SAINT MACARIUS

THE GREAT, MONK

(390)

 

Saint Macarius was a monk, born in a village called Manf in Upper Egypt, around 300. He was attending camels and cattle, in his youth. When he was about 30 years old, he had a divine call to be a hermit, and devote himself to God. It was said that a woman falsely accused him of rape, a crime, for which he was dragged through the streets, insulted, and beaten. He endured that silently without complain, and suffered all with patience. But God made his innocence public; for when the woman was in labor, she had trouble, and was unable to deliver her child until she confessed and cleared his name. The furious people turned to admire his patience and humility. But he escaped world esteem.

St. Macarius withdrew to the desert of Skete, in the Netron Valley. He started his solitude life in a cell, for about sixty years, and became a father and the spiritual guide for monks scattered in the desert separately. He himself had the spiritual advice, and the teaching of Saint Anthony. In order to be able to celebrate the Holy mysteries, he was ordained a priest. He established a monastery governed by strict rules he laid down. Few years later, there were four monasteries, and the desert became a rich colony of hermits.

During his lifetime, he was known of his excessive austerities. According to Evagrius his disciple, he usually ate once a week, and punished himself with thirst, and deprivation of sleep. He also was widely known of his wisdom, and sainthood. It was said that he raised a dead. That was related by Sozomen, Palladius, Rufinus, and confirmed by Cassian, who asserted that Macarius probably was the first anchoret inhabited this vast desert. Innumerable miracles were attributed to him. Many patriarchs, and saints visited him, until he passed away reaching about ninety years old.

   Once, one of the monks allowed a woman to enter his cell. When St. Macarius heard that, he did not scold him, but the rest of the monks kept watching that brother until they saw the woman get into the cell again. They went to Abba Macarius and told him, “Come, see for yourself, the woman is in his cell.” He got up and went to the monk’s cell. He told the other monks to wait outside. When the monk heard him coming, he hid the woman in a big barrel used for storing grain. When St. Macarius entered, he knew where the woman was hiding, so he sat over it, and called the others to come in. They entered, but did not find the woman, and did not dare ask Abba Macarius to stand up. He looked at them and said, “Brothers. Judge yourself before they judge you, because the true judgment comes only from God.” They left with a teaching to conceal other people’s sin.

 

St. Macarius the Great: A version from:              The Coptic Synexarion


 In the year 392 A.D. the blessed father, the lamp of the wilderness and the father of all the monks the great saint Anba Macarius, departed. This Saint was born in the village of Shabsheer - Menuf, from good and righteous parents. His father's name was Abraham and his mother's name was Sarah and they had no son. In a vision at night he saw the angel of the Lord and told him that God was about to give him a son, and his name will be known all over the earth, and he will have a multitude of spiritual sons. Shortly after, this holy man had a son and called him Macarius which means "Blessed." He was obedient to his parents, and the grace of God was upon him since his young age. When he grew up his father forced him to get married against his will, so he pretended that he was sick for several days. Then he asked his father if he might go to the wilderness to relax and that may make him recover from his illness speedily. He went to the wilderness and prayed to the Lord Christ to direct him to do what is pleasing to Him. While he was in the wilderness he saw a vision, and it seemed that one of the Cherubim, with wings, took his hands, and ascended up to the top of the mountain, and showed him all the desert, east and west, and north and south. The Cherub told him: "God has given this desert to you and your sons for an inheritance." When he returned from the wilderness he found that his wife, who was still virgin, had died, and Macarius thanked the Lord Christ. Shortly after, his parents departed, and he gave all what they had left to the poor and the needy. When the people of Shabsheer saw his chastity and purity, they took him to the bishop of Ashmoun who ordained him a priest for them. They built a place for him outside the city, and they went to him to confess and to partake from the Holy Mysteries. They appointed a servant to take care of his needs and to sell for him the work of his hands.

When Satan saw St. Macarius growth in virtues, he brought on him a severe temptation. He inspired a girl that had defiled herself with a man to claim that St. Macarius is the one who had defiled her. When her family heard that, they went to him, insulted and beat him severely, inflicting much pain on him, which he endured silently. Macarius reproached himself saying "O Macarius now you have a wife and a child, and it is meet for you to work day and night for your own food and for that of your child and your wife." He worked continually at weaving mats and baskets, and he gave them to the man who ministered unto him; and he sold them and gave the money to the woman. When the day of her delivery drew near her labor was exceedingly difficult, she continued to suffer for four days and did not deliver until she confessed her false accusation against the Saint and named the man that defiled her. When the family of the girl heard that, they decided to go to ask for his forgiveness for what happened from them. When St. Macarius heard that, he fled away from them running from the vain glory of this world.

