Mark the Evangelist

The martyrdom of Saint Mark.Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry
(Musée Condé, Chantilly).

Illumination of St. Mark in the 11th century Trebizond Gospel

(Russian State Museum, Saint Petersburg).

Mark the Evangelist (Latin: Mārcus; Greek: Μᾶρκος; Coptic: Μαρκοϲ; Hebrew: מרקוס‎) is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main episcopal sees ofChristianity.

According to William Lane (1974), an "unbroken tradition" identifies Mark the Evangelist with John Mark,[3] and John Mark as the cousin of Barnabas.[4] An exception is found in Hippolytus of Rome, who in his work On the Seventy Apostles, distinguishes Mark the Evangelist (2 Tim 4:11), John Mark (Acts 12:12, 25; 13:5, 13; 15:37), and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10; Phlm 24).[5]According to Hippolytus, they all belonged to the "Seventy Disciples" who were sent out by Jesus to saturate Judea with the gospel(Luke 10:1ff.). However, when Jesus explained that his flesh was "real food" and his blood was "real drink", many disciples left him (John 6:44-6:66), presumably including Mark. He was later restored to faith by the apostle Peter; he then became Peter’s interpreter, wrote the Gospel of Mark, founded the church of Africa, and became the bishop of Alexandria.

St. Mark by Donatello
(Orsanmichele, Florence).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_the_Evangelist

Relics of St Mark

In 1063, during the construction of a new basilica in Venice, St. Mark's relics could not be found. However, according to tradition, in 1094 the saint himself revealed the location of his remains by extending an arm from a pillar.[26] The newfound remains were placed in a sarcophagus in the basilica.[23]

The interior of Saint Mark's Nave today

The second Gospel was written by St. Mark, who, in the New Testament, is sometimes called John Mark. Both he and his mother, Mary, were highly esteemed in the early Church, and his mother's house in Jerusalem served as a meeting place for Christians there.

In searching for information on St. Mark, I came across information on the "Saint Mark’s Cathedral"

Note: The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion of Churches, tied by faith and practice to the Church of England (the Archbishop of Canterbury being the spiritual leader).

The Anglican Church came to this continent with the English colonists of the 17th and 18th centuries. After the Revolutionary War, allegiance to the British Crown was impossible, and in 1785 the first General Convention established the Episcopal Church in the United States. Samuel Seabury was elected the first Bishop, thereby replacing the oversight of the Bishop of London. The General Convention approved the first American “Book of Common Prayer” in 1789. (The General Convention is the governing body of the Episcopal Church, consisting of the House of Bishops and the elected House of Deputies. Both houses must agree on legislation that comes before the convention for consideration.)

ORGAN PLUS CONCERT
Sunday, April 14th, 2013 at 2 PM

Norma Aamodt-Nelson and Kristin Olson will present a concert of music for organ and oboe including compositions by Walther, Bruhns, and David Dahl in Thomsen Chapel, St. Mark’s Cathedral (1245 10th Avenue E. (Capitol Hill) ~ Seattle).

Ms. Aamodt-Nelson is Organist/Music Director at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, WA and Kristin Olson, a Julliard School of Music graduate, performs with Pacific Musicworks and other early music groups as baroque oboist. She will play both baroque and modern oboe in this concert.

Admission: $10 suggested donation at the door or advance passes available at the Cathedral Shop. http://www.shopatsaintmarks.org/

The Greater Litanies

This day is honored in the Liturgy by what is called Saint Mark’s Procession. The term, however, is not a correct one, inasmuch as a procession was a privilege peculiar to April 25 previously to the institution of our Evangelist’s feast, which even so late as the sixth century had no fixed day in the Roman Church. The real name of this procession is The Greater Litanies. The word Litany means Supplication, and is applied to the religious rite of singing certain chants whilst proceeding from place to place in order to propitiate heaven. The two Greek words Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy on us) were also called Litany, as likewise were the invocations which were afterwards added to that cry for mercy, and which now form a liturgical prayer used by the Church on certain solemn occasions.

The Greater Litanies (or processions) are so called to distinguish them from the Minor Litanies, that is, processions of less importance as far as the solemnity and concourse of the faithful were concerned. We gather from an expression of St. Gregory the Great that it was an ancient custom in the Roman Church to celebrate, once each year, a Greater Litany, at which all the clergy and people assisted. This holy Pontiff chose April 25 as the fixed day for this procession, and appointed the Basilica of St. Peter as the Station.

Several writers on the Liturgy have erroneously confounded this institution with the processions prescribed by St. Gregory for times of public calamity. It existed long before his time, and all that he did was to fix it on April 25. It is quite independent of the feast of St. Mark, which was instituted at a much later period. If April 25 occur during Easter week, the procession takes place on that day (unless it be Easter Sunday), but the feast of the Evangelist is not kept till after the octave. 

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-04-25