Rondleiding in de Jan van Lateranen (Engels commentaar)

John Henry Newman 1801-1890 The Church of the Fathers – 9. Conversion of Augustine

Capita selecta

Chapter 9. Conversion of Augustine

2.

But let us consider what his misery was;—it was that of a mind imprisoned, solitary, and wild with spiritual thirst; and forced to betake itself to the strongest excitements, by way of relieving itself of the rush and violence of feelings, of which the knowledge of the Divine Perfections was the true and sole sustenance. He ran into excess, not from love of it, but from this fierce fever of mind. "I sought what I might love," he says in his Confessions, "in love with loving, and safety I hated, and a way without snares. For within me was a famine of that inward food, Thyself, my God; yet throughout that famine I was not hungered, but was without any longing for incorruptible sustenance, not because filled therewith, but the more empty, the more I loathed it. For this cause my soul was sickly and full of sores; it miserably cast itself forth, desiring to be scraped by the touch of objects of sense."—iii. 1.

"O foolish man that I then was," he says elsewhere, "enduring impatiently the lot of man! So I fretted, sighed, wept, was distracted; had neither rest nor counsel. For I bore about a shattered and bleeding soul, impatient of being borne by me, yet where to repose it I found not; not in calm groves, nor in games and music, nor in fragrant spots, nor in curious banquetings, nor in indulgence of the bed and the couch, nor, finally, in books or poetry found it repose. All things looked ghastly, yea, the very light. In groaning and tears alone found I a little refreshment. But when my soul was withdrawn from them, a huge load of misery weighed me down. To Thee, O Lord, it ought to have been raised, for Thee to lighten; I knew it, but neither could nor would; the more, since when I thought of Thee, Thou wast not to me any solid or substantial thing. For Thou wert not Thyself, but a mere phantom, and my error was my God. If I offered to discharge my load thereon, that it might rest, it glided through the void, and came rushing down against me; and I had remained to myself a hapless spot, where I could neither be, nor be from thence. For whither should my heart flee from my heart? whither should I flee from myself? whither not follow myself? And yet I fled out of my country; for so should mine eyes look less for him, where they were not wont to see him."— iv. 12.

He is speaking in this last sentence of a friend he had lost, whose death-bed was very remarkable, and whose dear familiar name he apparently has not courage to mention. "He had grown up from a child with me," he says, "and we had been both schoolfellows and play-fellows." Augustine had misled him into the heresy which he had adopted himself, and when he grew to have more and more sympathy in Augustine's pursuits, the latter united himself to him in a closer intimacy. Scarcely had he thus given him his heart, when God took him.

"Thou tookest him," he says, "out of this life, when he had scarce completed one whole year of my friendship, sweet to me above all sweetness in that life of mine. A long while, sore sick of a fever, he lay senseless in the dews of death, and being given over, he was baptized unwitting; I, meanwhile little regarding, or presuming that his soul would retain rather what it had received of me than what was wrought on his unconscious body."

The Manichees, it should be observed, rejected baptism. He proceeds: "But it proved far otherwise; for he was refreshed and restored. Forthwith, as soon as I could speak with him (and I could as soon as he was able, for I never left him, and we hung but too much upon each other), I essayed to jest with him, as though he would jest with me at that baptism, which he had received, when utterly absent in mind and feeling, but had now understood that he had received. But he shrunk from me, as from an enemy; and with a wonderful and sudden freedom bade me, if I would continue his friend, forbear such language to him. I, all astonished and amazed, suppressed all my emotions till he should grow well, and his health were strong enough for me to deal with him as I would. But he was taken away from my madness, that with Thee he might be preserved for my comfort: a few days after, in my absence, he was attacked again by fever, and so departed."

3.

