By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Venerable Mark was industrious in all things: he devoted himself also to the study of the divine Scriptures and reached the highest degree of ascetic practice and virtue. Proof of both is, on the one hand, the discourses he composed, which are filled with every kind of teaching and benefit, and on the other hand the working of miracles that was given to him by the Savior Christ. Of these it is absolutely necessary to recount one:
When the Venerable one was in the courtyard of his hermitage and, in prayer, was keeping watch over himself, a hyena came near him, bringing with it its blind little cub. With humble bearing it therefore begged the Saint to have pity on it and to heal the blindness of its child. And he, after spitting upon the wounded eyes and praying, made them healthy.
After some days, the hyena brought him the fleece of a large ram as a gift for the healing, but the Venerable one did not wish to receive it before the beast promised that from then on it would never again attack the sheep of poor people. But if he was so beloved by irrational nature, much more did he have love toward human beings, because of our common nature, which requires that we show very great compassion toward one another.
So great was the purity of the man’s soul that the presbyter of the Monastery affirmed with oaths that he himself had never given Communion of the immaculate Mysteries to the monk Mark; for whenever he came forward to receive Communion, an angel of the Lord would administer it to him, while he himself saw only the hand of the angel from the elbow holding the holy spoon with which the Venerable one partook of the holy Gifts.
The Venerable one withdrew from worldly cares and from all disturbances when he was at the age of forty years. And after spending sixty years in ascetic struggle, he departed to the Lord. He was short in stature, with a thin beard, and with his head shining inwardly from the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The blessed and distinguished scholar-monk Elder Theoklitos of Dionysiou, in his introductory comment on the texts of Venerable Mark the Ascetic in the Philokalia of the Sacred Neptic Fathers, says among other things the following:
“Venerable Mark the Ascetic is one of the most eminent ascetical writers of the middle Byzantine period and the most popular teacher of the ascetic life, so that Byzantine ascetical Christians used to say: ‘Sell everything and buy Mark.’ He was born in the 5th century, was a disciple of Saint John Chrysostom, and in old age withdrew to a desert, where he fell asleep in the Lord at a very advanced age. His works, however, survived through the centuries and decisively influenced monastic thought and experience…
Venerable Mark and the other Venerable Fathers did not speak, nor give permanence to their thoughts by writing them down, unless they lived the truths of the spiritual life and possessed the universal witness of the spiritual tradition. Thus this holy hermit wrote his experiences based on the Holy Scriptures and within the framework of the spiritual tradition, yet with his own personal distinctiveness, which consists in emphasizing the operation of the spiritual law.”
But Venerable Mark did not influence only monks. Every Christian soul that has examined, examines, or will examine his texts with attention and humility will perceive the grace that permeates them and will certainly be stirred and encouraged — not of course to become a monk (that is a special calling of the Lord to those who are able to receive this word) — but rather to deepen in the spiritual life and to follow the way of the Lord more consciously.
And this is the most important thing: the Lord will not judge the kind of life we choose — whether the married life or the monastic life — but whether what we choose we follow according to His holy will. And here lies the great contribution of Venerable Mark.
Through his writings, in the form of small chapters, according to the model of the Byzantine authors of his time so that they might be easy to remember, he gives a very powerful impulse to all Christians — monks or laypeople — to see the spiritual life correctly, as we said, and according to the strength of each one to follow it.
It is not accidental that the great Saint Symeon the New Theologian, one of the three who have been honored by our Church with the title of “Theologian,” advanced from his youth to the heights of holiness because he kept as a rule and principle in his life chiefly one chapter from the two hundred of the Spiritual Law of Venerable Mark:
“If you seek to be healed, take care of your conscience and do whatever it tells you, and you will benefit greatly.”
A very small sample from these chapters of the Venerable one in the Philokalia we present below:
"First of all we know that God is the beginning of every good thing, its middle, and its end. The good cannot be done or believed except through union with Jesus Christ and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."
"Do not try to resolve some difficult problem through contentiousness, but through the means prescribed by the spiritual law — namely patience, prayer, and the simplicity of hope."
"Do not say that you have acquired virtue without sorrow; for virtue acquired in comfort is untested."
"Reflect upon the result of every involuntary sorrow, and in it you will find the extinguishing of some sin."
"Many counsels from others are offered for our benefit. But for each person nothing is more suitable than his own judgment."
"Study the words of the divine Scripture through practice, and do not extend yourself into much talk, being proud of theoretical thoughts."
"The devil presents small sins as insignificant, because otherwise he cannot lead a person into greater evils."
"The one who seeks forgiveness loves humility. The one who condemns another seals his own sins."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.