“I proclaim Mark of Ephesus with boldness today.”

 

“I speak of that Mark whom the East caused to rise, but at whom the West trembled. That Mark, the boast of Asia and the scourge of Europe. That Mark, the luminary of the Eastern Church and the thunderbolt against Western arrogance. That Mark, the mouth of the theologians, the glory of the Orthodox, the wondrous athlete, the only undefeated and adamantine man. That Mark, I say, the great saint and God-bearer and infallible teacher of our embattled Orthodoxy. That Mark, I say, the wonder of the ages. This one I speak of—today I proclaim him with boldness.”

—St. Athanasios of Paros

I would not find a better introductory praise of the singularly great holy bishop of Ephesus than that of the most vivid Saint Athanasios of Paros.

I believe, and I record it, that Saint Mark is even more excellent than Athanasios the Great. Indeed, I am certain that that great luminary of the world will not only not be angered by this assessment of ours, but will rejoice. Athanasios the Great was called a champion of the Orthodox Faith and a defender of the Church—a true Atlas.

Yet it is even more just that the divine Mark be extolled, since he struggled so greatly for the Truth. In that holy First Council, the entire multitude of the saints were not only Orthodox, but also most holy and wonderworking. And the heretics were altogether few, either ten or a little more.

At that vile council of Ferrara-Florence, the greater part were of corrupt mind, wicked, satanic, and only a few for a time were Orthodox, but in the end, “all turned aside, together they became worthless,” they gave way and accepted the heresies of the Latins and signed the shameful Oros.

Thus, whereas Athanasios the Great defended piety together with all the rest, Mark struggled alone and alone fought against all.

It is not the same for many to bear a burden and for one alone to bear it.

He defended the patristic faith as a giant and as a titan.

Three Patriarchs, while the holy Mark was still a hieromonk, chose and appointed him as their representative and locum tenens at the Council of Ferrara: the Patriarch of Alexandria, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Patriarch of Antioch.

So renowned was the divine Mark, both in virtue and in wisdom.

I will describe only briefly the indescribable state of affairs when the delegation returned to Constantinople.

The pitiable Byzantines had yielded to all the papal demands.

They accepted a false, shallow, and treacherous union, having signed the act of union, which brought confusion, disorder, and misery to the dwindling and dying Byzantium.

A great schism and a great chasm arose between the Orthodox people and the Latin-minded “Orthodox.”

The hierarchs avoided the hierarchs, the priests avoided the priests, the monks avoided the monks, and all avoided all—with utter hatred, they turned away from them as defilements and abominations.

Yet even all that took place within the papal palace at Ferrara we could not record or present fully for the envious Latins and the Latin-minded ecumenist “Orthodox” of today.

We shall not make all the revelations from that Caiaphas-like council. They have been written in detail by others who have dealt with our lone combatant.

The situation within the papal court of Ferrara-Florence, where the council for union was convened, is hopelessly indescribable. It is worth briefly observing how many acts of coercion the scheming Papists employed and committed against the entire imperial delegation of Byzantium, which had traveled to Ferrara in Italy to agree upon the union.

Saint-loving Athanasios of Paros writes in detail about the sufferings of the Byzantine delegation at the hands of the deceitful Latins—even to the point of being deprived of their daily bread:

“The ration was once again lacking, and a period of four months passed during which, time and again, with fervent supplications, they begged for it—worse than beggars—and were not even deemed worthy of a reply. And only when it became evident that they were in danger even unto death from hunger did they finally condescend to give it to them—but only for two months.

At that distribution, the papal camerlengo named Christopher, while handing out the florins [Florentine coins], said with much pain, ‘Let these alms from the pope be given—let it be given, as though it were being cast into the sea.’

And having said this, he commanded that nothing be given to the Ephesite, as he was, he said, eating the pope’s bread like Judas, while opposing and showing enmity toward him.
‘Let a rope rather (that is, for hanging) be given to him,’ he said, ‘that it be more fitting.’

Thus did that wretched man rave against the righteous one.”

With gallows and with hanging the murderous papolaters threatened the divine Mark—and this alone numbered him among the holy confessors and martyrs.

And not only did our ancestors, the Byzantines, suffer the above, but moreover the unfortunate ones were compelled—some to sell, if they had anything of value, others to pawn their episcopal vestments and even their very garments—in order to cover some expenses, to survive, and not perish from famine.

“I refrain from speaking of the ground-sleeping of most of them, who had neither bed nor mattress to find a little rest, even in the time of freezing cold. And not for ten days, or three weeks, or at most six months, but for nearly three years did the wretched ones endure these many and prolonged hardships—those incurable evils.”

Terrible and indescribable was the situation throughout the entire three-year period of discussions. Inconceivable were the hardships of the delegation at the hands of the vile and petty-minded Latins. They even drove them to hunger and famine.

Many of the Byzantines rose up and departed, despite the emperor’s prohibition, who, fearing that others might also leave—out of the mere fifty members of the council—decided, in agreement with the pope, to transfer the council to Florence.

Such from the very outset of the council were the dispositions of the malicious Latins—blasphemers of the saints, enemies of the truth, and instruments of Satan.

A trustworthy witness to the arrogance and conceit of the ill-minded Latins is also the great teacher of the Oikoumene, the heaven-revealing Basil, who says that they neither know the truth nor condescend to learn it.

Beyond all the aforementioned sufferings of the Byzantines, I shudder especially at the tireless and most courageous struggler, the bishop of Ephesus, Mark.

