|St. Mark the Evangelist Emmanuel Tzanes (1657)|
St Mark the Evangelist
Who was Mark? There are several occurrences of that name in the New Testament. There are also traditions that identify Mark with some unnamed characters (the 'young man' who fled naked from the Garden of Gethsemane, for example). Possibly all these refer to the same person, but possibly not. There is no way of knowing. What we do know, however, is that 'Mark' refers to the author of the second Gospel. Whoever he was, we have reason to remember him, because the second Gospel, scholars agree, is one on which both Matthew and Luke relied heavily. So do we, which also gives us reason to celebrate him.