Mark of Ephesus

who alone among the Eastern bishops refused to sign the Tomos of Union at the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1439, declaring "There can be no compromise in matters of the Orthodox Faith." Mark was born Manuel Eugenikos in Constantinople around 1392. His father George Eugenikos was a deacon and sakellarios of Hagia Sophia. After his fatheru2019s death, Manuel continued his education under John Chortasmenos and the philosopher Gemistus Pletho. He embraced the monastic life with the new name Mark, was ordained priest, and was eventually advanced to the dignity of Archbishop of Ephesus. At the insistence of Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, who sought military assistance from the West against the Turkish threat, he was sent with the Eastern delegation to the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438u20131439 to attempt the ecclesiastical union. Saint Mark argued against the Western positions on the Filioque, the papal claims to universal jurisdiction, and the doctrine of purgatorial fire. When the emperor and the ill Patriarch Joseph II and the majority of the Eastern delegation finally agreed to sign the Tomos of Union, Saint Mark alone refused. When pressured he replied: "There can be no compromise in matters of the Orthodox Faith." Pope Eugene IV declared: "Then we have done nothing." Saint Mark returned to Constantinople and urged the inhabitants to repudiate the union. He fled to Ephesus to escape house arrest. He died of an excruciating intestinal illness on June 23, 1444. On his deathbed he implored Georgios Scholarios (the future Patriarch Gennadius II) to defend Orthodoxy. His last words: "Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, into Thy hands I commit my spirit."

Mark was born Manuel Eugenikos in Constantinople around 1392 into a deeply pious and distinguished Christian family. His father George Eugenikos was a deacon and sakellarios (an important administrative officer) of the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia. His mother Maria Loukas was the daughter of a devout Christian doctor named Luke. The family was deeply rooted in the ecclesiastical and intellectual life of the imperial capital in the last decades of the Eastern Roman Empire. Manuel learned how to read and write from his father, who died while Manuel and his younger brother John Eugenikos were still children. After his father’s death, his mother continued his education by placing him under the tutelage of John Chortasmenos (who later became Metropolitan Ignatius of Selymbria), one of the great Byzantine intellectuals of the early fifteenth century. He also studied under the philosopher Gemistus Pletho, the famous Byzantine humanist who would later become a teacher to the Western European Renaissance through his visits to Italy. Manuel absorbed Pletho’s classical learning while rejecting his Neoplatonic theological speculations.

Manuel embraced the monastic life as a young man, receiving the monastic tonsure with the new name Mark. He pursued the ascetical and contemplative life with seriousness, combining the monastic discipline with continuing theological study. He passed through all the degrees of the priesthood and was eventually advanced to the dignity of Archbishop of Ephesus, one of the ancient and important sees of the Eastern Christian Church (the see of the Apostle Saint John the Theologian, the beloved disciple). His ecclesiastical and theological reputation grew rapidly; he was recognized as one of the leading theologians of the entire Eastern Christian world by his early forties. The see of Ephesus was the historic apostolic see of the beloved disciple Saint John the Theologian; the city had been the central administrative center of the early Christian Church in Asia Minor for many centuries.

who sought military assistance from the West, he was sent with the Eastern delegation to the Council of Ferrara-Florence to attempt the ecclesiastical union. The ecclesiastical situation of the Eastern Christian world in the early fifteenth century was desperate. The Ottoman Turks had conquered most of the former Eastern Roman Empire over the previous century; only Constantinople and a few coastal enclaves remained under Byzantine rule. The Ottoman armies were preparing the final assault on Constantinople. Emperor John VIII Palaeologus (1425u20131448) sought military assistance from the Western Christian powers against the Turkish threat. Pope Eugene IV offered the prospect of military assistance in exchange for the ecclesiastical reunion of the Eastern and Western Christian Churches. A great council was convened at Ferrara in 1438 and was transferred to Florence in 1439 to attempt the ecclesiastical union. Saint Mark of Ephesus was included in the Eastern delegation at the insistence of Emperor John VIII. The Eastern delegation was led by the aged and ill Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople and included the emperor himself, many bishops, theologians, and imperial officials. Saint Mark contributed to the theological discussions with particular distinction, astounding the papal teachers with the divine wisdom of his theological responses.

