Mark the Evangelist hosted the disciples in his house after Jesus' death, that the resurrected Jesus Christ came to Mark's house (John 20), and that the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples at Pentecost in the same house. Furthermore, Mark is also believed to have been among the servants at the Marriage at Cana who poured out the water that Jesus turned to wine (John 2:1–11). According to the Coptic tradition, Saint Mark was born in Cyrene, a city in the Pentapolis of North Africa (now Libya). This tradition adds that Mark returned to Pentapolis later in life, after being sent by Paul
Cana holds that this is the first public miracle of Jesus. The other biblical references to Cana are also in John: , which mentions that Jesus is visiting Cana when he is asked to heal the son of a royal official at Capernaum; and , where it is mentioned that Nathanael (sometimes identified with the Bartholomew included in the synoptic gospels' lists of apostles) comes from Cana. The Book of Joshua mentions one city () and one brook (; ) named Cana – neither is likely to be the Cana of Galilee. In secular history, the annals of Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser