Today, More Than Ever, Saint Mark of Ephesus Is Relevant

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The great teacher and invincible defender of the Orthodox Eastern Church, Mark, was born and raised in the Queen of Cities. He was nurtured by devout parents and educated both in secular and ecclesiastical learning, to such an extent that he was renowned for his accomplishments in both. After progressing through the ranks of the clergy, he was ultimately elevated to the dignity of archpriest and appointed to the high position of Metropolitan of Ephesus. At the persistent urging of Emperor John Palaiologos, he was sent to the Latin Synod in Florence, supposedly for the union of the Churches separated for many years. There, he astonished the representatives of the Western Church with the divinely-wise depth of his words, for he alone refused to sign the blasphemous decree of that Pseudo-synod. For this reason, the Holy Church of Christ has always honored this great man as benefactor, teacher, and unique champion and invincible defender of the apostolic confession.

The Synodal decision of 1743, under Patriarch Seraphim, declares:

“The Holy Eastern Church of Christ among us recognizes, honors, and accepts this sacred Mark of Ephesus the Eugenikos as a holy, God-bearing, and pious man, zealous in devotion, as the most valiant defender and protector of our holy dogmas and of the correct reasoning of piety, and as a follower and peer of the earlier sacred theologians and adorners of the Church.” 

Mark the Eugenikos, the Champion of Orthodoxy (Photios Kontoglou)

Saint Mark the Eugenikos, the Pillar of Orthodoxy [Church of Saint Nicholas in Kato Patision of Athens - Painted by Photios Kontoglou, 1962-63]

 

By Photios Kontoglou

“To the superstition of our common people (if superstition ever produced any good) we Greeks of today owe our existence. Without this most fortunate stubbornness of our predecessors, superstition would have increased even more, and the numerous orders of Western monks would have devastated the territory of suffering Greece, and the Nero-like criteria of the Holy Inquisition would have inflamed the Greeks." - Adamantios Korais
 

Of a thousand and two things and people, most of them insignificant, we remember and talk about. But who can remember some venerable people who saved our race from spiritual tyranny. The fear of spiritual slavery comes to us from the West just as our material slavery came to us from the East.