Mark
the Evangelist (Markus) (1st century)
is traditionally believed to be the author
of the Gospel of Mark, drawing much of
his material from Peter. He is often identified
with the John, surnamed Mark that accompanied
Paul and Barnabas in the first journey
of Paul, but was left behind (and Barnabas
stayed too) for the second, as recorded
in the Acts of the Apostles. He is also
claimed as the first pope of Alexandria
by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and
the Coptic Orthodox Church. The New Testament
sources for the life of John Mark are
slender and need interpreting. The John
Mark in Acts (12:12, 25; 15:37) mentioned
as John (13:5, 13) and as Mark (15:39)
is surely the Mark mentioned by Paul (Colossians
4:10; 2 Timothy, 4:11; Philemon, 24) and
by the author of 1 Peter 5:13. Mark of
the Pauline Epistles was the cousin (anepsios)
of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), to whom
Mark of Acts seems to have been bound
by some special tie (Acts 15:37, 39).
Mark's
mother was a prominent member of the earliest
group of Christians in Jerusalem; it was
to her house that Peter turned on his
release from prison; the house was approached
by a porch (pulon), there was a slave
girl (paidiske) to open the door, and
the house was a meeting-place for the
brethren, "many" of whom were
praying there the night St. Peter arrived
from prison (Acts 12:12-13). A further
report of Mark as the amanuensis of Peter
and the Secret Gospel of Mark is given
in a letter of Clement of Alexandria (died
ca 211 - 216), transcribed into a printed
book in the monastery of Mar Saba, south
of Jerusalem. 10th-century Byzantine illumination
from the Trebizond Gospel.An extensive
and satisfyingly circumstantial account
of Mark's life was written by Severus,
Bishop of Al-Ushmunain, in the 10th century.
According to this account, Mark was the
nephew of Barnabas, who was cousin to
Peter's wife.
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