A saint's day
St Mark the Apostle and Evangelist
St Mark, also called John Mark, was born in Jerusalem, a nephew of Barnabas and a companion of Peter and Paul; St Peter called him “my son.” In Rome he wrote his Gospel, a concise record of Peter's preaching, and then he founded the Church of Alexandria. The pagans seized him as he served and dragged him through the streets, and he died saying, “Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
The dates
- Kept on
- 25 April, or after Pascha when it falls before it (8 May on the Old Calendar)
- Next, New Calendar
- Next, Old Calendar
The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.
How the day is kept
In the East he is above all the founder of the Church of Alexandria and the patron of Egypt and the Coptic Christians; his patronage of Venice and of lawyers is Western.
Orthodox Christians ask his prayers for the forgiveness of sins and for strength in their weakness.
Name days
These names keep their name day on this feast:
The saint
Icons for the feast
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