Saint Mark is the “John Mark” of the New Testament, the young man whose mother’s house in Jerusalem hosted the Last Supper and later became the first gathering place of the Church. One of the Seventy Apostles and a companion of Paul and Barnabas, he wrote the second Gospel and eventually made his way to Egypt.
Coptic tradition anchors his arrival in Alexandria around 61 A.D. with a small, human detail: his sandal tore from the miles of walking, so he brought it to a cobbler named Anianus. While Anianus worked, the awl pierced his hand, and he cried out, invoking the “one God” in reflex. Saint Mark took it as an opening, healed the wound, and began teaching him about Christ. Anianus became the first convert, later the first bishop Saint Mark consecrated, and eventually his successor as Pope of Alexandria.
Saint Mark spent years planting the Church across Egypt and Libya before the pagan population of Alexandria, enraged by his preaching against their gods, seized him during a festival of Serapis. They dragged him by a rope around his neck through the streets and rocky terrain, imprisoned him overnight, then dragged him again the next day until he died. Believers recovered his body and buried it at the church of Boukolia. He is honored as the founder of the unbroken line of Popes of Alexandria that continues today.
Iconography
Saint Mark is shown as a cleric, carrying the Gospel book, standing on the Alexandrian shore with a garden springing up at his feet, a picture of the Word taking root in Egyptian soil. A lion appears near him, tied to a legend of a lion and lioness stilled by his prayer, and doubles as his traditional evangelist symbol. A boat recalls his sea voyage to Egypt, and a lighthouse (echoing the lighthouse of Alexandria) signals Christ’s light entering the city through him.