The See of St. Mark

The Church of Alexandria — one of the great apostolic sees of the ancient world, the see of Athanasius and Cyril — traces its foundation to the Evangelist Mark, whom Eusebius reports to have first preached the gospel in Egypt and established the churches of Alexandria. From him both the Greek (Eastern) Orthodox Patriarchate and the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria number their succession of bishops. This file sets out the earliest evidence for Mark’s Alexandrian foundation, the line of bishops that begins from him, and the shared claim of the two Alexandrian patriarchates to descend from St. Mark.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle and Evangelist)

The Earliest Evidence: Eusebius

The foundational text is Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History. Recounting the spread of the gospel, Eusebius writes: “And they say that this Mark was the first that was sent to Egypt, and that he proclaimed the gospel which he had written, and first established churches in Alexandria” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.16.1; trans. McGiffert, NPNF II/1). Eusebius goes on to describe the multitude and the rigor of the converts there, connecting them (on the authority of Philo) with an ascetic community — though that identification is itself problematic — and treats the Alexandrian church as established and flourishing from Mark’s preaching (Eusebius, HE 2.16–17). The phrase “they say” (phasi) shows Eusebius is reporting a received tradition rather than a document he can quote, but it is the earliest surviving attestation of the Markan foundation of Alexandria, and it is repeated by all later witnesses.

Jerome confirms and slightly expands the tradition: Mark “wrote a short gospel… in Egypt… and… founded the church at Alexandria,” dying “in the eighth year of Nero and [being] buried at Alexandria, Anianus succeeding him” (Jerome, On Illustrious Men 8; trans. NPNF II/3). With Eusebius and Jerome, the Markan foundation of Alexandria is fixed in the patristic record by the fourth century, and it became the settled and universal tradition of the Egyptian church.

The Succession from Mark

Eusebius’s chief interest in the History is the orderly succession of bishops in the apostolic sees, and he gives the Alexandrian line beginning from Mark. He records that “in the eighth year of the reign of Nero, Annianus [Anianus] succeeded the apostle and evangelist Mark in the administration of the parish of Alexandria” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.24.1; trans. McGiffert, NPNF II/1). Anianus — in the tradition, a cobbler whom Mark healed and converted, his first Egyptian convert (see The Alexandrian Mission) — is thus reckoned the second bishop of Alexandria, Mark himself being the first. Eusebius continues the line through Abilius, Cerdo, and onward, the Alexandrian succession being for him, as for the whole tradition, the visible guarantee of apostolic continuity from the evangelist (Eusebius, HE 2.24; 3.14, 21; 4.1). The Coptic patriarchal lists, the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, and the Greek Orthodox patriarchal succession all begin their numbering from St. Mark as first patriarch.

The Two Patriarchates: Greek and Coptic

The See of Alexandria’s history was decisively shaped by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Christological definition of Chalcedon — “one and the same Christ… in two natures” — was rejected by a large part of the Egyptian church, which held to the miaphysite formula associated with Cyril of Alexandria, and the see divided. From this division descend the two churches that exist today:

  • the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox, in communion with Constantinople and the other Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches), whose primate bears the title “Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa”;
  • the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria (Oriental Orthodox, non-Chalcedonian), whose primate bears the title “Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of Saint Mark.”

Despite the schism of Chalcedon, both patriarchates trace their succession to St. Mark and number their bishops from him as first; the Coptic Church in particular makes the “Throne of St. Mark” central to its self-understanding (Davis, The Early Coptic Papacy, 2004; on the see today, see Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem). The Markan foundation is thus a heritage shared across the Chalcedonian divide — a point of common origin for two communions otherwise separated, and one that figured in the modern gestures of reconciliation, including the 1968 return of a portion of Mark’s relics to Cairo (see The Relics and Venice).

The Honest State of the Evidence

A reference guide should be candid about the texture of this tradition. The Markan foundation of Alexandria rests on a tradition that is attested relatively early (Eusebius, early fourth century, reporting it as already established) but is not documented from the first century itself: there is no first-century source naming Mark as founder, and the silence of the New Testament about Mark’s Egyptian mission, while not surprising (Acts follows Paul, not Mark), means the foundation belongs to received tradition rather than to direct apostolic-age record [Disputed: the Markan foundation of Alexandria is the universal and early tradition (Eusebius, *HE* 2.16, reporting it as received; Jerome, *On Illustrious Men* 8) and is held without question by the Greek and Coptic Churches alike; some modern historians note that the first-century evidence is silent and that the tradition is first documented by Eusebius (c. 320s), and treat the details of the foundation as later elaboration even while accepting an early Egyptian church]. What is beyond dispute is that by the fourth century the whole Church regarded Mark as the founder of Alexandria, that the Alexandrian succession was reckoned from him, and that this conviction has shaped the identity of the See of St. Mark — Greek and Coptic — to the present day. The intellectual flowering of that see in the catechetical school (see The Catechetical School) is the historical proof of how rich a foundation it became.

See Also

References

  • Eusebius of Caesarea. Ecclesiastical History 2.16, 2.24, 3.14, 3.21. Trans. Arthur C. McGiffert, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 1. 1890.
  • Jerome. On Illustrious Men 8. Trans. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 3.
  • Davis, Stephen J. The Early Coptic Papacy: The Egyptian Church and Its Leadership in Late Antiquity. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2004.
  • Pearson, Birger A. Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman and Coptic Egypt. New York: T&T Clark, 2004.
  • The History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria (Severus of Al’Ashmunein). Trans. B. Evetts, Patrologia Orientalis 1.