Saint Mark Eugenikos, Metropolitan of Ephesus (†June 23, 1444) was a pillar of Orthodoxy who led the anti-union opposition to the Union of Florence, imposed on the Eastern Church in 1439. He was buried in the Church of Saint George in the Monastery of Mangana. After 1453, his relatives transferred his remains to the Monastery of Saint Lazarus in Galata; the memory of this event was preserved in the calendar of saints under January 19. His disciple, Patriarch Gennadius II Scholarius of Poland, powerfully contributed to the nationwide glorification of the saint. The solemn transfer of the saint's relics was timed to coincide with the blessed death of Saint Meletius the Confessor of Galicia . He was canonized in 1734 under Patriarch Seraphim I of Constantinople (1733-1734). Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain composed services to both champions of Holy Orthodoxy – Saint Mark and Saint Meletius. Ed.
“In the current period of human history, which can rightly be called the age of moral compromises, we especially need to recognize the value of our Orthodox teaching and dogmas, of which we can give up nothing, sacrifice nothing, or allow any compromise, without thereby retreating from the Truth and Eternal Life...” — so writes the modern biographer of St. Mark{1}, and the life of this saint truly testifies with the greatest clarity to the fact that eternal Truths cannot be given up for any other values, under any circumstances.
St. Mark, baptized Manuel, was born in Constantinople in 1391. His father, George Eugenikos, was a deacon and sacellarius (i.e., treasurer) of the Great Church, that is, St. Sophia Cathedral. At the same time, he was a mentor and professor at the ecclesiastical-secular Constantinople Higher School, the highest and best of all schools then existing in the entire world. Many young men from all over the Greek world, and some from Western Europe, flocked to this school. George Eugenikos was one of the school's most beloved and revered teachers.
The mother of St. Manuel-Mark, Maria, was the daughter of a physician who was then famous in Constantinople.
The saint's parents, both father and mother, even in those pious times, were distinguished by their piety, pious and virtuous life.
The saint's initial tutor was his father. Young Manuel was so diligent and capable that, as the synaxarion dedicated to him relates, "in his tender youth, having been given by his parents to the study of the liberal arts (rhetoric and mathematics), in a short time he traversed them, as if on wings, and surpassed all his fellow students and peers."
When young Manuel was 13, his father died. But the youth's heart did not cool in his pursuit of knowledge. He became a student of two then-famous professors in Constantinople, studying rhetoric with John Chortasmenus and philosophy with George Gemistus. This is how Manuel's younger brother, John Eugenikos, relates this: "Having lost his father at the age of 13, he by no means allowed himself to become lazy, but resorted to the best mentors - John Chortasmenus (later Metropolitan of Silivria), Ignatius Metacliphis, and then to George Gemistus - a philosopher and mathematician. From them, in a short time, he acquired the greatest knowledge, thanks to great diligence and thoroughness, as well as a wonderful mind. Then, with his kind, holy, and sedate disposition, his outward appearance, and his excellent words, he was a miracle not only for his fellow students, but also for his instructors and for everyone in general. Thus, he passed through childhood and adolescence beautifully and in a God-loving manner, rising to prominence through wonderful deeds."
Having completed his studies at the Constantinople Higher School, at the age of 24, Manuel received the title of "notary—that is, instructor of rhetoricians" and was entrusted with the important duty of interpreting Holy Scripture in the Patriarchal Church. During this time, the saint, among many other students, trained the later famous scholars George Scholarius and Theodore Agalist.
Always serious, yet kind and friendly to all, the young scholar attracted all hearts. The righteous Patriarch of Constantinople, Euthymius II (who ruled the Church from 1410 to 1416), fell in love with the saint. Emperors Manuel II (1391-1425) and John VII (1425-1448) showed him every favor.
The saint's biographer, his brother John Eugenikos, says of him: "Because of his virtue and learning, he was invited to the ever-memorable Emperor Manuel and became not only known and close to him, but also became his friend and mentor in many things. He was appointed editor of the royal writings, for he surpassed the gray hairs of our learned men in the perfection of his knowledge, and was then awarded the title of chairman of the court for the investigation of cases."
