Saint Marc d'Aréthuse, évêque
Marc se laissa d'abord
entraîner dans les rangs des évêques qui acceptèrent l'arianisme, cherchant
d'abord un compromis avec la foi orthodoxe. Quand il s'aperçut que c'était
impossible, il rejoignit la doctrine des saints conciles. Lors de la
persécution de Julien l'Apostat, il la fuit pour ne pas s'exposer sans
nécessité. Lorsqu'il apprit que des fidèles de son Eglise étaient soumis à la
torture, il se livra aux païens. Sans respect pour le vieillard qu'il était, il
fut livré à des tourments les plus ignominieux. Finalement vaincus par son
endurance, ses tortionnaires le libérèrent et il mourut quelques années plus
tard, en 364.
Saint Marc d'Aréthuse
Evêque d’Aréthuse
en Syrie et martyr (✝ 364)
et plusieurs autres
martyrs en Terre Sainte.
Marc se laissa d'abord entraîner dans les rangs des évêques qui acceptèrent
l'arianisme, cherchant d'abord un compromis avec la foi orthodoxe. Quand il
s'aperçut que c'était impossible, il rejoignit la doctrine des saints Conciles.
Lors de la persécution de Julien l'Apostat, il la fuit pour ne pas s'exposer
sans nécessité. Lorsqu'il apprit que des fidèles de son Église étaient soumis à
la torture, il se livra aux païens. Sans respect pour le vieillard qu'il était,
il fut livré à des enfants qui, pour s'amuser, le mirent à nu, l'enduisirent de
saumure et de miel, l'enfermèrent dans une cage suspendue, exposé aux ardeurs
du soleil et aux dards des guêpes. Finalement vaincus par son endurance, ses
tortionnaires le libérèrent et il mourut en paix quelques années plus tard.
Commémoraison de saint Marc, évêque d’Aréthuse en Syrie. Par esprit de
conciliation, il proposa une formule de foi capable d’apaiser les discussions
entre les fidèles de Nicée et les ariens, ce qui le rendit suspect aux
orthodoxes. Sous Julien l’Apostat, des païens le torturèrent grièvement, mais
il survécut et mourut en paix l’an 364, salué par saint Grégoire
de Nazianze comme un homme remarquable et un très savant
vieillard.
Martyrologe
romain
Mark of Arethusa BM (AC)
Died c. 362. Bishop Mark of Arethusa on Mount Lebanon, Syria, one of those
caught in the web of unfortunate history. Mark was present at the synod of
Sirmium where he produced a creed for which he was unjustly accused of Arianism
by Baronius, who excluded his name from the Roman Martyrology nor is he
venerated in the Western Church. He had been long engaged in the errors and
intrigues of the Semi-Arians; but the encomiums given him by Saint Gregory
Nazianzen, Theodoret, and Sozomen, when they relate his sufferings, show that
towards the end of the reign of Conmantius, he joined in the orthodox
communion.
When Emperor Constantius
and his eldest son were killed by his uncle, Julius Constantius, the two
younger sons, Gallus and Julian, narrowly escaped death. Bishop Mark concealed
and provided for Julian, later to be known as the Apostate. When Julian
ascended the throne, he commanded that the Christians rebuild the temples that
they had demolished. On the authority of Constantius, Mark had destroyed a
magnificent, highly esteemed temple and built a church in its place. When the
pagans again found themselves in authority and sought revenge upon him, Mark
went into hiding.
From his refuge he learned
that members of his flock were suffering in his stead, so he returned and
surrendered himself. He was seized and dragged through the streets by his hair,
stripped, scourged, and finally handed over to schoolboys. Like Saint Cassian
of Imola, Saint Mark is said to have been maimed, then stabbed (to death?) by
iron pens.
