Dict: easton - Mark

easton:

Mark @ the evangelist; "John whose surname was Mark" kjv@Acts:12:12 kjv@Acts:12:25). Mark (Marcus, kjv@Colossians:4:10, etc.) was his Roman name, which gradually came to supersede his Jewish name John. He is called John in kjv@Acts:13:5 kjv@Acts:13:13, and Mark in 15:39, kjv@2Timothy:4:11, etc. He was the son of Mary, a woman apparently of some means and influence, and was probably born in Jerusalem, where his mother resided kjv@Acts:12:12). Of his father we know nothing. He was cousin of Barnabas kjv@Colossians:4:10). It was in his mother's house that Peter found "many gathered together praying" when he was released from prison; and it is probable that it was here that he was converted by Peter, who calls him his "son" ( kjv@1Peter:5:13). It is probable that the "young man" spoken of in kjv@Mark:14:51-52 was Mark himself. He is first mentioned in kjv@Acts:12:25. He went with Paul and Barnabas on their first journey (about A.D. 47) as their "minister," but from some cause turned back when they reached Perga in Pamphylia kjv@Acts:12:25 kjv@Acts:13:13). Three years afterwards a "sharp contention" arose between Paul and Barnabas (15:36-40), because Paul would not take Mark with him. He, however, was evidently at length reconciled to the apostle, for he was with him in his first imprisonment at Rome kjv@Colossians:4:10; kjv@Philemon:1:24). At a later period he was with Peter in Babylon ( kjv@1Peter:5:13), then, and for some centuries afterwards, one of the chief seats of Jewish learning; and he was with Timothy in Ephesus when Paul wrote him during his second imprisonment ( kjv@2Timothy:4:11). He then disappears from view.