CONCERNING SAINT MACARIUS, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM, AROUND THE YEAR 335
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem (Saint)
Section I. The time of his See. The Orthodox Faith defended against Arius.
[1] The most holy Bishop of the Church of Jerusalem, Macarius, is proposed on this day in the calendar of the Roman Martyrology, who endured very many labors for the Church of God in defending it against Arius and his followers, and hung the triumphant banners of victory against heresies in various temples at Jerusalem, built through his cooperation by the Emperor Constantine the Great and his mother Saint Helena. Eusebius Pamphilus, He is created Bishop in the year 314. who lived in his time, in his Chronicle assigns the beginning of his episcopate under the Consuls Volusianus and Annianus, which is the year of Christ 314, in which same year Saint Silvester the Pope received the Roman Pontificate on the Kalends of February, of whom also Eusebius had treated before the same Consuls, since he began the year earlier in the manner of the Easterners, and then added: Macarius is established as the thirty-ninth Bishop of Jerusalem. Theodoret agrees with this calculation of ours in book 1 of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 3, with these words: At the same time Silvester held the governance of the Roman Church, successor of Miltiades... And the episcopate of Jerusalem after Hermonas was bestowed upon Macarius, who rightly called Macarius on account of his virtues. on account of his blessed way of living and the manifold goods with which he was adorned, truly answered to his name; namely that he should be called Macarius, or Blessed.
[2] The Arian heresy was sprouting at that time, having arisen a little earlier from the faction of Meletius, the Egyptian Bishop: which became especially known, as Idatius writes, under the Consuls Gallienus and Bassus, or the year of Christ 317, when Saint Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, having held a council, expelled the obstinate Arius with his followers from the city, having written seventy letters on this matter to various Bishops, and as Saint Epiphanius asserts in Heresy 69, he wrote among others to Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, who was still alive, an adversary of Arius, and to Macarius of Jerusalem... and others. But Arius, having written letters to all the Bishops, excluded from everywhere, was received only by his supporters: of whom the chief was Eusebius, the very elderly Bishop of Nicomedia. To him Arius wrote the letter reported by Theodoret in the said book 1, chapter 5, to which he adds that those opponents were called Philogonius, President of Antioch, and Hellanicus of Tripoli, and Macarius of Jerusalem: and these were falsely charged because they had said that the Son of God was both eternal and before the ages, and a participant of the same honor as the Father and consubstantial with Him. counted among Apostolic men: Saint Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, praises this defense of Saint Macarius in his first Disputation against the Arians, where he asserts concerning him and the other orthodox Bishops that they have the sincere and simple characters of Apostolic men. He was able to have known these things well at the Ecumenical Council held at Nicaea in the year 325: where among the Bishops of Palestine, Macarius of Jerusalem subscribed first. he attends the Council of Nicaea Concerning the order in which he sat among the other principal Bishops, Bellarmine offers his conjecture in book 1 on Councils, chapter 19. among the first In the Catalogue of the holy Bishops through whom the holy, great, and universal Synod, assembled at Nicaea, sent to all the Churches throughout the whole world those things which were established by them through the Holy Spirit in it, after Hosius the Legate of the Roman Pontiff and Alexander the Bishop of Alexandria, he condemns Arius, in the third place writes Macarius of Jerusalem with Eusebius Pamphili, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, to the Churches in Palestine, Arabia, and Phoenicia, as those things are read on page 471 and following in the royal edition. The heresy of Arius was condemned in that Synod, and controversies about the celebration of Easter and other matters were resolved: among which was the preeminence of the Sees of Alexandria and Antioch prescribed by the sixth canon, and what is then added by the seventh canon concerning the See of Jerusalem in these words: he is honored with the esteem of the See. Since the custom has prevailed and ancient tradition that the Bishop of Aelia should be honored, let him have the consequent honor, saving the proper dignity of the Metropolis. The Metropolis was Caesarea in Palestine, whose Bishop Eusebius is mentioned with Saint Macarius in the above-related Catalogue of Bishops. But the honor owed from ancient tradition to the See of Jerusalem is explained in the Synodal letter of the next Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople to Pope Damasus: in which, in view of its antiquity, it is considered the Mother of Churches, founded there by Christ the Lord.
Section II. The industry of Saint Macarius in building the Basilica of the Lord's Resurrection and in the Finding of the Cross of Christ. The time of death; sacred cult.
