The Holy Gospel of Mark was written in Rome ten years after the Ascension of Christ. This Mark was a disciple and follower of Peter, whom Peter even calls his son, of course, spiritual. He was also called John; was the nephew of Barnabas; accompanied the Apostle Paul. But for the most part he was with Peter, with whom he was in Rome. Therefore the faithful in Rome asked him not only to preach to them without Scripture, but also to set forth for them the works and life of Christ in Scripture; he barely agreed to this, but he wrote. Meanwhile, it was revealed to Peter by God; that Mark wrote the Gospel. Peter testified that it was true. Then he sent Mark as bishop to Egypt, where by his preaching he founded a church in Alexandria and enlightened all those living in the noonday land. The distinguishing features of this Gospel are clarity and the absence of everything incomprehensible. Moreover, the real Evangelist is almost similar to Matthew, except that it is shorter, and Matthew is more extensive, and that Matthew first mentions the Nativity of the Lord according to the flesh, while Mark began with the prophet John. Hence, not without reason, some see the following sign in the Evangelists: God, sitting on the cherubim, whom the Scriptures depict as four-faceted (Ezekiel 1:6), gave us the four-shaped Gospel, animated by one spirit. Thus, in each of the cherubim, one face is called like a lion, another like a man, a third an eagle, and a fourth a calf; so it is in the work of evangelical preaching. The Gospel of John has the face of a lion, for the lion is an image of royal power; so John began with the royal and sovereign dignity, with the divinity of the Word, saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." The Gospel of Matthew has the face of a man, because it begins with the bodily birth and incarnation of the Word. The Gospel of Mark is compared to an eagle, because it begins with a prophecy about John, and the gift of prophetic grace, as the gift of keen vision and insight into the distant future, can be likened to an eagle, which is said to be endowed with the keenest sight, so that it is the only one of all animals who looks at the sun without closing his eyes. The Gospel of Luke is like a calf, because it begins with the priestly ministry of Zechariah, who offered incense for the sins of the people; then a calf was also sacrificed. Thus, Mark begins the Gospel with prophecy and a prophetic life. Listen to what he says!

Chapter One

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I send my angel before you, who will prepare your way before you. The voice of one crying: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.

John, the last of the prophets, is presented by the Evangelist as the beginning of the Gospel of the Son of God, because the end of the Old is the beginning of the New Testament. As for the testimony about the Forerunner, it is taken from two prophets – from Malachi: "Behold, I send my angel, and he will prepare the way before me" (3:1) and from Isaiah: "The voice of one crying, In the wilderness" (40:3), and so on. These are the words of God the Father to the Son. He calls the Forerunner an Angel for his angelic and almost bodiless life and for the proclamation and indication of the coming Christ. John prepared the way of the Lord, preparing the souls of the Jews for the reception of Christ by means of baptism: "Before Thy face" means that Thy angel is close to Thee. This signifies the kinship of the Forerunner to Christ, since even before kings it is mainly kindred persons who are honored. "The voice of one crying: In the wilderness...", that is, in the wilderness of the Jordan, and even more so in the synagogue of Judah, which was empty in relation to good. The way means the New Testament, the "paths" – the Old, as repeatedly violated by the Jews. For the way, that is, for the New Testament, they had to prepare themselves, and to correct the paths of the Old, for although they received them of old, they afterwards turned away from their paths and went astray.

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the land of Judah and the people of Jerusalem went out to him, and they were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

John's baptism did not have absolution of sins, but introduced only repentance for people. But how does Mark say here, "for the forgiveness of sins"? To this we reply that John preached the baptism of repentance. And what did this sermon lead to? To the remission of sins, that is, to the baptism of Christ, which already included the remission of sins. When we say, for example, that so-and-so came before the king, commanding to prepare food for the king, we mean that those who fulfill this command are favored by the king. So it is here. The Forerunner preached the baptism of repentance so that people, having repented and accepted Christ, would receive the forgiveness of sins.

And John wore a robe of camel's hair, and a leather girdle on his loins, and ate locusts and wild honey.

We have already talked about this in the Gospel of Matthew; now we will only say what is omitted there, namely: that John's garment was a sign of lamentation, and the prophet showed in this way that the penitent should weep, since sackcloth is usually a sign of weeping; the leather belt signified the deadness of the Jewish people. And that this garment signified weeping, the Lord Himself says: "We sang to you sorrowful songs (the Slavonic "weeping"), and you did not weep," calling here the life of the Forerunner weeping, because he further says: "John came, neither eating nor drinking; and they say, 'A demon is in him'" (Matt. 11:17-18). Likewise, John's food, pointing here, of course, to abstinence, was at the same time an image of the spiritual food of the Jews of that time, who did not eat the pure birds of the air, that is, they did not think about anything lofty, but fed only on a word that was lofty and directed at the mountain, but again falling into the valley. For locusts ("acrids") are an insect that jumps up, and then falls to the ground again. In the same way, the people ate the honey produced by the bees, that is, the prophets; but it remained with him without care, and was not multiplied by deepening and right understanding, although the Jews thought that they understood and comprehended the Scriptures. They had the Scriptures as if they were some kind of honey, but they did not work on them and did not examine them.

And he preached, saying, "He who is stronger than I am is coming after me, from whom I am not worthy, stooping down, to untie the strap of His shoe; I have baptized you with water, and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

I, he says, am not worthy to be even the last of His servants, who would untie the belt, that is, the knot on the strap of his boots. It is understood, however, that all who came and were baptized by John were freed through repentance from the bonds of their sins, when they believed in Christ. Thus, John loosed the straps and the bonds of sin with everyone, but he could not loose such a belt with Jesus, because He did not find this belt, that is, sin.

And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And as he came up out of the water, immediately John saw the heavens opening up, and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Jesus does not come to baptism for the remission of sins, for He did not commit sin, nor to receive the Holy Spirit, for how could John's baptism give the Spirit, when it did not cleanse sins, as I have said? But He did not go to be baptized for repentance, since He was greater than the Baptist Himself (Matt. 11:11). So, what does it come for? No doubt, in order that John would announce Him to the people. Since many flocked there, He deigned to come to bear witness before many who He was, and at the same time to fulfill "all righteousness," that is, all the commandments of the Law. Since obedience to the baptizing prophet, as one sent from God, was also a commandment, Christ fulfills this commandment as well. The Spirit descends not because Christ has need of it (for in essence He dwells in Him), but so that you may know that the Holy Spirit descends upon you also at baptism. At the descent of the Holy Spirit, the testimony was immediately pronounced. Since the Father said from above, "Thou art my Son," so that those who heard would not think that he was speaking of John, the Spirit came upon Jesus, showing that this was said of him. The heavens are opened so that we may know that they are opened to us when we are baptized.

Immediately after that, the Spirit leads Him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the beasts; and the angels ministered to him.

Teaching us not to lose heart when, after baptism, we fall into temptation, the Lord goes up the mountain to temptation, or, better, does not leave, but is led away by the Holy Spirit, showing that we ourselves should not be thrown into temptations, but accept them when they befall us. And he goes up the mountain so that, because of the desolation of the place, the devil would have the audacity to approach Him; for he usually attacks when he sees that we are alone. The place of temptation was so wild that there were many animals there. Angels began to serve Him after He had defeated the tempter. All this is set forth more extensively in the Gospel of Matthew.