Feast Day: January 19th
The Life of Saint Mark: However, Saint Mark was not intimidated and responded with boldness saying, “The participants of the synod pass judgment on the unpersuaded of the Church, but praise the ones that stood against her, yet those that preach of her and struggle for her, they call them heretics. I however do not preach my own beliefs nor have I innovated anything, nor do I stand for some strange dogma or rule, but I abide to her extreme Glory.”…
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Prayers
Apolytikion: By your profession of faith, O all-praised Mark the Church has found you to be a zealot for Truth. You fought for the teaching of the Fathers; you cast down the darkness of boastful pride. Intercede with Christ God to grant forgiveness to those who honour you!
Kontakion: Clad, O godly-minded one, with an invincible armour, thou didst dash to pieces the pride of the Western rebellion; thou wast brought forth as the champion of Orthodoxy, as the Comforter’s own instrument and pure vessel. For this cause, to thee we cry out: Rejoice, O Mark, thou boast of the Orthodox flock.
Verse: Mythically Atlas bore the Heavens on his shoulders. Truly Mark bore Orthodoxy.
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“The Testimonies of the western teachers I neither recognise nor accept. I surmise that they are corrupted. There can be no compromise in things of the Orthodox Faith.”
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“All the teachers of the Church, all the Councils, and all the Divine Scriptures exhort us to flee those who uphold other doctrines and to separate from communion with them”
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We entrust to You, Loving Master, our whole life and hope, and we ask, Pray, and entreat: make us worthy to partake of Your Heavenly and Awesome Mysteries from this Holy and Spiritual Table with a clear conscience; for the remission of sins, forgiveness of transgressions, communion of the Holy Spirit, inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, confidence before You, and not in judgment or condemnation.
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The Spirit of Truth, Who proceeds from the Father, that one shall bear witness concerning me.
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“The Holy Spirit Proceeds from the Father.”
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“We seek and we Pray for our return to that time when, being united, we spoke the same things and there was no schism between us.”
“I am convinced that the further I depart from him [the Patriarch] and from those like him [the Latin-minded], the closer do I draw near God and all the faithful and the Holy Fathers; and the more I am separated from them, by so much more am I united to the truth and the Holy Fathers.”
“The Souls of the departed can indeed benefit to their ‘advancement’ and even the damned to a relative ‘relief’ of their lot,’ thanks to the Prayers of the Church and through the infinite Mercy of God; but the notion of a punishment prior to the Last Judgement and of a purification through a material fire is altogether foreign to the Tradition of the Church.”
“It is impossible to recall peace without dissolving the cause of the schism – the primacy of the Pope exalting himself equal to God.”
“The Latins are not only schismatics but heretics… we did not separate from them for any other reason other than the fact that they are heretics. This is precisely why we must not unite with them unless they dismiss the addition from the Creed filioque and confess the Creed as we do.”
“For us, the Pope is as one of the Patriarchs – and only if he is Orthodox; whereas, they proclaim him Vicar of Christ, Father and Teacher of all Christians. Flee from them, O brethren, and from communion with them. ‘For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if even his ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works'” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
“If the Latins have not departed from the correct Faith, then we have cut them off unjustly. However, if they have departed from the Faith, regarding the theology of the Holy Spirit, to Whom to blaspheme is the greatest of all perils, clearly, they are heretics, and we have cut them off as heretics.”
“Flee brethren! Flee communion with the incommunicable and the commemoration of the uncommemorative. Behold, I, Mark, the sinner, tell you that whoever commemorates the Pope as an Orthodox prelate is guilty. Moreover, one who minds the dogmas of the Latins will be judged with the Latins, and will be deemed a betrayer of the Faith.”
“These people admit with the Latins that the Holy Spirit proceeds and derives His existence from the Son. Yet, with us, they say the Spirit proceeds from the Father. The Latins imagine that this addition to the Creed is lawful and just, but we will not so much as pronounce it. They state that unleavened bread is the body of Christ, but we dare not communicate it. Is this not sufficient to exhibit that they came to the Latin council not to investigate the truth, which they once possessed and then betrayed, but simply to earn some gold and attain a false union? Behold, they read two Creeds as they did before. They perform two different liturgies – one on leavened and the other on unleavened bread. They perform two baptisms – one by triple immersion and the other by aspersion; one with Holy Chrism and the other without it. All our Orthodox customs are different from those of the Latins, including our fasts, Church rites, icons, and many other things. What sort of union is this then, when it has no external sign? How could they come together, each retaining his own?”
“Our Head, Christ our God… does not tolerate that the bond of love be taken from us entirely.”
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I testify and solemnly declare regarding Master Scholarius that I have known him from his most tender age, that I am attached to him by friendship, that I love him as my son, as my friend – although some changes in our mutual friendly relations may be mentioned. Living unceasingly with him, even to this hour, when I feel the approach of my death, I fully know the strength of his mind, his wisdom, and the strength of his speech; and therefore I am sure that of all the people who are at this time, he alone is able to lend a helping hand to Orthodoxy, overwhelmed by those trying to shake the purity of dogmas; he alone, with the help of God, is able to protect the Church and strengthen Orthodoxy, being faithful and not hiding the lamp under a bushel. I cannot think that inner sympathy or suppression of the voice of conscience was the reason that he did not fight for the Church with his characteristic zeal and diligence, seeing her besieged by the waves, when Truth was shaken by a storm and when he knew that he had to defend her – the reason for this was only one human weakness! Whoever is wise like him cannot but see that the destruction of universal Orthodoxy destroys everything! – Perhaps, in this past tense, he considered the intercession of some others, and most of all mine, to be sufficient for this, – and therefore he did not show himself to be an obvious defender of the truth, and, no doubt, was restrained by some temporary circumstances or worldly considerations; but I did nothing, or contributed very little to the defense of the Church, having neither sufficient power of speech nor strength – and now I am coming to corruption – and what can be lower than corruption!
If he could then think that we alone were able to protect the Church and considered it useless to undertake what others could do, then now, when I am already ready to depart from this world, I do not see anyone else besides him who could, as I think, to replace me for the defense of the Church, the holy Faith, and the dogmas of Orthodoxy, and, for this reason, I entrust this matter to him. Being not only called, but also compelled by present circumstances, may he ignite the sparks of piety living in him, and may he stand up for the holy Church, for Orthodoxy, and may he lead, with the help of God, to the desired end what I could not complete myself. So, he will succeed in this, according to the goodness of God, with his own wisdom and with the gift of eloquence that he possesses — if these gifts are used by him at the proper time.
In any case, he is obliged, both before God and before the holy Faith and the Church, to faithfully and piously stand up for Orthodoxy; but no less than that, I myself command this struggle to him — let him replace me, the Warrior of the Church; let him pour out holy teaching, according to Orthodox dogmas, and let him be a defender of the truth! May he firmly trust in the help of God and in the very truth of those dogmas for which he fights; holy Church teachers will co-exist with him, divinely inspired holy fathers with him, great theologians with him; he will receive retribution from the Supreme Judge, from the One Who will call to Himself all who struggled for the Faith. Obliged to the Church to use all his strength to uphold the dogmas of Orthodoxy, he must also, at the solemn moment of my death, pledge himself to me, who bequeaths this feat to him, in the hope that my labors, continued to them will bring forth fruit a hundredfold, like seed sown in good ground. And so, may he answer me to this, so that I may be completely calm before I depart from this life, and so that I do not die in sorrow, despairing of saving the Church!
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