As you know, the Holy Gospel consists of four books, the authors of which are the holy evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The history of the church knows other works that claim to possess the Gospel truth, but only these are recognized by the church and are considered canonical. Others are called apocrypha and are not recognized. The author of the second of the canonical books is the holy apostle Mark - one of the seventy apostles. Our story is about him.
Who are the apostles
First of all, it is necessary to give some explanations about who the apostles are, and why in some cases their number is twelve, and in others - seventy. We know from the New Testament that Jesus Christ called twelve men to serve Him. These were the simplest people, not educated and earning their bread with hard work. Together with them, he announced the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God and cast out demons. The word "gospel" is translated from Greek as "good news". This is the main task of these twelve people - the associates of Christ - and it was to bring this good news to people. It was they who became known as the twelve apostles. All of them are listed by name in the Gospel.
Seventy closest associates of Christ
But the number of those to whom the gift of apostolic ministry was bestowed by the grace of God was not limited to twelve. The holy evangelist Luke tells that Jesus Christ, in addition to the twelve apostles mentioned above, also called his other seventy faithful servants. He sent them two by two to those cities and villages to which He intended to come. The Savior endowed them with many miraculous abilities. By doing good deeds with their help, it was easier for the apostles to instill faith in the hearts of ordinary people, who were more inclined to perceive miracles than the words of a preacher.
The evangelist Mark belongs to the number of these seventy apostles - the heralds of the Kingdom of God. Their list, which can be seen in the Orthodox Monthly Book, was compiled in the 5th-6th centuries, that is, five hundred years after the events described, and some researchers tend to admit inaccuracies that have crept into it. However, there are names among them that are not in doubt. This is primarily the evangelists Luke and Mark.
Young follower of Jesus
The Apostle Mark, also called John, was born and spent his youth in Jerusalem. Very little is known about this period of his earthly life. It can only be said with certainty that the future evangelist was the nephew of another faithful follower of Christian teaching - the holy apostle Barnabas, one of the seventy preachers of divine truth. From the book "Acts of the Apostles" it is known that after the Ascension of the Lord in his mother's house constantlythe apostles and their followers gathered for joint prayers.
Suffice it to recall the episode when the holy Apostle Peter, released from Herod's prison, goes to the house of Mark's mother. He finds a meeting of his associates there. Even a maid named Rhoda, recognizing the closest associate and disciple of Christ in the night guest knocking on the gate, could not restrain her joy and rushed into the house to inform those present about his miraculous deliverance.
In his Gospel, written by him in 62 in Rome, the apostle Mark mentions himself only anonymously in one of the episodes of the story. It is generally believed that he was the young man who, wrapped in a cloak, followed Jesus on the night of his arrest, and fled from the soldiers who tried to seize him. It was he who, breaking away from them and leaving his clothes in their hands, disappeared naked into the darkness of the night. He apparently found salvation in his mother's house, which we know adjoined the Garden of Gethsemane.
Gospel preaching in Crete
It is known that the apostle and evangelist Mark carried his ministry side by side with the apostles Peter, Paul and Barnabas. With Paul and Barnabas, he traveled to Crete, visiting Seleucia along the way. Preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, they went from east to west throughout this island, converting many of its inhabitants to the true faith. Filled with the Grace of God, the holy evangelists worked miracles. So, for example, the "Acts of the Apostles" tells that the apostle Paul, by the power bestowed on him from above, sent blindness on the false prophet and sorcerer Variesus, who preventedconversion of Proconsul Sergius Paul to the new faith.
Journey to the banks of the Nile
When the Apostle Mark returned to Jerusalem at the end of his labors in Crete, a new journey was soon awaiting him. Together with his closest mentor - Chief Apostle Peter - he went to Rome. In the "eternal city" the teacher gave him the command to go further, to Egypt, which at that time was immersed in the darkness of paganism. Fulfilling the will of Peter, the apostle and evangelist Mark directed his path to the banks of the Nile. Here he became the founder of a new church, which was destined to play an important role in the history of Christianity. It was among the sultry deserts that the future monasticism was born and developed. Here, in extremely difficult conditions for survival, a school of asceticism was created in practice.
In his travels, the Apostle Mark will return to Egypt more than once. This will happen soon after, having met with the Apostle Paul in Antioch, he, together with his own uncle, the Apostle Barnabas, will visit Cyprus. During this second trip to the banks of the Nile, Mark, together with the Apostle Peter, will continue the work he started and become the founder of Christian communities in many cities of the country.
