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Last
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March 18, 2007
The
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Saint Macarius the
Great of Egypt was born around 331 in the village of Ptinapor in Egypt.
At the wish of his parents he entered into marriage, but was soon
widowed. After he buried his wife, Macarius told himself, "Take heed,
Macarius, and have care for your soul. It is fitting that you forsake
worldly life."
The Lord rewarded the saint with a long life, but from that time the
memory of death was constantly with him, impelling him to ascetic deeds
of prayer and penitence. He began to visit the church of God more
frequently and to be more deeply absorbed in Holy Scripture, but he did
not leave his aged parents, thus fulfilling the commandment to honor
one's parents.
Until his parents died, St Macarius used his remaining substance to help
them and he began to pray fervently that the Lord might show him a guide
on the way to salvation. The Lord sent him an experienced Elder, who
lived in the desert not far from the village. The Elder accepted the
youth with love, guided him in the spiritual science of watchfulness,
fasting and prayer, and taught him the handicraft of weaving baskets.
After building a separate cell not far from his own, the Elder settled
his disciple in it.
The local bishop arrived one day at Ptinapor and, knowing of the saint's
virtuous life, ordained him against his will. St Macarius was
overwhelmed by this disturbance of his silence, and so he went secretly
to another place. The Enemy of our salvation began a tenacious struggle
with the ascetic, trying to terrify him, shaking his cell and suggesting
sinful thoughts. St Macarius repelled the attacks of the devil,
defending himself with prayer and the Sign of the Cross.
Evil people slandered the saint, accusing him of seducing a woman from a
nearby village. They dragged him out of his cell and jeered at him. St
Macarius endured the temptation with great humility. Without a murmur,
he sent the money that he got for his baskets for the support of the
pregnant woman.
The innocence of St Macarius was manifested when the woman, who suffered
torment for many days, was not able to give birth. She confessed that
she had slandered the hermit, and revealed the name of the real father.
When her parents found out the truth, they were astonished and intended
to go to the saint to ask forgiveness. Though St Macarius willingly
accepted dishonor, he shunned the praise of men. He fled from that place
by night and settled on Mt. Nitria in the Pharan desert.
Thus human wickedness contributed to the prospering of the righteous.
Having dwelt in the desert for three years, he went to St Anthony the
Great, the Father of Egyptian monasticism, for he had heard that he was
still alive in the world, and he longed to see him. Abba Anthony
received him with love, and Macarius became his devoted disciple and
follower. St Macarius lived with him for a long time and then, on the
advice of the saintly abba, he went off to the Skete monastery (in the
northwest part of Egypt). He so shone forth in asceticism that he came
to be called "a young Elder," because he had distinguished himself as an
experienced and mature monk, even though he was not quite thirty years
old.
St Macarius survived many demonic attacks against him. Once, he was
carrying palm branches for weaving baskets, and a devil met him on the
way and wanted to strike him with a sickle, but he was not able to do
this. He said, "Macarius, I suffer great anguish from you because I am
unable to vanquish you. I do everything that you do. You fast, and I eat
nothing at all. You keep vigil, and I never sleep. You surpass me only
in one thing: humility."
When the saint reached the age of forty, he was ordained to the
priesthood and made the head of the monks living in the desert of Skete.
During these years, St Macarius often visited with St Anthony the Great,
receiving guidance from him in spiritual conversations. Abba Macarius
was deemed worthy to be present at the death of St Anthony and he
received his staff. He also received a double portion of the Anthony's
spiritual power, just as the prophet Elisha once received a double
portion of the grace of the prophet Elias, along with the mantle that he
dropped from the fiery chariot.
St Macarius worked many healings. People thronged to him from various
places for help and for advice, asking his holy prayers. All this
unsettled the quietude of the saint. He therefore dug out a deep cave
under his cell, and hid there for prayer and meditation.
St Macarius attained such boldness before God that, through his prayers,
the Lord raised the dead. Despite attaining such heights of holiness, he
continued to preserve his unusual humility. One time the holy abba
caught a thief loadng his things on a donkey standing near the cell.
Without revealing that he was the owner of these things, the monk began
to help tie up the load. Having removed himself from the world, the monk
told himself, "We bring nothing at all into this world; clearly, it is
not possible to take anything out from it. Blessed be the Lord for all
things!"
Once, St Macarius was walking and saw a skull lying upon the ground. He
asked, "Who are you?" The skull answered, "I was a chief priest of the
pagans. When you, Abba, pray for those in hell, we receive some
mitigation."
The monk asked, "What are these torments?" "We are sitting in a great
fire," replied the skull, "and we do not see one another. When you pray,
we begin to see each other somewhat, and this affords us some comfort."
Having heard such words, the saint began to weep and asked, "Are there
still more fiercesome torments?" The skull answered, "Down below us are
those who knew the Name of God, but spurned Him and did not keep His
commandments. They endure even more grievous torments."
Once, while he was praying, St Macarius heard a voice: "Macarius, you
have not yet attained such perfection in virtue as two women who live in
the city." The humble ascetic went to the city, found the house where
the women lived, and knocked. The women received him with joy, and he
said, "I have come from the desert seeking you in order to learn of your
good deeds. Tell me about them, and conceal nothing."
The women answered with surprise, "We live with our husbands, and we
have not such virtues." But the saint continued to insist, and the women
then told him, "We married two brothers. After living together in one
house for fifteen years, we have not uttered a single malicious nor
shameful word, and we never quarrel among ourselves. We asked our
husbands to allow us to enter a women's monastery, but they would not
agree. We vowed not to utter a single worldly word until our death."
