Житие преподобного отца нашего Макария Александрийского

The Monk Macarius of Alexandria came from the city of Alexandria 747. At first, he was a vegetable merchant and received holy baptism when he was forty years old. After this, having renounced the world, he became a monk and, when he had worked hard enough in monastic deeds and labors, he was honored to accept holy orders, with which he took command of a monastery called Kelli and located in the Egyptian desert between Nitria and the monastery. He was the most sincere friend of the Monk Macarius of Egypt, together with whom, during the reign of Valens, through the machinations of the false bishop of Alexandria, the Arian Lucius, he was expelled from the fatherland. Repeatedly he and this venerable Macarius lived together. Both Macarii were very similar to each other in character and way of life and had the same common teacher and mentor - Anthony the Great, from whom they, as his students, repeatedly received instructions for improvement in a virtuous life. Macarius of Egypt was older and the first to depart to the Lord. This same venerable Macarius of Alexandria lived for several more years after the death of Macarius of Egypt. Bishop Palladius of Lavsaik writes the following about St. Macarius of Alexandria: - I saw the one who was a friend and competitor in piety to Saint Macarius of Egypt - who bore the same name. I mean Saint Macarius of Alexandria, who was a presbyter in an area called Cells, where I also stayed for nine years. Of these, I lived for three years with Saint Macarius, some of whose deeds and signs of a godly life I saw myself, and about others I learned from those who lived with him earlier. Having once seen the Great Father Anthony collect date twigs, from which he twisted ropes and weaved baskets, Saint Macarius asked him for one bunch of those twigs, Saint Anthony answered him: – It is written: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s property” (Deut. 5:21). But as soon as he uttered these words, all the rods suddenly, as if from the action of fire, dried up. Seeing this, Anthony said to Macarius: “The Holy Spirit has rested on you, and you will continue my deeds after me.” After some time, the Monk Macarius was on a journey in the desert and became very exhausted from the length of the journey. Suddenly the devil appeared to him and said: “You have received Anthony’s grace, why don’t you use it and ask God for food and reinforcement on the way?” - The Lord is my strength and glory, do not tempt the servant of God. Then the devil began to tempt the saint with ghosts - the saint imagined a camel loaded with various edible objects and wandering through the desert. When the saint noticed a camel approaching him and realized that it was a ghost, he began to pray - and suddenly this ghost was swallowed up by the earth. One day the Monk Macarius of Alexandria came to Macarius of Egypt, who was in the monastery. And so, when they both set off and wanted to cross the Nile River, they had to cross on a large ferry, which also boarded two tribunes (chief commanders) with great importance and outward splendor, having a copper chariot, horses with gilded bridles and a retinue of troops, squires and warriors, decorated with chains and gold belts. When these tribunes noticed two reverend elders, dressed in shabby clothes and standing in the corner, they praised their humble and poor life and one of the thousand officers said to the elders: - Blessed are you who despise the world. Macarius of Alexandria responded to this: “We really neglect the world, and the world laughs at you.” Know that what you said was not said by your will, but prophetically, because we are both called Macarii, that is, “blessed.” Touched by these speeches of Macarius of Alexandria, the tribune, upon returning home, took off his clothes and, distributing his property to the poor, chose a hermit’s life. It happened that the Monk Macarius of Alexandria was sent very good fresh berries, and he wished to eat them. But then, intending to overcome his desire through abstinence, he sent the berries to one weaker brother who wanted the same food. But he, having accepted what was sent, did the same, although he himself was very hungry. When in this way these berries were sent from one to another and went around many brothers, they again came to the Monk Macarius from the last brother and, like an expensive gift, were returned whole, because no one wanted to eat from them. When the Monk Macarius learned that those berries had gone around all the brethren, he was greatly amazed and, having thanked God for the virtue of abstinence of all the brethren, he himself did not taste anything from them. When the monk learned that someone was performing some kind of feat, he himself tried in every possible way to imitate him and carefully did the same. So, for example, having learned about the monks who lived in the Tavenk monastery 748 that during the entire Great Pentecost they did not eat anything from food cooked on the fire, he made it a rule for himself for seven years not to eat anything that was cooked on the fire - neither baked nor boiled food. At the same time, the Monk Macarius increased his feat to the point that he ate neither bread nor brew, except for hard millet or some seeds soaked in water. The monk lived in such abstinence for seven whole years. Having once heard about some other monk who ate only one pound of bread during the