From distress of mind Augustine left his native place, Thagaste, and came to Carthage, where he became a teacher in rhetoric. Here he fell in with Faustus, an eminent Manichean bishop and disputant, in whom, however, he was disappointed; and the disappointment abated his attachment to his sect, and disposed him to look for truth elsewhere. Disgusted with the licence which prevailed among the students at Carthage, he determined to proceed to Rome, and disregarding and eluding the entreaties of his mother, Monica, who dreaded his removal from his own country, he went thither. At Rome he resumed his profession; but inconveniences as great, though of another kind, encountered him in that city; and upon the people of Milan sending for a rhetoric reader, he made application for the appointment, and obtained it. To Milan then he came, the city of St. Ambrose, in the year of our Lord 385.

Ambrose, though weak in voice, had the reputation of eloquence; and Augustine, who seems to have gone with introductions to him, and was won by his kindness of manner, attended his sermons with curiosity and {148} interest. "I listened," he says, "not in the frame of mind which became me, but in order to see whether his eloquence answered what was reported of it: I hung on his words attentively, but of the matter I was but an unconcerned and contemptuous hearer."—v. 23. His impression of his style of preaching is worth noticing: "I was delighted with the sweetness of his discourse, more full of knowledge, yet in manner less pleasurable and soothing, than that of Faustus." Augustine was insensibly moved: he determined on leaving the Manichees, and returning to the state of a catechumen in the Catholic Church, into which he had been admitted by his parents. He began to eye and muse upon the great bishop of Milan more and more, and tried in vain to penetrate his secret heart, and to ascertain the thoughts and feelings which swayed him. He felt he did not understand him. If the respect and intimacy of the great could make a man happy, these advantages he perceived Ambrose to possess; yet he was not satisfied that he was a happy man. His celibacy seemed a drawback: what constituted his hidden life? or was he cold at heart? or was he of a famished and restless spirit? He felt his own malady, and longed to ask him some questions about it. But Ambrose could not easily be spoken with. Though accessible to all, yet that very circumstance made it difficult for an individual, especially one who was not of his flock, to get a private interview with him. When he was not taken up with the Christian people who surrounded him, he was either at his meals or engaged in private reading. Augustine used to enter, as all persons might, without being announced; but after staying awhile, afraid of interrupting him, he departed again. However, he heard his expositions of Scripture every Sunday, and gradually made progress.

He was now in his thirtieth year, and since he was a youth of eighteen had been searching after truth; yet he was still "in the same mire, greedy of things present," but finding nothing stable.

"Tomorrow," he said to himself, "I shall find it; it will appear manifestly, and I shall grasp it: lo, Faustus the Manichee will come and clear every thing! O you great men, ye academics, is it true, then, that no certainty can be attained for the ordering of life? Nay, let us search diligently, and despair not. Lo, things in the ecclesiastical books are not absurd to us now, which sometime seemed absurd, and may be otherwise taken and in a good sense. I will take my stand where, as a child, my parents placed me, until the clear truth be found out. But where shall it be sought, or when? Ambrose has no leisure; we have no leisure to read; where shall we find even the books? where, or when, procure them? Let set times be appointed, and certain hours be ordered for the health of our soul. Great hope has dawned; the Catholic faith teaches not what we thought; and do we doubt to knock, that the rest may be opened? The forenoons, indeed, our scholars take up; what do we during the rest of our time? why not this? But if so, when pay we court to our great friend, whose favours we need? when compose what we may sell to scholars? when refresh ourselves, unbending our minds from this intenseness of care?

"Perish every thing: dismiss we these empty vanities; and betake ourselves to the one search for truth! Life is a poor thing, death is uncertain; if it surprises us, in what state shall we depart hence? and when shall we learn what here we have neglected? and shalt we not rather suffer the punishment of this negligence? What if death itself cut off and end all care and feeling? Then must this be ascertained. But God forbid this! It is no vain and empty thing, that the excellent dignity of the Christian faith has overspread the whole world. Never would such and so great things be wrought for us by God, if with the body the soul also came to an end. Wherefore delay then to abandon worldly hopes, and give ourselves wholly to seek after God and the blessed life? But wait: even those things are pleasant; they have some and no small sweetness. We must not lightly abandon them, for it were a shame to return again to them. See, how great a matter it is now to obtain some station, and then what should we wish for more? We have store of powerful friends; if nothing else offers, and we be in much haste, at least a presidency may be given us; and a wife with some fortune, that she increase not our charges; and this shall be the bound of desire. Many great men, and most worthy of imitation, have given themselves to the study of wisdom in the state of marriage."—vi. 18, 19.

