Home Special moments St. Cleopas of Romania Tells Us the Miraculous life of St. Mark

St. Cleopas of Romania Tells Us the Miraculous life of St. Mark

The life of Saint Mark of Mount Trache, as recounted by St. Cleopas of Romania. St. Cleopas recounts Mark’s miraculous escape from persecution, his decades of solitude in the wilderness, and the incredible encounters with angels, demons, and wild beasts.
The Romanian Orthodox Church has approved the canonization of 16 new saints during the synodal sessions held on July 11-12th 2024. Venerable Cleopa of Sihastria Monastery is one of them.

Video source: DrumulSpreInviere

1994

St. Cleopas:

Have you heard of Saint Mark of Mount Trache [Fracesc] in Abyssinia [Ethiopia], during the great persecution under Emperor Decius? They captured two young men. After torturing them severely, they anointed them with honey and released them into an apiary. The pain they endured was great, for the bees swarmed upon them and stung them mercilessly. One of them, at nightfall, leapt into the sea—for the sea was nearby. That was Saint Mark. The other perished immediately. Mark clung to a plank and was carried all the way to the Red Sea.

From there, he journeyed into the vast wilderness of Mount Fracesc, where he found a cave inhabited by over a thousand demons. The cave stretched about thirty meters in length. He lived there for thirty years, eating only earth and drinking seawater, for the mountain was of rock and nothing else could be found.

Later, the angel of the Lord sent Saint Serapion—whom the Lord had often sent to find hidden saints. He had also discovered Saint Onuphrius the Great and many others. The angel said to him: “Do you not know where dwells the ‘pillar of the world’ and the ‘light of the world’?” But none knew. Then the angel said: “Take the Holy Mysteries and go—he is now 138 years old—go and find him.” “Where shall I find him?” asked Serapion. “At Mount Fracesc in Abyssinia.”

So, he took some boiled grain for sustenance and the Holy Mysteries, and went to Alexandria. There, the faithful warned him: “Do not cross the mountains, for they are full of lions and peril. Instead, sail back by ship across the Red Sea and ask where Mount Fracesc lies.” The poor man obeyed, and after crossing the sea, he found that the mountain lay some distance inland.

As he walked, a doe came out to meet him—her udder full, for wild beasts had devoured her fawn. Serapion was starving. Then a voice said to him: “Serapion, go and nurse from the doe, and follow her.” The doe led him for nearly ten days, all the way to Mount Fracesc. One night, she leapt up the mountain, and he beheld a great light at midnight, shining upon a peak. “What has caught fire over there?” he wondered. And he heard a voice say: “There is Mark! That is Saint Mark!”

When he approached, he found the saint at prayer. His face shone like the sun, and his hands were as torches of fire. His body was covered entirely with hair—like the hide of a bear. Serapion was frightened at the sight. The saint’s beard and hair reached down to the ground. But Saint Mark lowered his hands and said: “Do not be afraid, for I am a man. I have not seen the face of another man for 95 years—until now.” When he lifted his hands, light shone forth.

Then he said: “Did the angel tell you to bring the Most Pure Mysteries? Yes, in three days I shall depart for Heaven, and the angel of the Lord sent you to be with me, to accompany my departure.” Saint Serapion asked, “Holy Father, how have you lived here?” And the saint told him: “For thirty years I ate earth and drank water from the sea, for there was nothing else—the mountain is stone. But afterward, God sent an angel who brings me food daily.”

As they spoke, Saint Mark said, “Brother, set the table.” And suddenly there appeared a beautiful table with two pure loaves of bread and two cups of wine. “Bless, O Lord, this table!” and a hand was seen blessing it. “Look, brother,” said the saint, “until now, the angel brought me only one loaf and one cup. But today there are two—one for you as well.” For Serapion had come all the way from the Monastery of Saint Sava in Jerusalem—thousands of kilometers, by the counsel of the angel.

When Serapion tasted that bread and wine, their goodness was beyond description. Afterward, Saint Mark said, “Brother, gather the table,” and it vanished. The angel served him.

