The Life of the Saint, the Venerable Mark the Anchorite of Athens, that I read at the OCA Web Site affected me so profoundly that I wanted to reprint it here.Reprinted from http://www.oca.org:
Venerable Mark the Anchorite of Athens--Commemorated on: April 5
Saint Mark was born in Athens. He related his life to Abba Serapion who, by the will of God, visited him before his death.
He had studied philosophy in his youth. After the death of his parents, St Mark withdrew into Egypt and settled into a cave of Mount Trache (in Ethiopia). He spent ninety-five years in seclusion and during this time not only did he not see a human face, but not even a beast or bird.
The first thirty years were the most difficult for St Mark. Barefoot and bedraggled, he suffered from the cold in winter, and from the heat in summer. The desert plants served him for food, and sometimes he had to eat the dust and drink bitter sea water. Unclean spirits chased after St Mark, promising to drown him in the sea, or to drag him down from the mountain, shouting, "Depart from our land! From the beginning of the world no one has come here. Why have you dared to come?"
After thirty years of tribulation, divine grace came upon the ascetic. Angels brought him food, and long hair grew on his body, protecting him from the cold and heat. He told Abba Serapion, "I saw the likeness of the divine Paradise, and in it the prophets of God Elias and Enoch. The Lord sent me everything that I sought."
During his conversation with Abba Serapion, St Mark inquired how things stood in the world. He asked about the Church of Christ, and whether persecutions against Christians still continued. Hearing that idol worship had ceased long ago, the saint rejoiced and asked, "Are there now in the world saints working miracles, as the Lord spoke of in His Gospel, 'If ye have faith even as a grain of mustard seed, ye will say to this mountain, move from that place, and it will move, and nothing shall be impossible for you' (Mt.17:20)?"
As the saint spoke these words, the mountain moved from its place 5,000 cubits (approximately 2.5 kilometers) and went toward the sea. When St Mark saw that the mountain had moved, he said, "I did not order you to move from your place, but was conversing with a brother. Go back to your place!" After this, the mountain actually returned to its place. Abba Serapion fell down in fright. St Mark took him by the hand and asked, "Have you never seen such miracles in your lifetime?"
"No, Father," Abba Serapion replied. Then St Mark wept bitterly and said, "Alas, today there are Christians in name only, but not in deeds."
After this, St Mark invited Abba Serapion to a meal and an angel brought them food. Abba Serapion said that never had he eaten such tasty food nor drunk such sweet water. "Brother Serapion," answered St Mark, "did you see what beneficence God sends His servants? In all my days here God sent me only one loaf of bread and one fish. Now for your sake He has doubled the meal and sent us two loaves and two fishes. The Lord God has nourished me with such meals ever since my first sufferings from evil."
Before his death, St Mark prayed for the salvation of Christians, for the earth and everything in the world living upon it in the love of Christ. He gave final instructions to Abba Serapion to bury him in the cave and to cover the entrance. Abba Serapion was a witness of how the soul of the one hundred- thirty-year-old Elder Mark, was taken to Heaven by angels.
After the burial of the saint, two angels in the form of hermits guided Abba Serapion into the inner desert to the great Elder John. Abba Serapion told the monks of this monastery about the life and death of St Mark.
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I was most moved by the fact that he was able to move a mountain, as stated in the Gospel he quotes. It reminded me of a conversation I had with another parishioner and our priest. This parishioner was a catechumen, and he asked why no one is able to move mountains, and I remember thinking, "Because no one's faith is that strong, even the most pious monastic." I have always believed that passage from the Book of Matthew to be Christ's creative way of saying that no one's faith will ever be strong enough. If the Life of the Saint printed above is entirely accurate, then I suppose my understanding of the passage has been wrong all those years, but I'm reminded of what Fr. Thomas Hopko wrote in The Orthodox Faith (aka: The Rainbow Series): Vol.1, Doctrine:
"Because these volumes were written down in times quite
different from our own, it is necessary to read them carefully to distinguish
the essential points from the artificial and sometimes even fanciful
embellishments which are often contained in them. In the Middle Ages, for
instance, it was customary to...dress up the lives of the lesser known saints
... It was also the custom to add many elements, particularly supernatural and
miraculous events of the most extraordinary sort, to confirm the true holiness of
the saint, to gain strength for his spiritual goodness and truth, and to foster imitation
of his virtues in the lives of the hearers and readers..."
Undoubtedly, the virtues of this saint resonated within me and absolutely inspired me to try and do better. If in fact that moving of moutains was a fabrication, is that really what's important? Or was the moving of mountains merely a way of making a point to the reader of just how faithful, devoted, and pious St. Mark was? Any way you look at it, St. Mark was incredibly devoted to Christ and the ascetic life, and it will do justice to his memory and to our lives if we think of him for just one day as we go out into the world to move our own moutains - by feeding the hungry, giving assistance to the elderly, caring for children, or simply saying a kind word with a smile to someone who is having a difficult time in his/her life. Let's all get inspired and remember that...
Christ is in our midst!
