CHAPTER I

THE TRIUMPH OF THE BIESSED MAN MARK THE MOURNER

MACARIUS the priest told us the following story:—“At the time when I was administering the Holy Offering I took good heed unto Mark the mourner, and I never gave it to him, but an angel did so from the altar; I saw, however, the palm of the hand of the angel who gave it unto him.” Now this Mark was a young man, and he could repeat by heart the New and the Old Testaments; he was meek beyond measure, and both in body and in thought he was purer than many.