The myth continues that he
survived many other tortures and insults, and continued to refuse to rebuild
their temple, because it would be impious to contribute to such idolatrous
work. At length the fury of the people was turned into admiration of his patience,
and they set him at liberty; and several of them afterwards begged of him to
instruct them in the faith that was capable of inspiring such a resolution.
Having spent the remainder of his life in the faithful discharge of the duties
of his station, he died in peace under Jovian or Valens.
Myths and innuendo aside,
the Bollandists have vindicated Saint Mark of any complicity in semi-Arianism.
They state that he actually died a martyr under Julian the Apostate (Attwater,
Attwater2, Benedictines, Husenbeth).
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March 29
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St. Mark, Bishop and
Confessor
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SOME Greeks rank among the saints on this
day Mark, bishop of Arethusa, in Syria, in the fourth age. When Constantius
put to death his uncle Julius Constantius, brother of Constantine the Great,
with his eldest son; the two younger, Gallus and Julian, narrowly escaped the
sword. In that danger Mark concealed Julian, and secretly supplied him with
necessaries for his subsistence. When Julian became emperor, he commanded
that the temples which had been demolished by Christians, during the two
preceding reigns, should be rebuilt at their expense. Mark had, by the
authority of Constantius, demolished a very magnificent temple which was held
in great veneration by the idolaters: he had also built a church, and
converted a great number of infidels. Authorized by the law of Julian, the
heathens of Arethusa, when they saw themselves uppermost, fell on the
Christians; and Mark, finding that they were ready to show their resentment
against him in particular, which they had long concealed, he at first,
pursuant to the gospel precept, betook himself to flight to escape their
fury. But understanding that they had apprehended some of his flock instead
of him, he returned and delivered himself up to the persecutors, to animate
others in the same cause by his example and instructions. They seized him
soon after his return, dragged him through the streets by the hair, or any
part they could lay hold of, without the least compassion for his age, or
regard for his virtue and learning. Having stript him, and scourged him all
over his body, joining ignominy and insults with cruelty, they threw him into
the stinking public jakes. Having taken him from thence, they left him to the
children, ordering them to prick and pierce him, without mercy, with their
writing-styles, or steel pencils. They bound his legs with cords so tight, as
to cut and bruise his flesh to the very bone; they rang off his ears with
small strong threads; and in this maimed bloody condition they pushed him
from one to another. After this they rubbed him over with honey and fat
broth; and shutting him up in a kind of cage, hung him up in the air where the
sun was most scorching, at noon-day, in the midst of summer, in order to draw
the wasps and gnats upon him, whose stings are exceedingly sharp and piercing
in those hot countries. He was so calm in the midst of his sufferings, that,
though so sorely wounded and covered with flies and wasps, he bantered them
as he hung in the air; telling them, that while they were grovelling on the
earth, he was raised by them towards heaven. They frequently solicited him to
rebuild their temple, but though they reduced their demands by degrees to a
trifling sum, he constantly answered that it would be an impiety to give them
one farthing towards such a work. This indeed would be to concur to
idolatrous worship; but his demolishing the temple would have been against
the order of law and justice, had he done it without public authority. At
length the fury of the people was turned into admiration of his patience, and
they set him at liberty; and several of them afterwards begged of him to
instruct them in the principles of a religion which was capable of inspiring
such a resolution. Having spent the remainder of his life in the faithful
discharge of the duties of his station, he died in peace under Jovian or
Valens. He is not named in the Roman Martyrology, nor venerated by the church
among the saints. He had been long engaged in the errors and intrigues of the
Semi-Arians; but the encomiums given him by St. Gregory, Nazianzen,
Theodoret, and Sozomen, when they relate his sufferings, show that towards
the end of the reign of Constantius, he joined in the orthodox communion.
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Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
III: March. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
Saint Mark of Arethusa
Profile
Bishop
of Arethusa,
Mount Lebanon.
Attended the 351
synod at Sirmium where he produced a creed that got him falsely labelled an Arian.
He was struck from the Roman
Martyrology for
years, but research by the Bollandists
vindicated him and restored his name to the roles.
