St. Mark Eugenikos and the Union of the Churches

Description

Saint Mark of Ephesus and the Union of the Churches

Saint Mark, Bishop of Ephesus, is no ordinary figure. He is a multifaceted, dynamic presence in both ecclesiastical and national life. For this reason, he became a “sign spoken against”, and both his admirers and his critics have expressed starkly opposing views about him.

What remains undeniable, however, is that Saint Mark of Ephesus was admired not only by the East, but also by the West. The West admired him — and feared him — because it recognized in him an unshakable rock and a fervent champion of truth; a man who overturned and dismantled its plans.
But for us Greeks, the Bishop of Ephesus represents even more. He is a prophetic and revelatory figure. Shaped by the spirit and thought of the God-bearing Fathers, and embodying the Orthodox spiritual consciousness of the people, he was neither shaken nor swept away by the storm of historical events.

It is within this framework that we have sought not merely to write a biography of this Orthodox hierarch, but to view him through the broader lens of our ecclesiastical and national survival.

The following pages serve a single purpose: to help us Orthodox Greeks become more deeply aware of the meaning behind the brave and historic struggles of Saint Mark of Ephesus. Nearly six centuries after his time — having seen how events have unfolded both as Church and as Nation — we can now clearly understand what that holy man stood for, what he believed, and what he entrusted to us.
With his sacred example and spiritual struggles as our sure guide, we are called to more faithfully guard our holy inheritance. At the same time, we are also called to contribute meaningfully to the true union of the Churches — a union that must remain our fervent and continual prayer to the Savior Christ.