The central theological disputes at the Council of Ferrara-Florence concerned the Filioque (the Western addition to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed that the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son"), the papal claims to universal jurisdiction over the entire Christian Church, the Western doctrine of purgatorial fire (the purifying fire that the souls of the faithful undergo after death), and several liturgical differences. Saint Mark argued against each of the Western positions with theological precision and patristic authority. He demonstrated that the Western Filioque was a theological innovation contrary to the entire patristic tradition; the papal claims to universal jurisdiction were contrary to the ancient pattern of the five patriarchates; the Western doctrine of purgatorial fire was unsupported by the apostolic tradition. When the emperor and the ill Patriarch Joseph II and the majority of the Eastern delegation finally agreed to sign the Tomos of Union (accepting the Filioque, the papal primacy, and the doctrine of purgatorial fire in exchange for the papal promise of military assistance), Saint Mark of Ephesus alone refused to sign. He was the only Eastern bishop in the entire delegation who refused. When members of his own delegation tried to pressure him into accepting the union, he replied: "There can be no compromise in matters of the Orthodox Faith." When Pope Eugene IV heard that Saint Mark had not signed, he exclaimed: "Then we have done nothing." The papal recognition was correct — the absence of Saint Mark’s signature deprived the council of its universal authority.

Saint Mark returned to Constantinople from Florence and urged the inhabitants of the imperial capital to repudiate the dishonorable document of union. The Christian people of Constantinople rallied around him and rejected the union with overwhelming popular sentiment. The Western military assistance that had been promised in exchange for the union was meager and ineffective; Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks on May 29, 1453, despite the union. Saint Mark traveled from Constantinople to his see of Ephesus to escape the house arrest that the imperial authorities had imposed on him. He pursued his pastoral and theological work from Ephesus, organizing the faithful Christians who had remained loyal to the apostolic Faith against the impositions of the union. According to his brother John, his pastoral work at Ephesus included traveling throughout the regions of the great Evangelist John, visiting the suffering churches, especially constructing the metropoly church, ordaining priests, and helping those suffering injustice.

The biblical foundation of Saint Mark of Ephesus’s refusal to sign the Tomos of Union is the apostolic teaching of Saint Jude that the faithful Christians must contend for the apostolic Faith that has been delivered to the saints. The apostolic Faith is not merely human theological tradition that can be revised or compromised by the human ecclesiastical authorities; it is the deposit of the apostolic teaching that has been transmitted from the apostolic generation and that must be preserved unchanged across the generations. May we, in our own particular vocations, contend for the apostolic Faith that has been delivered to us by the apostolic fathers and the great teachers of the Eastern Christian tradition.

His last words: "Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, into Thy hands I commit my spirit." Saint Mark died of an excruciating two-week intestinal illness on June 23, 1444, at the age of about fifty-two. He had suffered greatly during his final illness. On his deathbed he summoned Georgios Scholarios, his former pupil who would later become Patriarch Gennadius II of Constantinople (the first patriarch under the Ottoman dispensation after the fall of Constantinople in 1453). Saint Mark implored Scholarios to continue the struggle against the snares of the West and to defend the apostolic Faith. Scholarios received the mantle and continued the theological battle against the union for the rest of his life. According to his brother John, Saint Marku2019s last words were: "Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, into Thy hands I commit my spirit." He was buried in the Mangana Monastery in Constantinople. There is an account of a posthumous miracle performed by Saint Mark of Ephesus involving the healing of the terminally ill sister of Demetrios Zourbaios. He was glorified as a saint and is commemorated on January 19 in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Mark gives the Christian Church a particular gift: the early Eastern dramatization that the apostolic theological positions cannot be compromised for the sake of political or institutional expediency, however urgent the practical pressures of the historical moment may seem to require the compromise. He was born Manuel Eugenikos in Constantinople around 1392. He studied under John Chortasmenos and Gemistus Pletho. He embraced the monastic life and was advanced to the see of Ephesus. At the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438–1439, he argued against the Filioque, the papal claims, and the doctrine of purgatorial fire. When the emperor and the majority of the Eastern delegation agreed to sign the Tomos of Union, he alone refused, declaring "There can be no compromise in matters of the Orthodox Faith." Pope Eugene IV exclaimed "Then we have done nothing." He returned to Constantinople and rallied the Christian people against the union. He fled to Ephesus to escape house arrest. He died on June 23, 1444. His last words: "Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, into Thy hands I commit my spirit." We may not be archbishops at ecumenical councils. But we are all called to contend for the apostolic Faith.