March: Day 29: Venerable Mark the Confessor, Bishop of Arethusa

March: Day 29:
Venerable Mark the Confessor, Bishop of Arethusa
 
(The Christian Faith is the Only True, Grace-filled and Saving Faith)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Mark, whose memory is celebrated today, was zealous in upholding the faith and piety as a bishop in the city of Arethusa in Syria. Taking advantage of the favorable attitude towards Christians of Emperor Constantine the Great, who gave some bishops, among other things, the right to destroy pagan temples, he destroyed the temple that was in the city of Arethusa. For this Bishop Mark suffered cruelly later, when the pagans again came into power under the apostate Emperor Julian.

By virtue of the decree issued by Julian that the idolatrous temples destroyed by Christians should be rebuilt by those who destroyed them, money was demanded from Bishop Mark, then already elderly and revered by all for his holy life, for the restoration of the temple destroyed by him during the reign of Constantine. The elder answered that he had no money, but that even if he had, he would not have given anything for the restoration of the temple. At the same time, he did not allow other Christians to contribute money for themselves, who wished to save the elder from the tortures to which he could be subjected for resisting the authorities who demanded the execution of the emperor's decree.

Since Bishop Mark's poverty was well known, the authorities significantly reduced the amount of money demanded of him, but threatened the bishop with severe persecution in the event of his refusal to pay even this reduced amount. Despite the threats, Bishop Mark refused again, as a result of which he was indeed subjected to cruel torture. He was mercilessly beaten, dragged through the streets with insults, stoned, his body was torn with knives and tortured to the point of death. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus testifies to his sufferings, and Theodoret reports that the inhabitants of Arethusa, amazed by his extraordinary patience in the midst of his suffering, not only finally left him alone, but were ashamed of their cruelty, and many of them recognized themselves as the obedient sheep of their shepherd. The Venerable Bishop Mark died peacefully in old age.

II. Brethren and children in Christ Jesus, our Lord! What do you think, why did the now glorified Venerable Mark, a brief outline of whose life we have offered to your attention, not want to give anything from his own means or from those offered to him by his admirers for the restoration of the pagan temple, in order to avoid suffering? Because, we think, he considered paganism a destructive and impious error, and, on the contrary, our Orthodox Christian faith the only true, grace-filled and saving one. That is why no suffering could force him, to the detriment of the Christian faith, to assist in the restoration of the temple of the pagan religion, which he considered false, impious and harmful to the soul in all respects.

Yes, the faith we profess is the only true, grace-filled and soul-saving faith.

a) The faith we profess is the truest faith of Christ. This is evident from the fact that all its dogmas are based on the divine teaching of Jesus Christ Himself; it was preached by the closest disciples of Christ, namely the Apostles; it was confirmed at synods and in their writings by the Holy Fathers and Teachers of the ancient Church of Christ; it was confessed by the Martyrs who suffered for it and a host of other righteous people who now dwell in heaven. In our fatherland it was planted and nurtured, with the help of God, by Orthodox Greek pastors, many of whom were distinguished by great piety and holiness of life; the main one of them was Saint Michael, the first Metropolitan of Kiev, who rests incorruptibly in the Kiev Caves Lavra. Such faithful servants of God, obviously, could not teach our ancestors the wrong faith and, of course, did not allow anyone to introduce any kind of superstition into their pure teachings - they rightly divided the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).

b) Being the true faith of Christ, the faith we profess is grace-filled. It is grace-filled not only because, according to our faith, in the Sacred Mysteries of our Holy Church, grace or the power of God is given to us, necessary in our spiritual and physical life, according to our natural weakness, for the accomplishment of our salvation (Acts 2:38; 2 Cor. 12:7), but also because the merciful God, through our fervent prayers, raised up to Him with sincere faith, gives us everything necessary for our needs (Matt. 21:22; Mark 9:23). This, I think, has been experienced by every true Orthodox Christian; this is shown by the various blessings shown by God to Russia in her difficult circumstances through the prayers of our Church and her faithful children; this is confirmed by the miracles that have repeatedly occurred and continue to occur in our country over the sick through the prayers of believers, which many have undoubtedly witnessed.

c) And that our faith is soul-saving, no one should doubt this, because not only its dogmas, its teaching, but also everything related to it – sacred rites, prayers and hymns, everything reminds us of the salvation of our souls, disposes us to it and promotes it. Therefore, in our Church, although there are, unfortunately, sinners who do not care about their salvation, there are also many righteous people who have achieved salvation in it.

III. What then, brethren, should we do, having realized that by the grace of God we possess such a faith? Obviously, we should wholeheartedly thank the Lord that He has enabled us to confess such a faith, and sacredly preserve it as a great gift of God and a sacred heritage of our ancestors, without any change in it or deviation from it, and moreover live as it requires, for "not everyone who calls Me Lord," says the Savior, "will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father" (Matt. 7:21), that is, a pious and virtuous Christian. Amen. 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.