John Henry Newman 1801-1890 The Church of the Fathers - 6 Augustine and the Vandals

"The fury of the Vandals was especially exercised towards the memorials of religion"

Capita selecta- Chapter 7.

Augustine and the Vandals

"The just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and men of mercy are taken away, for there is none to understand; for the just man is taken away from before the face of evil."

I BEGAN by directing the reader's attention to the labours of two great bishops, who restored the faith of Christianity where it had long been obscured. Now, I will put before him, by way of contrast, a scene of the overthrow of religion,—the extinction of a candlestick,—effected, too, by champions of the same heretical creed which Basil and Gregory successfully resisted. It will be found in the history of the last days of the great Augustine, bishop of Hippo, in Africa. The truth triumphed in the East by the power of preaching; it was extirpated in the South by the edge of the sword.

Though it may not be given us to appropriate the prophecies of the Apocalypse to the real events to which they belong, yet it is impossible to read its inspired pages, and then to turn to the dissolution of the Roman empire, without seeing a remarkable agreement, on the whole, between the calamities of that period and the sacred prediction. There is a plain announcement in the inspired page, of "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth;" an announcement of "hail and fire mingled with blood," the conflagration of "trees and green grass," the destruction of ships, the darkening of the sun, and the poisoning of the rivers over a third of their course. There is a clear prophecy of revolutions on the face of the earth and in the structure of society. And, on the other hand, let us observe how fully such general foretokenings are borne out, among other passages of history, in the Vandalic conquest of Africa.

The coast of Africa, between the great desert and the Mediterranean, was one of the most fruitful and opulent portions of the Roman world. The eastern extremity of it was more especially connected with the empire, containing in it Carthage, Hippo, and other towns, celebrated as being sees of the Christian Church, as well as places of civil importance. In the spring of the year 428, the Vandals, Arians by creed, and barbarians by birth and disposition, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, and proceeded along this fertile district, bringing with them devastation and captivity on every side. They abandoned themselves to the most savage cruelties and excesses. They pillaged, ravaged, burned, massacred all that came in their way, sparing not even the fruit-trees, which might have afforded some poor food to the remnant of the population, who had escaped from them into caves, the recesses of the mountains, or into vaults. Twice did this desolating pestilence sweep over the face of the country.

The fury of the Vandals was especially exercised towards the memorials of religion. Churches, cemeteries, monasteries, were objects of their fiercest hatred and most violent assaults. They broke into the places of worship, cut to pieces all internal decorations, and then set fire to them. They tortured bishops and clergy with the hope of obtaining treasure. The names of some of the victims of their ferocity are preserved. Mansuetus, bishop of Utica, was burnt alive; Papinianus, bishop of Vite, was laid upon red-hot plates of iron. This was near upon the time when the third General Council was assembling at Ephesus, which, from the insecure state of the roads, and the universal misery which reigned among them, the African bishops were prevented from attending. The Clergy, the religious brotherhoods, the holy virgins, were scattered all over the country. The daily sacrifice was stopped, the sacraments could not be obtained, the festivals of the Church passed unnoticed. At length, only three cities remained unvisited by the general desolation,—Carthage, Hippo, and Cirtha.

2.

