St. Monica (331-387 AD): The Persistently Praying Mother by Chris White

William Ross Wallace once wrote “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”  These 19^th century song lyrics express the undeniable truth of motherhood’s great influence on the future history of the world.  One of the greatest theologians of the Christian church in ancient times, indeed for all times, is Aurelius Augustinius Hipponensis more commonly known to the world as Saint Augustine.  Augustine’s bequest to Western Civilization is his corpus of more than 1000 writings from which we derive the ideas of Original Sin and the Just War Theory and most famously, his Confessions, which is believed to be the earliest form of autobiography in existence.  But Augustine was not always a brilliant thinker, theologian, and passionate follower of Christ.  In fact, from his early adolescence until his early thirties, Augustine’s life was a story of out of control passion, ego gratification, and spiritual confusion.  But standing behind Augustine (sometimes to his chagrin and irritation) was a godly, longsuffering, praying mother.  And although only Jesus Christ can truly convert the heart of any sinner, frequently, there is a pivotal person (or two or three) the Lord uses in that process.  In Augustine’s life one of those persons was definitely his mother Monica.  This is her story.  But her story is the story of every Christian mother who has struggled with a wayward son or daughter and so if you find yourself in that position today, perhaps the life of St. Monica will be an encouragement for you today.

Monica's famously wayward son

Monica was born in 331 AD at Thagaste (modern day Souk Ahras in Algeria).  Monica’s name indicates a Berber lineage as the name is derived from the Libyan god Mon.  She is raised in a devoutly Catholic home and remains a practicing Christian her entire life.  Although she was a strong Christian, her faith was shaped by the widespread atmosphere of superstition that was the culture of North Africa.  She kept a fast on the Sabbath day and was known to participate in “death anniversary” observances where a picnic was brought to the grave of a departed Christian and “shared” with them on their special day.  Monica also paid very close attention to her dreams and considered them to be messages from the other world.

When she was of marriageable age, she was joined to Patricius who was a local town prefect for the Roman government and a pagan as concerning his religious beliefs.  They had 3 children (at least that we know about) Augustine being the first-born (when Monica was 24 years old), another son Navigius, and a daughter whom we are not given a name for but is known through Augustine’s Confessions as having made a religious profession and heading an abbey in adulthood.  Rounding out the family was her mother-in-law who came to live with them late in her life (presumably when she was widowed).  Her name is also unknown to us but what is known is that she had a real gift for being quite cantankerous.

Patricius and Monica had a secure but troubled marriage.  Patricius had a least one extra-marital affair, was possibly an alcoholic and on occasion given over to domestic violence.  However, Monica was instrumental in her husband’s conversion to the Christian faith the year before he died.  She was humble, spoke of God to him, and worked very conscientiously in carrying out her household duties (winning him over with her deeds more than her words as we read in 1 Peter 3).  It is also believed her mother-in-law was won to the faith in the same way.  Monica was known for being longsuffering and a peacemaker at heart.   On one occasion she rebuked her fellow friends who were complaining about their husbands for speaking evil towards their masters.  Monica became a widow at age 40 and never pursued marriage again but rather devoted her remaining time on earth to her children, especially her famously wayward son Augustine.

As a mother Monica was known to be a caring but strict disciplinarian of her children.  She was very dedicated to their education and religious upbringing.  There are conflicting stories about Monica and Augustine’s baptism.  Some say Monica had Augustine baptized as an infant and even in early adolescence when it was feared he may not live through an illness.  Others say that Monica had a strong belief that Augustine should put off his baptism until the raging hormones of teenage life had passed because baptism only covered prior sins and penance (what you did when you sinned afterwards) was quite arduous in the early church.

Either way, Augustine was to prove a great disappointment at this stage of his life.  He was attending school near home and had enrolled in the Catechumenate (classes which prepare you for baptism and church membership), but when he moved to Carthage to receive his higher education in rhetoric (a communication degree) he, like many college students even today, abandoned his parent’s faith and joined an eastern religious sect known as the Manicheans.  When he came home from college for a weekend visit and announced his new found faith, Monica was so mad at him she refused to eat with him and didn’t let him sleep in the house.

