February 1 / January 19
1. The Venerable Macarius the Great of Egypt
Macarius was an Egyptian and one of the younger contemporaries of Anthony the Great. His father was a priest. Out of obedience to his parents, Macarius married. However, his wife died shortly thereafter and he withdrew to the wilderness, where he spent sixty years in labor and struggle, both inwardly and outwardly, for the Kingdom of Heaven. When they asked him why he was so thin, both when he ate and when he did not eat, he responded: “From the fear of God.” So much did he succeed in cleansing his mind of evil thoughts and his heart of evil desires, that God bestowed upon him the abundant gift of miracle-working so that he even raised the dead from the graves. His humility amazed both men and demons. A demon once said to him: “There is only one thing in which I am unable to surpass you. It is not in fasting, for I do not eat anything. It is not in vigils, for I never sleep.” “But what is it?” asked Macarius. “Your humility,” answered the demon. Macarius often told Paphnutius, his disciple: “Do not judge anyone, and you will be saved.” Macarius lived to be ninety-seven years old. Nine days before his death, St. Anthony and St. Pachomius appeared to him from the other world and informed him that he would die in nine days; and it came to pass. Before his death, Macarius also had a vision in which a Cherubim revealed to him the blessed heavenly world, commended his effort and his virtue, and told him that he had been sent to take his soul into the Kingdom of Heaven. Macarius reposed in the year 390.
2. The Venerable Macarius of Alexandria
Macarius was born in Alexandria and was at first a fruit vendor. He was baptized at age forty, and as soon as he was baptized he immediately withdrew to lead a life of asceticism. Together with Macarius the Great, he was at first a disciple of St. Anthony. After that, he became the abbot of the Monastery called “The Cells,” located between Nitria and Scetis. He was somewhat younger than Macarius the Great, and also died later. He lived to be more than a hundred years old. Tormented by demonic temptations, especially the temptation of vanity, he humbled himself by the most rigorous labors and ceaseless prayer, lifting up his mind constantly toward God. Once, a brother saw him fill a basket with sand, carry it uphill and empty it. Astonished, the brother asked him: “What are you doing?” Macarius answered, “I am tormenting my tormentor,” meaning the devil. He re- posed in the year 393.
3. Saint Arsenius, Archbishop of Corfu
Arsenius augmented and restructured the Order of the Sacrament of Holy Unction to its present form. He reposed in the year 953. His relics repose in the cathedral church in Corfu.
4. Saint Mark Eugenikos, Archbishop of Ephesus
Mark was famous for his courageous defense of Orthodoxy at the Council of Florence [1439], in spite of the opposition of the emperor and the pope. Saint Mark was born in Constantinople about the year 1392. He reposed peacefully in the year 1452. On his deathbed, Mark implored his disciple George (later the glorious Patriarch Gennadius) to beware of the snares of the West and to defend Orthodoxy.
5. Blessed Theodore, Fool-for-Christ of Novgorod
Saint Theodore lived in Novgorod during the fourteenth century. Prior to his death, Theodore ran up and down the streets, shouting to everyone: “Farewell, I am traveling far away!” He reposed in the year 1392.
- Virgin-martyr Euphrasia of Nicomedia (303).
- Anthony the Stylite, of Martqopi, Georgia (6th c.).
- Branwalader (Breward) of Cornwall and the Channel Islands (6th c.).
- Martyr Anthony Rawah the Qoraisite (797).
- Translation of the relics (950) of Gregory the Theologian (389).
- Macarius the Faster, of the Kiev Caves (12th c.).
- Meletius, confessor, of Mt. Galesion, monk (1286).
- Macarius, hierodeacon of the Kiev Caves (13th-14th c.).
- Blessed Theodore of Novgorod, fool-for-Christ (1392).
- Macarius the Roman, abbot (Novgorod) (1550).
- Uncovering of the relics (1652) of Sabbas, founder of Storozhev Monastery (Zvenigorod) (1407New Hieromartyr Peter Skipetrov, archpriest, of Petrograd (1918)
- Commemoration of the miracle wrought by Saint Basil the Great at Nicaea, when by his prayer he opened the gates of the church of the Orthodox (see 1 ).
HYMN OF PRAISE
Saint Macarius the Great
In Egypt, in the desert,
Great love reigned
Among the simple monks,
As in the Kingdom of the saints.
St. Macarius
Was as a Cherubim among them.
In every good deed
He was an example to the monks.
Macarius did not want to eat them.
He said: “There is a brother more ill.
Bring them to him;
This gift is more needed for that brother.”
The second ailing brother wept,
And to the gift-bearer said: “Forgive me!
But my neighbor is more needy
Of this charity than I.”
Macarius became ill
A monk went out to seek wild strawberries for him;
He went forth, found and brought them
To soothe his elder’s pain.
The gift-bearer took away the gift
And gave it to that neighbor.
This one gave it to a third,
And that one to a fourth, all in order,
From cell to cell,
And from brother to brother,
Until the last one came with the
wild strawberries
To Macarius’s door!
“Behold, father, you are ill!”
Macarius began to weep,
Seeing this wonderful brotherly love—
But he did not want to eat them.
He spilled them over the hot sand,
And to God he gave thanks,
That the dead, arid desert,
Because of love had become Paradise
A brother loves his brother
More than he loves himself.
“O Lord, this gift
The gift of love, is a gift from Thee!”
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