An incurable hatred possessed them against him, which only increased.

They could not bear that he alone appeared as the one struggling, that he alone gave answers, that he exposed their sophistries and misrepresentations, and that he alone was seen as the mouth of the theologians and the champion of the ancestral faith.

Mark of Ephesus stood most certainly as a true and genuine Atlas, for he alone bore upon himself the entire system of the papal Church, since almost all the others had turned aside and become worthless.

As we previously stated: some out of envy, others out of fear, others through flattery and vain promises, and the majority because of the necessity brought by prolonged hardship, famine, and hunger.

How much delight, how much joy and gladness does it not bring, when on the one hand one sees so many wicked and beast-like beings, with all their violence and savagery, opposing the struggler for truth—and on the other hand, this one man alone, alone against so many, contending and prevailing.

Yet the Satan-worshipping Latins did not stop there, but committed further murderous and exterminating acts against the holy champion.

Thus, the saint-loving Athanasios of Paros reveals in his book “The Antipope,” 1981 edition, Orthodox Kypseli, page 385:

As the most wise Georgios Koressios writes in his so-called Handbook Against the Florentine Assembly, chapter 15, even the marks of martyrdom in bodily form were not lacking for him. For he says thus:

“According to the Metropolitan of Methoni, those ruthless men struck the one of Ephesus severely, so that he might sign, as it seems, the documents after the Florentine assembly. Behold, then, that he was also adorned in actuality with the marks of martyrdom. They struck, he says, the one of Ephesus. And not that they struck him simply or by chance, a little and lightly, but severely—that is, with much beating, and with wrath and great savagery.

Wherefore he also calls them ruthless—that is, inhuman and cruel. As a result, he who bravely endured the heavy beating, in order not to betray the patristic dogma, was undoubtedly ready to endure likewise anything more—even death itself.”

We take refuge in Joseph of Methoni, in Migne’s Patrologia, vol. 159, p. 1068, where the Uniate Joseph of Methoni reveals that Fra John theologized and cried out with a loud voice:

“Bring the one of Ephesus here, for I wish to overturn what was said by him.”

The envoys, seeking you, found you enraged and shouting with unintelligible cries. And when they summoned you to join the council, you replied:

“I cannot come. For this night the cardinals came, uncovered the roof of my dwelling, and with rods of fire beat my flesh. The cardinals have killed me—and now they summon me to join them? I cannot. Do you not also see the wounds?”

And he showed his flesh, saying:

“Do you see how I am entirely blackened because of the beatings?”

They, understanding his affliction, departed, reporting to the holy council that he could not attend, for he was ill.

The most impious and beast-like Latins went so far as to this point in order to change the mind of the most courageous singular giant—but they did not succeed.

I was truly struck with awe when I read this most important testimony of the saint-loving Athanasios of Paros, and the citation from Joseph of Methoni, wherein are described the unprecedented criminal acts of the cardinals against him.

He is the only one who revealed this dreadful truth about the singularly great saint, which until today no one had spoken or written.

So many composed the biography of the admirable Mark, as well as specialized studies—and yet this event remained silenced.

I am amazed at all those who engaged with the heroic and exceedingly wondrous Bishop of Ephesus—how is it that they did not notice this detail within the exceptional biography of the saint, written by Saint Athanasios of Paros, which truly captivates and astonishes the reader?

Indeed, various authors have written about the courageous and tireless saint, such as the remarkable and inimitable Athanasios of Paros, the legendary Archimandrite Spyridon Bilalis in his monumental works Orthodoxy and Papism (two volumes) and The Heresy of the Filioque, the distinguished theologian Nikolaos Vasileiadis, Metropolitan Theophilos of Gortyn and Megalopolis, Father Anastasios Gkotsopoulos, Archimandrite Kyrillos Kostopoulos, the Serbian Metropolitan Irinej Bulović, Archimandrite Kyrillos Kefallopoulos, the ecumenist professor Grigorios Larentzakis, and perhaps many others as well.

Studies were also compiled by Fr. Theodoros Zisis, the Holy Metropolis of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki, a diploma thesis by Panagiota Katsoulari, among others.

Professor Fr. Theodoros Zisis recently dealt extensively with the memoirs of Sylvester Syropoulos and with our saint, even in thirteen hour-long television broadcasts—and yet this most important piece of information he kept silent.

It is truly a matter worthy of wonder: why? Was he unaware of it, since it was never mentioned anywhere? Is it possible that he occupied himself with the wondrous struggles of Saint Mark within the wasps’ nest of the pope, as recorded by Sylvester Syropoulos, and yet missed this unimaginable detail?

All those who engaged with the biography of the saint and scourge of the papacy, Mark Eugenikos, mentioned nothing regarding this unprecedented, barbaric, and indescribable act committed by the cardinals of the most impious Latinism.

Why is this so, then? We attribute it to human oversight, without entertaining any evil suspicion or thinking of anything otherwise.

We deemed it necessary, for the first time, to publish these criminal acts of the Latins against the most courageous father and teacher, so that we might marvel and take pride in his appearance in that age—when the City was in danger from the siege of the Turks, but above all, when our Orthodox Faith itself was in peril from the infamous Papism.

The Orthodox Faith, the most precious treasure entrusted to us by God, was in grave danger from the God-cursed and filthy heretical Latinism.

For this very reason, our forefathers preferred slavery under the Turks rather than submission to the Latins.

 

Greek source: https://apotixisi.blogspot.com/2026/01/blog-post_7.html