Saint Macarius of Jerusalem was Bishop of
JerusalemFor Christians, Jerusalem's place in the life of Jesus gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible.-Jerusalem in New Testament and early Christianity:...
from 312 to shortly before 335, according to
SozomenSalminius Hermias Sozomenus was a historian of the Christian church.-Family and Home:He was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christian family of Palestine....
.
St. Athanasius, in one of his orations against
ArianismArianism is the theological teaching of Arius , a Christian priest, who was first ruled a heretic at the First Council of Nicea of 325, later exonerated in 335 at the First Synod of Tyre, and then pronounced a heretic again after his death at the First Council of Constantinople of 381...
, refers to St. Macarius as an example of
"the honest and simple style of apostolical men." The date 312 for Macarius's accession to the episcopate is found in
St. JeromeSaint Jerome was a Christian priest and apologist. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Strido, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
's version of
Eusebius of CaesareaEusebius of Caesarea became the bishop of Caesarea Palaestina, the capital of Iudaea province, c 314...
's
Chronicles; Tillement .
About 325 he accompanied
Saint HelenaSaint Helena also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I. She is traditionally credited with finding the relics of the True Cross.-Family life:Helena's birthplace is not known with certainty...
, the mother of Constantine I in her successful search at
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
for the
True CrossThe True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the actual cross upon which Jesus was crucified.According to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which,...
.
His death must have been before the Council of Tyre, in 335, at which his successor,
MaximusSaint Maximus of Jerusalem was an early Christian saint and bishop of Jerusalem from roughly 333 A.D. to his death in roughly 350 A.D...
, was apparently one of the bishops present.
He also received a long letter from Constantine the Great with reference to the building of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem: "Such is our Saviour's grace, that no power of language seems adequate to describe the wondrous circumstance to which I am about to refer. For, that the monument of his most holy Passion, so long ago buried beneath the ground, should have remained unknown for so long a series of years, until its reappearance to his servants now set free through the removal of him who was the common enemy of all, is a fact which truly surpasses all admiration ... And as to the columns and marbles, whatever you shall judge, after actual inspection of the plan, to be especially precious and serviceable, be diligent to send information to us in writing, in order that whatever quantity or sort of materials we shall esteem from your letter to be needful, may be procured from every quarter, as required, for it is fitting that the most marvelous place in the world should be worthily decorated."
(Macarius was one of the bishops to whom St. Alexander of Alexandria wrote warning them against Arius.)
Macarius and Arianism
The vigour of his opposition to the new heresy is shown by the abusive manner in which
AriusArius was a Berber Christian priest from Alexandria, Egypt in the early fourth century whose teachings, now called Arianism, were deemed heretical by the Church....
speaks of him in his letter to
Eusebius of NicomediaEusebius of Nicomedia was the man who baptised Constantine. He was a bishop of Berytus in Phoenicia, then of Nicomedia where the imperial court resided in Bithynia, and finally of Constantinople from 338 up to his death....
. He took part in the
Council of NicaeaThe First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325 CE...
(325), and two conjectures as to the part he played there are worth mentioning. The first is that there was a passage of arms between him and his metropolitan, Eusebius of Cæsarea, concerning the rights of their respective sees. The seventh canon of the council–"As custom and ancient tradition show that the bishop of Ælia [Jerusalem] ought to be honoured, he shall have precedence; without prejudice, however, to the dignity which belongs to the Metropolis"–by its vagueness suggests that it was the result of a drawn battle. The second conjecture is that Macharius, together with Eustathius of Antioch, had a good deal to do with the drafting of the
Nicene CreedThe Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in 325...
finally adopted by the First Council of Nicæa in 325.
From conjectures we may turn to fiction. In the "History of the Council of Nicæa" attributed to
Gelasius of CyzicusGelasius of Cyzicus was an ecclesiastical writer in the fifth century. The often attributed name Gelasius is an error of Photius I of Constantinople and of the editor of the editio princeps; the anonymous author never mentioned his name....
there are a number of imaginary disputations between Fathers of the Council and philosophers in the pay of Arius. In one of these disputes where Macarius is spokesman for the bishops he defends the Descent into Hell. This, in view of the question whether the Descent into Hell was found in the Jerusalem Creed, is interesting, especially as in other respects Macarius's language is made conformable to that Creed. Macarius's name appears first among those of the bishops of Palestine who subscribed to the Council of Nicæa; that of Eusebius comes fifth. St. Athanasius, in his encyclical letter to the bishops of Egypt and Libya, places the name of Macarius (who had been long dead at that time) among those of bishops renowned for their orthodoxy. Sozomen narrates that Macarius appointed Maximus, who afterwards succeeded him, Bishop of Lydia, and that the appointment did not take effect because the people of Jerusalem refused to part with Maximus. He also gives another version of the story, to the effect that Macarius himself changed his mind, fearing that, if Maximus was out of the way, an unorthodox bishop would be appointed to succeed him (Macarius). Tillemont discredits this story: Macarius by so acting would have contravened the seventh canon of Nicæa and Aetius, who at the time of the council was Bishop of Lydda, was certainly alive in 331, and very probably in 349. Of course, if Aetius outlived Macarius, the story breaks down; but if he died shortly after 331, it seems plausible enough. The fact that St. Macarius was then nearing his end would explain the reluctance, whether on his part or that of his flock, to be deprived of Maximus. Tillemont's first objection carries no weight. The seventh canon was too vague to secure from an orthodox bishop like Macarius very strict views as to the metropolitan rights of a Semi-Arian like Eusebius.
Macarius and the Holy Sites
St. TheophanesSaint Theophanes Confessor was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy, who became a monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church .-Biography:Theophanes was born at Constantinople, of wealthy and noble iconodule parents: Isaac,...
(d. 818) in his
Chronography makes Constantine, at the end of the Council of Nicæa, order Macarius to search for the sites of the Resurrection and the Passion, and the True Cross. It is likely that this is what happened, for excavations were begun very soon after the council, and, it would seem under the superintendence of Macarius.
The huge mound and stonework with the temple of Venus on the top, which in the time of
HadrianPublius Aelius Hadrianus was emperor of Rome from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoic and Epicurean philosopher...
had been piled up over the Holy Sepulchre, were demolished, and "when the original surface of the ground appeared, forthwith, contrary to all expectation, the hallowed monument of our Saviour's Resurrection was discovered". On hearing the news Constantine wrote to Macarius giving lavish orders for the erection of a church on the site. Later on, he wrote another letter "To Macarius and the rest of the Bishops of Palestine" ordering a church to be built at Mambre, which also had been defiled by a pagan shrine. Eusebius, though he gives the superscription as above, speaks of this letter as "addressed to me", thinking, perhaps of his metropolitan dignity (Vit. Const., III, 51-53). Churches were also built on the sites of the
NativityThe Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
and
AscensionThe Christian doctrine of the Ascension holds that Jesus ascended to heaven in the presence of his Eleven Apostles following his resurrection, and that in heaven he sits at the right hand of God the Father....
.
Veneration
Relics of Saint Macarius, including his skull, are located in
Saint Anthony's ChapelSaint Anthony's Chapel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was built in 1880 by Fr. Suibertus Mollinger, who was at that time pastor of Most Holy Name of Jesus Parish in the neighborhood of Troy Hill...
,
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is...
.
St. Macarius' feast day is
commemoratedCommemoration may refer to:*Commemoration , an observance of the Church of England*Commemoration , a prayer of the Roman Catholic Church...
on March 10.
Sources and External links