Abba Macarius told this about himself: “When I was young and lived in a cell in Egypt, they seized me and made me a cleric in the village. Because I did not want to accept the position, I fled to another place. A devout layman came to me, took my handiwork to sell, and served me. A virgin in the village fell into sin and became pregnant. When they asked who was responsible, she said, ‘The anchorite.’ They seized me, hung soot-blackened pots and pieces of pottery around my neck, paraded me through the village, and beat me, shouting, ‘This monk has corrupted our virgin!’ They nearly killed me. One elder finally stopped them. The man who served me followed in shame while they insulted him too. The girl’s parents said they would not release me until someone guaranteed that I would support her. My servant became my guarantor. Back in my cell I gave him all my baskets and said, ‘Sell them and give my wife something to eat.’ I told myself, ‘Macarius, you have found yourself a wife; you must work more to feed her.’ So I worked night and day and sent her what I earned. When her time came, she remained in labor for many days and could not give birth. At last she confessed, ‘I slandered the anchorite. He had nothing to do with it; another young man is the father.’ My servant came joyfully and told me that the whole village wanted to come with honor and make prostration in repentance before me. When I heard this, I fled so that people would not trouble me. That is the original reason I came to Scetis.”
Once Macarius the Egyptian came from Scetis to the mountain of Nitria for the offering of Abba Pambo. The elders asked him, “Father, say a word to the brothers.” He said, “I have not yet become a monk, but I have seen monks. Once, while I was sitting in my cell at Scetis, my thoughts kept telling me, ‘Go into the desert and see what is there.’ For five years I fought the thought, wondering whether it came from demons. When it persisted, I went into the desert. I found a lake with an island in the middle, where wild animals came to drink. Among them I saw two naked men, and my body trembled because I thought they were spirits. They saw my fear and said, ‘Do not be afraid; we are men too.’ They told me that they had left a cenobium by mutual agreement forty years earlier; one was Egyptian and the other Libyan. They asked how the world was doing, whether the waters rose at their proper time, and whether there was prosperity. Then I asked, ‘How can I become a monk?’ They said, ‘Unless a person renounces everything belonging to the world, he cannot become a monk.’ I said, ‘I am weak and cannot live as you do.’ They replied, ‘If you cannot live as we do, sit in your cell and weep for your sins.’ I asked whether winter froze them or summer heat burned their bodies. They said, ‘God has arranged this way of life for us; we neither freeze in winter nor are harmed by summer heat.’ That is why I told you: I have not yet become a monk, but I have seen monks. Forgive me, brothers.”
When Abba Macarius lived alone in the great desert, another desert below him was inhabited by many brothers. One day he saw Satan passing in the form of a man wearing a linen garment full of holes, with a little flask hanging from each hole. Macarius asked, “Where are you going?” Satan replied, “To stir up the brothers’ memories.” “And why all those little flasks?” “I am carrying flavors for the brothers. If one does not please a brother, I offer another, then another, until at least one appeals to him.” Later Satan returned. Macarius asked how things had gone. “Badly,” he said. “They were all fierce toward me.” Yet he admitted, “I have one monk there as a friend who obeys me; when he sees me, he turns like the wind.” Macarius asked his name, and Satan replied, “Theopemptus.” Then he left.
Macarius got up and went down to that desert. When the brothers heard, they took palm branches and came out to meet him, each preparing himself because he thought the elder would stay with him. Macarius, however, asked who on the mountain was named Theopemptus. When he found him, he entered his cell, and Theopemptus received him joyfully. When they were alone, Macarius asked, “How are you, brother?” He replied, “By your prayers, well.” Macarius asked whether thoughts fought him, but Theopemptus was ashamed to confess. So Macarius said, “Look how many years I have practiced asceticism and am honored by everyone, yet even in old age the spirit of fornication troubles me.” Theopemptus replied, “Believe me, Abba, it troubles me too.” Macarius continued speaking as though other thoughts also fought him until the brother confessed his own struggles. Then he asked how he fasted. “Until the ninth hour.” Macarius said, “Fast until evening; practice asceticism; learn passages from the Gospel and the other Scriptures by heart; and whenever an alien thought rises, do not look down toward it, but always look upward, and the Lord will help you at once.” After giving him this rule, Macarius returned to his desert.
When Satan passed again, Macarius asked, “Where are you going now?” He replied, “To stir up the brothers.” Satan went and returned. Macarius asked how the brothers were. “Badly,” he said. “They are all fierce, and what is worse, even the one friend I had who obeyed me has somehow changed. He no longer obeys me but has become fiercer than all the rest. So I have sworn not to set foot there again except after some time.” Then he left, and Macarius went into his cell.