She was so distraught about her son that she went and sought the counsel of her local bishop who told her “it is not possible that a son of so many tears will be lost.”  Then one night the Lord gave her assurance that Augustine would eventually come back to the faith.    From that day forward she fasted and patiently prayed for his conversion until it happened.

It’s funny how none of us truly know what is in the hearts of the people we know and love.  Augustine writes in his Confessions (written after his mother’s death) that he drank of the milk of Christ’s love from his mother and that he had always loved and was fascinated with Jesus.  He just didn’t think Christianity was intellectually satisfying enough for him and he of course didn’t like any of the moral restraints that came with it either.

Monica left behind in Carthage

But Monica was the ‘hound of Heaven’ in his life and seemed to follow her son wherever he was living.  She sternly warned him about his dissipation and sexual exploits as she saw this tendency in him and knew it was the undoing of his father.  She stood by and watched with disappointment as her son took a concubine (what we would call today a live-in girlfriend) and received her first grandson from her.  She loved him through his rebellion against God and continued her prayers for him.

When Augustine had had enough of Carthage, he wanted to move to the greener pastures of Rome.  Apparently, he also wanted a break from his mother and so he told her they would be leaving the next morning by boat.  When she arrived, she found out that Augustine had lied to her and had already set sail on a much earlier ship.  Augustine found his work in Rome difficult and even more competitive than it was in Carthage, but it did lead to a connection for him in civil service work in the imperial capital of Milan.  This was a great career move for Augustine who is soon joined by his mother, younger siblings, and some cousins who all get to share in his good fortune.

Monica begins attending the main church of Milan which is pastored by bishop Ambrose.  Ambrose is a man of towering intellect but is also an extremely engaging preacher.  This factor attracts Augustine to attend services with his mother.  He, being a rhetorician, enjoyed hearing powerful communicators even if he didn’t believe in their message.  But in time, Augustine found the message itself quite compelling and slowly but surely began to open his heart to it.  Outside of church, Ambrose also made time to meet with Augustine to answer his questions and concerns about the faith.  Augustine and Ambrose were intellectually equals and I think this inspired, at least on a human level, confidence in the answers Augustine was getting to his questions.

Augustine’s spiritual struggle gives way to faith as he reads the Scriptures for himself and to the joy of his mother announces his conversion.  This was the answer to her heartfelt prayer of 30 years and her son’s life and future ministry were to prove how God answers prayers with an abundance beyond our hopes and dreams.

Augustine's spiritual crisis ends in his backyard

Over the next few years Augustine, Monica, his son Adeodatus, his brother and some friends move to the villa of a friend on the shores of Lake Como.  Inspired by the desert monk Anthony of Egypt, Augustine wants to form a community that seeks truth through the study of scripture and the exploration of philosophy.  This is a period of great joy and new learning that lasted over several years.  Augustine also found his estimation of his mother quite inaccurate.  Though she was largely illiterate (as many women were in this time) and was known to be a bit superstitious, she held her own in many philosophical and theological discussions and was often found to have penetrating insight.

Lake Como in Italy

Ostia was a place of embarkation back to Africa. After a few years Augustine wanted to return to his homeland of North Africa and pursue a similar community devoted to learning and serving the Lord.  Making their way to the port of Ostia (the ancient sea port of Rome) they found they would have to wait for a while as the outbreak of war was making travel to North Africa impossible.  The group rented a home there in Ostia until they could get back home.

During this time of waiting, Augustine and Monica sat overlooking the garden of their home and were caught up in a mutual vision of glory and felt such peace and delight that nothing on earth seemed of any importance.  Monica expressed that now that her son was truly a strong Christian, she was content to die.  Which she did shortly thereafter following  a sudden illness.   As she died in the arms of Augustine, she told him she didn’t mind dying in a foreign land because it makes no difference at the resurrection.  Just bury me anywhere.  But wherever you live, just remember me at the altar of God.

