 Chronologically, the Gospel of Mark was the first of the four gospels, and the last 12 verses of Mark are absent from the two earliest manuscripts.Early third-century theologians like Origen and Clement of Alexandria also make no mention of them.Because of patristic evidence from the late 2nd century for the existence of copies of Mark with the longer ending, it is contended by a majority of scholars that the longer ending must have been written and attached no later than the early 2nd century.