Macarius of Unzha - The Life of Venerable Macarius

The Life of Venerable Macarius

The story of saint Macarius is based on Chet’yi-Minei (the standard Russian Orthodox Lives of the Saints) as well as to other old manuscripts. One of them, kept in Makaryev Unzhensky Monastery, was first inventoried in 1835. The other is kept in Makaryev Zheltovodsky Convent, and is written in the 17th century hand.

Church scholars believe that he was most likely born in 1349. His home town, Nizhny Novgorod, was the capital of the Principality of Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod, ruled by Prince Constantine Vasilyevich. As most other Russian principalities of the time, his land was dominated by the Golden Horde overlords.

Macarius was baptised in his parents' parish church, Church of Holy Myrrhbearers (Russian: церковь Святых Жен Мироносиц). His baptismal name is not known.

According to the Life of St. Macarius, when he was still a baby, he would start crying every time he heard the ringing of the bells of the nearby church. There was no way to console the child. The parents would not want to bring the baby boy to the church, afraid that he would disturb the service with his crying; but eventually they decided to try. And, to their surprise, as soon as they brought the child to the church, he became quiet, smiling joyfully. From this time on, the parents had to attend every service at the parish church, and to take the child with them, because if they stayed at home during the service, the baby would again start crying.

Macarius grew as a pious boy, especially interested in the lives of the Orthodox hermits of the past ages, living in the wilderness alone or in small lavra communities. For that reason, he enjoyed visiting not only his parish church, but also Pechersky Ascension Monastery (Печерский Вознесенский монастырь), which had been recently founded by Saint Dionysius (later known as Saint Dionysius of Suzdal, the archbishop) who had come to Nizhny Novgorod from the famous Kiev Pechersky (Cave) Lavra. At the age of 12, he sneaked out of his parents' house and joined Pechersky Ascension Monastery, and received the monastic name of Macarius (Russian: Макарий, Makariy). He became one of the twelve disciples of St. Dionysius, and was known for the strictness of his fast and the fervency of his prayer.

In 1374, St. Dionysius was appointed the archbishop of Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod and left the monastery. Soon, Macarius left the monastery too. He travelled up the Volga, spent some time with St. Tikhon on the Lukh River, and then founded a monastery in honor of Epiphany of Jesus Christ (now Makaryev Reshma Monastery, Макариев-Решемский мужской монастырь, near the village of Reshma in today's Kineshma district or Kostroma Oblast).

He did not stay long in his new monastery, however. He wanted to live in the wilderness as a hermit. He travelled down the Volga, and liked the site at the Yellow Water Lake (Желтоводское озеро, Zheltovodskoe Ozero), near the fall of the Kerzhenets into the Volga, some one hundred kilometers downstream from Nizhny Novgorod. In those days, this was no-man's land between the Russian principalities, and the Kazan Khanate.

Macarius dug a small cave by the waters of the Yellow Water Lake, and stayed there day and night, emulating the great hermits of the past. However, his solitude did not last long: pious people from far and wide came to his hermitage, some to seek his blessing, others to join him in hermetic life. In 1434, he founded Zheltovodsky Makariev Monastery of Holy Trinity for his disciples.

The asceticism of Venerable Macarius, together with his love of his neighbors, attracted not only Christians but also many local pagan Mordvin, Mari, Chuvash and Muslim Tatar people. He baptised many in Yellow Water Lake.

In 1439, the monastery was destroyed during the invasion of Russia by the khan Olug Moxammat of Kazan. Most of the monks were killed; Macarius and a few other Christians were taken to Kazan as prisoners. The khan, impressed by the pious life of the nonagenarian abbot, released him and a few other Christian prisoners, and allowed him to bury the killed.

On the way back from Kazan to the Yellow Water Lake, Macarius is said to have stopped at a site near today's Sviyazhsk, blessing the future location of Makaryev Sviyazhsk Monastery. However, Macarius and his companions were not allowed to stay at the Yellow Water Lake site. He decided to leave a safe distance between themselves and the Khanate, and went to the forests of the Unzha River, a few hundred kilometers north of the Nizhny. It is a long way, and the travellers soon run out of food, but were miraculously saved from starvation (Venerable Macarius' Miracle of the Moose). Once they reached the Unzha, still in 1439, Macarius and his party founded Unzhensky Makaryev Monastery (now a convent).

According to legend, Macarius lived in his new monastery for a few more years, healing the sick and expelling devils from possessed people. He died on July 25 1444, at the age of 95, after an 83-year monastic career. After the two famous cloisters he founded, he is called Venerable Macarius of Yellow Water Lake and Unzha, the Miracle Worker.