day and wanting to imitate him, Macarius crushed the bread into small pieces and put them in a vessel that had a very narrow hole into which one could barely stick a hand. At the same time, the Monk Macarius made it a rule for himself to eat as much bread during the day as a hand could take, once inserted into that vessel. This served as a very strong mortification of the flesh for the Monk Macarius, as the aforementioned Palladius tells about it. For the Monk Macarius later said with a smile: “I grabbed hold of many pieces in the vessel with my hand, but, due to the narrowness of the neck of the vessel, I could not pull them out. Thus, my vessel did not allow me to eat as much as I wanted! So starving, Macarius lived for three years, eating only a small piece of bread a day, and also drinking the same amount of water. For food he uses one sextarium 749 for a whole year. Once, wanting to completely overcome sleep, he did not enter the roof of his cell for twenty days and nights, but stayed near it during the day under the scorching heat, and at night, shivering from the cold, making every effort not to fall asleep. And, as he himself later related for the edification of others, such a feat dried up his brain, and if he had not gone into his cell for even longer and fallen asleep, he would have gone crazy. The monk added: – As far as I had the strength, I overcame sleep, but I was not able to overcome human nature, which requires sleep, and therefore I had to obey it. One day the Monk Macarius began to be very strongly tempted by the demon of fornication. In order to overcome this enemy, Macarius decided to sit naked for six months in a skete swamp located in the distant desert. It was full of large mosquitoes, like wasps, that could even bite through the skin of wild boars. The monk was bitten so badly by these mosquitoes that some thought he might have leprosy. When he returned to his cell after six months, the disciples barely recognized by his voice that it was their Abba Macarius. But Saint Macarius condemned himself a second time to the same torture from mosquitoes. This happened after he once killed a mosquito that was bothering him greatly on his leg, from which a lot of blood flowed. After this, he repented and began to reproach himself as a murderer and avenger until he took revenge on himself by giving himself up naked to sting mosquitoes. Another time, the monk wanted to see the garden and the tomb called “Kipotathion”, in which Jannes and Jambres, the Egyptian magicians who lived during the time of Pharaoh, were buried (Ex. 7:11, 22, 8:7) in order to fight with demons there; for they said about this place that there were many fierce demons in it, which the said magicians gathered there through their magic. Those magicians were brothers among themselves and, due to their cunning and great skill in magic, were held in great esteem by the pharaoh and had very great power throughout Egypt. In a remote place in the desert, they built a garden from quadrangular stones, and in it they built a tomb with great skill, in which they placed a lot of gold, planted many different trees around it, dug a large well, since the place there was low-lying and there was a lot of moisture. The Magi arranged all this because they firmly hoped to live there forever after their death, enjoying, as if in paradise, all the benefits found in that place. Since the Monk Macarius did not know the way to the named place, he walked, guided by the stars, just as shipmen cross the sea, and thus crossed the entire desert on foot. At the same time, Macarius took several stamens with him and after each 750-mile journey he completed, he stuck one stamen into the ground so that he could use these notes to return back. When he, having walked through the entire desert for nine days, approached the said vertograd and, at nightfall, wanted to take a little rest from the journey and fell asleep, then the devil, the eternal enemy of Christ’s ascetics, collected all those stamens with which Macarius had marked his way, and during the saint’s sleep he placed them near the saint’s head. When Macarius woke up, he found all those stamens lying near him and tied into a bundle. This happened by Divine will in order to strengthen the feat of the monk, so that he would not rely on stamens, but on the help of God, who once guided Israel with a pillar of fire for forty years through this vast desert (Ex. 14:19–20). Subsequently, Saint Macarius told the following about his journey: “When I was approaching the helicopter town,” he said, “to the said cemetery, up to seventy demons ran out to meet me in various forms; some of them screamed loudly, others gnashed their teeth at me with terrible anger, others flew like crows, rushed into my face and screamed: – What are you looking for here, Macarius? Why did you come to us? Have we ever seduced any of your monks? Possess, in your place of residence, with those like you, what previously belonged to us. After all, you own the desert from which you drove out demons like us. We have nothing in common with you. Why did you come to our place? Like a hermit, be content with the desert; those who built it gave this place to us. You can't stay here. Why do you want to enter our domain, where no living person has ever entered since the time when we buried the brothers who built this place? And when the demons raised a very strong cry and cry, Saint Macarius said to them: – I’ll just go