Mark the Deacon ( la, Marcus Diaconus) was a Roman Christian

hagiographer A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

. A native of the

province of Asia The Asia ( grc, Ἀσία) was a Roman province covering most of western Anatolia, which was created following the Roman Republic's annexation of the Attalid Kingdom in 133 BC. After the establishment of the Roman Empire by Augustus, it was the ...

, he was the companion of Bishop Porphyrius of Gaza from 395 until 420, a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

in his church and his biographer. Mark worked as a

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. He met Porphyrius during one of the latter's visits there, entering his service around 395 and following him to Gaza after his appointment as bishop. Mark went to

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

to arrange the sale of the property still owned by Porphyrius there and, upon his return, the proceeds were distributed among the monasteries of Egypt and among the necessitous in and around Jerusalem. Mark was a strong ally of Porphyrius in his campaign to close the

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

temples of Gaza. He eventually became a deacon of the church in Gaza. Mark's ''Vita sancti Porphyrii'' (Life of Saint Porphyrius) is "the most detailed account of the Christianization of a smaller Greek city that we possess" and its historical value is therefore high.Frank R. Trombley, ''Hellenic Religion and Christianization, c. 370–529'', Volume 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1993), Besides that, "it is lucidly and vividly written", in some ways like a novel. It is known from versions in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

. Formerly it was known only in a Latin translation, but in 1874

Moriz Haupt Moriz or Moritz Haupt (27 July 1808 – 5 February 1874), was a German philologist. Biography He was born at Zittau, Lusatia, Kingdom of Saxony, Saxony. His early education was mainly conducted by his father, Ernst Friedrich Haupt, burgomaster o ...

published the Greek text, and a new edition was issued in 1895 by the Bonn Philological Society. Subsequently, the Georgian text came to light. It appears to have been translated from a lost

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

original. While the original text was Greek, questions have been raised about the transmission extant Greek text. It has been suggested that the preserved Greek text is in fact a back-translation from Syriac, and that the Georgian text is more reliable.

Editions

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mark The Deacon 5th-century Byzantine writers