Abba Macarius the Great once went to Abba Anthony’s dwelling on the mountain. When he knocked, Anthony came out and asked, “Who are you?” He replied, “I am Macarius.” Anthony went back inside, shut the door, and left him there. Later, seeing his patience, he opened the door and received him joyfully, saying, “For a long time I have wanted to see you, because I have heard about you.” He gave him hospitality and rest, for Macarius was very tired. In the evening Anthony soaked palm leaves for his work. Macarius asked permission to soak some too, made a large bundle, and soaked it. Sitting together that night, they spoke about the salvation of souls while they plaited. Macarius’s rope went down through the opening of the cave. Early in the morning Anthony saw how much rope he had made and said, “Great power comes from these hands.”
Abba Macarius said to the brothers concerning the devastation of Scetis, “When you see a cell built close to the marsh, know that its devastation is near. When you see trees, it is at the doors. When you see children, take up your sheepskins and leave.”
Again, wishing to encourage the brothers, Abba Macarius said, “A little boy possessed by a demon once came here with his mother. The demon said through him, ‘Get up, old woman, let us leave this place.’ She replied, ‘I cannot walk any farther.’ The boy said, ‘I will carry you myself.’ I marveled at the wickedness of the demon and how eager he was to make them flee.”
Abba Sisoes said, “When I was at Scetis with Macarius, seven of us went up with him to harvest. A widow was gleaning behind us and crying continually. Macarius asked the owner of the field why she was weeping. He explained that her husband had died suddenly after receiving someone’s deposit and had not told her where he had hidden it. The owner of the deposit intended to take her and her children as slaves. Macarius told him to send the woman to them during the midday rest. When she came, Macarius asked her to show him where her husband had been buried. He took the brothers with him to the grave and sent the woman home. After they prayed, Macarius called the dead man by name and asked, ‘Where did you put the deposit that belongs to another?’ The dead man answered, ‘It is hidden in my house beneath the foot of the bed.’ Macarius said, ‘Sleep again until the day of resurrection.’ The brothers fell at his feet in fear, but he said, ‘This did not happen because of me; I am nothing. God did it for the widow and the orphans. The great thing is this: God wants the soul to be without sin, and whatever such a soul asks, it receives.’ He told the widow where the deposit was. She returned it to its owner and freed her children. All who heard gave glory to God.”
Abba Peter said of the holy Macarius, “Once Macarius came to the cell of an anchorite who was ill. Although there was nothing in the cell, Macarius asked what he wished to eat. The sick man said, ‘Pastilon.’ Macarius did not hesitate to go all the way to Alexandria, obtain it, and bring it to the sick man. The remarkable thing was that no one knew what he had done.”
Abba Peter also said that Macarius lived with all the brothers in simplicity. Some asked him, “Why do you make yourself like this?” He replied, “For twelve years I served my Lord so that He might grant me this gift, and now all of you advise me to put it away?”
They said of Abba Macarius that when he was with brothers he set himself this rule: “If wine is found, drink for the brothers’ sake; but for every cup of wine, go one day without drinking water.” The brothers would give him wine to refresh him, and the elder accepted it gladly so that he might discipline himself afterward. When his disciple learned what he was doing, he told the brothers, “For the Lord’s sake, do not give him any more, or he will punish himself in his cell.” When they heard this, they stopped offering him wine.
Once Abba Macarius was returning from the marsh to his cell carrying palm leaves. On the road the devil met him with a sickle and tried to strike him, but could not. He said, “Macarius, you exert great force against me, and I cannot overcome you. Whatever you do, I do too: you fast, and I fast; you keep vigil, and I do not sleep at all. There is only one thing by which you defeat me.” Macarius asked, “What is it?” The devil said, “Your humility. Because of it I can do nothing against you.”
Some Fathers asked Abba Macarius the Egyptian, “Why is your body always dried up, whether you eat or fast?” He said, “The stick used to turn the burning twigs is itself consumed through and through by the fire. In the same way, when a person purifies his mind in the fear of God, the fear of God consumes his body.”
Abba Macarius once went up from Scetis to Terenuthis and entered a pagan temple to sleep. There were old bodies of pagans there. He took one and placed it under his head like a pillow. The demons, seeing his boldness, became envious and tried to frighten him. They called out a woman’s name, saying, ‘Come with us to the bath.’ Another demon answered from beneath him as though from among the dead, ‘I have a stranger lying on top of me, and I cannot come.’ The elder was not afraid. He struck the body and said boldly, ‘Get up and go into the darkness, if you can.’ The demons cried out loudly, ‘You have defeated us!’ and fled in shame.