A brilliant worldly path opened before him. But the righteous Manuel courageously overcame this temptation. Later, recalling this time, he wrote to his disciple, who had been subjected to the same trial: "How long, O unfortunate one, will you immerse the nobility and honor of your soul in things devoid of all value?! Have not vanity and false wealth and elegantly decorated togas and other things, on which the well-being of this world is based, prevailed over you? Alas, philosopher, with a worldview so alien to a philosopher!"
And so, breaking the snares of worldly temptations, Manuel, at the age of 26, renounced the rank of chairman of the court, left the world and took monastic vows with the name Mark.
He took monastic vows in a desert monastery on the island of Antigone, located on the Sea of Marmara, south of the ancient city of Chalcedon. George Scholarius says of this: "Like the teachers of the Church, he renounced all the temptations of life, with which he was not even familiar. He devoted himself to God, and for God's sake he gave himself over to obedience to the greatest of the then-contemporary teachers of virtue." Such a teacher of virtue was the abbot of the Antigone monastery, the righteous Simeon, "that wonderful Simeon," as John Eugenicus says of him.
But St. Mark's time was filled with severe trials: by this time, the Turks had already captured all of Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula and were approaching Constantinople. The monks' stay on the island of Antigone therefore became extremely precarious. And so, after several years on the island, Saint Simeon and his disciple St. Mark moved to Constantinople, to the Mangana Monastery.
The rhetorician Manuel recounts this period of the saint's life: "In the sacred and great monastery of Mangana, he devoted himself entirely to silence. He so disliked leaving the monastery and his cell that he would not show himself to his acquaintances or even his blood relatives. There was only one thing he never tired of doing, day or night—the study of the Divine Scriptures, and thereby enriched himself with an abundance of understanding, as his written works attest."
In the Mangana monastery, St. Mark was ordained to the priesthood, and according to the testimony of John Eugenicus: “When he offered the Bloodless Sacrifice to God, he was completely filled with light, completely given over to God, existing as if outside the earth, like some angel in the flesh.”
In 1437, at the age of 46, St. Mark was elected to the cathedra of Metropolitan of Ephesus. St. Mark consented to the episcopal ordination against his will, as he himself says: "By command and need of the Church of Christ, I accepted the episcopal service, which is above my dignity and strength." George Scholarius writes about this: "He accepted the high spiritual rank solely to defend the Church with his word: she needed the full force of his word to keep her from the corruption into which she was already being drawn by those striving for innovation. He did not choose this rank for worldly reasons. The consequences proved this."
St. Mark did not remain with his Ephesian flock for long. Already at the end of 1437, on November 24, he left with other Greek hierarchs for the Council of Ferrara-Florence.
The most important period in the life of St. Mark begins, which most of all glorified his name as a courageous and invincible defender of the truth of Orthodoxy.
But one should not think that St. Mark went to the Council of Ferrara-Florence with a preconceived conviction of the uselessness and harmfulness of this matter, with the intention of opposing this Council. Both St. Mark and all the Greek hierarchs heading to Italy at that time, headed by Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople (1416-1439), were inspired by the hope of the possibility of returning the Roman Church to Orthodoxy. Recognizing the indisputable truth of the Orthodox faith, they were convinced that with God's help they would succeed in convincing the Latins. However, the sending of God's help requires, above all, sincerity of heart and honesty of intention. The Lord condemns deceit and cunning most of all. "He frustrates the plans of the crafty, and does not suffer their hands to complete their enterprise. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning comes to nothing," teaches us the Book of Righteous Job (5:12-13), and St. Apostle Paul refers to these words (1 Cor. 3:19). Meanwhile, in the hearts of the Greeks, perhaps even initially only subconsciously, there lived a cunning spirit - a readiness to sacrifice the purity of Orthodoxy for military assistance from the West, and in the hearts of the Latins there was a cunning plan: to take advantage of the misfortune of the Greeks in order to break their resistance.