Augustine and Monica at Ostia

Augustine buried Monica in Ostia and eventually journeyed back to North Africa but was never really able to fully realize the monastic community he envisioned.  Duty called and he was pressed into the service of the church as a bishop leading through a period of great turmoil and trouble.  Despite the demands of ministry, Augustine was prolific as a writer.  At age 46, 16 years after his conversion he writes The Confessions, an honest, unvarnished look at his spiritual pilgrimage.  It is in this book that posterity knows of Monica, the mother who prayed her entire family into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

1000 years after her death, the Pope ordered her remains to be removed from Ostia and reburied in a chapel dedicated to her in the Basilica Saint Augustine in Rome.

The Christian historian Philip Schaff says that Monica travailed with him to be born of the Spirit with greater pain than when she gave birth to him in the flesh.  He also calls her the encouragement to all Christian mothers who worry about the salvation of their children.  Her life is an illustration of Jesus’s teaching that we should pray at all times and not lose heart (Lk.18:1).

Sources:

Augustine.  The Confessions of St. Augustine.  Edward B. Pusey trans.  (New York: Pocket Books, 1952)

Cairns, Earle E.  Christianity Through The Centuries : A History of the Christian Church.  (Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1981)

Day, Malcolm.  A Treasury of Saints.  (New York : Chartwell Books, 2002)

Knowles, Andrew and Pachomios Penkett.  Augustine and His World.  (Downers Grove : Intervarsity Press, 2004)

Latourette, Kenneth Scott.  A History of Christianity Vol. 1 rev. ed.  (New York : Harper and Row, 1975)

MacCulloch, Diarmaid.  Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years.  (New York : Penguin, 2009)

“Monica, St.”  Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature Vol. VI.  McClintock and Strong eds.  (Grand Rapids : Baker Books, 1981)

“Monica”  Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity.   Angelo Di Berardino, Gen. Ed.  (Downers Grove : Intervarsity, 2014)

“Monica”  Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons, and Feasts.  Foley & McCloskey O.F.M. eds.  (Cincinnati : St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2001) 

Pope Benedict XVI.  The Fathers.  (Huntington : Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2008)

Schaff, Philip.  History of the Christian Church Vol. 3 (Grand Rapids : Eerdmanns, 1910)

Shelley, Bruce L.  Church History in Plain Language.  (Dallas:Word, 1995)

Wills, Garry.  St. Augustine.  (New York: Viking Publishing, 1999)

The Adventurous Story of St. Mark: Christendom’s First Pope, Most Widely Traveled Apostle and Literary Inventor by Chris White

Bellini's "St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria"

 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.

                                                                                                                                            --1 Peter 5:13

 He was truly the first Pope.  He wasn’t St. Peter (although he was related to Peter’s wife) and although he did spend a few years in Rome, that was not his Holy See.  According to the ancient Coptic Synaxiron (an ancient history of Christian martyrs), John Mark, author of the Gospel that bears his name, was the first apostle, martyr, and papa (pope) of Africa.  The term “pope” begins being used in Rome and Africa around the same time, however the African version is never corrupted by temporal power and has always meant something akin to the spiritual father of the Christian family and as the patriarch, one who has the responsibility to nurture and level of respect to correct.  The church Mark founded was in Alexandria Egypt and his diocese extended from all of Egypt through Libya and Tunisia.  His influence was immense but I am getting ahead of myself.  Let’s start at the beginning.

 Aristobolus and Mary had a son named John Mark.  They were a prosperous and devout Jewish family who lived in the land of Cyrenaica (known in the New Testament as Cyrene or modern-day Libya).  Cyrenaica was a popular Jewish enclave with an ideal growing climate which made farming prosperous but also a popular trading center for merchants.  Mark’s family regularly traveled to Jerusalem for the Holy festivals, but eventually moved there because of troubles in their homeland.  Mark’s father Aristobolus had a cousin who was the wife of Simon Peter, a prosperous fisherman from Galilee.  We know that Mary and John Mark were early adherents to Christianity and possibly Mary was among the wealthy women who supported Jesus from their means (Lk. 8:1-3).  John Mark’s family owned a large home in Jerusalem which had an upper room.  This home, whose site was preserved even by ancient Christians even after the destruction of Jerusalem, is believed to be the place that hosted Jesus and the disciples for the Last Supper, and where the earliest church gathered to pray and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit.  No doubt the young John Mark met Jesus and the other apostles and many of the first Christians.  Barnabas of Cyprus was Mark’s uncle (his mother’s brother) and was also highly regarded in the early Christian movement.