They said of Abba Macarius the Egyptian that once, while going up from Scetis carrying baskets, he became exhausted and sat down. He prayed, “God, You know that I have no strength left.” Immediately he found himself at the river.
A man in Egypt had a paralyzed son. He brought him to Abba Macarius’s cell, left him crying at the door, and went some distance away. The elder looked out and asked the boy, “Who brought you here?” He answered, “My father threw me down here and went away.” Macarius said, “Get up and catch up with him.” Immediately the boy was healed. He rose, caught up with his father, and they returned home together.
When Abba Macarius the Great dismissed the assembly at Scetis, he said to the brothers, “Flee, brothers.” One of the elders asked, “Where can we flee beyond this desert?” Macarius put his finger to his mouth and said, “Flee this.” Then he entered his cell, shut the door, and sat down.
Abba Macarius said, “If, while reproving someone, you are moved to anger, you are satisfying your own passion. Do not destroy yourself in order to save others.”
While Abba Macarius was in Egypt, he found a man with a pack animal stealing his belongings. Macarius came up as though he were a stranger and helped the thief load the animal. Then he sent him on his way with great stillness, saying, “We brought nothing into the world, and it is clear that we cannot carry anything out. The Lord gave; as He willed, so it happened. Blessed is the Lord in all things.”
Some asked Abba Macarius, “How should we pray?” The elder said, “There is no need to babble many words. Stretch out your hands and say, ‘Lord, as You will and as You know, have mercy.’ If the battle presses hard, say, ‘Lord, help.’ He Himself knows what is good for us and shows us mercy.”
Abba Macarius said, “If contempt has become for you like praise, poverty like riches, and lack like abundance, you will not die. For it is impossible for a person who believes rightly and works in devotion to fall into the impurity of passions and the deception of demons.”
They said that two brothers in Scetis had fallen into error and Abba Macarius of Alexandria cut them off. Some brothers reported this to Abba Macarius the Great of Egypt. He said, ‘The brothers are not cut off; Macarius is cut off,’ for he loved him. When Macarius of Alexandria heard this, he fled to the marsh. Macarius the Great went out and found him being bitten by mosquitoes. He said, ‘You cut off the brothers, and they were about to withdraw to the village. I cut you off, and you fled here like a beautiful virgin into her innermost chamber. I called the two brothers and learned from them what happened, and I told them that none of these things had taken place. Examine yourself, brother, and see whether the demons have mocked you, for you saw nothing. Make a prostration in repentance for your fault.’ The other said, ‘If you wish, give me a penance.’ Seeing his humility, the elder said, ‘Go and fast for three weeks, eating once each week.’ This was Macarius of Alexandria’s usual practice: to fast through the week.
Abba Moses said to Abba Macarius at Scetis, “I want to practice stillness, but the brothers will not let me.” Macarius said, “I see that your nature is gentle and you cannot turn a brother away. If you want to practice stillness, go into the inner desert, to Petra, and there you will have stillness.” Moses did so and found rest.
A brother came to Abba Macarius the Egyptian and said, “Abba, give me a word so that I may be saved.” The elder said, “Go to the cemetery and insult the dead.” The brother went, insulted them, and threw stones at them. When he returned, Macarius asked, “Did they say anything to you?” He said no. The elder said, “Go back tomorrow and praise them.” So the brother went and called them apostles, saints, and righteous men. He returned and said, “I praised them.” Macarius asked, “Did they answer you?” He said no. The elder replied, “You know how much you dishonored them, and they did not answer; and how much you praised them, and they did not speak. If you want to be saved, become like the dead. Take no account of either people’s injustice or their praise, and you can be saved.”
Once Abba Macarius was traveling through Egypt with some brothers. He heard a boy say to his mother, “Mother, a rich man loves me, and I hate him; and a poor man hates me, and I love him.” Macarius marveled. The brothers asked why. He said, “Truly our Lord is rich and loves us, yet we do not want to listen to Him. Our enemy the devil is poor and hates us, yet we love his impurity.”
Abba Poemen begged Abba Macarius with many tears, “Tell me a word by which I may be saved.” The elder answered, “What you are seeking has now departed from the monks.”
