Venerable Mark of Athens (+400)
The Venerable Mark of Athens (+400) was born in Athens. He told his life to Abba Serapion, who by the will of God visited him before his death.
In his youth the Venerable Mark studied philosophy. After the death of his parents he went to Egypt and settled in a cave on the Thracian mountain. The venerable father lived in seclusion for ninety-five years, and in all that time he saw not only no people, but not even birds or beasts. The first thirty years of his ascetic life were the hardest for the Venerable Mark. His food was the plants of the desert and the salty water of the sea. Unclean spirits harried the venerable father and shouted at him: “Get thee out of our land! Since the beginning of the world no son of Adam has set foot here; how didst thou dare to come?”
After thirty years of labour the grace of the Holy Spirit came down upon the desert-dweller. Angels brought him food, and his body was covered with hair, which protected him from frost and heat. “I have seen paradise and the Prophets Elijah and Enoch; whatever I asked, the Lord showed me all,” the venerable father told the monk Serapion. The Venerable Mark asked Serapion whether there were in the world such saints and wonderworkers as those of whom the Lord says: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matt. 17:20). As soon as the saint had spoken these words, the mountain moved and shifted five thousand cubits towards the sea. When the Venerable Mark saw this, he said to the mountain: “I did not command thee to move from thy place; go back!” And the mountain did go back to its former place. Abba Serapion fell face down. The Venerable Mark raised Serapion up and asked him: “Hast thou never seen such miracles?” “No, father,” Serapion answered. The Venerable Mark groaned bitterly: “Woe to thee, wretched earth, there are no more true Christians!”
After this the Venerable Mark invited Abba Serapion to a meal. An angel brought the food. Serapion said that he had never tasted anything sweeter. “Brother Serapion,” the Venerable Mark replied, “every day the Lord sends me one loaf and one fish, but today He has sent me two, because I have a guest.”
Before his repose the Venerable Mark commended the Christians and the whole world to the Lord, and asked Abba Serapion to bury him in the cave and to block the entrance with stones. Abba Serapion saw how angels carried up to heaven the soul of the 130-year-old monk (+400).
