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ST MARK the EVANGELIST
(April 25th) is also named as “John Mark” in the New Testament. Although not
one of the original Twelve Disciples, he is mentioned quite personally many
times in several books. Acts 12:12 records that his mother owned the house where
the earliest Christian community gathered. When Paul and Barnabas visited
Jerusalem, they took Mark back to Antioch with them. After the three made a
missionary trip to Cyprus, Mark turned back and returned to Jerusalem for
reasons that did not satisfy Paul. Barnabas wanted to take Mark with them on
their next journey, but Paul refused to have him. Later, this breach was healed
and Mark became one of Paul’s and Peter’s closet companions in Rome, where he
served as Peter’s “interpreter.”
Records from the 100’s say
that Mark took notes recording Peter’s memories of Jesus’ teachings and deeds.
Modern scholarship accepts this as likely. From those notes Mark produced the
first Gospel to be written—probably in Rome, but possibly in Alexandria, where
early tradition claims that Mark was the first to bring the faith to Egypt.
Establishing several churches in Alexandria, Mark is claimed as their first
Bishop. Mark was martyred under the Emperor Nero ca. 74. In the early 800’s his
body was removed to Venice to save it from desecration by hostile Arabs.
Venice’s original church of St. Mark no longer exists, but the relics remain
enshrined underneath the magnificent St. Mark’s Cathedral that stands today. |
