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==Life==Archbishop Mark was born Michael Arndt on [[January 29 January ]], 1941 in the city of Chemnitz, Germany.

In 1964, while he was studying English and Slavistics at the University of Heidelberg, he converted to OrthodoxyOrthodox Christianity. In the course of his study of Slavistics, he became a specialist in a number of Slavic languages and literature, including Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Czech and Macedonian. He completed his PhD. with the doctoral thesis "Biographical Literature of the Tver Duchy in the 14th and 15th Centuries".

He began his theological studies in 1973 in Belgrade, then finished Yugoslavia finishing his degree in theology in 1979. In 1975, Michael chose a [[monasticism|monastic]] life and was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] with the name Mark by Abp. Paul (Pavlov) of Sydney. He was [[ordination|ordained ]] a [[deacon ] in the summer of 1975, and was ordained a heiromonk [[hieromonk]] three days later, then by Abp. Paul. Hieromonk Mark was appointed as Deputy Rector of the Russian church in Wiesbaden, Germany. In 1976, he was elevated to the rank of [[archimandrite]].

In 1980, he was elevated to the rank [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] bishop, becoming and was installed as the (ROCOR) bishop Bishop of Stuttgart and Southern Germany. In 1982, he was promoted to be bishop assigned as Bishop of Berlin and All Germany, succeeding Abp. Paul (Pavlov). In the mid-1980's, he was appointed Ruling Bishop of the [[Diocese ]] of Great Britain and [[Rector ]] of St Alexander Nevsky Parish in Copenhagen. In 1990, he was elevated to the rank of [[Archbishop]]. In 1997, he was also appointed Overseer of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.

Archbishop Abp. Mark has been one of the most ardent supporters of Church unity between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate, and worked tirelessly to see this goal achieved. From 1993-to 1997, he headed the dialog between the two German based dioceses (of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Moscow Patriarchate) in the re-united Germany. Since 2000, he has been the President of the Committee on the Unity of the Russian Church, and since 2003, the President of the Commission on talks with the Moscow Patriarchate. This was a large part of the impetus which brought about the reunification of the ROCOR and MP Moscow Patriarchal churches, which finally took place in 2006. {{start box}}{{succession|before=?|title=Bishop of Stuttgart (ROCOR)|years= 1980-1982|after=?}}{{succession|before=Paul (Pavlov)|title=Bishop of Berlin and All Germany(ROCOR)|years= 1982-Present|after=—}}{{end box}}