[4] After these things done at the Council of Nicaea, the Emperor Constantine, as Eusebius writes in his Life, book 3, chapters 25 and following, the most blessed place of the Lord's Resurrection
place which is at Jerusalem, he considered it his duty to make illustrious and venerable to all, and doubtless greatly incited by Saint Macarius, to whom he wrote a letter reported by Eusebius at chapter 30 in these words: Victor Constantine, Maximus Augustus, to Macarius, In the letter of the Emperor Constantine written to him, then, as was said previously in the same place, Bishop of Jerusalem. So great is the grace of our Savior that no abundance of speech seems to suffice for the narration of the present miracle. For that the monument of His most sacred passion, long hidden beneath the earth, should have lain concealed for so many years' space, until, with the common enemy of all removed, it should shine forth for His servants who were vindicated into liberty, truly surpasses all admiration. For even if all who are considered wise throughout all the lands, brought together into one, should undertake to say something worthy of this matter's dignity, they would not seem to me to be able to aspire to even the smallest part of it. For the credibility of this miracle so far exceeds every nature capable of human reason as divine things surpass human ones. Wherefore this one thing is always my principal and chief aim: that, just as the faith of truth grows more famous by new miracles each day, so also the minds of all of us may be incited to the observance of the most holy law with all modesty and concordant alacrity. Since I trust that this is most evident to all, I would especially wish you to be persuaded that nothing is more important to me than that that sacred place, which by the command of God I am relieving of the most foul addition of an idol as if of a heavy burden, and which from the beginning was holy by God's judgment, and afterward became much more holy when it brought to light the faith of the Lord's passion -- that place, I say, we should adorn with the beauty of structures. [he is appointed architect for the building of the Basilica of the Lord's Resurrection:] It is therefore fitting that your prudence should so arrange and take care of each thing necessary for the work, that not only the basilica itself should be the most beautiful of all that exist everywhere, but also the remaining parts should be of such a kind that all the structures, however excellent, of individual cities may easily be surpassed by this one alone. And concerning the underpinning and elegance of the walls, know that I have entrusted the care to our friend Dracilianus, acting in place of the Praetorian Prefects, and to the Governor of the province. For our piety has ordered that the artisans and workmen, and whatever they shall learn from your prudence to be necessary for this work, should be dispatched immediately through their diligent solicitude. And concerning the columns and marbles, whatever you shall judge by your own inspection to be more precious and more useful, take care to write to us: so that when we learn from your letters how many and of what quality are needed, they may be procured from everywhere. For it is more fitting that he who surpasses all places in the world
Bishop and Confessor. The same is found in Hermann Greven in the Auctarium of Usuard and in Canisius in the German Martyrology. Greven again asserts that according to some he is listed on March 12. Ferrarius also lists two in his General Catalogue when he has the following: In Scotland, of Saint Kessog the Bishop. In the region of Lennox, of Saint Makkessag the Bishop. For the first he cites Canisius, for the second the Scottish Martyrology, namely that of Dempster, whose words he transcribes. He seems to wish to assign the former to the Irish: and it is surprising that he is not listed by Colgan, although he is said to have been born in Ireland and to have come to present-day Scotland. Our Henry Fitz-Simon inscribed him in the Catalogue of the principal Saints of Ireland and calls him Bissogus. What we append below from the Aberdeen Breviary as a eulogy is the beginning of longer Acts which have perished: in which Kessog is noted in the title as being commonly called Makkessage.
THE BEGINNING OF THE LIFE
From the Aberdeen Breviary.
Kessog, Bishop in Scotland (Saint)
BHL Number: 4650
[1] son of a King in Ireland, of the city of Mamon, Kessog, an illustrious Confessor of Christ, drew his origin and name from the city of Mamon and the lineage of the illustrious Kings of Ireland: who from his boyhood, at the beginning of his earliest age, is recorded to have been famous for miracles of virtues, and to have been a help to many in various infirmities. Indeed the father of this holy man, while he willingly ruled the aforesaid city with the royal diadem and scepter, out of the love of charity and affection which he had continually had toward the other co-rulers of the same country, invited them to feast with him and strongly encouraged them to bring their sons with them. The aforesaid Kings therefore, he walks with two sons of Kings: with their two sons, very handsome in body, whom they undoubtedly loved dearly, set out toward the city of the aforesaid King: whom he received with all reverence and honor, with great triumph and the blare of trumpets and the sound and noise of musical instruments, rejoicing, and drew them to himself most amicably. And when the said sons of the Kings were passing by a certain lake together with Saint Kessog, still a youth, for the sake of recreation, a quite wonderful event occurred. For these three sons of Kings, walking alone together, whom, submerged in the lake, two by mere chance, while swimming in the lake, were drowned, and Kessog alone escaped alive, who secretly reported each thing to his father. Hearing this, a certain man named Elinthus, a citizen of the same city, feared lest from this a greater evil might arise between such Kings: desiring as much as he could to mitigate the grief of the Kings over the death of their sons. Nevertheless, excusing the Blessed Kessog, weeping, he announced to the same Kings the entire sequence and lamentable outcome of the event. When they understood what had happened, so that he might avert the anger of the royal parents, they were affected with such great fury that, if they did not have their sons alive, they solemnly vowed to give the entire city and kingdom of the said King of Mamon to fire and the worst destruction. The blessed Kessog therefore, lest he should fall into any hatred of those Kings or of his own father, and grieving and thinking about the overthrow of his city and his father's kingdom by the said Kings, he raises them by his prayers. by his father's urging and persuasion, prostrated himself in prayer to God: where he persevered the entire night until cock-crow. Where at last the heavenly messenger, gazing upon the man of God, roused him, saying: Kessog, arise quickly from prayer, famous for other miracles, because the Lord has heard your prayers: for the sons of the Kings, for whom you have prayed, are coming back to life and are well: and when he awoke, he delivered them with all humility to the said Kings, from which they obtained no small joy. Meanwhile very many other miracles were performed through the same man of God, he rests in the church of Lus: which are described at greater length in his Life. At last, full of grace, he penetrated the heavenly skies, and was delivered to solemn burial in the Church of Lus, and there he rests.