Feast of Saint Mark – April 25


On April 25, the Catholic Church remembers Mark, who wrote the second of the Gospels in the New Testament. According to tradition, he brought Christianity to Egypt.

Mark is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as one of the first members of the Church of Jerusalem (see Acts 12:12) and thereafter he joined Paul and Barnabas on their first journey to preach the faith (13:5). He is also mentioned in the Epistles of Paul (Philemon 24, Colossians 4:10). Tradition explains that Mark was a disciple of Peter and learnt from him about Jesus.

His importance in the Church is related to the Gospel that he wrote. Today, most commentators on the Bible believe that the Gospel of Mark is the oldest of the Gospels and that Mark is the first writer to call his work a "Gospel" and thus he invented a new literary genre called the Gospel. His name is not mentioned in the book he wrote but tradition identifies him with the young man who fled naked when they came to arrest Jesus (Mark 14:51). Another tradition identifies him with the man carrying a water jar who leads the disciples to the room where Jesus celebrated the Last Supper (Mark 14:13).

According to tradition, Mark died a martyr's death as head of the Church in Alexandria, Egypt.

In the Old City of Jerusalem, the church of Saint Mark is the seat of the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop and the place is identified as the home of Saint Mark and his mother as mentioned in Acts 12.

In 1968, Pope Paul VI returned the relics of Saint Mark to Pope Cyril VI of the Coptic Church of Egypt, an event that coincided with the dedication of the grand Cathedral of Saint Mark in Cairo.

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