he was and how he got here; He also said that over the place where the monk lived, he often saw either luminous rays or a pillar of cloud. In response, the monk expressed grief that his secret place had become known. At the request of the traveler, he told him his name and said that he had been living in the desert for quite some time, eating herbs and roots, and begged him not to tell anyone about his whereabouts. To the stranger’s question, how could he live without bread and in such a wilderness? The monk answered that at first he was often exhausted from hunger and fell to the ground from exhaustion, but a wonderful man appeared to him, who, touching him with his hand, strengthened him, and since then he has been comfortably in the desert. After that, the stranger deliberately visited the hermit and brought him bread and flour. In accordance with this legend about the desert life of St. Sylvester, an ancient troparion embroidered on the cover of the wonderworker Sylvester in 1664, says: “having loved Christ from a young age, you approached Him by faith and exhausted your long-suffering body, blessed one!” It was enough for one person to see the holy ascetic for many to know about him. The surrounding residents began to come to him for spiritual advice, and some decided to live with him. The monk did not interfere with the good desire, and imitators of the saint set up cells for themselves. When the number of those wishing to labor under the leadership of Sylvester became significant, the monk saw the need for a church. He went to Saint Alexy to ask for his blessing to create a desert church. The saint issued an antimension and entrusted Sylvester himself with the abbess over the assembled brethren. The church was built and consecrated in honor of the Resurrection of the Savior, and a monastery was established. This was the first monastery on Obnor. Rev. Sergius and Paul came to these places long after St. Sylvester and founded their monasteries, one 30, the other 20 versts from the Resurrection Monastery. Since the establishment of the monastery, visits to those who sought from St. advice has multiplied. Princes and boyars came to him for spiritual consolations, and the common people were even more zealous for the saint. This greatly saddened him and he retired to a remote place in the dense forest for silent exploits. This place still retains the name of the Reserved Grove, since the monk strictly commanded not to cut down this forest. In the middle of this grove, the worker of God dug three wells, and the fourth on the mountainside towards the Obnora River. The latter still exudes streams of pure water, drawn with reverence by the pilgrims. Since the people longed to see and listen to St. the elder, then from time to time he would come out of his solitude to a certain place to talk with the people. This place has long been marked by a chapel, to which there is a procession of the cross every year on the day of remembrance of the saint. Feeling the proximity of his death, the monk gathered the brethren and taught them his last instruction. On the scroll of his ancient icon the following words are written in script: “Listen, O my beloved brothers, fear God and have the fear of Him in your hearts, keep the commandments of the Lord, do not leave the holy churches, honestly observe the holy and all consecrated and monastic rites; in this present world, my brothers, endure a little and you will be partakers of the Kingdom of God and receive crowns.” According to the inscription on the cover of 1664, Rev. Sylvester “passed away in the summer of 6887 (1379). Apr. in the 25th day under the Right Reverend Metropolitan Cyprian - and his venerable relics were placed in the monastery created by him.” Already in the sewn inscription on the air in 1599, Rev. Sylvester is called a miracle worker. On the cover embroidered with silk and gold there is the following inscription: “In 1664, the black elder Sylvester gave a cover to the house of Sylvester the Wonderworker on the Obnora River for himself and his parents.” In the middle of the cover is an embroidered icon of St. Sylvester, and on the sides are the troparion and kontakion of St. Sylvester. The description of the miracles that has come down to us by St. depicts miracles since 1645. Let us note two of them. In the monastery of the Resurrection of Christ and St. Sylvester was built by Hieromonk Job. He gathered the peasants and ordered the miracle-working grove behind the monastery to be cut down for firewood. – The peasants began to cut down the forest, and Job, who angered the reverend. Sylvester by unauthorized order, suddenly became blind and did not see anything for four weeks. He began to repent and asked Rev. Sylvester to grant him forgiveness of sin and insight into his eyes, promising to serve a prayer service to the monk and not to do anything of his own free will, but according to the advice of the brethren. After the prayer service, when he kissed St. icons and kissed the miracle-working shrine, God, through the prayers of the monk, granted him sight again. This happened in 1645." The buffoon farmer Prokhor Druzhina has gone crazy; he was tied with chains, but he gnawed the chain with his teeth, tore his hair and face, and hung old bast shoes on his collar and belt. The neighbors took him to the monastery of the monk and, when the prayer service had been sung, they with difficulty led him to venerate the miracle worker’s shrine, after which he became completely healthy. It was August 3, 1646. Since the middle of 1860, healings from the saint’s tomb flowed in an abundant stream and continue to flow to this day 306. Miracles Rev. Sylvester and his life are described by Mr. Smirnov in Dushep. Thurs. 1861 III, 229–269. According to the census of 1662, there are 42 courtyards behind the Resurrection Monastery.