Patrick Comerford
Our Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Second Sunday of Easter (Easter II). Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost.
Because last week was Easter Week, the celebration on 25 April of Saint Mark the Evangelist has been transferred in the Calendar of the Church of England to today (29 April).
Later this evening, I have a meeting of the trustees of a local charity in Stony Stratford. Meanwhile, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 13: 5-13 (NRSVA):
5 Then Jesus began to say to them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and they will lead many astray. 7 When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
9 ‘As for yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them. 10 And the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 13 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.’
Today’s Reflection:
We are still in the Easter season, and Saint Mark’s Gospel offers one of the most challenging readings on the Resurrection. The ‘long ending’, part of which we read on Saturday, recalls three appearances of the Risen Christ (Mark 16: 9-15). But that ‘long ending’ in Saint Mark’s Gospel is often placed in parentheses in many modern translations of the Bible. The two oldest manuscripts of Mark 16 conclude with verse 8, which ends with the women fleeing from the empty tomb and saying nothing to anyone, ‘for they were afraid’.
Saint Mark the Evangelist (Greek, Μάρκος) is traditionally said to have been a companion of the Apostle Peter. He accompanied the Apostle Paul and Saint Barnabas on Saint Paul’s first journey. After a sharp dispute, Barnabas separated from Paul, taking Mark to Cyprus (Acts 15: 35-41). It was, perhaps, this separation that led eventually to the writing of Saint Mark’s Gospel.
Later, Paul calls upon the services of Mark, the kinsman of Barnabas, and Mark is named as Paul’s fellow worker. Among the four evangelists, Saint Mark’s symbol is the winged lion.
Saint Mark is revered as the founder of the See of Alexandria, the seat of both the Coptic Pope and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria. His successors have included many of the great fathers of the church, including Saint Athanasius. I suppose, in some ways, we could call him the founder of Christianity in Africa. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has survived through generations of schism and persecution, while the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria is said to be the fastest growing missionary Church in Africa.
In the year 828, what was believed to be the body of Saint Mark was stolen from the Patriarchal Church in Alexandria by two Venetian merchants and was taken in a pork barrel to Venice, where Saint Mark’s Basilica was to house the relics and Saint Mark was proclaimed the patron saint of the Serene Republic.
Although Coptic Christians say they managed to hold on to the head of Saint Mark, which is kept in Saint Mark’s Patriarchal Cathedral in Alexandria, a mosaic on the façade of the basilica shows the sailors covering the body with layers of pork, knowing Muslims would not touch pork and so their theft would go undetected.
When Saint Mark’s Basilica was being rebuilt in Venice in 1063, they could not find the stolen body. However, according to tradition, over a generation later, in 1094, the saint himself revealed the location of his body by sticking his arm out through a pillar. The new-found body was then placed in a new sarcophagus in the basilica. Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria sent an official delegation to Rome to receive a relic of Saint Mark from Pope Paul VI in 1968.Eg
But the missing bodies of saints and where they are kept are far less important than the lessons we can learn from the lives of saints such as Mark.
Although Mark was not an apostle, one of the 12, he is an important figure in terms of passing on the apostolic faith.
There are more Christians today in Egypt than there are in Ireland. Egypt’s 7 million Christians are a witness to how Christian faith can survive flourish through all the difficulties of history. The survival of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the missionary successes of the Church of Alexandria should inspire and give hope to the whole Church.
Saint Mark bridges the gap between Eastern and Western Christianity too. Venetians wanted his body as much as Romans wanted to claim the Apostle Peter. But Mark is an important figure in terms of understanding that the Christian faith must not to be limited to its European cultural expressions. African expressions of Christianity are not exotic or different, they are authentic and apostolic.
Ten days ago, I visited the former Saint Mark’s Basilica, facing the Morosini Fountain in Iraklion, built in 1239 during the Venetian era in Crete. But in the past I have also visited both Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice and Saint Mark’s Patriarchal Cathedral in Alexandria.
I have gazed in wonder at both those mosaics in Venice and at the empty place kept vacant and waiting in Alexandria for the return of their saint. But as I looked at them I have also recalled that empty tomb that is described at the end of Saint Mark’s Gospel. The living body is more important than the dead body.
Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen!
Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 29 April 2025, Saint Mark, transferred):
‘Become Like Children’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 29 April 2025, Saint Mark, transferred) invites us to pray:
Lord, grant us the wisdom to reflect on our use of power and privilege. Help us remember our own vulnerability as children and inspire us to act with empathy and compassion towards those who are marginalised.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who enlightened your holy Church
through the inspired witness of your evangelist Saint Mark:
grant that we, being firmly grounded
in the truth of the gospel,
may be faithful to its teaching both in word and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
