Three-Year Lectionary

St. Mark, Evangelist

The Lord sends His messengers out “as lambs in the midst of wolves” bearing the message, “Peace be to this house” (Luke 10:3–5). St. Mark does “the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5) and “publishes peace” (Is. 52:7). He is remembered as the lion-hearted evangelist, depicted with his fellow evangelists as the four living creatures of Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4. The evangelist is often identified with John Mark of Acts and the cousin of Barnabas, with whom he worked in Cyprus to “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). Despite their earlier differences, Mark was reconciled with St. Paul, who considered him “very useful … for ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). Later he worked in Rome (1 Peter 5:13), where tradition has it that he wrote his Gospel from St. Peter’s sermons before founding the church in Alexandria and facing a martyr’s death.

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