Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark

The New Testament shows him as John Mark of Jerusalem, in whose mother's house the church gathered, cousin of Barnabas, sometime companion of Paul — they parted sharply, and were later reconciled — and finally a helper Peter calls 'my son Mark.' Early tradition, going back to Papias around 120, says Mark wrote his Gospel as the interpreter of Peter, setting down the apostle's preaching accurately though not in order; most scholars still regard Mark as the earliest Gospel. Tradition further makes him the founder of the church of Alexandria, one of the great sees of Christendom, and reports that he was martyred there, dragged through the streets by a pagan mob. The Coptic Church reveres him as its first pope; Venice later claimed his relics and his winged lion. His feast on April 25 is kept East and West alike.