Beautiful Egypt 155 – «The First Patriarch» May 8, 2016

   Today, we commemorate the martyrdom of St. Mark, the apostle, the evangelist of Egypt. He was martyred in 68 A.D., after had founded the See of Alexandria. Thus, he was the first patriarch of this See.

Birth:

   St. Mark had two names. One of them is Hebrew, John, which means “God is kind”. The other which became known in Egypt was “Mark”, a Roman name which means “hammer”.

   Mark was born in Cyrene at the Western Pentapolis in Libya. His father was called Aristopolus, his mother Mary from the tribe of Levi. She gave attention to his education and accomplishment. He became adept with Greek, Latin and Hebrew. Later, his family left Cyrene and headed to Palestine. They settled down near Jerusalem. At that time, Christ had already started His service. Mark’s mother used to serve Christ. Her house became a gathering place for Christ and His disciples. As such, it became the first church in the world, and Mark became one of the seventy apostles who Christ chose. He abided by Christ’s teachings and witnessed His miracles. As per the tradition, St. Mark attended the wedding of Cana of Galilee where Christ worked His first miracle.

   After Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection, St. Mark accompanied the apostles in their evangelism. He served in Jerusalem and Judea with St. Peter. Then, he traveled with Sts. Paul and Barnabas, after which he returned to Jerusalem. Then, he accompanied Barnabas in his evangelism in Cyprus.

The Megalopolis

   At that time, Alexandria was not only the capital of Egypt, but the cultural capital of the entire world. It had the famous Alexandrian School whence philosophy and sciences were taught. Many scientists would travel to Alexandria then. Its famous library contained several manuscripts tackling a variety of knowledge fields. As for creeds, Alexandria was a multi-sectarian city: as it was full of creeds and religions. It was inhabited by Egyptians, Romans, Jews, Persians and others.

   St. Mark came from Pentapolis to Alexandria in 61 A.D.  He walked a long distance, so his shoes were torn. Thus, he looked for a cobbler. He found Anianus who later came to believe in Christ, along with his family. St. Mark started roaming Egypt, explaining Christianity to Egyptians who promptly embraced it, renouncing paganism. When Christianity spread, St. Mark ordained Anianus bishop, as well three priests and seven deacons. He founded the first church in Alexandria. It was located in Puccalia.

Martyrdom

   In 68 A.D., while St. Mark was conducting Easter prayers, pagans attacked the church, arrested him and kept dragging him in streets until he bled. They repeated this atrocity until he was martyred. These savages tried to burn his body, but God did not allow them: as a heavy shower occurred and put out the fire. Then, some believers came over, enshrouded him and put him in Puccalia church, which later bore his name. Originally, it was Anianus’ house.

   Some Venetian sailors stole St. Mark’s body and carried it to Venice where a great shrine was built. In 1968, Pope Cyril VI dispatched a renowned ecclesiastical delegation to the Pope of Rome to retrieve part of St. Mark’s relics. This took place nineteen centuries after St. Mark’s martyrdom. St. Mark’s Grand Cathedral, Abba Reweis, Abbassiya, was opened and the relics placed in a special shrine. This was preceded by an august celebration attended by the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie as well as clergymen from the four corners of earth.

   St. Mark penned the gospel which bears his name, set the liturgical prayers known as “St. Cyril’s Liturgy” which is considered the oldest of the Church’s Masses. The Mass was written in Greek, then, translated into Coptic. St. Mark prayed with it. He handed it over to St. Anianus as well as the three priests who he had ordained. This Mass was handed from one generation to another by word of mouth. In 330, Pope Athanasius, the Apostolic, the twentieth patriarch, had the Mass written and handed it over to St. Frumentius, the first Ethiopian bishop. After that, Pope Cyril the Great added to this Mass and penned it, which is why it is ascribed to him. Fragments of this Mass that date back to the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. were discovered in the Strasbourg papyrus. On it, the following phrase was written: “The Coptic Liturgy by St. Mark or St. Cyril”. Another fragment was written in Ethiopian. Likewise, there are three manuscripts of this Liturgy in the Vatican.

   St. Mark founded a theological seminary in Alexandria. This seminary refuted the ideologies of the pagan thinkers and philosophers who lived there through a systematic approach, for they used to discuss theories and opinions in their pagan schools. The Theological Seminary of Alexandria is the first of its kind. It became the most important religious institute. Though it was not the only one, it was the most famous of the world’s seminaries. The Theological Seminary of Alexandria did not teach theological subjects only. It also taught science, mathematics, and sociology. It had engraved wooden boards which were used to help the blind study, which was fifteen centuries before Braille’s method was invented.

   St. Mark’s See is one of five in the world. Churches that abide by the apostle’s tradition and teachings have an Apostolic See. They received the tradition and teaching from their predecessors who had received them from the apostles themselves.

St. Mark’s Pictures

   In Egypt, we have six pictures of St. Mark. Three of them date back to tenth century A.D., and the rest to the thirteenth century. Two of the tenth-centuries pictures are kept at the Syrian Monastery in Wadi al-Natrun. The first is hanging on the famous iconostasis called the Gate of Prophecies. It dates back to 913 A.D. The second is located on the door lying between the first and second choirs. The third is at the Hanging Church in Old Cairo.

   The oldest of the thirteenth-century pictures dates back to 1220 A.D. It is kept within a manuscript at the Syrian Monastery. The second is at St. Anthony’s Church at the Eastern Desert Monastery. Most probably, it dates back to 1233 A.D. The third is preserved in a manuscript at the patriarchate library. It dates back to 1291 A.D.

St. Mark’s Ecumenical Evangelism

   St. Mark is not only the Evangelist of Egypt: for he had evangelized with Christianity worldwide at a pagan era. Abba Sawiris, bishop of Nestorwo, said, “This great saint did not illuminate Egypt only, but the whole world.” St. Mark evangelized with Christianity in Judea, the mounts of Lebanon, some places in Syria like Colossi, Antioch, Cyprus, Venice and Aquila. Reposed Pope Shenouda III says, “When we commemorate this saint, the world does the same: for the whole world owes St. Mark.”

   So goes the story… Stories never end in Beautiful Egypt.

General Bishop

Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center