Catholic holidays - Memorial Day of St. Mark the Evangelist (Festa di san Marco)

On April 25, the Catholic Church celebrates the day of St Mark, who became one of the evangelists The symbol of this saint is the Lion, whose roar resembles the voice of one crying in the desert According to legend, the apostle was born on the territory of modern Libya into a fairly wealthy family, which later moved to Jerusalem At birth, the boy received the double name John-Mark, where the first name indicated his Jewish origin, and the second his connection with the Roman Empire In Jerusalem, Mark’s family became close to the disciples of Christ, and their home often hosted Jesus and the apostles The young evangelist witnessed the events of the arrest and death of Christ, which he later described at the request of St Peter Mark became the companion of the apostles Peter and Barnabas on their missionary journey and thus became one of the first 70 apostles who began to spread Christianity The Gospel of Mark was written for the Romans, the shortest and filled with miracles performed by Jesus, recorded from the words of Peter The Romans turned to the saint with a request to describe everything connected with the life and Resurrection of Christ, but it was difficult for the former fisherman Simon to write the text in a language understandable to all citizens of the Roman Empire Therefore, the Gospel was fulfilled by the educated John Mark, who knew Greek writing After missionary activity in Rome, Mark comes to Egyptian Alexandria, where he becomes the first Christian bishop The strengthening and expansion of the community of followers of Christ caused indignation among the townspeople who worshiped pagan gods, and the pagans planned to destroy the bishop of Alexandria That year, the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord fell on April 24, on the same day the Egyptians celebrated a celebration in honor of the god Serapis While Mark was performing the service, militant pagans burst into the church and dragged the saint out by force A terrible test was prepared for the evangelist: they wrapped a rope around his neck and tied him to a bull, which they drove through the streets of the city until the evening But pain and suffering only strengthened the faith of John-Mark, who did not cease to offer prayers, praising and glorifying the Lord At night, Christ appeared to the tortured apostle and said that he would soon find himself in the Kingdom of Heaven Indeed, the next day, when the torture resumed, Mark’s head was separated from his body, and the saint gave up the ghost The pagans intended to throw the saint's body into the fire, but a sudden earthquake prevented them The remains were picked up by Christians and buried in a stone tomb, over which a temple was later erected Several centuries later, the relics of the apostle were transported to Venice, whose symbol became the holy evangelist Mark