in, have a look and then leave here! - Promise us this according to your conscience. And the demons disappeared. When Macarius entered the helicopter city, he was met by a terrible-looking devil with a drawn sword and blocked his way. Saint Macarius said to the devil: – You come against me with a sword, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts in the power of the God of Israel (1 Samuel 17:45). And the devil ran away from him. Entering the helitown, the monk examined everything that was there, namely: a well in which hung only an old copper tub attached to an iron chain, pomegranate apples that had nothing inside because they had dried out from the sun, a beautiful tomb building, richly decorated with gold. Having examined everything in detail, the saint left there without obstacles or difficulties and, after twenty days, went back to his cell. During the return journey, he ran out of all the bread and water that he took with him on the road. Macarius began to weaken from hunger and thirst, so that he almost fell. Then, as he later talked about it himself, the ghost of some girl appeared before him, dressed in white clothes and carrying a bucket of clean water at a distance from him, as if from a mile away. Stopping often, the girl showed him water and called him to her, promising to let him drink. However, the saint was not able to reach her. However, carried away by the opportunity to quench his thirst, he, using terrible efforts, followed her for three days, during which the girl appeared in front of him. Then a herd of buffaloes appeared (there are a lot of them in that direction), one of which, having a small calf with her, stood against the tired and exhausted old man; Milk flowed from her nipples. At the same time, the monk heard a voice saying from above: “Come, Macarius, and drink her milk.” Having started, he drank milk for a long time and strengthened his body. Saint Macarius added the following: “My Lord, wanting to show me even greater His mercy and teach my weakness to rely only on His good providence, showed such a miracle. At His command, I ordered that buffalo to follow me to my cell and feed me throughout my journey. The obedient buffalo, at the command of her Creator, really followed me and did not let the calf near her teats in order to feed only me alone.” Once upon a time this holy and wondrous man dug a well for the monks to drink. At the place where the monk was digging, there was a lot of brushwood and thorns, from which an asp crawled out and stung the saint. Then the saint, grabbing the asp by both jaws with his hands, tore it to pieces, saying: “Since my Lord did not send you against me, how did you dare to approach me and bite me?” And, lo and behold! The sting of the asp did not cause any harm to the monk. Having heard for the second time regarding the Tabennisiots that they had a very strict rule of life, the Monk Macarius changed his monastic clothes to secular ones and went to them. After a fifteen-day journey through the desert, the monk arrived at the Tavennisiot monastery, as if he were a worldly man. Here he wished to see Archimandrite Pachomius 751, an experienced and perspicacious man who had the gift of prophecy, but to whom it was not yet revealed by God who Macarius was. Entering Pachomius, Macarius said: “Father, I beg you, accept me into your monastery, for I wish to be a monk there.” “You cannot be a monk, because you are old and unable to work.” The local brethren from their youth were accustomed to monastic labors, but you, being already old, will not be able to endure the exploits and, weakened, you will leave here and begin to slander us. And Pachomius did not accept it either on the first or on the second day, and so on until the seventh day. Macarius spent all this time in strict fasting and on the seventh day he said to the archimandrite: - Ava, accept me! If I do not fast and do the same as the other brethren do, then you ordered me to be expelled from the monastery. Then Saint Pachomius told the brethren to accept him. There were one thousand four hundred brothers, and Macarius was accepted by them into the monastery. After some time had passed, the fast of the Holy Pentecost began, and Macarius saw each of the brethren fasting to the best of their ability. One ate food in the evening, another after two days, another ate after five days, another stood all night in prayer, and sat at work during the day. Imitating them, Macarius himself, having wetted the date branches, stood in one corner and during the entire Lent of Lent until Easter he ate neither bread nor water, with the exception of a small amount of dry cabbage leaves, which he ate on Sundays. And he did this only so that other monks would see what he was eating and so that he would not fall into the sin of arrogance. Standing in the corner, the Monk Macarius worked incessantly and did not rest from his labors; he never sat down or lay down the entire time. If, out of necessity, he left his place, then, returning, he stood again, not opening his lips, not talking to anyone, but in silence offering prayers to God with all his heart. Seeing such a feat of the monk, the ascetics of that monastery became angry with their abba and began to say to him: “Where did you bring such an incorporeal person to us, to our shame?” Either remove him, or we will leave the monastery. Having heard this from the brethren and learned about the strict fast of Macarius, the