Saint Mark was ordained bishop of the Syrian city of Arefusia during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great. Driven by zeal for God, he then became famous for fighting idolatry and destroyed the pagan temple with his own hands, building a Christian church in its place.
During the turmoil that followed the Council of Nicaea, he found himself in the ranks of semi-Arian bishops who, without denying the Divinity of the Word, did not accept the addition of the term "consubstantial" to the Creed. Saint Mark took part in the Councils in the cities of Sardica (343) and Sirmium (351) and even drafted a creed that was supposed to reconcile the opposing parties in order to restore the unity of the Church (359). But soon the bishop realized his mistake and explicitly, without ambiguity, joined Orthodoxy.
Soon after, power passed to Julian the Apostate, who began a policy of forcibly restoring paganism (361). When the pagans of Arefusia, who harbored persistent hostility towards the bishop, learned that the situation had changed, they tried to capture him. Julian, forgetting his gratitude to Mark, who had once saved his life during the murder of his parents, showed the pagans favor in this matter and allowed them to search for the bishop throughout the province. Saint Mark, in order not to be unnecessarily persecuted, fled, but upon learning that other Christians had been arrested instead of him and were being tortured, he surrendered into the hands of pagans.
The idolaters immediately attacked the elder like animals, not taking into account his gray hair, and, tearing off his clothes, began to shower blows on him. Then they put the bishop in a stinking gutter and betrayed him to children for fun, who pierced his body with writing sticks. Then Mark's body was smeared with brine and honey and enclosed in a basket, which was hung in the open air, leaving the elder to the heat of the sun and the sting of wasps and bees.
Despite these torments, the saint remained steadfast in his profession of faith and rejected any compromises with the pagans, who wanted at least to wrest from him a promise to rebuild the temple himself, destroyed by him. The saint refused to promise anything, saying that in this case a small coin would be equivalent to a complete renunciation of faith. He mocked their meanness and earthly concerns, even though he was blown up during the tortures they subjected him to. Defeated, the pagans eventually released him, and some of them, impressed by the bishop's steadfastness and speeches, converted to Christianity. Saint Mark died peacefully in 364, having received the award of the confessors of Christ.
In the same era, Cyril, the deacon in Iliopolis of Phoenicia, who also destroyed many idols in the time of St. Nicholas. Constantine was captured by the pagans. They cut open his stomach, scattered his insides on the ground and ate his liver raw. Those guilty of this dishonor were subsequently subjected to God's vengeance: some lost all their teeth, others' tongues rotted, and others lost their eyesight.
In the Palestinian cities of Ascalon and Gaza, where paganism was strong, idolaters seized priests and women dedicated to God. They tore out their insides and gave them to pigs to eat, and filled the bellies of the martyrs with oats.
In Sebaste they opened a shrine with the relics of St. Nicholas. John the Baptist and the Baptist of the Lord and threw them into the fire, and then scattered the ashes to the wind.
Despite all these atrocities, the pagans failed to restore the worship of idols. The overwhelming majority of the people remained so indifferent to their efforts that when Julian wanted to organize a large celebration in honor of Apollo in Antioch, he was surprised to find himself and his courtiers alone in an empty temple, while in the city they mocked him.