The situation for the Greeks during this era was truly extremely difficult. Byzantium now controlled only Constantinople and its immediate environs, and the separate Kingdom of Trebizond on the Black Sea coast remained free. Serbia, Bulgaria, and Hungary had long since been enslaved by the Turks.
The mood of the Greek hierarchs was most clearly expressed by the Kiev Metropolitan Isidore{2}, who said when complications arose: "It is better to unite with the Latins in soul and heart than to return without finishing the matter. It is, of course, possible to return, but how to return - where and when?"
For their part, the Latins, instead of a brotherly attitude towards the oppressed Greeks, instead of a caring and sincere desire to explore and comprehend the Truth, showed only a desire to exploit the plight of the Greeks and force them into complete ecclesiastical capitulation.
Having left Constantinople at the end of November 1437, the Greeks arrived in Ferrara only on March 4, 1438.
The council was solemnly opened on April 9. At the ceremonial meal, St. Mark, on behalf of the entire Greek clergy, delivered a speech to Pope Eugenius IV. This speech clearly expressed both the saint's hopes for the possibility of uniting with the Latins in the perfect, undiminished truth of Orthodoxy, and his fears about the possibility of a different approach to the problem of unification.
He said: "Today is the beginning of universal joy! Today the members of the Body of the Lord, previously divided and dismembered for many centuries, are hastening toward mutual unity... I beseech you , says the apostle, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, and let there be no dissension among you . When we do not speak in unison, is it not evident how great this division is among us even to this day? Where is this division? Not in corners, not in some nooks and crannies, not in private gatherings where it can be hidden from many, but explicitly, in the Creed, in the baptismal confession, in the Christian sign. And if he who counterfeits the royal coin is worthy of great punishment, then what answer does he think to give?
So, consider this, most holy Father. Once we confessed the same thing completely and there was no schism between us, and then we, both sides, were in agreement with the Fathers. Now, when we do not say the same thing, how can we be together? We Orthodox say the same thing now as we did then... But you, having introduced an innovation, thereby reveal that you are in disagreement both with yourselves and with the common Fathers, and finally, with us. Why then should we not return to that good agreement which will show us to be of one confession and will abolish schism, and will gather those who have separated, and will do all good?
For the sake of the Trinity itself, for the sake of our common hope, do not allow us to leave without fruit and without success! We pray for Christ, as God who prays through us."
Initially, in Ferrara, discussions of controversial issues, primarily the question of the procession of the Holy Spirit, were relatively free and to some extent sincere. However, even here, seeing that the Greek hierarchs were not easily compelled to make concessions, the Latins began to apply pressure: reducing funds allocated for the maintenance of the Greeks and using threats.
In February 1439, at the request of the Pope, the Council was transferred to Florence, where the papal influence was stronger.
Here the Latins almost ceased to be shy. After unsuccessful disputes over the Creed, they forced the Greek hierarchs to remain completely silent through pressure and threats, and a series of Council sessions were held with only the Latins participating. Even the obsequious Metropolitan Isidore briefly lost patience with this, and at the Council's final official session he sarcastically remarked: "When only one wrestler enters the arena, it is natural that he emerges victorious."
But if at the official sessions of the Council the Latins triumphed through threats and tricks, then in sincere human hearts the opposite sometimes happened.
The historian Syropoulos relates that a group of Catholic hermit monks came to listen to a debate between Orthodox and Roman Catholics over the legality of adding the Filioque. After hearing both sides, the monks declared publicly, "There is no doubt that the Greeks possess the true faith and have preserved sound dogmas." For this, they were exiled, forbidden to speak to the people, and called "ignoramuses who understand nothing of theology beyond their monastic life." They were imprisoned in a monastery, imprisoned indefinitely, and sentenced to a penance of silence.
