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#REDIRECT [[John Mark]] |
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{{Userspace draft|date=April 2014|noob=no}} |
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{{Infobox saint |
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|name=John Mark |
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|death_date=First Century |
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|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Catholic Churches]] |
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|feast_day=September 27<ref name="Butler">{{cite book|title=Butler's Lives of the Saints|year=1956|editor-last=Butler|editor-first=Alban|editor2-last=Attwater|editor2-first=Donald|editor3-last=Thurston|editor3-first=Herbert|volume=2|page=162}}</ref> |
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|titles=Bishop of [[Byblos]]<ref name="Butler" /> |
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|image=Frans Hals 085.jpg |
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|caption=Frans Hals, ''St. Mark'', c. 1625. |
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}} |
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{{About|a character in the Bible}} |
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'''John Mark''' is named in [[Acts]] as an assistant accompanying [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] and [[Barnabas]] on one of their missionary journeys. By some he is regarded as identical with [[Mark the Evangelist]]. |
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==Biblical data== |
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[[File:St. Mark Syriac inscription.jpeg|thumb|right|6th-century Syriac inscription at the Monastery of St. Mark on Zion, beginning, "This is the house of Mary, mother of John Mark."]] |
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Several times the Book of [[Acts]] mentions a certain "John, who was also called Mark" or simply "John": |
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{{quotation|When {{bracket|Peter}} realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.{{bibleref2c|Acts|12:12|!}} |
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And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, bringing with them John whose other name was Mark.{{bibleref2c|Acts|12:25|!}} |
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When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.{{bibleref2c|Acts|13:5|!}} |
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Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem; but they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia.{{bibleref2c|Acts|13:13–14|!}} |
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And Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp contention, so that they separated from each other; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.{{bibleref2c|Acts|15:37–40|!}}}} |
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From these it may be gathered that John's mother [[New Testament people named Mary#Mary, mother of John Mark|Mary]] had a large house in Jerusalem to which Peter fled after escaping prison; that John assisted Paul and Barnabas on their [[Paul the Apostle#First missionary journey|first missionary journey]] in [[Cyprus]] but then returned to Jerusalem; and that later controversy over receiving John Mark back led to Paul and Barnabas parting ways, with Barnabas taking Mark back to Cyprus and both thereafter disappearing from the narrative of Acts. The reasons for John Mark's departure to Jerusalem and the subsequent disagreement between Paul and Barnabas have been subject to much speculation, but there is simply too little data to regard any explanation with confidence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Black|first=C. Clifton|title=Mark: Images of an Apostolic Interpreter|year=1994|pages=26–44|isbn=0872499731|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aWYUcBPqRm0C&pg=PA26|ref=harv}}</ref> |
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==Identification== |
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It was common for Jews of the period to bear both a Semitic name such as ''John'' and a Greco-Roman name such as ''Mark''.<ref>{{cite book | title=Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony | last=Bauckham | first=Richard | authorlink=Richard Bauckham | year=2006 | page=83 | isbn=0802831621 | ref=harv}}</ref> But since ''John'' was one of the most common names among Palestinian Jews,{{sfnp|Bauckham|2006|p=416}} and ''Mark'' was the most common in the Roman world,<ref>{{cite book|last=Boring|first=M. Eugene|title=Mark: A Commentary|year=2006|series=New Testament Library|isbn=0664221076|page=11|ref=harv}}</ref> caution is warranted in identifying John Mark with any other John or Mark. |