Hippo was the see of St. Austin, then seventy-four years of age (forty almost of which had been passed in ministerial labours), and warned, by the law of nature, of the approach of dissolution. It was as if the light of prosperity and peace were fading away from the African Church, as sank the bodily powers of its great earthly ornament and stay. At this time, when the terrors of the barbaric invasion spread on all sides, a bishop wrote to him to ask whether it was allowable for the ruler of a Church to leave the scene of his pastoral duties in order to save his life. Different opinions had heretofore been expressed on this question. In Augustine's own country Tertullian had maintained that flight was unlawful, but he was a Montanist when he so wrote. On the other hand, Cyprian had actually fled, and had defended his conduct when questioned by the clergy of Rome. His contemporaries, Dionysius of Alexandria, {130} and Gregory of Neocæsarea, had fled also; as had Polycarp before them, and Athanasius after them.

Athanasius also had to defend his flight, and he defended it, in a work still extant, thus:—First, he observes, it has the sanction of numerous Scripture precedents. Thus, in the instance of confessors under the old covenant, Jacob fled from Esau, Moses from Pharao, David from Saul; Elias concealed himself from Achab three years, and the sons of the prophets were hid by Abdias in a cave from Jezebel. In like manner under the Gospel, the disciples hid themselves for fear of the Jews, and St. Paul was let down in a basket over the wall at Damascus. On the other hand, no instance can be adduced of over-boldness and headstrong daring in the saints of Scripture. But our Lord Himself is the chief exemplar of fleeing from persecution. As a child in arms He had to flee into Egypt. When He returned, He still shunned Judea, and retired to Nazareth. After raising Lazarus, on the Jews seeking His life, "He walked no more openly among them," but retreated to the neighbourhood of the desert. When they took up stones to cast at Him, He hid Himself; when they attempted to cast Him down headlong, He made His way through them; when He heard of the Baptist's death, He retired across the lake into a desert place, apart. If it be said that He did so, because His time was not yet come, and that when it was come, He delivered up Himself, we must ask, in reply, how a man can know that his time is come, so as to have a right to act as Christ acted? And since we do not know, we must have patience; and, till God by His own act determines the time, we must "wander in sheepskins and goat-skins," rather than take the matter into our own hands; as even Saul, the persecutor, was left by David in the hands of God, whether He would "strike him, or his day should come to die, or he should go down to battle and perish."

If God's servants, proceeds Athanasius, have at any time presented themselves before their persecutors, it was at God's command: thus Elias showed himself to Achab; so did the prophet from Juda, to Jeroboam; and St. Paul appealed to Cæsar. Flight, so far from implying cowardice, requires often greater courage than not to flee. It is a greater trial of heart. Death is an end of all trouble; he who flees is ever expecting death, and dies daily. Job's life was not to be touched by Satan, yet was not his fortitude shown in what he suffered? Exile is full of miseries. The after-conduct of the saints showed they had not fled for fear. Jacob, on his deathbed, contemned death, and blessed each of the twelve Patriarchs; Moses returned, and presented himself before Pharao; David was a valiant warrior; Elias rebuked Achab and Ochazias; Peter and Paul, who had once hid themselves, offered themselves to martyrdom at Rome. And so acceptable was the previous flight of these men to Almighty God, that we read of His showing them some special favour during it. Then it was that Jacob had the vision of Angels; Moses saw the burning bush; David wrote his prophetic Psalms; Elias raised the dead, and gathered the people on Mount Carmel. How would the Gospel ever have been preached throughout the world, if the Apostles had not fled? And, since their time, those, too, who have become martyrs, at first fled; or, if they advanced to meet their persecutors, it was by some secret suggestion of the Divine Spirit. But, above all, while these instances abundantly illustrate the rule of duty in persecution, and the temper of mind necessary in those who observe it, we have that duty itself declared in a plain precept by no other than our Lord: "When they shall persecute you in this city," He says, "flee into another;" and "let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains."