St. Mark, who published his short work "Dialogue with a Latin on the Addition to the Creed", greatly contributed to such phenomena.
In this dialogue, St. Mark recalls the decree of the Third Ecumenical Council: "In no way do we permit the faith set forth by our fathers, that is, the Symbol of Faith, to be violated. We do not permit either ourselves or others to change a single word of its content, or even to violate a single syllable, remembering Him who says: ' Do not remove the bounds of the eternity which your fathers have ordained ' (Prov. 12:28), for it was not they who spoke, but the Spirit of God the Father who spoke through them."
St. Mark continues: “After that Council, the Fourth Ecumenical Council was convened, which confirmed: ‘This holy and blessed Creed of Divine grace is sufficient for the full knowledge of piety and the confirmation of divine grace, for it teaches perfectly about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.’ Do you hear: ‘it teaches perfectly.’ Thus, there is nothing imperfect in it regarding the Spirit, and the Creed does not need additions. In the end, the Fathers of the Council decree: No one is allowed to introduce another faith. Those who dared to write or compose another faith (i.e. another Symbol), if they are bishops or clergy, are to be alienated, and if they are laymen, they are to be anathematized.”
At the end of the dialogue, St. Mark quotes the Latin's words, which he had undoubtedly often heard under similar circumstances, after his own sincere and passionate conversations: "The Latin says: I have truly never heard anything like this before. I am amazed now that those who once dared to introduce an addition to the Creed, despite such prohibitions, were not ashamed to pronounce it and pass it on to posterity."
Then, seeing that the union was in danger of collapsing, Emperor John, through the same Metropolitan Isidore, asked the Pope: "What will the Greeks gain if the union is concluded?" The question was posed bluntly: the Pope was being offered the Orthodox Church. This was a terrible moment in the history of the Orthodox Church. It is intrinsically akin to the moment when Christ's disciple addressed the Sanhedrin, saying: " What will you give me, that I may betray Him? "
The Pope understood and sent three cardinals to the Greeks, who, on behalf of the Pope, promised that if the union were concluded, the Greeks would receive the following: 1) The Pope would bear the costs of returning the Greeks to Constantinople. 2) At the Pope's expense, 300 soldiers would be maintained in Constantinople to defend it from the Turks. 3) At the Pope's expense, two war galleys would be maintained in the waters of Constantinople. 4) The Pope would organize a Crusade to Jerusalem, which would pass through Constantinople and defeat the Turks. 5) If necessary, the Pope would send the Emperor 20 large warships. 6) If there is a need, the Pope will call upon the troops of the Western rulers to help the Greeks.
We know that these promises were never fulfilled.
On June 3, the Greeks gathered for a final decision on the issue and to vote. The Patriarch declared that he accepted the Latins' position and concluded union and communion with them. After him, one after another, the Greek hierarchs declared that they, too, accepted the Patriarch's dogma of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son as from a single origin. Only St. Mark of Ephesus, Anthony of Heraclia, and two other bishops refused to give their consent to this opinion.
However, all the other hierarchs were eventually broken, and St. Mark alone remained unshakable.
The Patriarch, the Emperor, and all the bishops, members of the Council, tried to convince him. St. Mark firmly and clearly justifies his steadfastness. When the Greek hierarchs cried out to him: "Find us a way out—economy!" St. Mark replied: "Matters of faith do not allow for economy." And he adds: "Can there be something in between truth and falsehood, denial and affirmation, between light and darkness? And although between light and darkness there is something in between, called twilight, nevertheless between truth and falsehood there is nothing in between."
Subsequently, giving a divinely inspired categorical rule in matters of faith for all times, he bequeaths to the entire Orthodox world: “Never, O man, is that which pertains to the Church resolved through compromise.”
