Saint Mari, also known as Mares and originally named Palut, is a saint of the

Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...

. He was converted by

Thaddeus of Edessa According to Eastern Christian tradition, Addai of Edessa ( Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܐܕܝ, Mar Addai or Mor Aday sometimes Latinized Addeus) or Thaddeus of Edessa was one of the seventy disciples of Jesus. He is possibly identical with Thaddaeus, on ...

, or Addai, and is said to have had Mar Aggai as his

spiritual director Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of their encounters of the di ...

Missionary work

He is believed to have done missionary work around

Nineveh Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ba ...

Nisibis Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...

, and along the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

, and is said to have been one of the great apostles to

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He was buried in Dair-Kuni.

Liturgy

His feast day is 5 August in the Christian calendar. He and Thaddeus are credited with the '' Liturgy of Addai and Mari''.

Sainthoood

Mari is venerated as a saint by the

Assyrian Church of the East The Assyrian Church of the East,, ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية sometimes called Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,; ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية الرسول� ...

, the

Chaldean Catholic Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = Assyrian Church.png , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows Baghdad, Iraq , abbreviation = , type ...

, and the

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church lat, Ecclesia Syrorum-Malabarensium mal, മലബാറിലെ സുറിയാനി സഭ , native_name_lang=, image = St. Thomas' Cross (Chennai, St. Thomas Mount).jpg , caption = The Mar Thoma Nasrani Sl ...

. He is identified as St. Mari of the

seventy disciples The seventy disciples or seventy-two disciples, known in the Eastern Christian traditions as the seventy apostles or seventy-two apostles, were early emissaries of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. The correct Greek terminology is evdomik ...

with whom the Apocryphal Acts of Mar Mari are connected.

References

Bibliography

* Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. * ''Aux origines de l'eglise de Perse: les Actes de Mar Mari''. Еd. par Jullien C., Jullien F. Leuven, Peeters, 2003, VIII-137 p. (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 604). * Jullien C., Jullien F. ''Les Actes de Mar Mari''. Leuven, Peeters, 2003, VIII, 50 p. (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 602). * ''The Acts of Mar Mari the Apostle''. Ed. by Amir Harrak. Atlanta (GA), Society of Biblical Literature, 2005, 134 pp. (Writings from the Greco-Roman World, 11). * ''Atti di Mar Mari''. Ed. Ilaria Ramelli. Brescia: Paideia, 2008. 234 p. (Testi del Vicino Oriente antico 7, Letteratura della Siria cristiana, 2).

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia: Liturgy of Addeus and Maris
Converts to Christianity Syrian Christian saints Assyrian Church of the East saints Patriarchs of the Church of the East 120 deaths Year of birth unknown 1st-century bishops 2nd-century bishops Christian missionaries in Asia Miracle workers Bishops of Edessa {{EasternCatholic-stub