Monk Pachomius began to pray to God that He would reveal to him about the stranger who he was. And it was revealed to him that it was Macarius. Then the Monk Pachomius, taking the Monk Macarius by the hand, led him into the church and, kindly hugging him, said: - You have come well, honest father! I know that you are Macarius, but you did not reveal your name to me. For many years I have heard about you and longed to see you. I thank you for teaching humility to my children, so that they would not become exalted in their minds, proud of their exploits and fasting; you have brought us a lot of benefit. The other brethren also heard about Macarius and, coming from everywhere in large numbers, kindly kissed him and asked him to pray for them. The Monk Macarius, having given instructions to everyone, returned to his place. This impassive man, the Monk Macarius, also told the following about himself: “Once I wished to direct my mind in such a way that, without thinking about anything earthly, it would remain in constant contemplation of the One God, without being separated from Him for a moment. For this contemplation of God, I assigned myself five days. And so, having closed my cell and my courtyard so that no one would come in to me, and I could not talk to anyone, starting on Monday, I stood and commanded my mind, saying: “Look! Don't come down from the sky! You have there with you Angels, Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim, all the heavenly powers and their Creator God. So, stay in heaven and do not go down to heaven, so as not to fall into earthly thoughts. When I stood in this way for two days and two nights, fixing my mind on grief, I irritated the devil so much that he, turning into a flame, burned everything that was in my cell, so that even the matting on which I stood caught fire, and I thought that I myself would burn. Frightened by this, I abandoned my intention on the third day; being no longer able to keep my mind in thoughts of heavenly things, I descended, by the will of God, to earthly thoughts, so as not to fall into the sin of arrogance. About this same Venerable Macarius, Bishop Palladius also tells the following: “One day, when I came to him,” he says, “I found in front of his cell some village presbyter, whose head was so eaten away by a disease called gangrene that from the back of his head one could see his mouth. He came to the Monk Macarius, asking for healing; but the saint did not allow him near him, not wanting to talk to him. Then I began to beg the saint, saying: “Have mercy on this unfortunate man and answer him.” - He is not worthy of healing, since this is a punishment from the Lord. If you want him to receive healing, then advise him to stop performing sacred acts from now on. “He performed the liturgy after adultery and was punished like that.” If he fears God and abandons his vice, which he committed without fear, then God will heal him. When I,” Palladius continued, “told the presbyter about this, he swore an oath not to perform the priesthood again. After this, the Monk Macarius, taking that presbyter, said to him: – Do you believe that there is a God for whom there is no mystery? “Yes, Father, I believe and I beg you, pray to him for me, a sinner.” - So you couldn’t hide yourself before God? “Yes, I couldn’t,” he answered. “If you confess your sin and acknowledge God’s punishment for it,” continued Macarius, “then from now on, correct yourself.” And the presbyter confessed his fall into sin and promised not to sin again and not to perform sacred acts, but to live as a worldly person. After this, Saint Macarius laid his hands on him and prayed to God for him, and a few days later the presbyter was healed of gangrene; the hair on his head grew back, and he returned to his home healthy, glorifying God and giving thanks to the great Macarius. The Monk Macarius had several cells in different places: one in a monastery located in the inner desert, another in Libya, a third in a place called Cell, and a fourth on Mount Nitria. None of his cells had either doors or windows. And the Monk Macarius remained in these cells in darkness during all the days of Holy Pentecost. One of his cells was so cramped that it was impossible to stretch one’s legs in it, the other was more spacious, and in it the monk talked with those who came to him; at the same time, he healed countless people suffering from unclean spirits. Palladius recalls one noble maiden who had been paralyzed for many years and who was brought to the Monk Macarius from Thessalonica 752. The monk healed her, anointing her with holy oil for twenty days and praying to God, and sent the girl completely healthy to her hometown. After her healing, she distributed abundant alms to the monasteries. Another time, a demon-possessed youth was brought to the monk, who was all swollen from dropsy. Placing his right hand on his head and his left hand on his heart, the monk began to pray to God. Suddenly the boy cried out in a loud voice, and immediately a huge amount of water poured out of his body. After this, the boy’s body returned to its natural state, as it was before. Having anointed the youth with holy oil and sprinkled him with holy water, the monk handed him over to his father. At the same time, he commanded the boy not to eat meat or drink wine for fourteen days. So the monk made the boy healthy. The demon, the primordial enemy of the human race, became very angry with the Monk