Venerable Mark the Anchorite of Athens (5 April)

He is also called “Mark the Athenian” because Athens was the place of his birth. His parents died after he completed his higher education in Athens. He thought within himself that death was unavoidable for him as well, and that one should sufficiently prepare beforehand for an honorable departure from this world. Distributing all of his possessions to the poor, he sat on a plank in the sea and, with firm faith in God’s help, prayed that God might direct him wherever He willed. God, in His providence, protected him and brought him to Lybia (or Ethiopia) to a mountain called Trache.

Mark lived an ascetic life on this mountain for ninety-five years, seeing neither man nor beast. For thirty years, he waged a violent combat with evil spirits and suffered from hunger, thirst, frost and heat. He ate earth and drank sea water. After thirty years of the most vehement suffering, the defeated demons fled from him and a angel of God began to bring him food daily in the form of bread, fish and fruit. St. Serapion visited him before his death and, afterward, made known the miraculous life of Mark.

Mark asked St. Serapion: “Are there any Christians in the world now who, if they were to say to this mountain, ‘Arise from here and cast yourself into the sea,’ it would it be so?” At that moment, the mountain upon which they stood moved toward the sea. Mark raised his hand and stopped it. Such was the miracle-working power that this man of God possessed. Before his death he prayed for the salvation of mankind and then gave up his soul to God. St. Serapion saw angels bear St. Mark’s soul heavenward, and he also saw a hand extended from heaven that received it. St. Mark lived to be 130 thirty years old and reposed in about the year 400 A.D.

Saint Mark was born in Athens. He related his life to Abba Serapion who, by the will of God, visited him before his death.

He had studied philosophy in his youth. After the death of his parents, Saint Mark withdrew into Egypt and settled into a cave of Mount Trache (in Ethiopia). He spent ninety-five years in seclusion and during this time not only did he not see a human face, but not even a beast or bird.

The first thirty years were the most difficult for Saint Mark. Barefoot and bedraggled, he suffered from the cold in winter, and from the heat in summer. The desert plants served him for food, and sometimes he had to eat the dust and drink bitter sea water. Unclean spirits chased after Saint Mark, promising to drown him in the sea, or to drag him down from the mountain, shouting, “Depart from our land! From the beginning of the world no one has come here. Why have you dared to come?”

After thirty years of tribulation, divine grace came upon the ascetic. Angels brought him food, and long hair grew on his body, protecting him from the cold and heat. He told Abba Serapion, “I saw the likeness of the divine Paradise, and in it the prophets of God Elias and Enoch. The Lord sent me everything that I sought.”

During his conversation with Abba Serapion, Saint Mark inquired how things stood in the world. He asked about the Church of Christ, and whether persecutions against Christians still continued. Hearing that idol worship had ceased long ago, the saint rejoiced and asked, “Are there now in the world saints working miracles, as the Lord spoke of in His Gospel, ‘If ye have faith even as a grain of mustard seed, ye will say to this mountain, move from that place, and it will move, and nothing shall be impossible for you’ (Mt.17:20)?”

As the saint spoke these words, the mountain moved from its place 5,000 cubits (approximately 2.5 kilometers) and went toward the sea. When Saint Mark saw that the mountain had moved, he said, “I did not order you to move from your place, but was conversing with a brother. Go back to your place!” After this, the mountain actually returned to its place. Abba Serapion fell down in fright. Saint Mark took him by the hand and asked, “Have you never seen such miracles in your lifetime?”

“No, Father,” Abba Serapion replied. Then Saint Mark wept bitterly and said, “Alas, today there are Christians in name only, but not in deeds.”

After this, Saint Mark invited Abba Serapion to a meal and an angel brought them food. Abba Serapion said that never had he eaten such tasty food nor drunk such sweet water. “Brother Serapion,” answered Saint Mark, “did you see what beneficence God sends His servants? In all my days here God sent me only one loaf of bread and one fish. Now for your sake He has doubled the meal and sent us two loaves and two fishes. The Lord God has nourished me with such meals ever since my first sufferings from evil.”

Before his death, Saint Mark prayed for the salvation of Christians, for the earth and everything in the world living upon it in the love of Christ. He gave final instructions to Abba Serapion to bury him in the cave and to cover the entrance. Abba Serapion was a witness of how the soul of the one-hundred-thirty-year-old Elder Mark was taken to Heaven by angels.

After the burial of the saint, two angels in the form of hermits guided Abba Serapion into the inner desert to the great Elder John. Abba Serapion told the monks of this monastery about the life and death of Saint Mark.