 In Acts 12:12 we read of Peter being thrown into prison for preaching the gospel and while waiting for his execution is miraculously delivered from his chains by an angel.  When he is delivered from the Jerusalem prison he goes straight to Mark’s home to let the church know he is safe, but the scriptures say for safety he left the city and went for another place.  Author Thomas Oden suggests that Peter fled to Cairo Egypt which was a safe haven for Christians and Jews in the day, and who better to help him find his way than John Mark who would know the route well and would have been able to speak the local language.

 The book of Acts also places John Mark with Barnabas and Paul doing mission work. This was probably not his first attempt at it as two ancient authorities attest that John Mark was among the 70 disciples sent out among Israel to preach the gospel (Lk. 10).  His membership on the team breaks Paul and Barnabas apart as Paul was frustrated with Mark’s reticence and Barnabas took the side of his relative (Acts 15).  This is by no means a permanent breach as Paul mentions Mark several times in his letters putting him on assignment with the young churches in Asia and of course calling him with Timothy to Rome as he endures his final imprisonment (Col. 4:10, 2 Tim.4:11).

 But how was it that John Mark and Paul became so close during the latter’s Roman imprisonment? One ancient authority gives us a hint on this.  Clement of Rome was an early bishop late in the first century.  He writes: “Mark, Peter’s follower while Peter was preaching publicly the Gospel at Rome in the presence of Caesar’s equestrians (junior senators) and was putting forward many testimonies concerning Christ, being requested by them that they might be able to commit to memory the things that were being spoken, wrote from the things that were spoken by Peter the gospel that is called “according to Mark”.  Thus Mark could easily be with Paul because he had already been in Rome for some time helping Peter.

 It is interesting to note that the first verse of the Gospel of Mark reads “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God..”.  The longtime consensus view is that Mark’s gospel is the first written account of the Christ event and served as an exemplar for the later writings of Matthew, Luke, and John.  This represented a sea change for the meaning of the word “gospel”.  Prior to Mark, the gospel was a preached explanation of Messiah’s coming and redemption.  After Mark, the word came to mean an orderly presentation of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ with the intention of engendering faith and hope in the reader.  The gospels are not works of history (although they contain historic events and reference) but are their own unique genre of literature.  They are eyewitness memoirs with a design to convince both Jew and Gentile that Jesus of Nazareth was no mere man, but God in human flesh.

 St. Peter and his wife were both killed along with many Christian in Rome during the Neronian persecution around 64-67 AD.  It is within this same window of time that St. Paul also sealed his testimony with his martyrdom there as well.  Not long after this, Mark and many other’s flee Rome for their own safety as the Lord taught us to do (Mt. 10:23).  Eusebius and Sawirus, both ancient Christian historians, report that Mark was moved by the spirit of God to begin his work in Egypt.  With a lifetime of preaching experience and a city filled with Jews and Greeks, Alexandria was a natural fit for Mark.  Not far from where he grew up in Cyrenaica, Mark knew the culture, the language, and the people and soon one of the most important Christian communities in the ancient world was birthed through his preaching.

 It was also in Alexandria that Mark sealed his apostolic testimony with martyrdom.  Attacked and taken hostage by pagan followers of the Egyptian god Serapis, Mark’s death was by torture and humiliation.  He was stripped and with ropes tied to his feet drug through the streets of Alexandria by a horse.  This torture did not kill him (although it severely injured him) and so he was thrown into a prison where he was taken by the Lord before he could be tortured anymore.  The pagan’s wanted to burn his body in front of an idol to the god Serapis, but when they tried, a miraculous rain storm burst upon the scene and extinguished the fire.  The church was able to retrieve his body untouched by fire and bury it in a corner of their building where they could remember Mark on the day of his martyrdom every year which is traditionally May 8^th.  This however is not the end of Mark’s travels.

