Macarius, Porphyry, and the Long Ending of Mark

Porphyry of Tyre, who lived about AD 234 through AD 305, wrote Against the Christians (or, Adversus Christianos), consisting of fifteen books. Though the book is lost to posterity, much of it can be reproduced from the works of Christian apologists who responded to his arguments. The general consensus of scholarship is that The Apocriticus of Macarius Magnes is in response to Porphyry (see also The Apocriticus of Macarius Magnes by T. W. Crafer). In Apocriticus III: 16 we find a reference to one of the later verses of Mark 16 (verse 18b “…and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”).

“Again, consider in detail that other passage, where He says, ‘Such signs shall follow them that believe: they shall lay hands upon sick folk, and they shall recover, and if they drink any deadly drug, it shall in no wise hurt them.’ So the right thing would be for those selected for the priesthood, and particularly those who lay claim to the episcopate or presidency, to make use of this form of test. The deadly drug should be set before them in order that the man who received no harm from the drinking of it might be given precedence of the rest. And if they are not bold enough to accept this sort of test, they ought to confess that they do not believe in the things Jesus said. For if it is a peculiarity of the faith to overcome the evil of a poison and to remove the pain of a sick man, the believer who does not do these things either has not become a genuine believer, or else, though his belief is genuine, the thing that he believes in is not potent but feeble.”

Through the writings of an objector to Christianity, we find in the pagan philosopher Porphyry of Tyre an unlikely testimony to the authenticity of the “long ending” of Mark, Mark 16:9-20. Against the Christians was probably written around AD 270-280, and obviously before the death of Porphyry circa AD 305 (providing, like Irenaeus, testimony prior to the exclusion of the verses in Sinaiticus and Vaticanus).