Saint Mark the Ascetic, or Marcus Eremita, was a Christian theologian, saint, and ascetic writer of the fourth or fifth century AD. Most of what we know of him is from his writings and quotations. He has mostly been lost to history, save what he wrote down. Saint Mark the Ascetic was content to accept dogmas from the Catholic Church; his interest was in spiritual life. Saint Mark the Ascetic belonged to the Antiochene School. The Catechetical School of Antioch was one of the two major Christian centers of the study of biblical theology during Late Antiquity. Saint Mark the Ascetic was a disciple of John Chrysostom. Why do saints often know each other?
Saint Mark the Ascetic Biography
Various theories about his period and works have been preferred, as we know little about it. According to contemporary scholar J. Kunze, Saint Mark the Ascetic was a hermit and monk, and was the superior of a laura at Ancyra. He then, as an old man, left this monastery and became a hermit, most likely in the desert east of Palestine. Saint Mark the Ascetic was a contemporary of Nestorius and Saint John Chrysostom and died after 430 but probably before the Council of Chalcedon.
Nicephorus Callistus of the fourteenth century says Mark was a disciple of John Chrysostom. Cardinal Bellarmine thought that this Mark was the monk who prophesied ten more years of life to the Emperor Leo VI in 900. Another view supported by the Byzantine Menaia, who identifies him with the Egyptian monk mentioned in Palladius. Palladius lived in the fourth century. The discovery and identification of a work by him against Nestorius makes his period certain in the fifth century.
According to a brief entry in the “Great Synaxaristes” of the Eastern Orthodox Church, his feast day is observed on 20 May. He was canonized in the sixth century. He has been a saint for a long time. But little else is known of him, except for what he wrote down. He was a prolific writer, so we know of him from what he left behind. He does have some significant quotations.
Saint Mark the Ascetic Writings
Saint Mark the Ascetic’s works are the following (there are ten), and they are all we know about him:
- Of the spiritual law,
- Concerning those who think to be justified through works (both ascetic treatises for monks);
- Of penitence;
- Of baptism;
- To Nicholas, on refraining from anger and lust;
- Disputation against a scholar (against appearing in civil courts and on celibacy);
- Consultation of the mind with its soul (reproaches that he makes Adam, Satan, and other men responsible for his sins instead of himself);
- On fasting and humility;
- On Melchisedek (against people who think that Melchisedek was an apparition of the Word of God).
- Against the Nestorians (a treatise against that heresy arranged without order).
Conclusion
It is amazing when you think about it. The Catholic church has been around for a long time. Some saints lived long ago, whom we know little about, save their writings. It does not help that he was a hermit. We know very little about Saint Mark the Ascetic aside from the written record he left. This man, whom we know little about, lived more than fifteen hundred years ago. He was canonized (made a saint) around that time, but we do not know why.
