Ηegumen / Abbot
Saint Macarius was born in 1605 in the city of Ovruch, Volhynia, into the noble Tokarevsky family. From 1614 to 1620, he studied at the Monastery of the Dormition in Ovruch, where he later embraced the monastic life. In 1625, with the blessing of the archimandrite, he moved to the Kupyatychi Monastery near Pinsk. There, he was ordained a hierodeacon in 1630 and a hieromonk in 1632. In 1638, he was appointed abbot of the Monastery of the Resurrection in Kamianets. From 1642, he served as the spiritual father of the brotherhood of the Kupyatychi Monastery. From 1660 he assumed the same responsibility at the Monastery of the Dormition in Ovruch.
For more than ten years, he struggled in Ovruch against the influence of the Latin-Polish authorities. In 1671, following the attack of a Tatar raid, Archimandrite Macarius left the monastery and went to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. He was later appointed abbot of the Monastery of Kaniv, where he continued his efforts to defend and preserve the Orthodox faith.
He received the crown of martyrdom on September 4, 1678, when Ottoman forces attacked the monastery. Saint Macarius confronted the invaders while holding aloft the Cross of the Lord. The Turks subjected him to severe torture. Two days later, he was beheaded. Witnesses to his martyrdom carried his body into the monastery church, where they remained hidden from the Ottomans. When the latter discovered what had happened, they set the church on fire together with those who had sought refuge within it.
When the local inhabitants approached the site and searched for the remains of the victims, they only found the body of Saint Macarius, that was preserved intact. He was buried with honor on September 8, 1678, beneath the sanctuary of the same church.
