Author Topic: St. Mark the Ascetic (Read 1917 times)

soulguard · « **on:** May 23, 2014, 10:12:54 AM »

I want to read the writings and sayings of St Mark the Ascetic.

Can someone post links please?

62myer · « **Reply #1 on:** May 23, 2014, 11:30:20 PM »

hello.

who is saint mark the estetic ?

shin · « **Reply #2 on:** May 24, 2014, 07:55:20 AM »

1. Because you have often asked what the Apostle means when he says that 'the law is spiritual’ (Rom. 7:14), and what kind of spiritual knowledge and action characterizes those who wish to observe it, we shall speak of this as far as we can.

2. First of all, we know that God is the beginning, middle and end of everything good; and it is impossible for us to have faith in anything good or to carry it into effect except in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

3. Everything good is given by the Lord providentially; and he who has faith that this is so will not lose what he has been given.

Extracts from St. Mark the Ascetic, 'On the Spiritual Law - Two Hundred Texts'

5. He who relies on theoretical knowledge alone is not yet a faithful servant: a faithful servant is one who expresses his faith in Christ through obedience to His
commandments.

6. He who honours the Lord does what the Lord bids. When he sins or is disobedient, he patiently accepts what comes as something he deserves.

7. If you love true knowledge, devote yourself to the ascetic life; for mere theoretical knowledge puffs a man up (cf. 1 Co 8:1).

8. Unexpected trials are sent by God to teach us to practice the ascetic life; and they lead us to repentance even when we are reluctant.

11. Those who, because of the rigor of their own ascetic practice, despise the less zealous, think that they are made righteous by physical works. But we are even
more foolish if we rely on theoretical knowledge and disparage the ignorant.

12. Even though knowledge is true, it is still not firmly established if unaccompanied by works. For everything is established by being put into practice.

13. Often our knowledge becomes darkened because we fail to put things into practice. For when we have totally neglected to practice something, our memory of it will gradually disappear.

15. When we fulfil the commandments in our outward actions, we receive from the Lord what is appropriate; but any real benefit we gain depends on our inward intention.

16. If we want to do something but cannot, then before God, who knows our hearts, it is as if we have done it. This is true whether the intended action is good or bad.

36. Whatever we do without prayer and without hope in God turns out afterwards to be harmful and defective.

Extracts from St. Mark the Ascetic, 'On Those who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works - Two Hundred and Twenty-Six Texts'

'Therefore, my son, refine the youthful impulses of your flesh, and through the virtues we have described strengthen your immortal soul and renew your intellect with the help of the Spirit. For the flesh of youth, gorged with food and wine, is like a pig ready for slaughter. The flames of sensual pleasure kill the soul, while the intellect is made a prisoner by the fierce heat of evil desire and cannot then resist such pleasure. For when the blood is heated the spirit is cooled.'

Extracts from St. Mark the Ascetic, 'Letter to Nicolas the Solitary'

shin · « **Reply #3 on:** May 24, 2014, 07:58:54 AM »

He is also known as St. Mark the Hermit and St. Mark the Monk.

soulguard · « **Reply #4 on:** May 24, 2014, 12:36:38 PM »

That man was a genius. :shocked: :stare:

btw shin where you get these quotes??

shin · « **Reply #5 on:** May 24, 2014, 01:07:41 PM »

Quote from: soulguard

That man was a genius. :shocked: :stare:

btw shin where you get these quotes??

Ho ho. I read that the words:

'"Sell everything and buy Mark!" were found on a 14th century manuscript of St. Mark's works represents how precious his writings have been considered by believers for over a millennium.'

shin · « **Reply #6 on:** May 24, 2014, 01:43:32 PM »

If you do a targeted search you should be able to find what you seek, in one form or another.

Hopefully someday there will be more done to translate works in English so more is available. :)

Learning how to do targeted searches is very helpful to finding books. You can put the book title in quotes in Google, or a portion of the words of the text.

Generally you do have to use Google at this point in time to do it to get the most results. Oddly enough these searches can fail to work as well in second-hand search engines 'powered by Google' like Startpage, I don't know why.

I bought the Philokalia in print and DVD and the Evergetinos in print, I draw from these. The former contains some Catholic works, the latter is near entirely Catholic writings, save for the publisher's footnotes.

The Philokalia has St. Mark the Ascetic's works.

shin · « **Reply #7 on:** May 24, 2014, 01:45:54 PM »

Here's a little more of St. Mark:

If you are listless when you pray or afflicted by various forms of evil, call to mind
your death and the torments of hell. But it is better to cleave to God through hope
and prayer than to think about external things, even though such thoughts may be
helpful.

