Venerable (Monastic) 4th century

Venerable Macarius of Alexandria

c. 295 – c. 395

A friend and contemporary of St. Macarius the Great who spent more than sixty years in extreme asceticism in the Egyptian desert.

Feast Day

January 19

Draft

Draft — pending review. Not yet verified for publication.

Hymn / Apolytikion Icon gallery Video / Media

Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Macarius of Alexandria, Presbyter and Ascetic of the Cells

Life

Macarius of Alexandria was a fourth-century Egyptian monk numbered among the desert fathers of Lower Egypt. A native of Alexandria who worked in trade until middle age, he was baptized and withdrew to the desert around the age of forty, where he spent more than sixty years in ascetic labor. He is remembered as a contemporary and friend of Macarius the Great of Egypt, and to distinguish the two he is often called Macarius the Younger.

After years of solitary discipline he was ordained a presbyter and placed at the head of the monastic settlement known as the Cells (Kellia), in the desert between Nitria and Scetis, where hermits lived separately in individual cells. The severity of his fasting and vigils, recorded in early monastic literature, made him one of the most celebrated ascetics of his generation.

Timeline 4 moments Read Hide

c. 295 Birth in Alexandria Macarius was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He engaged in trade until about the age of forty.
c. 335 Baptism and withdrawal to the desert At around forty years of age he was baptized and withdrew into the Egyptian desert to take up the ascetic life.
4th century Ordination and leadership of the Cells After years of ascetic practice he was ordained to the priesthood and became head of the monastery known as the Cells (Kellia), situated in the desert between Nitria and Scetis.
c. 394–395 Repose Macarius reposed at an advanced age, by tradition near one hundred years old, after more than sixty years in the desert.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributions Read Hide

From trade to the desert

By the surviving accounts, Macarius was a native of Alexandria who spent his early adulthood occupied in trade. Sources describe his former occupation as that of a merchant, with one tradition specifying the selling of confections. He remained in this life until roughly the age of forty, when he was baptized and left the city for the desert.

Withdrawing into the wilderness of Lower Egypt, he settled in the Nitrian region and ultimately in the monastic district called the Cells, where ascetics dwelt apart from one another in separate cells carved from the rock. He is reported to have spent more than sixty years in this manner of life.

Ascetic discipline

Macarius became known for the extremity of his self-denial. According to the accounts preserved in the synaxarion, when he learned that someone ate only a single pound of bread in a day, he resolved to eat that amount or less. To curtail his sleep he is said to have remained for twenty days under the open sky, enduring the heat by day and the cold by night.

One frequently repeated story tells how Macarius received a cluster of freshly picked grapes which he greatly desired to eat, but mastered the desire and passed them on to a sick monk; the grapes then circulated among the abstaining brethren until they returned to Macarius himself. A separate tradition recounts a period of fasting at the community of Pachomius, where he is said to have neither eaten bread nor drunk water through the whole of Lent while standing at work weaving baskets.

Through such labors he was credited with the gifts of wonderworking and of discerning the hidden thoughts of others.

Sources and tradition

Macarius of Alexandria figures in early monastic literature, including the Lausiac History of Palladius, which preserved tales of his ascetic feats. Tradition also holds that he and Macarius of Egypt were exiled together under the emperor Valens to an island, which they are said to have won to the faith. He reposed around the years 394 to 395.

Works & Further Reading Read Hide