Житие и страдание святого Апостола и Евангелиста Марка

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 2747 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 2748, 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 2749, there is mention of a certain young man who, while all the Lord’s disciples left Him, alone followed the Divine Prisoner, wrapped in linen over his naked body, but, being captured by soldiers, he left the linen in their hands and fled naked from them (Mark 14:51–52). The attire of the young man 2750 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 town belonged. Even in ancient times, there was a legend that the said young man was Mark himself and that the Gethsemane city 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 2751, 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 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 chosen like you in Babylon, and Mark my son, greets you” (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 (see: Acts 9), first arrived in Jerusalem in 2752. 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. Around 44 or 45 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 the Christian 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 2753. Together with Paul and Barnabas, Mark was in the seaside city of Seleucia 2754, 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 Bariusus, 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 (see: Acts 13: 6–12). But, having arrived in the city of Perga 2755, 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 among the eyewitnesses of the extraordinary change that took place in the Apostles after the descent of St. Spirit, and the listeners of the first sermon of the Apostle Peter about Christ the Savior 2756 were Jews and proselytes who came from Rome, that is, pagans converted to Judaism (see: 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 said to 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 2757, 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 not to miss anything from what he 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. 2758 Therefore, the Gospel of Mark was accepted by all churches without any contradiction, as Apostolic Scripture, inspired by God 2759. After his labors in Rome, Saint Mark, by order 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 2760, 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 2761. In Egypt, a pagan country adjacent to Palestine, since the time of Alexander the Great 2762 and the Egyptian king Ptolemy Lagus 2763 there have been a lot of Jews. They inhabited entire cities here, had their own synagogues, their own Sanhedrin, even a temple 2764 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 2765, 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 church 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 to people freedom from the devil 2766, then at the very beginning of his preaching 2767 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 of 2768 is unknown. But when the Apostle Paul, before setting off on the second Apostolic Journey of 2769, was with Barnabas in Antioch, then, as the book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies, Saint Mark also met with them and from here, together with his uncle Barnabas, he went to his homeland in Cyprus (see: 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 the Apostle Peter arrived at the same time or a little later. 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 (see: 1 Peter 5:13). Saint Mark remained in Egypt until the eighth year of the reign of Nero, 2770. 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 2771, 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 (see: 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 counter the false teachers who were seducing the Colossian Christians 2772. 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, 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, calling Timothy to Rome to his aid, instructed him to bring Mark with him, as he needed for his ministry (see: 2 Tim. 4:11) 2773. 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 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 passed it on to the Christians of the Alexandrian Church. This Rite 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 the teachings of Christ. 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, being 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 preaching 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 life, filled with the holiness of Christian virtue, served as a subject of great surprise and praise from even 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 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 by force, but by 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 finding the 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 2775 tells this story 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 2776. 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 Kyrene 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 power 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 now shown mercy for me.” 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? – I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. - I would like to see this Son of God. 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 are explaining 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” 2777 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 church in Alexandria, built near the sea on a place called “Vukul” 2778. At the sight of the church, 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 faith, openly reproached the Hellenes 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 is causing 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 the 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, the 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! 2779 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, 2780, 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 church 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 2781. Having learned from the Supreme Peter, you were an Apostle of Christ, and, like the sun that shone to the countries, you became the blessing of Alexandrios, blessed: through you Egypt was freed from delusion, enlightening all with your gospel teaching, like a light, a pillar of the church. For this reason, we celebrate your memory with great reverence, Marco, God-Glass: pray to the evangelizing God that He may grant remission of sins to our souls. From on high we receive the grace of the Spirit, you destroyed the rhetorical weaving, O apostle, and, having caught all the tongues, Marco, the all-glorious, brought you to your Master, preaching the Divine Gospel. – 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 the Gospel. According to the custom of the Jews of that time. Origen, presbyter of Alexandria III century, Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus IV century. and others. Linen wrapped over a naked body. A legend has been preserved that Easter was celebrated by the Lord Jesus Christ in the house of Mark’s mother, Mary. Around 39 or 40 AD. On the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Of these, about 3,000 husbands were baptized. As Papias testifies. 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. The time of its writing falls approximately on the 46th year of the Nativity of Christ. Because the Roman emperors loved to live in it. Reigned from 334–324. BC Just as Moses once suffered from the heavy yoke of Pharaoh. As the historian Eusebius testifies. Around 60 or 51 AD. Reigned from 54 to 68. From 61 to 63 AD. Contemporary of St. Apostles. 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. Riot is madness, foolishness (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18–22). Vukul, i.e. a place for feeding oxen, from the Greek. words - bull. Saint Mark died during the reign of Nero, around 68 AD. From Mark, the Holy Gospel, according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church, except for special cases, is read at liturgies 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. You might be interested in: