Saint Macarius the Great
Saint Macarius the Great
He is the founder of monasticism in the holy wilderness of Scetis, which is called “the Scetis of Macarius,” and from the word “Scetis” the ascetic life in other languages Ascetic Life was derived.
He was born in the year 300 A.D. and departed in the year 390 A.D. He lived more than sixty years in monasticism. He visited Saint Anthony the Great, who clothed him with the schema and supplied him with his monastic teachings, and said about him: “A great power goes out from these hands.” His parents married him in his youth, and he lived in purity, and his wife died as a virgin, and he went to monasticism. Some great fathers resembled him in this, such as Saint Anba Amoun, father of the region of Scetis (the Cells), and Anba John Kamma, saint of the Syrian Monastery. Saint Paul the Simple had also been married before…
The first church he founded is the Church of Baramos, and the word Baramos is Coptic meaning “belonging to the Romans,” in reference to the two Roman princes Maximus and Domadius whom Saint Macarius made monks.
The second church he founded carried his name, which is the church of the Monastery of Anba Macarius the Great. The saint would pray in one of the churches, and Saint Isidore the priest would pray in the other. After that Saint Moses the Black was ordained a priest by the hand of Pope Theophilus (the 23rd patriarch).
Abba Macarius is the first of the three Saint Macarii mentioned in the liturgical commemoration, and whose relics are preserved in the Monastery of Anba Macarius. His two companions are:
– Saint Macarius of Alexandria.
– And Saint Macarius, Bishop of Edku.
The Scetis in the time of Abba Macarius was filled with many saints. Besides those we mentioned, there were Saint Arsenius the teacher of the royal children, Saint Anba Pambo the teacher of Saint Anba Bishoy, and Saint John the Short… There were also Anba Isaiah the Anchorite, Anba Agathon, and many others. Among his disciples was the great saint Anba Bapnuda. And during his time a large number of anchorites lived in the deserts; he saw two of them and said to his disciples: “My children, I am not a monk, but I have seen monks.”
Abba Macarius was well-known for his humility.
With this humility he cast out demons, who confessed to him saying, “By one thing you overcome us.” When he asked them, they said, “By your humility.” His many virtues could not lift up his heart, nor even his miracles, for once he raised a dead person… And it was said in his biography, in the beginning of his monasticism, that a Cherub (one of the order of the Cherubim) used to guide him in his life.
Abba Macarius was a great teacher of asceticism and also of the life of virtue in general… And fifty homilies of deep meaning are attributed to him, to the extent that some doubted their attribution to an ascetic monk…!
Reports about this saint were mentioned in the book of Palladius, and in The Paradise of the Fathers. His biography was written by Saint Serapion, and it was recorded in manuscripts and published by the Syrian Monastery. And we wish to republish it soon…
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