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| Saint Macrina the Younger |
| Born |
330 |
| Died |
379 |
| Venerated in |
Roman Catholic churchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
Eastern Catholic Churches
Eastern Orthodoxy
Lutheran Church
Anglican CommunionThe Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches. There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority as each national or regional church has full autonomy...
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| Feast The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as that saint's feast day...
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19 July, 14 June in the Lutheran Church |
Saint Macrina the Younger (324 – 379) was born at Caesarea,
CappadociaCappadocia is a region in central Turkey, largely in Nevşehir Province ....
. Her parents were
Basil the ElderSaint Basil the Elder raised in Neocaesarea in Pontus. The son of Macrina the Elder, Basil is said to have moved with the family to the shores of the Black Sea during the persecution of Christians under Galerius. He married into the wealthy family of his wife Emmelia, and settled in Caesarea...
and Emmelia, and her grandmother was Saint Macrina the Elder. Among her nine siblings were two of the three
Cappadocian FathersThe Cappadocian Fathers are Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea ; Basil's brother Gregory of Nyssa, bishop of Nyssa ; and a close friend, Gregory Nazianzus, Patriarch of Constantinople...
, her younger brothers Basil the Great and Saint Gregory of Nyssa, as well as
Peter of SebastePeter of Sebaste was a bishop, taking his usual name from the city of his bishopry, Sebaste in Armenia.Also known as Peter of Sebasteia....
. Her father arranged for her to marry but her fiance died before the wedding. She devoted herself to her religion, becoming a
nunA Nun, or also known as a Sister in some cases, is a woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
.
She became well known as a holy woman and instructed many young women religiously. For this she is honored as one of the most prominent nuns of the Eastern Church. She had a profound influence upon her brothers with her adherence to an ascetic ideal. Her brother Gregory of Nyssa wrote a work entitled Life of Macrina in which he describes her sancity throughout her life. In 379, Macrina died at her family's estate in
PontusPontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Pontos...
, which with the help of her younger brother Peter she had turned into a monastery and convent. Gregory of Nyssa composed a "Dialogue on the Soul and Resurrection" (
peri psyches kai anastaseos), entitled
ta Makrinia (P.G. XLVI, 12 sq.), to commemorate Macrina. Her feast day is the 19 July.
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