They said of Abba Mark, the disciple of Abba Silvanus, that he was distinguished by obedience. He was a scribe of beautiful handwriting. Because of his obedience the elder loved him. The elder had eleven other disciples, and they were troubled because he loved Mark more than them.
When the elders heard this, they were grieved. One day they came to Silvanus and complained to him. Taking them with him, he went out and knocked at the cell of each disciple, saying, “Brother, come; I need you.” Not one of them followed him immediately. Then he came to Mark’s cell, knocked, and said, “Mark!” As soon as Mark heard the elder’s voice, he sprang outside. Silvanus sent him on an errand.
Then he said to the elders, “Fathers, where are the other brothers?” He entered Mark’s cell and picked up the writing tablet. He found that Mark had begun writing the letter omega, but when he heard the elder he had not finished turning the pen to complete it. The elders said, “Truly, Abba, the one you love, we also love, because God loves him.”
They said of Abba Silvanus that once, as he was walking with some elders, he wanted to show them the obedience of his disciple Mark. Seeing a small wild boar, he said to him, “Mark, do you see that little buffalo?” Mark said, “Yes, Abba.” Silvanus said, “And how beautiful its horns are!” Mark replied, “Yes, Abba.” The elders marveled at his answer and were edified by his obedience.
Abba Mark’s mother once came to see him with a great display and asked Abba Silvanus to send him out to her. The elder went in and said, “Go out so your mother may see you.” Mark was wearing a patched garment and was blackened from the kitchen. In obedience he went out, closed his eyes, and said three times, “May you be saved,” and he did not look at them. His mother did not recognize him.
She again sent to the elder, saying, “Abba, send me my son so that I may see him.” The elder said to Mark, “Did I not tell you, ‘Go out so your mother may see you’?” Mark replied, “I went out according to your word, Abba. But I beg you, do not tell me again to go out, so that I do not disobey you.” The elder went out and told her, “This is the one who met you and said, ‘May you be saved.’” After consoling her, he sent her away.
On another occasion Mark left Scetis, went to Mount Sinai, and stayed there. His mother sent word, adjuring him with tears that her son should come out so that she might see him. The elder gave him permission. As Mark was arranging his sheepskin to go out and came to greet the elder, he suddenly began to weep and did not go out.
When Abba Silvanus was preparing to leave Scetis and go to Syria, his disciple Mark said to him, “Father, I do not want to leave this place, and I will not let you leave either. Stay here just three more days.” On the third day Abba Mark fell asleep in death.