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Saint
Mark – Britannica
The following is the Article “Saint Mark” from Encyclopedia
Britannica:
St. Mark
Christian saint
Also known as: John Mark
St. Mark (flourished 1st century CE, Jerusalem?—died,
traditionally Alexandria, Egypt; Western feast day April 25, Eastern feast day
September 23) was the traditional author of the second Synoptic Gospel. Data on
his life found in the New Testament are fragmentary, and most of their
historicity has been questioned by critical investigation. The only
unquestionably reliable information is in Philemon 24, where a certain Mark is
mentioned as one of St. Paul’s fellow workers who sends greetings from Rome to
the Christians of Colossae (near modern Denizli,
Turkey), but the identity of this person is not indicated. That Mark was St.
Barnabas’ cousin in Colossians 4:10 may also be authentic.
Except for being referred to as John in Acts 12:25, 13:5;
13, and 15:37, elsewhere in the New Testament he is consistently called by his
Latin surname Mark. According to Acts, his mother’s house in Jerusalem was a
center of Christian life (12:12), and he accompanied Barnabas and Paul to
Antioch (12:25), now Antakya, Turkey, where he became their assistant on a
mission journey (13:5). When they arrived at Perga
(near modern İhsaniye, Turkey), Mark left them
and returned to Jerusalem (13:13). Mark’s leaving caused Barnabas and Paul to
separate, for Paul declined Barnabas’ insistence on giving Mark another chance
(15:37–39). Subsequently, Mark sailed to Cyprus with Barnabas, never to be
mentioned again in Acts. The dependability of the Acts account is questionable,
for its author is particularly interested in explaining the breach between Paul
and Barnabas, probably introducing Mark for this reason. In this, he
contradicts Paul’s account of their breach in Galatians 2:11–14.
In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul requests St. Timothy to bring Mark,
“for he is very useful in serving me,” but this is believed to be falsely
deduced from Acts and Colossians. A close relationship between Mark and St.
Peter is suggested by the greetings from “my son Mark” in 1 Peter 5:13;
furthermore, the Apostolic Father Papias of Hierapolis says that Mark’s
treatise (presumably the Gospel) was based on Peter’s teaching about Jesus.
Later tradition assumes that Mark was one of the 72 disciples appointed by
Jesus (Luke 10:1) and identifies him with the young man fleeing naked at Jesus’
arrest (Mark 14:51–52).
The Egyptian church claims Mark as its founder, and, from
the 4th century CE, the see of Alexandria has been called cathedra Marci (“the
chair of Mark”). Other places attributing their origin to Mark are the Italian
cities of Aquileia and Venice, of which he is the patron saint. His symbol is
the lion.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia
Britannica
This article was most recently revised and updated by René Ostberg.