Saint Mark the Evangelist

Inferences can be made from the New Testament about John Mark and he is held by the Eastern Church to be the writer, at Peters inspiration, of the oldest of the four gospels, which dated about 64 CE. He is held by the Coptic (i.e. Egyptian) Church to have been a native of Cyrenaica, the western coastal region of modern Libya, at that time part of the Roman Empire. He returned from his travels to North Africa for the first time in perhaps 58 CE and was martyred in Alexandria 68 CE. The Coptic Church recognises St Mark as its founding patriarch.

Saint Mark and the Christians in Africa

Mark was a Jew from Africa living in Jerusalem with his parents. They had lived a comfortable life in Cyrenaica, North Africa and Mark had been to a good school where he had learned to read and write and had learned to speak Latin, Greek and Hebrew. But their home and lands had been attacked by tribesmen from the desert and the family had moved to Jerusalem.

At the time Jesus came to Jerusalem Mark was a young man. Jesus had caused quite a stir and Mark remembered well the last meal that he had shared with his disciples because they had used the upstairs room of his parents' house. Mark had followed them to the orchard where Jesus had been arrested by the soldiers. Indeed he had nearly been caught himself and had run away.

After Jesus had been killed on the cross by the Romans and the priests of the Temple, the disciples had come to Mark's house several times and had been there together when God's Holy Spirit came to them. The Christians of Jerusalem carried on using the house after that, so perhaps it can be called the first Christian church. Mark spent many years travelling and teaching people about Jesus. He went with his cousin Barnabas and with Paul and eventually ended up in Rome. Here he met the leader of Jesus' disciples, Peter, and became great friends with him. Peter had been a fisherman and had never learned to read or write. He could not speak Latin or Greek anything like as well as Mark and so he used Mark as his secretary .Peter began to realise that he must write down everything he could remember about his time with Jesus. Peter himself was getting old and the time would soon be coming when there would be no-one left alive who had actually been with Jesus. So Peter and Mark together wrote the story of Jesus.

Peter was put to death as a Christian by Emperor Nero and it is probably about this time that Mark left the city to continue his travels. Mark had long wanted to go back to North Africa where he had grown up. He had travelled to many countries in the Roman world, seen many sights and met lots of people, but he had never been back to the land where he had been born.

Mark sailed first to the city of Alexandria at the mouth of the River Nile in Egypt. It was a very large city famous throughout the world for its beautiful buildings, its temples, libraries and universities. There were many Jewish people there but most of the people were worshippers of many gods. Mark knew he was going to have a hard time.

Mark left the ship and walked towards the gate of the city. He was just one person among hundreds rushing here and there -merchants taking goods to the harbour, travellers from foreign countries, people doing their shopping, farmers bringing food to market, slaves hurrying about their masters' business, and Mark with a message to preach.

As Mark came through the enormous city gates the strap on his sandal broke,. Fortunately one of the shops nearby happened to be a shoe-mender's. Mark hopped across and sat down to wait while the shoe-mender sewed the strap back on. And as he sat Mark told the shoe-mender where he had come from and why he had come. He told him of Jesus and how he had seen him, of his death and coming to life again, of the disciples taking the story and the teaching of Jesus to all the world. The shoe-mender stopped sewing the leather strap to listen. He was fascinated by Mark's story .It was such a change to hear someone talking about being kind to other people instead of being selfish and greedy. By the time Mark left the shop with his sandal fixed the shoe-mender had become a follower of Jesus.

So it wasn't just Mark who was preaching to the people of Alexandria, but the shoe-mender and then his family and very soon his friends too. The story and the teaching spread through the city so quickly that the priests of the many gods began to get worried. Mark became a wanted man.

Leaving the new Christian Church in Alexandria in safe hands, Mark left the city to return to his own country at last. Cyrenaica was many days' travel along the coast through dry and unfriendly desert. But when Mark arrived he had the same success as he had had in Alexandria. In the large cities as well as in the smaller villages Mark found people who wanted to hear what he had to say. He was pleased to see the Christian Church growing in the land where he had been born.

Some years later Mark was invited back to Alexandria to join in the Easter services and celebrations. Easter was the time when Jesus was crucified and rose again from the dead. When Mark arrived in Alexandria he realised that preparations were also taking place for the festival of one of the Egyptian gods. It was the Feast of Serapis, the bull-god of the underworld and one of the most popular gods in Alexandria.
Easter that year happened to be on the very same day as the Feast of Serapis. And as Mark stood at the altar of the Christian church in Alexandria giving thanks to God for the life of Jesus, a mob of angry Egyptians, worshippers of Serapis, broke down the doors and wrecked the building. Mark was captured, a rope was tied round his neck and he was dragged by the rioters through the streets of the city. Mark, with his body bruised and many bones broken, spent that night in the city jail.

Next day Mark was dragged through the streets and when the mob got him back to the prison it was found that he was dead. A pile of wood was heaped up in front of the prison where Mark's body was to be burned, but it began to rain. It poured so heavily that it was impossible to light the fire and the crowd went home meaning to continue the fun the next day. But that night as the rain lashed down, a group of Christians took Mark's body and buried it secret underneath the altar of the church where he had been preaching. There are still Christians in Egypt and North Africa today and they look on Saint Mark as the first leader of their Church.

Jesus said,

'You know that the rulers of the world lord it over their people and great men like to show you how important they are. You mustn't be like that. Whichever of you wants to become great must be the servant of all the others, and whichever of you wants to be the first must be everybody's slave. For even I did not come to be served; I came to serve.'
(from the Gospel According to Saint Mark 10:42-45)

A Prayer for Peace

Let us pray for the peace of God's church which reaches from one end of the earth to the other. Give us peace from heaven as well as peaceful life. Look after the rulers of the world, the armies and governments who keep the peace. Fill them with your peace, O King of Peace, and please be with us. You have given us everything, so take us for yourself. We call your name and ask You to fill our lives with your Holy Spirit so that we may not be beaten by wickedness.
(from the Liturgy of the Eucharist of the Coptic Orthodox Church)