Mark the Evangelist
Life and witness
Roman Martyrology (traditional English edition; normalized OCR transcription): At Alexandria, the birth-day of St. Mark, evangelist, the disciple and interpreter of St. Peter, who writing his gospel at the request of the Christians at Rome, took it with him, and went into Egypt where, first preaching Christ at Alexan-; dria, he founded that Church and afterward ap-; prehended for the faith of Christ, bound with cords, and dragged upon stones, endured great torments then being shut up in prison, where he; was comforted by the vision of an angel, and also by an apparition of our Lord, was finally called to the kingdom of heaven, in the eighth year of Nero.
Biographical overview
Mark the Evangelist (Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: Mârkos), also known as John Mark (Koinē Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, romanized: Iōánnēs Mârkos; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ, romanized: Yōḥannān) or Saint Mark, was a person, subsequently venerated as a saint, to whom is traditionally ascribed the authorship of the Gospel of Mark. According to Coptic Christian tradition he was a Roman African from Ancient Libya, although this belief is not shared by other denominations. Most modern scholars agree that the Gospel of Mark is anonymous, though the topic remains contentious among experts. Scholarship is inconclusive on authorship; some reject the attribution to Mark while others debate the identity of Mark. According to Church tradition, Mark founded the episcopal see of Alexandria, which was one of the five most important sees of early Christianity. His feast day is celebrated on April 25, and his symbol is the winged lion.