Saint Mark asked, “Brother Serapion, have you brought the Holy Mysteries? By God’s mercy, tomorrow I shall commune. Do not be afraid—for you will not return by the same laborious way you came. You shall be taken back by another path. But tell me: are there still people in the world who live by the word of the Gospel? ‘If you have faith as a mustard seed,’—as small as an onion seed—you shall say to this mountain, ‘Be moved and cast into the sea…’”

And the mountain thought the saint was speaking to it—and at that very moment a great earthquake began, and the mountain started moving toward the Red Sea, traveling five kilometers. Then Saint Mark cried: “Stop, mountain! I was not speaking to you—I was asking the brother!” And the mountain returned to its place. Serapion fell on his face, terrified. But Saint Mark said: “What, you’ve never seen such things? Can the Gospel of Christ lie? Have you not seen men who move mountains by prayer? Then what kind of Christians are we, if we bear none of Christ’s signs and wonders?”

And Saint Mark recounted his life, his many temptations: “You see this cave? It was full of demons—over a thousand—when I came. I arrived wounded, nearly killed. During Decius. There was another young man. I escaped on a plank, and God brought me here to the Red Sea.” He then told him about his suffering during the great persecution of the year 250…

Then he said: “Stay here, for I am going to Heaven in three days.” He confessed his sins and, as he communed, his body covered in a coat like a bear’s, he told Serapion: “Do not be afraid. The garments I wore when I left Athens as a young man—those were torn after only a few years.”

Serapion asked: “Why are your fingers and toes missing?” The saint replied: “Because the demons dragged me to cast me into the sea. As they did so, I cried, ‘Lord, do not abandon me!’ and I grasped roots and rocks with my hands and feet. Then God gave me this covering of hair—to keep me warm in winter and shaded in summer. It was a great mercy from God.” His hair was several meters long. And a holy fragrance surrounded him—beyond all description.

The next day, he communed. And as he received the Holy Mysteries, his face shone like the sun, and angelic voices were heard singing. Serapion said to him: “Father, permit me to remain in your cave!” But Saint Mark replied: “No. You must return and tell the people of my lowly life.”

Serapion asked: “Then grant me to take a relic of your holy body!” The saint replied: “I permit you only this: one strand of my beard.” One strand was 4–5 meters long. Serapion brought a little stick and tied the hair to it. “This alone may you take. My relics shall remain in the cave where I struggled and served God.”

Saint Mark was 138 years old, and had spent 95 years in that place, without seeing another human face. Then Serapion asked: “How shall I bury you?” And the saint said: “Do not worry. The moment my soul departs, two lions shall come. Do not fear them—for they shall bury me. Just leave me here, where I fall asleep.”

When he gave up his spirit, the heavens opened. Angels appeared in great number, and a light stretched from the earth to the heavens. Then the voice of the Savior was heard: “Bring unto Me the chosen vessel from the wilderness, Abba Mark, My true disciple!” And the heavens closed.

Then the two lions arrived. “Do not be afraid,” said the saint. The lions kissed his feet, carried him into the cave, and sealed its entrance with large stones, burying him. Then they licked Serapion’s feet and departed into the desert.

Sorin Dumitrescu.: They even made peace with the wild beasts…
St. Cleopas: Ah… but the Holy Spirit was with them there.

Then a winged ox appeared and a voice was heard: “Abba Serapion, climb upon me.” He had taken only that hair from the beard—he was not allowed more. “Abba Serapion, climb upon me and make the sign of the holy Cross.” In ten minutes, over thousands of kilometers, the ox brought him back to Saint Sava’s Monastery. It was an angel, in the form of an ox, who carried him…

Those were true Christians—not like us.
I sleep too much, I eat too much… I am rotten. There is nothing good in me—only evil.

Sorin Dumitrescu: But didn’t you dwell in the wilderness as well?
St. Cleopas: Yes… but even there, I slept much and did nothing good…

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