Hierarch
Hierarch Mark Of Ephesus
1392 — †23 июня 1444
Hierarch Mark Eugenikos, Metropolitan of Ephesus — the sole bishop of the Greek delegation at the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1439) who refused to sign the union with Rome; through his firm stand he prevented the Eastern Church's acceptance of the union, for which he was honored as "the pillar of Orthodoxy"; canonized in 1734.
Hierarch Mark, secular name Manuel Eugenikos, was born in 1392 in Constantinople to a deacon and teacher. He received an excellent education from the capital's best tutors. In 1418 he was tonsured a monk with the name Mark on the island of Antigoni; he later struggled at the Monastery of Manganon.
In 1437 he was consecrated Metropolitan of Ephesus. That same year, as part of the Greek delegation headed by Emperor John VIII Palaiologos and Patriarch Joseph II, he set out for the Council of Ferrara-Florence, convened to discuss a union of the Eastern and Western Churches in the face of the Ottoman threat.
At the Council (1438-1439), Hierarch Mark became the principal theological defender of Orthodox teaching — on the questions of the procession of the Holy Spirit (Filioque), purgatory, and papal primacy. When, under pressure, the majority of Greek hierarchs signed the act of union, Hierarch Mark remained the ONLY bishop of the Greek delegation to refuse to sign. On learning of this, Pope Eugene IV bitterly remarked, "Then we have accomplished nothing" — understanding that without Mark of Ephesus's signature, the union would not be accepted by the church people in the East.
Upon returning to Constantinople, Hierarch Mark waged a determined struggle against the union, for which he was imprisoned on the island of Lemnos (1440-1442). Returning to Constantinople shortly before his death, he appointed St. Gennadius Scholarios, the future first patriarch under Ottoman rule, as his successor in the anti-union struggle.
He reposed on June 23, 1444. He was canonized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1734 in the rank of hierarchs and confessors; he is honored with the title "pillar of Orthodoxy."
His feast is kept on January 19/February 1.
IMPORTANT CORRECTION: the contaminated date shared with the entries mark_of_rome and mark_the_ascetic has been removed. Three images (saint_mark_ephesus_2_1/2/3.jpg), previously marked "not visually verified" due to a known duplicate-merge bug, turned out on direct inspection to be Western artworks (a scene of the Apostle Paul preaching at Ephesus, a Doré engraving of book-burning, a romantic painting with a boat) — having nothing to do with Hierarch Mark of Ephesus; they have been removed from the entry.