Instructions of Blessed Mark the Ascetic

Saint Mark, called the Ascetic, is the most famous of all the Egyptian holy fathers even though there is little information about him. It is known that he was of extremely quiet and meek nature, knew the Old and the New Testaments by heart and attained a high level of spiritual completeness. He lived for the more than 100 years and reposed at the beginning of the 5^th century. He was famous for his gift of teaching, although few of his teachings had been preserved: an Epistle to monk Nicholas; a Collection of instructions; two hundred chapters on spiritual rules and two hundred twenty-six chapters to those who are thinking of justifying themselves through their deeds.