Who We Are

In 1914, a small group of worshipers from St. John’s Parish in downtown Jacksonville gathered in a private home on Ortega Point establishing St. Columba’s Mission.

Five years later, services were held near the present site of St. Mark’s in a former Army building, with the Reverend Douglas B. Leatherbury as priest-in-charge, and in 1922, the mission was organized as a parish and named St. Mark’s with the Reverend Dr. Leatherbury as its first rector.

St. Mark’s missionary spirit sparked two mission churches which are now full parishes: St. Catherine’s and St. Peter’s.

The missionary spirit also lead to the creation of the St. Mark’s Episcopal Day School as an outreach ministry of the parish in 1970.

From its small beginnings in 1914, St. Mark’s has grown to include 2,000 communicants and 650 families.

The location at the corner of Oxford Avenue and Ortega Boulevard was purchased in 1923. The cornerstone of the present church building was dedicated in 1941. During the past 84 years, growth and construction have continued with the building of the church parish hall in 1953, church expansion in 1975, and the renovation of the parish hall and other buildings in 1987.

In 1990, to meet the needs of a growing parish, the church underwent a major renovation and expansion. Construction in 1994 added a new 2,000 square foot youth center. In 1997, Grace House was dedicated as a pastoral care, hospitality, and resource center. In 1998, an Early Learning Center added dedicated church nursery space, classrooms for school pre-kindergarten and extended day program,s and a common room/chapel.

In 2011, renovations began to remove a portion of Oxford Avenue, which split the campus. The church and its associated properties comprise a multifaceted campus incorporating the church, parish hall, early learning center with church nursery, library, gift shop, pastoral care center, and youth center.

About our logo. It’s more than a graphic—it’s a sacred symbol drawn from the vision of the heavenly throne in Scripture. Surrounding the throne are four living creatures: a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man (cf. Ezekiel 1:10; Revelation 4:7). These represent the four kings of the four dominions God created: the wild beasts (lion), the domesticated animals (ox), the birds of the air (eagle), and humanity (man).

In the tradition of the Church, these four creatures have long been seen as emblems of the four Evangelists, each capturing a distinctive portrait of Jesus Christ:

• The Man represents Matthew, who begins with Christ’s human genealogy and emphasizes Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
• The Lion stands for Mark, whose Gospel opens with a voice crying in the wilderness and portrays Christ as the royal and courageous Son of God.
• The Ox symbolizes Luke, whose Gospel opens in the temple and presents Jesus as the sacrificial servant who bears the world’s burdens.
• The Eagle signifies John, whose Gospel soars into heavenly mystery, proclaiming Jesus as the eternal Word made flesh.

The lion, symbol of St. Mark, has echoed through the centuries—perhaps most famously in Venice, where tradition holds that the city received the relics of St. Mark in the 9th century. From that moment on, the winged lion of St. Mark became the emblem of the Venetian Republic, symbolizing strength, wisdom, and the Gospel proclaimed with boldness. The lion often appears holding a scroll inscribed with the words: “Pax tibi, Marce, evangelista meus” (“Peace be to you, Mark, my evangelist”), a phrase rooted in legend and devotion.

Our church’s logo continues this long tradition. It reminds us that we stand not only under the Gospel of Mark but within the majestic vision of God's Kingdom—proclaimed by every creature and echoed across time.