 There is a tradition among the people of Venice that long before their famous city was built that St. Mark passed through the area on one of his many missionary travels.  When he laid eyes on the bare lagoons he heard the voice of God tell him (in perfect Latin of course) that “someday this will be your final resting place.” Whether that really happened or not, two resourceful Venetian merchants named Buono da Malamocco and Rustico da Torcello said it did to the two monks who were the custodians of St. Mark’s church in Alexandria.  It was the year 823 AD and Alexandria Egypt was now under control of the Muslims.  The beautiful church there was under threat because local authorities wanted to tear it down and use some of its columns to build a mosque elsewhere. 

 Knowing this, Malamocco and Torcello, convinced the monks they could best protect the remains of their beloved saint by giving them the relics (his bones) for safekeeping in Venice.  Since merchant boats were all inspected by customs agents before leaving Alexandria, the two men hid Marks bones in a barrel beneath cured pork and cabbage.  Knowing that Muslims consider pork to be unclean, their natural aversion went into full play when they came to the barrel containing St. Mark and soon they were out to sea.

 The remains were stored in the Doge’s palace (a Doge is the elected ruler of Venice) for several years until the beautiful Basilica San Marco was ready for its patron saint.  And so the Venetians named their land “The Republic of St. Mark” and chose the symbol of the Lion (one of the four creatures before the throne of God in Ezekiel) for Mark because of his great courage and strength as an apostle of Christ, a value they wanted to emulate in their community. 

  If we take the New Testament and testimony of the church fathers into account, John Mark’s missionary work encompassed Israel and Syria (the Middle East), Asia Minor (Asia) Cypress and Rome (Greek and Latin Europe) and Alexandria (Africa).  Perhaps it was destiny that John Mark, the young man from remote Cyrenaica, would become the patron saint of the sea-faring Venetians, like them, he too was a great traveler, taking the message of Jesus to the four corners of the compass.

Whatever Happened to the Apostle Matthew? by Chris White

Matthew is an enigmatic figure in the New Testament.  We know much about what he did but virtually nothing of his person.  He was the brother of another Apostle (James the Less) and was called while working as a tax collector in Capernaum.  In movies of the Gospels, the conversion of Matthew is portrayed as a sudden experience from a chance encounter with the Lord.  However, as a tax collector, he would have been well-known to Peter, Andrew, James, and John and probably Jesus since Capernaum was his home base.  As a tax-collector, Matthew would have had few friends in town.  This job was sold by the Roman government to the highest bidder who in turn would repay his investment by charging more taxes than necessary.  This made others consider him an outcast from Jewish society and a traitor to their nation (much like an IRS auditor is in our society).  But the Lord is the friend and champion of sinners and outcasts and it only stands to reason he should have someone like this in his apostolic band.  Writing late in the 1^st Century, Clement of Rome tells of him spending 15 years evangelizing expatriate Jews living in Syria, Macedonia, Persia, and Egypt.  There are two traditions concerning his death.  One suggests that he was beheaded in Egypt during a persecution while the other maintains he died of natural causes.

Whatever Happened to Thomas (Didymus)? by Chris White

 

Thomas is considered the central figure in the eastward expansion of Christianity into India.  Thomas is associated with the Assyrian Church and the Chaldean Church which at the time was considered western India.  But it is also believed he went to the Indian continent in the middle of the 1^st Century and traveled there many times for the purpose of  evangelism.  As exotic as this might sound today, India was not a remote or distant place to someone living in antiquity.  The entire region was linked by trade routes and roads built over centuries.  This is evident in the archeological evidence that has shown that in Thomas’s day there was a large Jewish community in existence there.  Today’s Mar Thomas Church in Southern India is believed related if not directly to him, at least an outgrowth of his apostolic mission there.  Thomas was speared to death while preaching in the town of Mylapore which is a suburb of Madras.  Crusaders are credited with bringing his relics to Rome from India and later Portuguese explorers found his tomb.  Archaeologists have found a Roman trading station from antiquity in the area of his tomb which adds greater plausibility to the story.