With all this, he remained humble in a Christian way and in no way attributed to himself the merit of his firm stand for Orthodoxy; he was never imbued with a spirit of fanaticism and condemnation of those less steadfast. Defending one of his friends, temporarily tempted by the Union, he later said: "Being at the head of the struggle led by certain individuals, and in particular by me, he (George Scholarius) did not then reveal himself as an open champion of Truth, being compelled, perhaps, by councils or people. But before, I also contributed nothing, or very little, to the struggle, not having enough strength or zeal.”
But this is not what church history testifies to us. It says: "He alone appeared, from the beginning, through the middle, and even to the end, as a double-edged sword against the lawless weeds in the noble sowing of the sacred dogmas of the Church, as a divinely inspired trumpet of theology and an unbreakable river of pious writings and definitions of the Holy Fathers, a fearless and valiant defender of the Spirit."
The great rhetorician Manuel speaks thus of St. Mark's struggle for the truth of Orthodoxy: "While all turned their backs on their opponents, he alone proclaimed the Truth before kings and rulers and in no way permitted the erroneous addition to the Creed, but, courageously fighting against his attackers and steadfastly following in the footsteps of the holy and God-bearing fathers, he openly preached to all the One Beginning in the immutable and divine Trinity, that is, the Father, from Whom the Son is born, and the All-Holy Spirit proceeds, as from a single Cause."
On June 10, 1439, Patriarch Joseph died. Ill for a long time, he had shown weakness in defending the faith, but God's mercy spared him the shame of signing the act of union. The Russian historian Bishop Porfiry Uspensky writes of him: "Patriarch Joseph, in the name of state interests, desired union and persuaded the recalcitrant, but he constantly struggled with his sincere Orthodoxy, and this struggle brought him to the grave prematurely, sparing him from signing the act of union."
On July 4, the Greeks sent the following statement to the Latins: “We agree with your teaching and with your addition to the Creed, we conclude a union with you and recognize that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, as from one single Beginning and Cause.”
It was already almost a complete capitulation.
Вскоѣ послѣдово согласіе и на всѣ другие піты светскаяго вероучение: встречаіе примата Паы, судованіе помощь, преоследленія на св. Литургіи не Благоіемъ и обключениеніемъ Славаго Духаго, а влим Кристиновых: «приімеите, ядете...»
On Sunday, July 5, the Greek hierarchs signed the union. The emperor signed, signed all the hierarchy, even those who were opponents of the Union, as Metropolitan Anthony of Iraq. Not signed only one - Mark Metropolitan of Ephesus.
The supporters of the union demanded that St. Mark be either forced to sign or anathematized. But when Metropolitan Isidore made this demand before the assembly of Greek hierarchs, the majority responded: "Be content that we signed what we had no intention of signing. And you still won't become patriarch!"
The absence of St. Mark's signature was fatal to the union. Despite the fact that it was signed by the emperor, representatives of the eastern patriarchs, and almost all the metropolitans and bishops of the Church of Constantinople, the union was still not accepted by the Orthodox Church, which at that moment was embodied by a mortally ill, lonely, exhausted hierarch, disgraced by the authorities of this world, but irresistibly powerful because he embodied Divine Truth—St. Mark of Ephesus.
Pope Eugenius IV understood the significance of St. Mark most clearly. When the cardinals solemnly presented him with the act of union signed by the Greek representatives, the Pope asked whether Mark of Ephesus had signed it, and not seeing his signature, he said: "So we have done nothing."
A few days after the signing of the union, the Pope addressed the Greek bishops and the Emperor with a demand that read: "Since we have now come to the unity of faith, and since I am your head, I must give you several reminders: 1) Your practice regarding divorce must be corrected. 2) Marcus Eugenikos must be punished as a rebel against the union; and 3) Another patriarch must be elected here in place of the deceased patriarch."
But the emperor and the Greek bishops were already tired of concessions. This time they refused to comply with the papal reminders.