Thus argues the great Athanasius, living in spirit with the saints departed, while full of labour and care here on earth. For the arguments on the other side, let us turn to a writer, not less vigorous in mind, but less subdued in temper. Thus writes Tertullian on the same subject, then a Montanist, a century and a half earlier:—Nothing happens, he says, without God's will. Persecution is sent by Him, to put His servants to the test; to divide between good and bad: it is a trial; what man has any right to interfere? He who gives the prize, alone can assign the combat. Persecution is more than permitted, it is actually appointed by Almighty God. It does the Church much good, as leading Christians to increased seriousness while it lasts. It comes and goes at God's ordering. Satan could not touch Job, except so far as God gave permission. He could not touch the Apostles, except as far as an opening was allowed in the words, "Satan hath desired to have you, but I have prayed for thee," Peter, "and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren." We pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;" why, if we may deliver ourselves? Satan is permitted access to us, either for punishment, as in Saul's case, or for our chastisement. Since the persecution comes from God, we may not lawfully avoid it, nor can we avoid it. We cannot, because He is all powerful; we must not, because He is all good. We should leave the matter entirely to God. As to the command of fleeing from city to city, this was temporary. It was intended to secure the preaching of the Gospel to the nations. While the Apostles preached to the Jews,—till they had preached to the Gentiles,—they were to flee; but one might as well argue, that we now are not to go "into the way of the Gentiles," but to confine ourselves to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," as that we are now to "flee from city to city." Nor, indeed, was going from city to city a flight; it was a continued preaching; not an accident, but a rule: whether persecuted or not, they were to go about; and before they had gone through the cities of Israel, the Lord was to come. The command contemplated only those very cities. If St. Paul escaped out of Damascus by night, yet afterwards, against the prayers of the disciples and the prophecy of Agabus, he went up to Jerusalem. Thus the command to flee did not last even through the lifetime of the Apostles; and, indeed, why should God introduce persecution, if He bids us retire from it? This is imputing inconsistency to His acts. If we want texts to justify our not fleeing, He says, "Whoso shall confess Me before men, I will confess him before My Father." "Blessed are they that suffer persecution;" "He that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved;" "Be not afraid of them that kill the body;" "Whosoever does not carry his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple." How are these texts fulfilled when a man flees? Christ, who is our pattern, did not more than pray, "If it be possible, let this chalice pass:" we, too, should both stay and pray as He did. And it is expressly told us, that "We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Again, it is said, "Perfect charity casteth out fear;" he who flees, fears; he who fears, "is not perfected in charity." The Greek proverb is sometimes urged, "He who flees, will fight another day;" yes, and he may flee another day, also. Again, if bishops, priests, and deacons flee, why must the laity stay? or must they flee also? "The good shepherd," on the contrary, "layeth down his life for his sheep;" whereas, the bad shepherd "seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth." At no time, as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah tell us, is the flock in greater danger of being scattered than when it loses its shepherd. Tertullian ends thus:—"This doctrine, my brother, perhaps appears to you hard; nay, intolerable. But recollect that God has said, 'He that can take, let him take it;' that is, he who receives it not, let him depart. He who fears to suffer cannot belong to Him who has suffered. He who does not fear to suffer is perfect in love, that is, of God. Many are called, few are chosen. Not he who would walk the broad way is sought out by God, but he who walks the narrow." Thus the ingenious and vehement Tertullian.

21 november Opdracht van Maria in de tempel van Jeruzalem Wij hernieuwen onze kloostergeloften

21 november 

Gedachtenis van de Opdracht van Maria in de tempel van Jeruzalem

Wij hernieuwen onze kloostergeloften

De gedachtenis van de Opdracht van  Maria in de tempel, “Maria Presentatie”, gaat volgens het Romeinse Martyrologium terug tot de viering van de kerkwijding van de basiliek “Sancta Maria Nova” die men bij de muur van de tempel had gebouwd. Op deze dag werd tevens die toewijding  gevierd waarmee de toekomstige Moeder van God zichzelf al vanaf haar kinderjaren aan God heeft toegewijd, daartoe bewogen door de Heilige Geest, die haar vanaf het moment van haar onbevlekte ontvangenis met zijn genade heeft vervuld.

