Hieromartyr 17th century

Hieromartyr Macarius of Kanev

1605 – 1678

Also known as Macarius, Archimandrite of Pinsk

An archimandrite of Pinsk and Kanev slain by raiding Tatars while at prayer (1678)

Feast Day

September 7

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Commemorated as

The Holy Hieromartyr Macarius, Archimandrite of Kanev and Pereyaslavl

Life

Macarius of Kanev was a seventeenth-century archimandrite of the Orthodox Church in the lands of Volhynia and the Dnieper, remembered as a hieromartyr for his death at the hands of raiders in 1678. Born in 1605 in the city of Ovruch in Volhynia, he belonged to the Tokarevsky family, which the tradition describes as firm adherents of Orthodoxy during a period of pressure on the Orthodox population.

He began his studies at the Dormition monastery in Ovruch around 1614 and, after the death of his parents, was tonsured a monk there. He was ordained hierodeacon in 1630 and hieromonk in 1632, and over the following decades held a series of monastic offices. He served at the Kupyatichsk monastery near Pinsk, headed the Kamenetsk Resurrection monastery from 1638 until it was seized in 1642, led the Pinsk monastery from 1656 to 1659, and was raised to archimandrite of the Ovruch Dormition monastery from 1660. He was afterward appointed to the monastery at Kanev by Metropolitan Joseph.

On September 4, 1678, a Turkish force fell upon the monastery. Macarius met the attackers at the entrance to the church with a cross in his hand, and when they demanded the monastery's treasure he answered that his treasure was in heaven and not on earth. The raiders suspended him between two posts, and after two days they beheaded him on September 7, 1678. He is commemorated on September 7, the day of his death, and on May 13, the day his relics were translated.

Timeline 9 moments Read Hide

1605 Birth at Ovruch Born into the Tokarevsky family in Ovruch, Volhynia.
c. 1614 Begins studies Enters the Dormition monastery in Ovruch as a student.
1630 Ordained hierodeacon Ordained to the diaconate after his monastic tonsure.
1632 Ordained hieromonk Ordained to the priesthood.
1638 Heads Kamenetsk Resurrection monastery Leads the monastery until its seizure in 1642.
1656–1659 Heads the Pinsk monastery Governs the monastic community at Pinsk.
1660 Archimandrite of Ovruch Raised to archimandrite of the Ovruch Dormition monastery.
Sep 4–7, 1678 Martyrdom at Kanev Seized during a raid on the monastery and beheaded on September 7.
1688 Relics found incorrupt Relics uncovered and translated to Pereyaslavl on May 13, 1688.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributions Read Hide

Monastic Career

The sources record an unusually well-documented sequence of monastic appointments spanning Volhynia, Polesia, and the Dnieper region. After his tonsure at Ovruch, Macarius was sent in 1625 to the Kupyatichsk monastery near Pinsk. He governed the Kamenetsk Resurrection monastery from 1638 until 1642, when it passed out of Orthodox hands. He returned to leadership of the Kupyatichsk community and then headed the Pinsk monastery in the later 1650s, before being raised to archimandrite of his original monastery at Ovruch in 1660.

He was later sent to the monastery at Kanev on the Dnieper, an appointment the sources attribute to Metropolitan Joseph. It was there, during the unsettled conditions of the late 1670s, that he met his death.

Relics & Shrines

According to the tradition, the body of Macarius was found whole and as though still alive, clothed in a hairshirt, with a cross upon his breast and another in his hand. His relics were uncovered in 1688 and reported to be incorrupt, and on May 13, 1688 they were translated to the Church of the Resurrection in Pereyaslavl.

In later centuries the relics were moved several times, and the sources record that they came at last to the Church of the Nativity in Cherkasy in 1965. The two feast days observed for the saint correspond to his martyrdom on September 7 and the translation of his relics on May 13.

Veneration and Miracles

The tradition remembers Macarius as a man of devout life who was credited with the gift of clairvoyance and with healings during his lifetime, including the healing of the blind and the dying at Kanev. His incorrupt relics and the circumstances of his death established his veneration as a hieromartyr in the Orthodox Church of the region.

Sources: Synaxarion