At that time he was 30 years old, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him and walked with him for two days until they came to Wadi El-Natroun and the Saint asked the angel: "Appoint for me O master a place to live in." The angel replied: "I have not marked out a place for you to live, lest you leave it in the future and transgress the commandment of God. Behold all the wilderness is yours, so wheresoever you wish, live there." St. Macarius dwelt in the Inner Desert, in the place of the monastery of Sts. Maximus and Domadius which is known now by the monastery of El-Baramous. He went to visit St. Antonios, who said about St. Macarius when he saw him: "This is an Israelite in whom there is no guile." St. Antonios put on him the Holy Eskeem, then St. Macarius returned to his place. When the number of monks increased around him he built a church for them. His fame was known all over the country and many kings and Emperors heard about the miracles that God performed on his hands. He healed the daughter of the king of Antioch that was possessed by an unclean spirit. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and took him to a place and told him to make this place his abode, for many people will come to him in that place. He built a cell for himself and a church. He thought one day that the world had no more righteous people, so a voice came to him from heaven saying: "In the city of Alexandria there are two women who feared God." He took his staff, his provisions, and went to Alexandria and he asked around until he reached their house. When he entered, they welcomed him, washed his feet with warm water, and when he asked them about their life, one of them told him: "There is no kinship between us and when we married these two brothers we asked them to leave us to be nuns but they refused. So we committed ourself to spent our life fasting till evening with often prayers. When each of us had a son, whenever one of them cry, any one of us would carry and nurse him even if he was not her own son. We are in one living arrangement, the unity in opinion is our model, and our husbands work is shepherding sheep, we are poor and only have our daily bread and what is left over we give it to the poor and the needy." When the Saint heard these words he cried saying: "Indeed God looks to the readiness of the heart and grant the grace of His Holy Spirit for all those who wish to worship him." He bade them farewell and left returning to the wilderness. There was an erring monk who strayed many by his saying that there was no resurrection of the dead. The bishop of the city of Osseem went to St.Macarius and told him about that monk. Abba Macarius went to that monk and stayed with him until the monk believed and returned from his error.

On the day of his departure, he saw Sts. Antonios and Pachomius, and a company of the saints, and he delivered up his soul. He was ninety-seven years old. St.Macarius had commanded his disciples to hid his body, but some of the natives of the city of Shabsheer came and stole his body, built a church for him and placed the body in it for around one hundred and sixty years until the Arab conquest and the rebuilding of his monastery, they returned the body to it. In a manuscript in Shebeen El-Koum, was mentioned that St. Babnuda, his disciple, saw the soul of St. Macarius ascending to heaven, and he heard the devils crying out and calling after him, "You have conquered us O Macarius." The Saint replied "I have not conquered you yet." When they came to the gates of heaven they cried again saying "You have conquered us", and he replied as the first time. When he entered the gate of heaven they cried "You have overcome us O Macarius." He replied "Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ who has delivered me from your hands."

May his blessing be with us. Amen.

"Christians therefore ought to strive continually, and never to pass judgment on anyone - no, not upon the harlot on the street, or upon open sinners and disorderly persons - but to regard all men with singleness of intention and purity of eye, so that it may become like a fixed law of nature to despise no one, to judge no one, to abhor no one, to make no distinctions between them. If you see a man with one eye, be not divided in your heart, but look upon him as if he were whole. If a man is maimed of one hand, see him as not maimed, the lame as straight, the palsied as whole. This is purity of heart, when you see sinners or sick people, to have compassion on them and be tender-hearted towards them. It happens sometimes that the saints of the Lord sit in theatres and behold the deceit of the world. According to the inner man they are conversing with God, while according to the outer man they appear to men as contemplating what goes on in the world.                          St. Macarius the Great.

"In order that man's free will which God gave to man from the beginning  might more clearly be manifested and confirmed, a great providence is at work in this matter, and the dissolution of the bodies takes place so that it is a question of man's will choosing to embrace what is good or evil. For even the man confirmed in evil, or the one completely immersed in sin and making himself a vessel of the devil by whom he is totally bound, caught up in a certain necessity, still employs free will to become a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15), a vessel of life. Similarly, on the other hand, those who are intoxicated with God, even if they are full and dominated by the Holy Spirit, still are not bound by any necessity, but they possess free will to choose and do what pleases them in this life."
St. Macarius the Great.

"In order that man's free will which God gave to man from the beginning might more clearly be manifested and confirmed, a great providence is at work in this matter, and the dissolution of the bodies takes place so that it is a question of man's will choosing to embrace what is good or evil. For even the man confirmed in evil, or the one completely immersed in sin and making himself a vessel of the devil by whom he is totally bound, caught up in a certain necessity, still employs free will to become a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15), a vessel of life. Similarly, on the other hand, those who are intoxicated with God, even if they are full and dominated by the Holy Spirit, still are not bound by any necessity, but they possess free will to choose and do what pleases them in this life."
St. Macarius the Great.
 

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