De meeste kanunnikessenkloosters van de orde van het Heilig Graf kozen in de 17^e eeuw een Mariafeest voor de jaarlijkse vernieuwing van hun geloften, waarbij de keuze voor het feest van Maria Presentatie als volledige toewijding van Maria aan God het eerst voor de hand lag.

Het gaat niet om het aangaan van een nieuwe verbintenis maar om een bevestiging  én hernieuwing van de persoonlijke toewijding aan God in de gave van hun leven als religieuze en aan de zending in de Kerk volgens de eigen spiritualiteit.

De jaarlijkse Hernieuwing van de Geloften is daarmee een sterke aanmoediging om de essentie van het kloosterleven ten volle en bewust te beleven volgens de Handelingen van de Apostelen (vgl. 2,44-46 en 4,32-35 ): eensgezind volharden in het gebed, getuigen van de realiteit van de Verrijzenis en apostolisch dienstbetoon.

Paus Pius XII bestemde reeds in 1953 21 november als de Dag “pro orantibus Dei” – voor de biddenden tot God -, ook bekend als de dag voor complatieven in de slotkloosters. Paus Johannes–Paulus II heeft deze viering later uitgebreid en de gelovigen aangemoedigd deze specifieke roeping binnen het Volk van God op alle mogelijke wijzen te ondersteunen. Deze dag geeft aan 21 november als dag van de Hernieuwing van de Geloften voor ons, die een “vita mixta” leven – een kloosterlijke levensvorm waarin beide accenten: contemplatief-actief en actief-contemplatief  tot hun recht komen -  een diepere dimensie.

Van 29 november 2014 tot en met 2 februari 2016 wordt het “Jaar van het godgewijde Leven” gevierd waarbij dankbaarheid, nieuw elan, hoop en evangelisch engagement leidende principes zijn.

Is het voor iedereen van fundamenteel belang het gesprek met God dagelijks gaande te houden, voor de religieuzen, eens door God zelf persoonlijk aangeraakt, is dat een consequentie vanuit hun roeping. Zij stellen immers het voortdurende “quærere Deum” – het zoeken naar God – voorop, met de gezindheid van Jezus Christus die het Gelaat van God openbaart, wanneer zij hun blik op de onzichtbare Realiteit richten, die eeuwig is en die de hoop van de menselijke voltooiing volledig in zich draagt. Voortvloeiend uit deze gesteltenis staan zij open voor de medemens en laten het Gelaat van Christus zien door hun leven, op het fundament van het Evangelie.

“Op grond van de absolute voorrang die zij aan Christus geven, zijn de kloosters geroepen plaatsen te zijn waar de heerlijkheid van God wordt gevierd, waar men bidt en de verborgen en tegelijk concrete tegenwoordigheid van God in de wereld bezingt, waar men probeert het nieuwe gebod van de liefde  en het elkaar dienen in praktijk te brengen” (Benedictus XVI, nov. 2008). 

"Heb medelijden, eeuwige God, met uw schapen!" - H. Catharina van Siena

H. Catharina van Siena:

“Heb medelijden, eeuwige God, met uw schapen! U bent immers de goede Herder. Aarzel niet barmhartig te zijn voor de wereld! Het ziet immers zo uit alsof deze niet meer verder kan. Want de vereniging in liefde met U, eeuwige Waarheid, en bij de mensen onderling lijkt volledig verloren te zijn gegaan. De mensen beminnen elkaar niet met de liefde die in U haar wortels heeft.”

(Dialogo della Divina Provvidenza, cap. 16)

A look back at Notre Dame’s history

Viaggio a Roma: The Pantheon

met dank aan catholictv 

Basilica di San Marco - Venezia

Basilica di San Marco overgenomen van Jan Reijmerink op youtube:

De huidige basiliek is de derde kerk op deze plaats. Hij dateert van rond 1060. De basiliek is gebouwd om de overblijfselen van de heilige Marcus, die in 828 door Venetië geroofd waren uit Alexandrië, een laatste rustplaats te bieden.

