All about Zakynthos

In 1517, under Bishop Marcus de Franceschi (1488-1521), the church of St. Mark of the Franciscans of Chocolante was erected behind the church of Pantokrator.

The church was demolished in an earthquake and in 1613 Bishop Marcus Pasqualigus (1611-1624) rebuilt it on land belonging to the Catalan and Vryonis families. At the same time, the area behind the church that belonged to Androusiano and Voltaire was purchased to be used as a cemetery.

The church, again damaged by the earthquakes, was rebuilt from the foundations by the bishop of Zakynthos, Constantine de Rubeis of Demetrios (1634-1640), who signed his works "Latinistically" as Constantinus de Rubeis.

Local historians disagree on the date of the rebuilding of the church. Zois gives 1639 as the year of the construction, while Konomos states that the agreement for the rebuilding of the church between Bishop de Rubeis and the first mason Antonis Zervos took place on 14 May 1636.

Between the church of Pantokrator and the church of St Mark there was a small ground floor house that belonged to Emmanuel Kalendzi. Archbishop Ioannes Chrysostomus Calvi (1718-1729), wishing to enlarge the small church of St. Markou agreed with Kalenetzis and bought the house on 14 October 1725, as it was recorded in the minutes of the Notary L. Mercatis (p. 49), "against annual land tax of ten golden cedars and one lamp litre half".

On 21 February 1728 the agreement was ratified by Pope Benedict XIII. Part of the land was used to enlarge the front of the temple and the rest for the construction of a tower on the north side of the temple.

And finally, in 1743 "the cathedral [which] is surrounded by houses intended for the monks' dwellings" was established as a bishop's church instead of the church of the Saviour in the castle.

In 1742 according to Konomos or 1747 according to Zois, after the devastating earthquake of 1741 that flattened the church, under Bishop Balthasar Maria Remondini (1736-1777), the church was rebuilt again.