Macarius for his strictly ascetic lifestyle and for the many healings of the sick who came to him. Then he began to tempt his mind with vanity. The monk began to have thoughts that he needed to leave his cell and go to Rome. At the same time, his mind imagined all the plausible motives for this, pointing out that the monk, who has abundant grace and the gift of casting out unclean spirits, could bring much benefit to those suffering in Rome. The monk struggled for a long time with the thoughts that tempted him, although they strongly attacked him. Finally, falling on the threshold of his cell, he stretched his legs behind the cell and said: - Draw me, demons, if you can, but I won’t go myself! So, on the threshold, the monk lay until late in the evening. At night the same thoughts again attacked him with great force. Then the blessed one, taking a basket with a capacity of two quadruples, filled it with sand and, placing it on his shoulders, began to walk through the desert. There he met the monk Theosevius, an Antiochian by birth, who asked him: - Father! What are you wearing? Give me your burden, and don’t bother yourself. “I torment him who torments me,” answered Macarius, “when he remains in laziness and idleness, he invites me to wander.” Thus, working for a long time, the monk returned to his cell, although exhausted in body, but having gained victory over evil thoughts. The disciple of St. Macarius, Blessed Paphnutius, tells the following about the saint. – One day the monk was sitting in the yard; suddenly a hyena came running and brought in her teeth her puppy, who was blind; Running up to Macarius, the hyena threw the puppy at his feet. The saint, picking up the puppy, spat in its eyes, prayed to God, and the puppy received his sight. The hyena took its puppy and ran away. The next morning she ran to the saint again, carrying a huge mutton skin, upon seeing which the saint said to the hyena: – Where did you get this skin from? Did you eat someone’s sheep? If you got it by force, I will not take it. The hyena, bowing its head to the ground and bending its knees, laid the brought skin at the feet of the saint. But the monk said to the beast: “I said that I won’t take it until you promise me that you will no longer offend the poor by eating their sheep.” Then the hyena bowed its head, as if agreeing with the words of the saint and promising to obey him. After this, the Monk Macarius took the skin from the hyena and gave it to Saint Melania the Roman (her death on December 31), who often visited the holy fathers in the desert. Since then, this skin has been nicknamed “the gift of the hyena.” And what is amazing about men who renounced the world is that even the beast, having received His good deeds for the glory of God and in honor of the saints, understood this and brought a gift to the blessed one. He who tamed the lions for the prophet Daniel (Dan. 14:31) gave the hyena an understanding of the benefit received and taught her gratitude. The aforementioned Palladius, having once come to this monk, troubled by thoughts and despondency (as he himself later reported), asked: - What should I do, Abba Macarius, for I am besieged by thoughts that say: you are not doing anything here - get out of here! Holy Father Macarius answered him: “Tell your thoughts too: I guard these walls for Christ’s sake.” For the edification of Palladius, the Monk Macarius spoke about the Monk Mark (his memory is March 5), how he received communion of the Divine Mysteries from the Angels themselves. Saint Macarius saw this with his own eyes when, during the service of the Divine Liturgy, he gave communion to the brethren. “I never,” he said, “taught the Divine Mysteries to the ascetic Mark, but they were invisibly taught to him by an Angel from the altar, and I only saw the fingers of the hands of the giver.” This venerable Mark, when he was a youth, knew by heart the entire Old and New Testament; he was also very meek and self-controlled. “One day, being idle in my cell,” said Saint Macarius, “I went to him, who was already old at that time, and sat down at the door of his cell. I considered him to be someone of the highest of people, which he really was, and I wanted to find out (at that time I was still,” notes Macarius, “guileless and ignorant) what the elder was doing or what he was talking about. He, being inside the cell, fought with himself and with the devil, being already a hundred years old, so that his teeth even fell out. He spoke to himself: - What do you finally want, evil old man? Now you have already drunk the wine and tasted the oil. What more do you desire, insatiable slave of the womb, in your old age? - Get away from me, devil! You grew old in the fight with me. You put bodily weakness on me, making me drink wine and eat oil; you made me a sensualist. Do I still owe you anything? You won't find anything from me that you can steal. Human enemy! Finally, get away from me. Saint Macarius told Palladius about this, who wrote down what was said. Presbyter Rufinus adds the following to the life of this venerable Macarius of Alexandria. One night the devil, knocking on the door of Macarius’ cell, said: “Get up, Abba Macarius, and let’s go to the cathedral for singing.” He, being filled with Divine grace, recognized the enemy’s machinations and answered: - O liar and hater of goodness! What kind of fellowship and friendship do you have with the congregation of saints? “Don’t you