Founding of the Babylonian Church and journey to Rome
He has the honor of becoming one of the founders of the Holy Christian Church in ancient Babylon, so often mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. The Apostle Peter, who traveled with him, sent a letter from Babylon to the brothers in Asia Minor in Christ. Its text is included in the Epistles of the Apostles. It can be seen from whatwith love, Peter speaks of him as his spiritual son.
When the news came from Rome that the Apostle Paul had been imprisoned and his life was in danger, the future evangelist was in Ephesus, where the local church was headed by one of the brightest followers of Christian teaching, St. Timothy. This happened in 64, during the reign of Emperor Nero. The apostle Mark immediately hurried to Rome, but could do nothing to help Paul.
Establishment of a Christian school in Alexandria
Seeing the futility of his further stay there, he once again went to Egypt and founded a theological school in Alexandria, which brought up such pillars of Christianity as Clement of Alexandria, St. Dionysius, Gregory the Wonderworker and a number of other church fathers. Here he created one of the outstanding liturgical works - the rite of the Liturgy for the Christians of Alexandria.
From the capital of ancient Egypt, the apostle is sent to the depths of the African continent. He preaches the gospel to the inhabitants of Libya and Nektopolis. During these wanderings in Alexandria, which he had recently abandoned, there were unrest caused by the activation of paganism in its struggle with Christianity, and, at the command of the Holy Spirit, Mark returns back.
The end of the earthly life of the Apostle Mark
On his return to Alexandria, he performs a miraculous healing of a local shoemaker, in whose house he settled. This becomes known to the inhabitants of the city and attracts new adherents to Christianity, and also excites rage in the pagans. They acceptdecision to kill the Apostle Mark. The wicked attacked him during the Divine service, and the beaten man was thrown into prison. When the next day a maddened topa dragged him through the streets of the city, the holy apostle died, betraying his soul into the hands of God.
Having committed their atrocity, the perpetrators of his death tried to burn the body of the righteous man, but at the same time the daylight suddenly faded, and a terrible earthquake befell the city under thunder. The pagans fled in horror, and the Christians of the city buried their teacher in a stone tomb. The memory of this event is celebrated by the church on April 25. On this day, according to tradition, the lines of the Gospel and the Akathist to the Apostle Mark are read.
Honoring Saint Mark the Evangelist
Completed his earthly journey in 63, for his merits he became one of the most revered saints in the Christian world. The magnification of the Apostle Mark takes place four times a year. In addition to the already mentioned date of April 25, these are September 27 and October 30. Also here it is necessary to include the day when all seventy apostles of Christ are commemorated - January 4th. On the days of memory in the temples, a prayer is read to the Apostle Mark. In it, believers ask the holy evangelist to beg the Lord to send them forgiveness of all sins that weigh down the soul and burden the conscience.
The Apostle Mark is the patron of the family
In the Orthodox tradition, the Apostle Mark is the patron of the family hearth. Therefore, it is customary in cases of any strife and troubles in the family to prayerfully turn to him, asking for his help and intercession. It should be noted that such requests are appropriate for all fourevangelists. Through prayers in front of their honest images, each of them will give help to people whose families have experienced cooling of feelings, and whose marital relations are on the verge of breaking.
It should be noted that the veneration of Christian saints has as its starting point precisely the cult of the apostles. This is no coincidence. The Savior himself prayed to God the Father for them at the Last Supper. Among them is the apostle Mark. An icon with his image (or a fresco), along with the icons of the other evangelists, is an indispensable attribute of an Orthodox church.
Each of the four evangelists corresponds to its symbolic image, taken from the images of the Revelation of John the Theologian. Matthew is depicted as an angel, Luke as a calf, John as an eagle, and Mark as a lion. The lion symbolizes energy, strength and fearlessness in the struggle for the ideals of Christianity.
Akathist to the Apostle Mark, like all akathists, includes, in addition to ikos, which are a laudatory offering of the saint, also kontakia. They contain a description of the life and merits of the one to whom it is dedicated in an appropriate literary and poetic form. This is undoubtedly a good tradition, since even people who are not disposed to reading the lives of the saints, but who find themselves on the day of reading the akathist in the church, examples of high service to God are revealed. One such example for almost two millennia has been the life of the holy apostle and evangelist Mark.
