Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist

According to tradition, Mark is credited with being the author of the Gospel of Mark. A companion of Saint Paul, he was referred to as John Mark in the Acts of the Apostles. A decade or so after Jesus ascended to heaven, Mark traveled to Alexandria and established a church which is now known as the Coptic Orthodox Church. The Coptic Church is the largest Christian denomination in Egypt. Mark is also considered to be the founder of Christianity in Africa.

Mark died in Alexandria in A.D. 68 after a rope was tied around his neck and he was dragged through the streets until dead. He was buried there, but his ‘travels” didn’t end there.  In 828, two Venetian sailors stole his remains to Venice, where a basilica was built to house them. Knowing that Muslims are not allowed to touch pork, the remains were covered with a layer of pork to protect them from being removed from their new location.

When a new basilica was being constructed in 1063, the relics of St. Mark could not be found. In 1094, according to Coptic tradition, St. Mark took matters into his own hands, revealing the location of his remains by extending an arm from a pillar.

But there are still twists to the story.

The Cardinal of Verona, Giovanni Urbani, somehow obtained a small piece of what was purported to be the bones of St. Mark, which he gave to the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. On June 22, 1968, the Coptic Pope, Cyril VI of Alexandria, sent a delegation to Rome, sent a delegation to Rome, where Pope Paul VI returned this relic to the Coptic Orthodox Church; it has been preserved in Cairo, Egypt. His head, however, is kept in Alexandria.

Once when Mark was walking near the Jordan River with his father, they were confronted by a lion and lioness. Mark’s father realized that he and his son would be killed and urged his son to escape. Mark told his father that Christ would not allow them to be killed by the lions, and he prayed, “O, Christ, Son of God, protect us from the evil of these two beasts and terminate their offspring from this wilderness.” The lions immediately fell dead, and his father was ultimately converted to Christianity and baptized by his son. Thus Saint Mark the Evangelist is often pictured with or symbolized by a lion.