know, Macarius,” the devil said to this, “that without us not a single church singing and not a single monastic meeting takes place?” Go, and you will see our deeds. - May the Lord forbid you, you evil demon! And, then turning in prayer to the Lord, he began to ask that He would show him whether what the devil was boasting about was true. And so, when the time for midnight singing came, Macarius went to the cathedral and again prayed silently to God, so that He would reveal to him whether what the devil said was true. After some time, the monk saw in the church, in the form of some small youths, black Ethiopians, quickly running back and forth, as if flying. It was a custom in the monastery for one monk to recite the psalms, while all the other brethren sat and listened. And so these little Ethiopians sat down next to each brother and laughed, and if they touched someone’s eyes with two fingers, then that brother immediately began to doze off, and if they put a finger on someone’s lips, he soon sobered up. Before others they walked in the form of women, and before others they appeared as if they wanted to create or bring something or arrange various things. And what the demons imagined when mocking someone, the monks thought the same thing in their hearts. From some monks, if demons began to do something similar to what was said above in front of them, they were suddenly driven away by some force, pushed out headlong and no longer dared to stop in front of them or pass by them. They abused other, weaker brothers, who were not at all attentive to prayer, sitting on their necks and shoulders. Seeing this, the Monk Macarius sighed heavily and, crying, began to pray to God: - Lord! Look and don't be silent! Arise, O God, and let Your enemies be scattered and flee from Your presence, since our soul is filled with reproach. After the dismissal, Abba Macarius began to call each monk to him one by one and test with him what he was thinking about during church singing. Each one confessed his thoughts to him, and in this way it was clearly revealed that each one’s thoughts were precisely about what the demons, outraged, imagined before him. This same venerable Macarius told another, more wondrous and terrible thing, namely, that at the time when the brethren were approaching the Divine Mysteries and stretched out their hands to receive the Body of Christ (at that time they did not yet receive communion with a spoon, but they accepted the Body of Christ in their hands, as they do today, Antidoron, and drank the Honest Blood from the chalice; this was the case until the very time of St. Chrysostom, of which there is evidence in the life of the saint Theoktists), then the monk noticed that the Ethiopians placed burning coals in the hands of some of the brethren, and the Body of Christ, taught by the priestly hand, returned back to the altar. The demons ran far away from those who were worthy of Holy Communion. Meanwhile, the Angel of the Lord stood near the altar with the priest and, together with the priest’s, extended his hand to distribute the Divine Mysteries. Thus, the Monk Macarius, being perspicacious, recognized the worthy and the unworthy and foresaw human thoughts inspired by demons. The Monk Macarius told many other things for the benefit and edification of the brethren; He corrected the lazy and performed various miracles. Having lived such a God-pleasing life, the Monk Macarius departed to the Lord in peace, being one hundred years old from birth 753. Now he, together with other reverend fathers in endless life, glorifies the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the One God in the Trinity, and to Him and from us sinners be glory, honor and worship forever. Amen. That’s why it’s called “Alexandrian” or urban. His birth dates back to 295. The Tavenna Monastery was the first cenobitic monastery, located in Tavenna, in Upper (Southern) Egypt, north of its ancient capital - Viv, on the banks of the Nile. Founded around 340 by the Venerable Pachomius the Great (his memory on May 15) was a strict cenobitic monastic charter that quickly spread throughout the Christian world. The Tavenna monastery was of such enormous importance in the history of ancient Christian monasticism, and the success of Pachomius’ charter was so great that even before his death, about 7,000 monks gathered in Tavenna and its environs. And subsequently Tavenna, the name of which, which first belonged to one island on the Nile River, later moved to the coastal surrounding areas of the river, where Pachomius and his disciples settled, it was famous for its monasteries. Sextarium is an ancient Roman measure of liquid, with a capacity of two too real bottles. The field was equal to our 690 fathoms. That is Rev. Pachomius the Great. Thessaloniki or Thessalonica is a very significant ancient city of Macedonia lying in the depths of the large Thessalonica or Thermaean Gulf near the Aegean Sea (Archipelago). Currently, this city, under the name of Thessaloniki, after Constantinople, is the first trading and manufacturing city in European Turkey, with a very large population. The death of the Monk Macarius of Alexandria followed around 395 - Like the Monk Macarius of Egypt, the Monk Macarius of Alexandria was a church writer. The following are known with his name: 1) the monastic rule in 30 chapters; 2) letter to monks; 3) a word about the outcome of the soul and the state after death. You might be interested in: