Saint Mark, the Evangelist:

Feast day : 25 April

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Mark, the Evangelist who is believed to be the author of the Gospel according to St. Mark. He was the son of Mary of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) and a cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10). St. Ireneaus calls him the disciple and interpreter of Saint Peter. According to Papias and St. Clement of Alexandria, he wrote the Gospel at the request of the Romans who desired to have St. Peter’s teachings in writing. He was sent by St. Peter into Egypt to preach the gospel and was later appointed by him as the bishop of Alexandria. When the progress of faith in Alexandria stirred up the heathens against him, he ordained St. Anianus as the bishop and returned to Pentapolis where he preached for another two years.

When he returned to Alexandria, the heathens resolved to put him to death. On 24 April of the year 68, they arrested him, tied him with cords and dragged him about the streets the whole day. The pavements were stained with his blood and pieces of flesh but Saint Mark was overjoyed to bear the sufferings and thanked and praised God for it. At night he was thrown into prison in which God comforted him with two visions. The next day on April 25, they again dragged him as before around the city till he gloriously achieved his martyrdom. The Christians gathered the remains of his mangled body and buried them at Bucoles where they later on assembled for prayers.

A church was built on the spot in 310. In 828, relics believed to be the body of Saint Mark were stolen from Alexandria by two Venetian merchants with the help of two Greek monks and taken to Venice. Copts believe that the head of Saint Mark remains in a church named after him in Alexandria, and parts of his relics are in Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Cairo. The rest of his relics are in Venice. His feast is celebrated on April 25.