- Our Holy Father Macarius (Makarios)the Great (~390)
- He was born around 300 in Egypt and in
his youth was a camel driver. While still living in his village, he withdrew to a small
cell to devote himself exclusively to ascesis and prayer. When the people there wanted
to make him a priest, he fled to another village. There a young woman who was
discovered to be pregnant falsely accused Macarius of being the father. Macarius was
seized, reviled and beaten, but made no effort to defend himself; instead he took on
more work in order to provide for the mother and her child. When his innocence was
finally discovered, the townspeople came to ask his forgiveness; but he fled to the
desert of Sketis (now called Wadi Natrun). He was then thirty years old, and for the
rest of his life he dwelt in the desert.
-
His humility and detachment from earthly things were so great that once, when
he discovered a thief stealing his few possessions, he helped the man load them onto his
camel, even pointing out to him the few things he had missed. Once a demon spoke to
him thus: "Everything you do, I do too: you fast, but I never eat; you keep vigil, but I
never sleep; you only exceed me in one way: your humility. Because of this I am
helpless against you." The Saint said that the demons could be put in two categories:
those who arouse passions such as anger, lust and greed; and others, much more
dreadful, who deceive us by spiritual illusion, blasphemy and heresy.
-
Saint Macarius soon became known throughout Egypt, and many visitors came
to his isolated home. He welcomed all with joy, judging no one and providing
hospitality for all. His compassion extended to all, and he prayed even for the damned.
Once he found the skull of a pagan priest, which addressed him, saying, "Each time you
have pity on us who are in torment, immersed in fire and darkness, we receive a
measure of comfort and are allowed to see the faces of our fellow sufferers."
-
Saint Macarius became a disciple of St Anthony the Great, and in his turn became
the spiritual Father of many who came to live near him in the desert. He is considered
the founder of the ancient and venerable monastic community at Sketis. At the age of
forty he was ordained a priest at the urging of St Anthony, so that he and his brethren
would not have to walk the forty miles of desert to Nitria to go to church.
-
Knowing that he was soon to die, he visited his disciples one last time, saying to
them with tears in his eyes, "Let us weep, brethren, so that our eyes flow ceaselessly
with tears, before we go to where our tears will scald our bodies." Soon thereafter he
reposed. His relics now rest in the Coptic monastery that bears his name. The
collection of fifty Spiritual Homilies attributed to St Macarius is a treasury of Orthodox
spirituality.
source: http://www.abbamoses.com
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