St. Mark

This morning I was able to celebrate Mass to commemorate the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist.  He is quickly becoming one of my favorite saints of the Ante-Nicene period. I think it is important to remember that the title "Evangelist" holds more weight than just being the author of a Gospel bearing his name.

Mark was an evangelist in the deepest sense, as he began as a friend of Jesus.  We can credit the founding of the Church in North Africa to Mark's missionary and evangelistic efforts.  He was the first Bishop of Alexandria, and the current Coptic Pope Tawadros II is his spiritual successor.  He was martyred for the faith in the city that he evangelized, and before they were stolen by the Venetians, his relics were venerated in Alexandria.

The Church (Western, Eastern, and African) owes much to St. Mark, and so we rejoice in the witness of this Evangelist.  It is a shame that so much of the history of St. Mark and the Church in Africa have been forgotten by the West.

For more information on St. Mark, please check out the Center for Early African Christianity (linked on the side bar) and especially Dr. Oden's The African Memory of Mark.  Dr. Oden's book has been formative for my understanding of St. Mark.  Also, check out his lectures on the need to recover the history of Early Libyan Christianity.

Please pray, as well, for our brothers and sisters who currently are suffering persecution in Egypt for bearing the Name of Christ, remembering His Holiness Tawadros II, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church; The Most Rev. Mouneer Anis, President Bishop of the The Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, and the congregations committed to their care.

Collect for St. Mark:

Almighty God, by the hand of Mark the evangelist you have given to your Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God: We thank you for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP 240)