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Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem

Wace's Dictionary of Early Christian Biography

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Macarius (1) 1., bp. of Jerusalem, the 39th from the Apostles, Hermon being his predecessor. His accession is placed by Tillemont in 311 or 312. In a list of defenders of the faith, Athanasius ( Orat. I. adv. Arian , p. 291) refers to Macarius as exhibiting "the honest and simple style of apostolical men." A letter was addressed to him and other orthodox bishops by Alexander of Alexandria (Epiph. Haer. lxix. 4, p. 730). He attended the council of Nicaea in 325 (Soz. i. 17; Theod. H. E. i. 15). During his episcopate, a.d. 326 or 327, HELENA paid her celebrated visit to Jerusalem. Macarius was commissioned by the emperor Constantine, a.d. 326, to see to the erection of a basilica on the site of the Holy Sepulchre. The emperor's letter is given by Eusebius ( de Vita Const. iii. 29–32), Socrates ( H. E. i. 9) and Theodoret ( H. E. i. 17). Constantine subsequently ( c. 330) wrote to Macarius with the other bishops of Palestine about the profanation of the sacred terebinth of Mamre by idolatrous rites (Euseb. u.s. 52, 53). The emperor also presented Macarius with a vestment of gold tissue for the administration of the sacrament of baptism, as a token of honour to the church of Jerusalem (Theod. H. E. ii. 27). The death of Macarius is placed by Sozomen ( H. E. ii. 20) between the deposition of Eustathius, a.d. 331, and the council of Tyre, a.d. 335. He was succeeded by Maximus.

[E.V.]