Biography
Macarius the Deacon of the Kiev Far Caves
About Macarius the Deacon of the Kiev Far Caves
Macarius belonged to the Far Caves community of the monastery at Kiev. The Orthodox Church in America places his life in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. It remembers him as a deacon devoted to reading Scripture, fasting, and freedom from attachment to possessions.
The notice also preserves a childhood tradition: when Macarius was ill, his parents promised to offer him to the monastery if he recovered. He later learned to read and write there and was ordained a deacon. This is a received monastic account rather than a complete contemporary biography. His January 19 feast links him with Macarius of Egypt; the Far Caves saints are also commemorated together on August 28.
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