On April 25, each year, the Holy Orthodox Church commemorates the Apostle and Evangelist Mark, one of the seventy (70) Apostles and founder of the Holy See of Alexandria, current day Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa.
According to Church tradition, being the founder of the Episcopal see of Alexandria, the Apostle and Evangelist Mark is observed as the first Patriarch /Bishop of the Holy See. Also known as John Mark (Acts 12:12), Evangelist Mark was a very close companion of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
Apostle Mark was born to Aristobulus and Mary in Cyrene of Pentapolis; however, at a young age, he went to live in Jerusalem. The house of his mother, Mary, adjoined the Garden of Gethsemane. Saint Mark arrived in Alexandria in 43 AD, the year which is counted as the foundation year of the Alexandrian Church.
Worthy of note, the Episcopal see of Alexandria was one of the five most important sees of early Christianity of the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
On the day of Pascha in 63 AD (3rd April / Pharmouthi, during which the pagans celebrated the Feast of Serapidos, St Mark was arrested while performing the Divine Liturgy and was imprisoned. The next day, 4th April, he was dragged through the streets of Alexandria by the crowd and died as a Martyr of the Church. He was buried by the Christians of the city in the area of Bucolus where the beautiful Church in his memory was later erected.
In the 9th century, Venetian traders took his holy relics to Venice, where they can be found to this day in the Cathedral of St Mark in the city.
Chants to Apostle and Evangelist Mark
Troparion — Tone 4
From your childhood the light of truth enlightened you, O Mark, / and you loved the labor of Christ the Savior. / Therefore, you followed Peter with zeal / and served Paul well as a fellow laborer, / and you enlighten the world with your holy Gospel.
Kontakion — Tone 2
When you received the grace of the Spirit from on high, O Apostle, / you broke the snares of the philosophers and gathered all nations into your net, / bringing them to your Lord, O glorious Mark, / by the preaching of the divine Gospel.
Pictorial of the Holy See of Alexandria Headquarters
