Mark of Jonah

He is the son of the guardians of this property of Lazarus where Jesus often came and where he spent his night of agony. The names of his parents, Mary and Jonah, as well as this property near Jerusalem, raise questions about the similarity that might exist between this Mark and the evangelist.

"When he realized what was happening, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark. Many people had gathered there to pray".

"As for Barnabas and Saul, after completing their Mission in Jerusalem, they returned and took John, also called Mark, with them".

Several details are striking, notably that the Gathhsemane was indeed a safe property amidst the prevailing hostility, given the Protection its owner, Lazarus, received from the Roman authorities.

The young man who, roused from bed by the noise of the arrest, fled almost naked, is probably him. "A young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked." A plausible detail since the arrest happened precisely at Gathhsemane. As a counter-argument to this theory, it is noted that the text of the Acts of the Apostles calls him John, also called Mark, and not Mark, son of Jonah (John).

Apostolic Journey

Witness of the Resurrection and the Ascension, since it partly took place at Gathhsemane. He joined the ranks of the Disciples.

His Name

Name or rather nickname of Latin origin. It means "little martyr".

Where is he mentioned in the work?

EMV 55 EMV 70

EMV 196

EMV 358 EMV 372

EMV 590

EMV 625 EMV 636 EMV 638 EMV 642

Learn more about this character

We know from the Scriptures that his mother Mary was related to Barnabas.

During the continuation of the Christian persecution established in Jerusalem with the rise of Herod Agrippa I (41 AD), Mark followed Peter to Rome after accompanying his uncle Barnabas and Paul on their missionary journey. He became Peter’s Latin interpreter and participated in his apostolic works. He preached and converted the pagans of Rome, explained Jewish culture to them, and translated biblical writings from Aramaic and Hebrew into Latin.

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, around 180, affirmed (in the Anti-Marcionite Prologue) that the Gospel of Mark was written (in Latin) in Rome, based on Peter’s direct testimony; which places the date of writing around 64 / 65 AD.

In this same anti-Marcionite prologue, Mark is nicknamed "the one with the cut finger," alluding to the mutilation he inflicted on himself to avoid entering the priesthood which he felt unworthy of.

However, he became bishop (Patriarch) of Alexandria in Egypt, as attested by Eusebius, Saint Jerome, and Philo of Alexandria. Peter Damian said of him:

"He has such great influence in Alexandria that all those who came in crowds to be instructed in the faith soon reached the height of perfection through the practice of continence and all kinds of good works, so much so that one would say it was a community of monks. This result was owed less to the extraordinary miracles of Saint Mark and the eloquence of his sermons than to his eminent examples."

He was captured and cruelly martyred by the idolaters angered by his numerous conversions and died as a martyr in 67 AD. His sacred Relics were preserved in a small chapel in the small fishing port of Bucoles near Alexandria where he had suffered martyrdom.

In 828, the city of Venice in Italy sought a new powerful heavenly protector to replace Saint Theodore and rival Rome and its patron saint Saint Peter. Two Venetian merchants boldly went to steal his sacred relics from the small chapel where they had been since his death. The Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice was specially built for the occasion, and thus he became the patron saint of Venice with his lion as the city’s symbol. Mark had come to evangelize the region by boat and had been shipwrecked in the lagoon that would give rise in 452 to Venice. An angel appeared to him and said these words: "Peace be upon you Mark my evangelist, you will find rest here."

Saint Mark’s feast day is celebrated annually on April 25.

Remarkable Points

In his note no. 12 written for the site Valtorta.fr, Jean-François Lavère revisits the identification of Mark.

Mark the Evangelist and the Olive Press

At the very beginning of the 3rd century, Saint Hippolytus (Philosophumena VII, 30) nicknamed Saint Mark (κολοβωδάκτυλος) “kolobo dactylos,” meaning “mutilated finger,” a detail that has intrigued commentators for centuries. Some have inferred that Mark, Peter’s companion, “had very short fingers, although he was a tall man.” Others imagined he might have self-mutilated to avoid becoming a Levite or to escape military service... But almost all agree that Mark is the young man clothed only in a linen cloth, witness to Christ’s arrest in the Garden of Gathhsemane (Mark 14:51-52).

However, Maria Valtorta presents Mark, still a young man, as the son of Jonah and Mary, the guardians of Gathhsemane. He busied himself around the olive press and guarded it during the Passover period, as his father explained to Jesus at their first meeting: “He is my son (…) He keeps watch at the press. We have almost the entire year’s harvest in cellars under the press. It was excellent. It produced a lot of oil. When there is a crowd, some rascals mix in and burglarize places that are not guarded. Exactly eight years ago on the Preparation Day, they stole everything from us. Since then, each of us takes turns on night watch.”

This account justifies Mark’s presence at this location, intrigued by the nocturnal commotion near his olive press. The dangerous work at the olive press provides a truly logical explanation for his strange nickname, little known today.