Deacon
Venerable Macarius the Deacon, who was namesake of heavenly blessedness, was chosen by God from his youth for service to Him and called to a life of silent monasticism. Even as a boy, leaving aside childish games and jokes, he seemed like a mature man: he loved silence and was temperate in food.
God’s providence brought him to the Caves Monastery in the following way. Once, in childhood, Macarius fell ill. His parents, seeing that the physicians could not heal him, placed all their hope in God and vowed to offer their child to Him as a pure sacrifice—giving him to the service of the Lord and of the Most Pure Virgin Theotokos in the Caves Monastery—if he recovered. The merciful Lord, hearing the prayers of the parents, wondrously restored health to the sick Macarius. After his recovery, his parents fulfilled their vow and gave him to the Caves Monastery. The venerable fathers, seeing the boy Macarius’s meekness and humility, loved him and taught him letters and every monastic virtue. When he came of age and was granted the monastic rank and the diaconate, he acquired great zeal for the temple of God, constantly practiced contemplation of God, the reading of the divine books, and prayer; for this he was granted by God the gift of working miracles. He is mentioned on the map of the Far Caves from 1638.
