The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Mark of Arethusa
d. c. AD 363 (soon after his ordeal) · Bishop of Arethusa · Confessor under Julian · Arethusa, Syria
The Nicene Age
Who Mark of Arethusa was
The aged bishop who had once demolished a temple under Constantius and, under Julian, refused either to rebuild it or to pay a single coin toward it — reasoning that to give anything was to sacrifice. The city dragged him through the streets, gave him to schoolboys' styluses, smeared him with honey and hung him in a basket at noon for the wasps; the old man asked his tormentors, from the air, how it went with them below. Even the prefect told Julian the ordeal shamed the empire; Gregory of Nazianzus made him the age's exemplar of confessorship.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees.
Common questions
When did Mark die?
Mark of Arethusa is dated d. c. AD 363 (soon after his ordeal) in the archive, which places Mark in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Mark?
Mark of Arethusa is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Gregory of Nazianzus, Sozomen and Theodoret of Cyrrhus. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Mark from?
The archive associates Mark of Arethusa with Arethusa, Syria. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Mark’s contemporaries?
The archive links Mark of Arethusa to 2 other figures, including Emperor Julian the Apostate and Gregory of Nazianzus. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Oration 4 (First Invective against Julian) 88–91
c. AD 380Raised aloft in a basket, anointed with honey and brine, exposed at midday to wasps and bees, the old man held his body as a thing not his own — and from the air asked those below how they fared, he being borne on high.Gregory of Nazianzus · Or. 4 · source text
Church History V.10 (the old man smeared with honey under the Syrian sun)
c. AD 445Smeared with honey, he was suspended in a basket, exposed at midday to the bees and wasps.Sozomen · Church History V.10 · source text
Ecclesiastical History III.7 (the confessor who would not repay one obol)
c. AD 449Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Mark.
- 1Syriaprovince only