Once Abba Macarius visited Abba Anthony, spoke with him, and returned to Scetis. The Fathers came to meet him. As they talked, Macarius said, “I told Abba Anthony that we have no offering in our district.” The Fathers began speaking about other things and did not ask what Anthony had answered; Macarius did not tell them. One of the Fathers later said about this: “When the Fathers see that brothers have failed to ask about something that would benefit them, they compel themselves to begin the subject. But if the brothers do not urge them to continue, they say no more, lest they be found speaking without being asked and their words become idle talk.”
Abba Isaiah asked Abba Macarius, “Give me a word.” The elder said, “Flee people.” Isaiah asked, “What does it mean to flee people?” Macarius replied, “Sit in your cell and weep for your sins.”
Abba Paphnutius, a disciple of Abba Macarius, said, “I begged my father, ‘Tell me a word.’ He replied, ‘Do no evil to anyone, and do not judge anyone. Keep these things, and you will be saved.’”
Abba Macarius said, “Do not sleep in the cell of a brother who has a bad reputation.”
Some brothers once came to Abba Macarius at Scetis and found nothing in his cell except stale water. They said, “Abba, come up to the village and we will give you some relief.” The elder asked, “Brothers, do you know so-and-so’s bakery in the village?” They said yes. He replied, “I know it too. Do you know so-and-so’s field where the river runs?” They said yes. He replied, “I know that too. So when I want to, I can go up there myself; I do not need you to take me.”
When someone came to Abba Macarius with reverence, as though approaching a holy elder, he would not answer him. But if someone spoke to him contemptuously, saying, for example, ‘Abba, when you were a camel-driver and stole natron and sold it, did the guards not beat you?’ then, if someone spoke to him like this, he would gladly answer whatever he asked.
It was said of Abba Macarius that he became, as it is written, like a god upon the earth. For just as God covers the world, so Abba Macarius covered the faults he saw as though he had not seen them, and those he heard as though he had not heard them.
Abba Macarius said: ‘When I was in Scetis, two young strangers came down there. One had a beard; the other was just beginning to grow one. They came to me and said, “Where is Abba Macarius’s cell?” I asked them, “What do you want with him?” They replied, “We have heard about him and about Scetis, and we have come to see him.” I said, “I am he.” They made a prostration and said, “We want to stay here.” But when I saw that they were delicate and seemed to come from wealth, I said, “You cannot remain here.” The elder of the two replied, “If we cannot stay here, we will go somewhere else.”
‘I said to myself, “Why should I drive them away and cause them to stumble? The labor itself will make them leave.” So I said, “Come, make yourselves a cell if you can.” They said, “Show us a place, and we will make one.” The elder gave them an axe and a bag full of bread and salt, and showed them a hard rock, saying, “Quarry stone here, bring yourselves wood from the marsh, roof the cell, and live there.” I thought they would leave because of the hardship. But they asked me, “What work should we do here?” I said, “Ropework.” I took palm leaves from the marsh and showed them how to begin a rope and how to sew. I told them, “Make baskets and give them to the keepers; they will bring you bread.” Then I went away.
‘For three years they never came to consult me about a thought. I struggled with my thoughts and said, “What kind of practice do they have, that they do not come to ask me anything? People come to me from far away, but these live nearby and never come. They only go silently to church to receive the offering.” So I fasted for a whole week and begged God to show me their practice.
‘After the week I went to them to see how they lived. When I knocked, they opened and greeted me in silence. After the prayer I sat down. The elder signaled to the younger, who went out, while the elder sat plaiting rope without speaking. About the ninth hour he knocked, and the younger came in and made a little cooked dish. At a sign from the elder he set out the table, put three paxamadia on it, and stood there. I said, “Get up, let us eat.” We got up and ate, and he brought the water jug and we drank.
‘When evening came they asked me, “Are you leaving?” I said, “No, I will sleep here.” They spread a mat for me on one side and another for themselves on the other side, took off their belts and outer garments, and lay down together on their mat. After they lay down, I prayed to God that He would show me their practice, and the roof opened and it became as bright as day; but they did not see the light. When they thought I was asleep, the elder nudged the younger in the side. They got up, girded themselves, and stretched out their hands toward heaven. I watched them, but they did not see me.
‘I saw the demons coming like flies against the younger brother. Some tried to settle on his mouth and others on his eyes. And I saw an angel of the Lord holding a fiery sword, surrounding him and driving the demons away from him. They could not approach the elder brother. Near morning they lay down, and I pretended that I had just awakened; they did the same. The elder said only, “Shall we recite the twelve psalms?” I said yes. The younger chanted five psalms of six verses each and one Alleluia. With every verse a flame of fire came from his mouth and rose to heaven. Likewise, when the elder opened his mouth to chant, something like a cord of fire came out and reached to heaven. I too recited a little from memory.
