Gospel in Art: Saint Mark, Evangelist

Interior St Mark's Basilica, Venice, modelled after Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, mosaics dating from 1070 © Alamy

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 25 April 2026
Mark 16:15-20

At that time: Jesus appeared to the Eleven and he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.'

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

Reflection on the Church Interior

Today we celebrate Mark the Evangelist, a figure who stands at the very beginning of how the story of Christ was first written down. Mark was not one of the Twelve, but he was very much at the heart of the early Church. He is believed to have been close with Peter the Apostle, and many believe his Gospel carries Peter's voice, his memories, his urgency, his vivid recollections of Jesus' life. Before Mark, the story of Christ lived primarily through oral tradition: the stories about Jesus were spoken, remembered, passed from person to person, from generation to generation. But by the late 60s AD, as the first generation of witnesses began to pass away quickly, there was a growing sense: all this must be written down.

And so Mark writes. His Gospel is the first and the shortest, the most immediate, the most breathless. There is a sense of urgency throughout: events move quickly, one after another, as if he cannot write fast enough. "Immediately… immediately…" the narrative presses forward. It is not polished or embellished. It feels close to the ground, close to lived experience. Later, the evangelists Matthew and Luke would take Mark's account and expand it, adding detail, structure, and even more teachings. But Mark gives us something uniquely precious: the first written attempt to capture the life of Christ.

Mark's legacy found a beautiful home in St Mark's Basilica, perhaps the most famous church dedicated to him in the world. According to tradition, his relics were brought to Venice in the 9th century, and a great basilica was built to house them. Two basilicas rose and were destroyed before the current third building was started construction in 1063 under the patronage of the Venetian state. By building a magnificent basilica, the rulers of Venice continued to place the town under the protection of the evangelist. The building itself is extraordinary, Byzantine in inspiration, crowned with domes, shimmering with light, modelled after the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

Many of the columns, reliefs, and sculptures that are still part of the church today were spoils stripped from the churches, palaces, and public monuments of Constantinople as a result of the Venetian participation in the Fourth Crusade. Among the plundered artefacts brought back to Venice were the four ancient bronze horses that were placed prominently over the entry. They originally belonged to the Hippodrome of Constantinople, famous for its four-horse chariot races used in Roman games. Remember, the Eastern Roman Empire only came to an end in 1453, when the city of Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II.

But step inside San Marco, and you are surrounded by gold. The basilica is covered in vast mosaics (over 8,000 square metres) telling the story of salvation in glass tesserae. Scenes from the Old and New Testaments unfold across ceilings and walls, culminating in the life of Christ. And there, woven into this great visual Gospel, is Mark himself, the one who first put pen to parchment.

LINKS

Christian Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reading: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/mark-16-15-20-2026/