Het gebouw wordt gezien als een van de mooiste basilieken van Europa en heeft zowel een interessant exterieur en interieur.

De gevel van de basiliek is versierd met onder andere een vierspan en de Venetiaanse leeuw, symbool van Marcus de evangelist. Het bronzen vierspan op de gevel is een replica van de originele paardengroep, die waarschijnlijk uit de 2e eeuw stamt. Deze paarden zijn uniek omdat andere groepen van triomfkarpaarden uit de oudheid niet bewaard zijn gebleven. Ze zijn als buit van de Vierde Kruistocht uit Constantinopel naar Venetië gebracht. Napoleon heeft de paarden enige tijd op de Arc de Triomphe in Parijs laten plaatsen. De kerven in de paardengroep zijn met opzet aangebracht om schittering te voorkomen.

De basiliek heeft vijf koepels en is rijkelijk versierd en voorzien van bogen en vele torentjes. De hoofdingang heeft beeldhouwwerken uit de 13e eeuw die de maanden van het jaar uitbeelden. Boven de hoofdingang staan beelden uit de 15e eeuw van San Marco en diverse engelen. Naast de basiliek staat de Campanile.

Interieur

Het interieur is beroemd om zijn mozaïeken in de koepels en om de golvende vloeren van marmer en mozaïek. Het heeft de vorm van een Grieks kruis, en op alle uiteinden, en op het kruispunt zijn koepels aangebracht; de bekendste koepels zijn de Hemelvaartkoepel uit de 13e eeuw en de Pinksterkoepel uit de 12e eeuw. In het Atrium (vestibule) zijn ook mozaïeken uit 13e eeuw in de koepel. Het zijn twaalf episoden uit het Oude Testament in de Genesiskoepel tot afbeeldingen over Jozef en Mozes.

De sarcofaag van Sint Marcus staat achter het altaar.

Achter de kapel van de Heilige Clemens is het beroemde van edelstenen voorziene altaarstuk, de Pala d'Oro te zien. Hoewel Napoleon verschillende edelstenen geroofd heeft uit het altaarstuk is het nog redelijk intact. Het heeft 250 brandschilderwerken op goudfolie in een gouden lijst. Het is in 976 in Byzantium gemaakt en is ook roofbuit van de Vierde Kruistocht.

De iconostase (een scherm tussen het schip en het preekgestoelte) is versierd met marmeren beelden van Maria en de apostelen. Het is gemaakt door de broers Dallle Masegne in 1394. Er is een baldakijn boven het hoofdaltaar.

Er zijn diverse kapellen, zoals de doopkapel (Chiesa des putti wat "kerk van de baby's" betekent), de Zenkapel waar kardinaal Zen begraven ligt, de kapel van de Heilige Isidorus is alleen toegankelijk voor gebed en de Mascolikapel versierd met afbeeldingen van Maria. Verder nog de Mascolikapel, genoemd naar het broederschap Mascoli en de San Pietrokapel.

Bij de hoofdingang is ook de trap naar de eerste verdieping, de Loggia dei Cavalli. Dit is het Museum Marciano. Hier zijn onder andere de originele vergulde bronzen paarden (Quadriga) te zien. Bovendien zijn de mozaïeken hier van dichterbij te bekijken. Ook zijn er verschillende schaalmodellen te zien. Hier is ook nog de Pala feriale van Paolo Veneziano uit de 14e eeuw te zien.

In de rechterzijbeuk is de Schatkamer (Tresoro) van de San Marco. Hierin zijn andere schatten te zien die meegenomen werden als buit van de Vierde Kruistocht, met nog een verzameling Byzantijns zilver, goud en glaswerk. Er zijn bokalen, reliekhouders, kelken en twee iconen van de aartsengel Michael. Ook is er nog een reliekhouder met de vorm van een basiliek met vijf koepels uit de 11e eeuw.

Ook zijn hier verschillende relieken te zien met botten van onder andere Sint Marcus en Jakobus de Mindere.