Mark of Athens

Venerable Mark of Athens was a hermit and fool for Christ, born in Athens, venerated among the fathers of the desert. He is commemorated on 5 April. He is depicted naked, with white hair and crossed arms. He lived around the year 400.

According to his life, Saint Mark studied philosophy. When his parents died, he withdrew to Egypt and settled in a cave of a mountain called the Thracian mountain, in Ethiopia. The devil did not leave him without temptations. Unclean spirits watched and pursued him, swearing that they would drown him in the sea and, seizing him, dragged him from the mountain with a great cry, commanding him to leave their land and asking how he had dared to come where no human being had come since the beginning of the world.

The sources say that Mark saw a likeness of divine paradise and in it the prophets of God Elijah and Enoch. He told the vision to the monk Serapion. Mark asked Abba Serapion whether the world stands in the law of Christ and whether the persecution of Christians continues. He also asked whether there are saints now in the world who work miracles, according to the word of the Lord in the Gospel, that if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove hence, and it shall remove. Immediately after these words the mountain moved by 5,000 cubits (about 2.5 kilometres) and came close to the sea. Seeing this, Mark told the mountain that he had not commanded it to move and to return to its place; the mountain returned. Abba Serapion fell on his face to the ground in fear. Mark raised him and asked whether he had not seen such miracles in his life. Serapion answered that he had not. Then Mark wept bitterly and said: Woe to the earth, for the Christians on it are Christians only in name, not in deeds. He invited him to a meal, and the food was brought by the angels of God. Serapion said that he had never eaten such good food and drunk such sweet water. Mark answered that God sends His servants many benefits: every day one loaf and one fish were sent to him, and now, for Serapion's sake, God multiplied the meal, sending two loaves and two fishes.

The sources say that Saint Mark spent ninety-⁠five years in solitude, not seeing a human face, birds or beasts. The first thirty years were the hardest: barefoot and unclothed, he suffered from heat and cold, ate rare desert plants, at times ate dust and drank bitter sea water. After thirty years the divine grace came upon him. According to the life, angels brought him food. In time long hair grew on his body, which protected him from heat and cold. He reached the hundred and thirtieth year of his life.

Before his death, Saint Mark prayed for the salvation of the earth, of Christians and of all who live in the peace and love of Christ. He commanded Serapion to bury his body in the cave and to block the entrance. Abba Serapion saw the soul of the old man of a hundred and thirty years, Venerable Mark, received into heaven, around the year 400. Two angels in the form of hermits accompanied Serapion back to the inner desert, where, in a monastery, he was able to tell of the life and death of Mark. Later he became a disciple of the great elder John.