St Macarius glorified God and said, "In truth, the Lord seeks neither
virgins nor married women, and neither monks nor laymen, but values a
person's free intent, accepting it as the deed itself. He grants to
everyone's free will the grace of the Holy Spirit, which operates in an
individual and directs the life of all who yearn to be saved."
During the years of the reign of the Arian emperor Valens (364-378), St
Macarius the Great and St Macarius of Alexandria was subjected to
persecution by the followers of the Arian bishop Lucius. They seized
both Elders and put them on a ship, sending them to an island where only
pagans lived. By the prayers of the saints, the daughter of a pagan
priest was delivered from an evil spirit. After this, the pagan priest
and all the inhabitants of the island were baptized. When he heard what
had happened, the Arian bishop feared an uprising and permitted the
Elders to return to their monasteries.
The meekness and humility of the monk transformed human souls. "A
harmful word," said Abba Macarius, "makes good things bad, but a good
word makes bad things good." When the monks asked him how to pray
properly, he answered, "Prayer does not require many words. It is
needful to say only, "Lord, as Thou wilt and as Thou knowest, have mercy
on me." If an enemy should fall upon you, you need only say, "Lord, have
mercy!" The Lord knows that which is useful for us, and grants us
mercy."
When the brethren asked how a monk ought to comport himself, the saint
replied, "Forgive me, I am not yet a monk, but I have seen monks. I
asked them what I must do to be a monk. They answered, 'If a man does
not withdraw himself from everything which is in the world, it is not
possible to be a monk.' Then I said, 'I am weak and cannot be as you
are.' The monks responded, 'If you cannot renounce the world as we have,
then go to your cell and weep for your sins.'"
St Macarius gave advice to a young man who wished to become a monk:
"Flee from people and you shall be saved." That one asked: "What does it
mean to flee from people?" The monk answered: "Sit in your cell and
repent of your sins."
St Macarius sent him to a cemetery to rebuke and then to praise the
dead. Then he asked him what they said to him. The young man replied,
"They were silent to both praise and reproach." "If you wish to be
saved, be as one dead. Do not become angry when insulted, nor puffed up
when praised." And further: "If slander is like praise for you, poverty
like riches, insufficiency like abundance, then you shall not perish."
The prayer of St Macarius saved many in perilous circumstances of life,
and preserved them from harm and temptation. His benevolence was so
great that they said of him: "Just as God sees the whole world, but does
not chastize sinners, so also does Abba Macarius cover his neighbor's
weaknesses, which he seemed to see without seeing, and heard without
hearing."
The monk lived until the age of ninety. Shortly before his death, Sts
Anthony and Pachomius appeared to him, bringing the joyful message of
his departure to eternal life in nine days. After instructing his
disciples to preserve the monastic Rule and the traditions of the
Fathers, he blessed them and began to prepare for death. St Macarius
departed to the Lord saying, "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my
spirit."
Abba Macarius spent sixty years in the wilderness, being dead to the
world. He spent most of his time in conversation with God, often in a
state of spiritual rapture. But he never ceased to weep, to repent and
to work. The saint's profound theological writings are based on his own
personal experience. Fifty Spiritual Homilies and seven Ascetic
Treatises survive as the precious legacy of his spiritual wisdom.
Several prayers composed by St Macarius the Great are still used by the
Church in the Prayers Before Sleep and also in the Morning Prayers.
Man's highest goal and purpose, the union of the soul with God, is a
primary principle in the works of St Macarius. Describing the methods
for attaining mystical communion, the saint relies upon the experience
of the great teachers of Egyptian monasticism and on his own experience.
The way to God and the experience of the holy ascetics of union with God
is revealed to each believer's heart.
Earthly life, according to St Macarius, has only a relative
significance: to prepare the soul, to make it capable of perceiving the
heavenly Kingdom, and to establish in the soul an affinity with the
heavenly homeland.
"For those truly believing in Christ, it is necessary to change and
transform the soul from its present degraded nature into another, divine
nature, and to be fashioned anew by the power of the Holy Spirit."
This is possible, if we truly believe and we truly love God and have
observed all His holy commandments. If one betrothed to Christ at
Baptism does not seek and receive the divine light of the Holy Spirit in
the present life, "then when he departs from the body, he is separated
into the regions of darkness on the left side. He does not enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven, but has his end in hell with the devil and his
angels" (Homily 30:6).
In the teaching of St Macarius, the inner action of the Christian
determines the extent of his perception of divine truth and love. Each
of us acquires salvation through grace and the divine gift of the Holy
Spirit, but to attain a perfect measure of virtue, which is necessary
for the soul's assimilation of this divine gift, is possible only "by
faith and by love with the strengthening of free will." Thus, the
Christian inherits eternal life "as much by grace, as by truth."
Salvation is a divine-human action, and we
attain complete spiritual success "not only by divine power and grace,
but also by the accomplishing of the proper labors." On the other hand,
it is not just within "the measure of freedom and purity" that we arrive
at the proper solicitude, it is not without "the cooperation of the hand
of God above." The participation of man determines the actual condition
of his soul, thus inclining him to good or evil. "If a soul still in the
world does not possess in itself the sanctity of the Spirit for great
faith and for prayer, and does not strive for the oneness of divine
communion, then it is unfit for the heavenly kingdom."
The miracles and visions of Blessed Macarius
are recorded in a book by the presbyter Rufinus, and his Life was
compiled by St Serapion, bishop of Tmuntis (Lower Egypt), one of the
renowned workers of the Church in the fourth century. His holy relics
are in the city of Amalfi, Italy.
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Saint Macarius the Great of Egypt
Saint Pachomius the Great of Egypt
Saint Anthony
the Great of Egypt |
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