St. Mark the Evangelist

St. Mark the Evangelist icon
April 25th, 2013
4.5 x 6 inches
Ink, watercolor, gold leaf

“O blessed Mark, O voice of God, as an apostle of Christ
you were taught by the chief apostle Peter.
Like the sun you brought light to the nations, Enrichment of Alexandria.
Liberator of Egypt from pagan delusions,
as a pillar of light to the church
you enlightened all by your evangelical teachings.
Therefore we honor your memory with great festivity,
pray to God the giver of the Gospel
that He will grant the forgiveness of our sins.”
~ Troparion, Tone 1 (St. Mark)

The holy evangelists searched the wisdom of past ages. Through their gospels they confirmed the words of the prophets, alleluia! -Antiphon of the Feast of St. Mark

Happy Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist! School is almost out for the semester so I’m almost done with all of my various projects and hopefully that will mean more time for art. So here’s St. Mark, who basically is here for you today because a commission of St. Luke wasn’t going so well (I find it ironic that St. Luke, who is the patron saint of artists, was not cooperating for me) and then I realized that St. Mark’s feast day was coming up. So here he is! St. Mark is looking (and wearing) some rather Roman-looking garb because of his associations with St. Peter and the church in Rome. I also decided to employ a unique pose for the Evangelists—namely that they are presenting the Gospel in front of themselves, with it centered in the middle, with one of the four living creatures perched above their respective Gospel. The open book is illuminated and the words in gold are the first words of the Gospel of Mark.



A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE SAINT:

St. Mark the Evangelist (first century A.D.), or “John Mark” is the traditional author of the Gospel according to Mark and the founder of the church in Alexandria, which became one of the major early Christian episcopal sees. He was the son of a woman named Mary, who was an earlier follower of Jesus Christ, and the cousin of Barnabas. He had a very close relationship with St. Peter, later acting as his helper and interpreter. Acts 12:12 mentions that the early Christians gathered in his mother’s house, and some believe that the Upper Room belonged to their family as well. Mark himself was one of the seventy-two disciples sent out by Jesus and therefore had personal knowledge of Jesus. It’s also thought that the young man fleeing naked in the Garden of Gethsemane after the arrest of Jesus was Mark himself (Mark 14:51-52), since his is the only Gospel that recounts the incident.

Mark is mentioned a number of times as being the traveling companion of Saints Paul and Barnabas. He was also the source of a fight between Paul and Barnabas. Barnabas wanted to take St. Mark with them, but Paul did not, since, he argued, Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia. Barnabas and Paul eventually parted company. However, it seems that later Paul and Mark were reconciled, encouraging St. Paul to later write to Timothy: "Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry." (II Timothy 4:11) St. Mark also was with St. Paul in the latter’s imprisonment in Rome, when Paul writes to the Colossians: “Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas's cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him).” (Col 4:10) He’s also mentioned in the letter to Philemon: “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.” (Phm 1:23-24).

St. Mark the Evangelist was also close to St. Peter, who called Mark “his son” (I Peter 5:13). Peter is considered one of the major sources of Mark’s Gospel, and it’s been traditionally held that Mark wrote down his Gospel at the behest of Peter and the Christians living in Rome at the time. His Gospel is also considered to be the earliest one, probably written after Peter’s martyrdom in 64 A.D. The Gospel of Mark is clearly meant for a non-Jewish audience, because Jewish religious practices and Aramaic phrases are often used and translated in his Gospel. Mark’s Gospel is also known for it’s short, concise narrative, and the portrayal of Jesus’ emotional, human side. The main focus of Mark’s Gospel is the ministry of Jesus and His Passion. Christ is presented primarily as proclaiming the Kingdom of God and the book focuses on his miracles, exorcisms and his other works, whereas there are fewer sermons and parables. The Jesus of Mark’s Gospel is more a man of action than of words.

Eventually, St. Mark was sent to Alexandria and founded the church there. According to Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. 2.24.1), Mark was succeeded by Anianus, who became Alexandria’s first patriarch. One tradition states that St. Mark was martyred in the year 68 A.D. by the pagan Alexandrians while they were celebrating a festival in honor of one of their gods. St. Mark was tied up with thick ropes and dragged violently through the streets until he was killed.

In 828 A.D. some sailors and merchants from Venice stole the body of St. Mark from Alexandria by covering it up with layers of pork (since the Muslim guards weren’t supposed to touch pork, they didn’t look too closely at the contents of the Venetian’s cargo) and took it back to Venice. St. Mark replaced St. Theodore as the patron saint of Venice, and in 1063, a magnificent church was planned to house the relics of the saint.

All four of the Evangelists have a symbol that represents them in traditional Christian iconography, based on the four living creatures from Revelations 4:7 and Ezekial 1:10. The symbol of St. Mark is a winged lion, because of the associations with the beginning of his Gospel which references St. John the Baptist as crying out in the desert. The Lion symbolizes the powerful “roar” of the word of God going out into the world, and also represents the majesty and power of Jesus Christ in the Gospel.



The Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist is celebrated on April 25th.

O God, who raised up Saint Mark, your Evangelist,
and endowed him with the grace to preach the Gospel,
grant, we pray, that we may so profit from his teaching
as to follow faithfully in the footsteps of Christ.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.