‘When I went out I said, “Pray for me.” They made a prostration in silence. So I learned that the elder was perfect, while the enemy was still fighting the younger. A few days later the elder brother fell asleep in death, and on the third day the younger did also. Whenever some of the Fathers visited Abba Macarius afterward, he would take them to their cell and say, “Come and see the martyrdom of the young strangers.”’
Once the elders of the mountain sent to Abba Macarius in Scetis and begged him, “So that the whole people may not be worn out coming to you, we ask you to come to us, so that we may see you before you depart to the Lord.” When he came to the mountain, everyone gathered around him. The elders begged him to say a word to the brothers. He said, “Let us weep, brothers, and let our eyes pour out tears before we go away to the place where our tears will burn our bodies.” They all wept, fell on their faces, and said, “Father, pray for us.”
On another occasion a demon rose against Abba Macarius with a small sword, wanting to cut off his foot. But because of Macarius’s humility he could not do it, and he said to him, “Whatever you have, we have too. In humility alone you differ from us, and by it you prevail.”
Abba Macarius said, “If we remember the wrongs people have done to us, we destroy the power of the remembrance of God. But if we remember the evils of the demons, we shall be invulnerable.”
Abba Paphnutius, the disciple of Abba Macarius, said that the elder used to say, “When I was a boy, I was grazing calves with the other boys, and we went and stole some figs. As we ran, one fig fell. I picked it up and ate it. Whenever I remember this, I sit down and weep.”
Abba Macarius said: “Once, as I was walking through the desert, I found the skull of a dead man lying on the ground. I moved it with my palm-wood staff, and the skull spoke to me. I said, ‘Who are you?’ The skull answered, ‘I was the high priest of the idols and of the pagans who lived in this place. You are Macarius, the bearer of the Spirit. Whenever you are moved with compassion for those in punishment and pray for us, we receive a little comfort.’
“The elder asked, ‘What is the comfort, and what is the punishment?’ He replied, ‘As far as heaven is from the earth, so deep is the fire beneath us. We stand in the midst of the fire from our feet to our heads. We cannot see anyone face to face, because each person’s face is fixed to the back of another. But when you pray for us, one person can partly see the face of another. This is our comfort.’
“The elder wept and said, ‘Woe to the day on which a person was born!’ Then he asked, ‘Is there any punishment worse than this?’ The skull replied, ‘There is a greater punishment beneath us.’ Macarius asked, ‘Who are there?’ The skull said, ‘We did not know God, and so we receive some mercy. But those who knew God and denied Him are beneath us.’ Then the elder took the skull and buried it.
Once Abba Macarius was going up from Scetis to the mountain of Nitria. When he drew near the place, he told his disciple, “Go on ahead a little.” As the disciple went ahead, he met a pagan priest and shouted at him, “Hey, demon, where are you running?” The priest turned, beat him severely, and left him half dead.
A little later he met Abba Macarius. Macarius said to him, “May you be well, weary man.” Astonished, the priest came to him and said, “What good did you see in me that you greeted me like this?” The elder replied, “I saw you laboring, though you do not know that you labor in vain.” The priest said, “I was moved by your greeting. I know that you belong to God. But another bad monk met me and insulted me, and I beat him almost to death.”
Then the priest fell at Macarius’s feet and said, “I will not let you go unless you make me a monk.” They went together to where the brother was lying, carried him, and brought him to the church on the mountain. When the monks saw the pagan priest with Macarius, they were amazed. They made him a monk, and because of him many pagans became Christians. Abba Macarius used to say, “An evil word makes even good people evil, while a good word makes even evil people good.”
It was said of Abba Macarius that while he was away, a thief entered his cell. When Macarius returned, he found the thief loading his possessions onto a camel. Macarius went into the cell, took out more of his belongings, and helped him load the camel. When they had loaded it, the thief began striking the camel to make it rise, but it would not get up. Seeing this, Macarius went into the cell and found a small hoe. He brought it out, put it on the camel, and said, ‘Brother, the camel was looking for this.’ Then the elder struck the camel with his foot and said, ‘Get up.’ At his word it immediately rose and went a little way. Then it sat down again and would not rise until they had unloaded all the goods. After that it went away.
Abba Aio asked Abba Macarius for a word. Abba Macarius said to him, “Flee people, sit in your cell, weep for your sins, and do not love human conversation. Then you will be saved.”