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Ancient sources in fact consistently distinguish John Mark from the other Marks of the New Testament and style him Bishop of [[Byblos]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lee|first=G. M.|title=Eusebius on St. Mark and the Beginnings of Christianity in Egypt|journal=Studia Patristica|year=1975|volume=12|pages=422–431|ref=harv}}</ref><ref name="Butler" /><ref name="Bruns-1963">{{cite journal|last=Bruns|first=J. Edgar|title=John Mark: A Riddle within the Johannine Enigma|journal=Scripture|year=1963|volume=15|pages=88–92|url=http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/scripture/15-31_088.pdf|ref=harv}}</ref><ref name="Hippolytus">Pseudo-Hippolytus, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf05.iii.v.iii.html ''On the Seventy Apostles''], for example, disguishes "Mark the Evangelist, Bishop of Alexandria" from "Mark cousin of Barnabas, Bishop of Apollonia" and from "Mark, who is also John, Bishop of Bibloupolis".</ref> Nor was John Mark identified in antiquity with any other John, apart from rare and explicit speculation.<ref>[[Dionysius of Alexandria]], apud Eusebius, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.xii.xxvi.html ''Hist. Eccl.'' 7.25].15, speculates in passing on what other Johns there were besides [[John the Evangelist]] who might have written [[Revelation]]. [[John Chrysostom]], [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf111.vi.xxvi.html ''In Acta Ap., Hom. xxvi''], seems to suggest that John Mark was the John who accompanied Peter in Acts.</ref><ref name="Bruns-1963" /><ref name="Bruns-1965">{{cite journal|last=Bruns|first=J. Edgar|title=The Confusion Between John and John Mark in Antiquity|journal=Scripture|year=1965|volume=17|pages=23–26|url=http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/scripture/37_023.pdf}}</ref> |
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Medieval sources, on the other hand, increasingly regarded all New Testament references to ''Mark'' as [[Mark the Evangelist]], and many modern scholars have agreed in seeing a single Mark.{{sfnp|Black|1994|pp=15–16}} The very fact that various writings could refer simply to ''Mark'' without further qualification has been seen as pointing to a single Mark.{{sfnp|Bauckham|2006|p=206}} |
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First, there is [[Mark the cousin of Barnabas]], mentioned by Paul as a "fellow worker" in the closings of three Pauline epistles.<ref>{{bibleref2|Phlm 1:24; Col. 4:10; 2 Tim 4:11}}.</ref> In antiquity he was regarded as a distinct Mark, Bishop of Apollonia.<ref name="Hippolytus" /> If, on the other hand, these two Marks are to be identified, the fact that these epistles (if authentic) were written after the departure of John Mark with Barnabas in Acts must suppose some later reconciliation. But a majority of scholars, noting the close association of both Marks with Paul and Barnabas, indeed regard them as likely the same person. |
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[[Mark the Evangelist]], however, is known only from the patristic tradition, which associates him only with [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and makes no mention of Paul.{{sfnp|Black|1994|pp=185–186}} [[Jerome]] alone suggests that the Mark of whom Paul speaks may be the Evangelist.<ref>Jerome, ''Comm. in Philem.'' 24.</ref>{{sfnp|Black|1994|p=165}} But modern scholars have noted that as Peter fled to the house of John Mark's mother, the two men may have had a longstanding association.{{sfnp|Black|1994|p=28}} |
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Several scholars have argued, on the other hand, for identifying [[John the Evangelist]] and/or [[John the Elder]] with John Mark;<ref>{{cite book | title=John, the Son of Zebedee: The Life of a Legend | year=1994 | page=87 | isbn=0872499626 | last=Culpepper | first=R. Alan | ref=harv}}</ref> there is, in fact, a great deal of controversy surrounding the various [[New Testament people named John|New Testament people named ''John'']]. |
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==Later sources== |
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The ''[[Acts of Barnabas]]'', apparently an apocryphal work of the 5th century,<ref>{{cite book|last=Czachesz|first=István|title=Commission Narratives: A Comparative Study of the Canonical and Apocryphal Acts|year=2007|pages=184–207|isbn=9042918454|series=Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha|volume=8|url=http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/FILES/faculties/theology/2002/i.czachesz/c8.pdf|ref=harv}}</ref> purport to be written by John Mark and to detail the missionary journey and martyrdom of Barnabas in Cyprus, thus picking up where the account of Acts leaves off.<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.vii.xxvii.html ''Acts of Barnabas''].</ref> |
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The ''Encomium of the Apostle St. Barnabas'', written by Alexander the Monk in the 6th century, also gives an extensive account of the activity of Barnabas and John Mark in Cyrpus. After the death of Barnabas, John Mark leaves for Ephesus, and the account then continues by identifying him with [[Mark the Evangelist]].<ref name="Bruns-1963" /> |
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==References== |
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{{reflist|2}} |
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{{New Testament people}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:John Mark}} |
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[[:Category:New Testament people]] |
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[[:Category:Acts of the Apostles]] |
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Latest revision as of 04:49, 2 April 2014
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