- martyred
in 362
during the persecution
of Julian
the Apostate
St Mark the Confessor, Bishop of
Arethusa in Syria.
Commemorated
March 29 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion
From the Prologue
St
Gregory the Theologian and Blessed Theodoretus have given us an account of his
sufferings. According to these accounts, Mark destroyed some pagan temples and
brought many to the Christian faith during the reign of the Emperor
Constantine. But when the Emperor Julian came to the throne and quickly became
an apostate from the Faith, some of the inhabitants of Arethusa renounced
Christ and lapsed into paganism. They rose up against Mark because he had
demolished the temple and demanded that he either rebuild it or pay them a very
large sum of money. As Mark refused to do either the one or the other, he was
flogged and flayed and dragged through the streets. They then cut off his ears
with strong, fine threads, stripped him naked, smeared him with honey and left
him bound to a tree in the summer heat for the wasps, mosquitoes and hornets to
eat. The martyr of Christ endured all this without complaint. He was quite old,
and his face shone like an angel of the Lord. The pagans lowered the price of
their temple again and again, finally demanding a quite insignificant amount
which Mark could easily have given. But he refused to give even a single coin
for that purpose. His endurance made a great impression on the citizens, and
they began to admire him for it and to feel sorry for him, and gradually
reduced the price of their temple to nothing just to allow him to remain alive.
Finally, they let him go free and, one by one, all came to him to receive
instruction and become Christians again. A deacon, Cyril, also suffered at this
time for a similar cause in Heliopolis at the foot of mount Lebanon. He had
broken some idols at the time of the liberation of Christianity and was cruelly
tortured under Julian for this. The pagans were so enraged with him that, after
they had killed him, they tore out his teeth and ripped open his stomach. Many
others suffered on the same day as St Cyril. The evil pagans cut their bodies
into small pieces, coated them with barley and fed them to the pigs. But
retribution came swiftly upon them; all their teeth fell out and their mouths
emitted an unbearable stench.
From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai
Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK
SOURCE : http://www.orthodox.net/menaion-march/29-st-mark-the-confessor-bishop-of-arethusa-in-syria.html
Hieromartyr Mark the Bishop of Arethusa,
who suffered under Julian the Apostate
Hieromartyr Mark, Bishop
of Arethusa, suffered for his faith in Christ under the emperor Julian the
Apostate (361-363). By order of the emperor Constantine (May 21), St Mark had
once destroyed a pagan temple and built a Christian church.
When Julian came to the throne,
he persecuted Christians and tried to restore paganism. Some citizens of
Arethusa renounced Christianity and became pagans. Then St Mark’s enemies
decided to take revenge on him. The old bishop hid himself from the persecutors
at first, but then gave himself up when he learned that the pagans had tortured
many people in their search for him.
The holy Elder was led through
the city and given over to torture. They tore out his hair, slashed his body,
dragged him along the street, dumped him in a swamp, tied him up, and cut him
with knives.
The pagans demanded that the holy
bishop pay them a large sum of money to rebuild the pagan temple, and he
refused to do so. The persecutors invented several new torments: they squeezed
the Elder in a foot-press, and they cut off his ears with linen cords. Finally,
they smeared the holy martyr’s body with honey and grease, then hung him up in
a basket in the hot mid-day sun to be eaten by bees, wasps, and hornets. St
Mark did not seem to notice the pain, and this irritated the tormentor all the
more.
The pagans kept lowering the
price he had to pay for their temple, but St Mark refused to give them a single
coin. Admiring him for his courage and endurance, the pagans stopped asking him
for money and set him free. Many of them returned to Christ after hearing his
talks.
St Gregory the Theologian
(January 25) describes the sufferings of St Mark in his First Oration against
Julian. Theodoritus of Cyrrhus also mentions him in his CHURCH HISTORY (Book 3,
Ch. 6)
