مار مرقس الرسول (مقال باللغة الانجليزية)

هذه المحاضرة كنت قد ألقيتها فى إجتماع إعداد خدام فى إحدى كنائس المهجر، و كنت أود أن أعرضها على حضراتكم لهواة اللغة الانجليزية

SAINT MARK THE APOSTLE AND THE EVANGELIST

1. Who Is St. Mark?
•He is the owner of the upper room where Jesus ate the last supper with his disciples: “And He sent out two of his disciples and said to them: Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.” (Mark 14: 13)
•He is the nephew of St. Barnabas (the son of Barnabas’ sister): “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas.” (Colossians 4: 10)
•He is a relative of St. Peter (the cousin of Peter’s wife): “She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son.” (1 Peter 5: 13)
•He hosted the disciples in the upper room after the Ascension of Jesus: “And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying.” (Acts 1: 13)
•His house was the first church of God: “So when he (Peter) had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.” (Acts 12: 12)

2. A Weak Start
•He was the young man who ran away naked when the soldiers arrested Jesus in Gethsemane: “Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.” (Mark 14: 51, 52)
•St. Paul and St. Barnabas chose him to accompany them in the first missionary journey: “And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem … and they took with them John whose surname was Mark.” (Acts 12: 25). But he was too young to continue and he departed from them: “Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.” (Acts 13: 13)
•St. Paul refused to take him in his second journey: “Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas: let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing. Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who left had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they departed from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.” (Acts 15: 36-40)

3. St. Mark the Mature Apostle
St. Paul who refused to take Mark the young man with him proclaimed about him:
•“Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas; about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him.” (Colossians 4: 10)
•“Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.” (2 Timothy 4: 11)
•“As do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers.” (Philemon 24)

4. Preaching Egypt
•St. Mark came to Egypt through Alexandria where his sandal was ripped. He went to a shoemaker called Anyanus who hurt his hand while fixing the sandal. So, he screamed saying: “O my unique God!” St. Mark prayed and healed the shoemaker’s hand. Then he began to talk to him about the unique God Jesus Christ. Anyanus received gladly the words of God and believed in Jesus Christ Son of God and a Savior. So, St. Mark went with him to his house and baptized him and al his family.
•It was not too difficult to publish Christianity in Egypt because people were ready to believe in one God Jesus Christ for the following reasons:
1.Some of them met Jesus Christ when He visited Egypt with the Holy Family; when idols could not stand in front of Him and were broken into pieces. As well, Jesus lived between Egyptian people for three years and they saw His miracles.
2.There were Egyptians among those people who were baptized by Peter on the Day of Pentecost: “Phyrgia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,” (Acts 2: 10)
•St. Mark wrote his Evangel at 61 A.D. and it is considered as the first Evangel to be written. This Evangel was written to the Gentiles in Rome. That is why St. Mark started his Evangel by “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:” (Mark 1: 3). As well, he mentioned eighteen miracles (power over nature, power over demons, power over disease, power over death) to show the Romans the Almighty Jesus Christ as Romans were interested in strong and powerful men. That is why that St. Mark stresses actions and deeds done by Jesus Christ rather than words, proverbs, or family pedigree.
•The key verse: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10: 45). That is why that St. Mark used the word “immediately” forty two times to prove that Jesus Christ indeed is our loyal Savior-Servant as Roman mind was attuned to obedient and loyal servants.
•It is widely believed that his Evangel embodies the memories of St. Peter as St. Mark met him when the last was visiting Egypt to preach the Jews living there where he wrote his first epistle and he mentioned in it the name of St. Mark “She who is in Babylon (a part in Masr El-Kadeema where there are old churches and the Coptic museum), elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son.” (1 Peter 5: 13). St. Mark showed what he wrote, led by the Holy Spirit, to St. Peter who was an eye-witness to many events happened during the life of Jesus Christ on earth.
•In the period from 65 to 68 A.D., St. Mark went to Rome to serve Paul when the last was imprisoned. He stayed there until St. Paul and St. Peter were martyred by Nero (54-68 A.D.). He left in Alexandria Anyanus the bishop (former shoemaker) to serve the Christians together with three priests and seven deacons.
•When he came back from Rome, he noticed the increase in the number of Christians and that they built a church in a place called Bokalia (cows’ field). Also, St. Mark erected the school of Alexandria which was the first religious school allover the world.
•He was martyred on Bermuda 30th (May 8th) after being tied to a horse that pulled his holy body in the streets of Alexandria for two days.

May his prayers and blessing be with us all …Amen