MARK, St, the Evangelist, is, according to ecclesiastical testimonies, the same person who, in the Acts, is called by the Jewish name John, whose Roman surname was Marcus (Acts xii. 12, 25). He was a convert from Judaism, and the cousin of Barnabas, and was most probably of Jewish descent. We find his mother Mary a resident in Jerusalem, and entertaining the apostles at her house (Acts xii. 12). He accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their travels as an assistant (Acts xii. 25; xiii. 5), but afterwards left them and returned to Jerusalem. On this account Paul refused to take Mark with him on his second apostolical journey, but subsequently became reconciled to him, and he was present with the apostle during his captivity at Rome.
There is a unanimous ecclesiastical tradition that Mark was the companion and εἰσαγγελέτης of Peter. This epithet, according to A. Tholuck, was applied to Mark because he was the assistant of Peter, and either orally or in writing communicated and developed what Peter taught. This tradition is the more credible, as the New Testament does not contain any passage that could have led to its invention; and, moreover, the testimony in favour of the connection between Mark and Peter is so old and respectable, that it can with difficulty be called in question. It first occurs at the commencement of the second century, and proceeds from the presbyter John (Euseb., Hist. Eccl. iii. 39); it afterwards appears in Irenæus (Adv. Har. ii. 1. 1, and x. 6); in Tertulian (Contra Mart. iv. 5); in Clemens Alexandrinus, Jerome, and others. Eusebius infers (Hist. Eccl. ii. 15) from the later life of Mark, that he was with Peter at Rome. Epiphanius and others inform us that he introduced the gospel into Egypt, founded the church at Alexandria, and that he died in the eighth year of Nero's reign. This apostle is the author of the gospel which goes by his name.