The church commemorates Mark as the author of the earliest Gospel (although the eyewitness report he wrote down is actually the apostle Peter's story).

The earliest proven reference to Mark is in the Book of Acts, where he is referred to as “John, whose other name was Mark” (Acts 12:12). The two names, one Jewish and the other Roman, suggest that he was a Hellenistic Jew. His mother lived in Jerusalem, and the home was a meeting place of the early church. Mark was a cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), who came from Cyprus.

Mark was with Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey as their assistant (Acts 13:5). When they got to Perga in Pamphylia (in modern Turkey), Mark left the group for some reason. Two years later, Paul and Barnabas planned another missionary journey, and Barnabas wished to take Mark, but Paul would not agree, so they parted, Barnabas took Mark with him and went to Cyprus, while Paul took Silas with him to Syria and Cilicia (Acts 15:36-41).

We next hear of Mark from near the end of Paul’s ministry, when Paul was under arrest. Paul describes Mark as “a fellow worker” (Philemon 1:24), and it was hoped that Mark might visit Colossae (Colossians 4:10). Paul asked Timothy to bring Mark to him (2 Timothy 4:11).

According to (1 Peter 5:13), Mark was with Peter in Rome (called “Babylon”, in some Bible texts, a common early Christian reference for Rome), he is even described as Peter’s “son”, testifying to a close relationship in the faith between the two. Confirmed also by Papias of Hieropolis about 150 A.D. Mark, who had been Peter’s interpreter, later wrote down carefully, but not in order, the Gospel as he remembered Peter's eyewitness report of it. There are also some hints that John Mark himself may have witnessed and been present for some of the later events. Most scholars regard Mark’s Gospel as the first to be written.

There is a strong tradition that associates Mark with the founding of the church in Alexandria. Still later traditions assert that he was the first bishop of Alexandria and was martyred there during the reign of the emperor Trajan. He is also associated with Venice, because in 829 what were claimed to be his relics were brought there from Alexandria and rest in St Mark's Basilica.

BORN: Cyrene, Libya.

DIED: 68 AD, Alexandria, Egypt.