No single virtue by itself opens the door of our nature; but all the virtues must be
linked together in the correct sequence.

There is a sin which is always ‘unto death’ (1 Jn 5:16): the sin for which we do not,
repent. For this sin even a saint’s prayers will not be heard.

It is a great virtue to accept patiently whatever comes and, as the Lord enjoins, to
love a neighbor who hates you.

We cannot with all our heart forgive someone who does us wrong unless we
possess real knowledge. For this knowledge shows us that we deserve all we
experience.

When the intellect forgets the purpose of true devotion, then external works of
virtue bring no profit.

Many of us feel remorse for our sins, yet we gladly accept their causes.

A mole burrowing in the earth is blind and cannot see the stars; and he who does
not trust God in temporal things will not trust Him in eternal things.

The first among all evils is ignorance; next comes lack of faith.

Every affliction tests our will, showing whether it is inclined to good or evil. This is
why an unforeseen affliction is called a test, because it enables a man to test his
hidden desires.

He who willingly accepts chastening by affliction is not dominated by evil thoughts
against his will; whereas he who does not accept affliction is taken prisoner by evil
thoughts, even though he resists them.

- from 'On Those who Think They Are Made Righteous by Works: Two Hundred Twenty Six Texts'

soulguard · « **Reply #8 on:** May 25, 2014, 02:49:51 PM »

Is there a PDF book i can down load? Including the two books with latin names that you mention?

I need a link to them.
thanks for posting St Mark

shin · « **Reply #9 on:** May 25, 2014, 10:03:51 PM »

That would be Greek, due to the Easterners being at work here.

The Philokalia is in 4 volumes in English so far, the 5th is not published. The earliest volumes contain the most pre-schism writings.

Paperbacks in 4 volumes for sale here. Just an example of the 4, you likely could find them for less elsewhere.

4 Volume PDF to buy on DVD from here, including paperback master reference guide.

I believe you can download free PDFs on the Internet Archive but I find it doubtful the publisher would have released them entirely so. I don't however know.

The Evergetinos itself is only available in print.

Since it's a huge compilation of the Desert Fathers you go read them elsewhere in smaller amounts and older English if you can't acquire it.

The Paradise of the Fathers volume 1.

The Paradise of the Fathers volume 2.

These books reveal the priceless secrets of the spiritual life, how to overcome the passions and the demons, and how to become a saint.

shin · « **Reply #10 on:** May 25, 2014, 10:15:56 PM »

An example of a text from the actual Evergetinos would be something like this:

Table of Contents

Book One

Hypothesis I

No one should despair ever, even if he has committed many sins, but should have hope that through repentance, he shall be saved.

Hypothesis II

As long as we are in the present life, we must do good here and not delay until the future. For after death we cannot set things right.

Hypothesis III

Concerning how we should repent.

... This is how the chapters go, and then there each chapter is full of extracts from the Desert Fathers on each subject.

Hypothesis XVIII is 'It is necessary for one who wishes to be saved to seek the company of virtuous people and, as a thing much beneficial, to question them with exceeding desire and flaming zeal, so as to learn from them all those things which are essential to the salvation of the soul'

And an extract from it is:

From Abba Mark

A man advises his neighbor in accordance with what his neighbor knows. Correspondingly, God acts on one who hears Him according to the degree of his faith. A man of forebearance becomes wise, just as does he who is careful to listen to words of wisdom. Do not refuse to learn, even if you are very wise, for the Providence of God avails more than our wisdom.

He who wishes to take up the Cross and follow Christ must, before acquiring any other knowledge or learning, attend to the constant examination of his thoughts and take care of his soul's salvation, eagerly consulting with those servants of God who are of like mind and spirit, who fight the same fight, so that he will not be in danger of walking without a bright lamp in the darkness, ignorant of where he is going and how he will get there. For he who walks according to his desires, without knowledge of the Gospel and discretion and without the guidance of another, stumbles frequently and falls into many pits and traps of the Evil One. The same fall prey to divers deceptions, toiling greatly but falling into various dangers, not knowing what will be his end.

Indeed, many have endured great toils and numberless ascetic feats and have suffered much ill treatment and many hardships for God; despite this, however, their self-styled life, lack of discretion, and neglect of what was best for their neighbor have caused all their labors to be worthless, and in the end a waste of effort.