The Pope then demanded that St. Mark appear before him for an interview. St. Mark humbly agreed. During the interview, he said to the Pope: "The Councils of the Church condemned as rebels those who violated any dogma and preached so. And first the Church condemned the heresy itself, and then condemned its leaders and champions. But I by no means preached my own doctrine or introduced anything new into the Church. I held only to that doctrine which the Church received intact from our Savior and in which she has steadfastly remained until now. "This teaching, even before the schism that arose between us, the Holy Roman Church, no less than our Eastern Church, always held as sacred. And if I adhere to it and do not allow myself to deviate from it, what Council will subject me to the condemnations to which heretics are subjected? For the teaching to which I adhere must first be condemned. If you recognize it as pious and orthodox, then why am I worthy of punishment?"
After that, on August 26, 1439, the emperor and all the Greek hierarchs finally left Florence through Venice for Constantinople, where they arrived on February 1, 1440.
The Greek bishops did not return to their homeland with triumph or joy. As Anthony of Heraclius relates, they themselves said with sorrow to those who questioned them about the Council: "We have sold our faith, exchanged piety for impiety..." The people asked them: "Why did you sign?" - "For fear of the Franks." - "Were you scourged, imprisoned?" - "No. But since our hand has signed, let it be cut off; since our tongue has confessed, let it be torn out." A painful state of affairs reigned in the city. Despite the onset of Great Lent, there were no services, since no one wanted to serve with the hierarchs who had apostatized from Orthodoxy, and they themselves did not dare insist on this.
However, after several months of hesitation, the emperor decided to implement the union. Patriarch Mitrophan, a supporter of the union, was chosen as Patriarch Joseph's successor (and after his death, the extreme uniat Gregory Mammas), and the commemoration of the Pope was introduced at all services. Persecution of St. Mark began. He had no supporters among the bishops. But the overwhelming majority of the monastic and rural clergy saw him as the sole confessor of the Truth and turned to him with all the questions that troubled them.
On May 15, St. Mark left Constantinople and headed to his flock in Ephesus. His stay there was fraught with danger and hardship, since Ephesus had long been under the control of the Turks, who oppressed the Greeks in every way. John Eugenikos writes of this period of his life: "Actively following the path of St. John the Evangelist, and doing so for long periods with labors and hardships, being physically ill, visiting the damaged sacred churches, ordaining priests, helping those suffering injustice, defending widows and orphans, he was, like the divine apostle, all things to all."
Having spent over two years in Ephesus and feeling his strength failing, St. Mark decided to go for spiritual rest to Mount Athos, where his name was revered and venerated by the monks. However, when the ship on which St. Mark was sailing landed at the island of Lemnos, then still under Byzantine control, he was arrested by order of the emperor and thrown into prison, where he remained for two years. After his release, he returned to Constantinople, where he remained until his death. At that time, the Uniates dominated the Church in Constantinople. The patriarch was a zealous Uniate, and the rank-and-file bishops either tried to imitate him or were intimidated. But St. Mark saw that the Uniate was not accepted by either the rank-and-file clergy or the common people. Therefore, he wrote in his epistle at this time: "By the grace and power of God, the pseudo-Union is about to crumble," which happened immediately.
St. Mark died in 1444 at the age of 52. He suffered greatly for 14 years, but his death itself was bright and joyful. His last words were: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, into Your hands I commend my spirit."
He was buried in the Mangan monastery, a witness to his early holy works.
Faithful to the Truth of Orthodoxy to the end, he left a covenant to preserve this fidelity for all centuries, as the greatest treasure.
“Through the prayers of Saint Mark, O Christ our God, and of all your holy teachers and fathers, preserve your Church in the Orthodox confession forever,” with these words his oldest biographer ends his life, and we repeat them with reverence.
Lives of the Saints. No. 10. January (from 16 to 31). Munich 1966. pp. 81-93.
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For further reading:
1. Mark of Ephesus and the Council of Florence , monk Callistus Vlastos
https://azbyka-ru.translate.goog/otechnik/Mark_Efesskij/mark-efesskij-i-florentijskij-sobor/?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
2. Saint Mark of Ephesus and the Union of Florence, Archimandrite Ambrose (Pogodin)