On January 10, the day of remembrance of the Venerable Paul of Obnorsk, the memory of the Venerable Macarius of Pisemsk is also celebrated. According to tradition, their acquaintance occurred during Paul’s wanderings through monasteries before 1414. The Venerable Macarius was born in the village of Danilovo, from which the noble family of the Pisemskys originates. He initially received instruction in monasticism from the Venerable Sergius, and then settled in a dense forest near the river Pisma, where he founded a monastery with a church in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
After founding his monastery, the Venerable Macarius maintained a connection with the Venerable Paul. Both monasteries shared the same beginnings of monastic life, but their fates diverged: the Obnorsk monastery became populous, while the Pisemsk remained a small desert. However, the connection between them was not severed, and in a charter from Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Macarius' desert is mentioned as being subordinate to the Paul-Obnorsk monastery.
In 1683, a description of the Paul-Obnorsk monastery mentions an icon of the Venerable Macarius, which indicates the beginning of his veneration. A miracle occurred at the grave of the Venerable Macarius: after a fire, the burned church did not affect the place of his grave, which was covered with an extraordinary dew. Currently, his relics rest underground, and on the tomb, there is an icon of the Venerable and his staff.
