Macarius, St.

, the elder, a celebrated hermit of the fourth century, said to be a disciple of St. Antony, was born at Alexandria, in the year 301, of poor parents. He was bred a baker, which trade he pursued to the age of thirty; then, being baptized, he retired and took up a solitary life. He passed sixty years in a monastery in mount Sceta, dividing his time between prayer and manual labour. He died about the year 391. Fifty homilies in Greek have been attributed to him, which were printed at Paris in 1526, with Gregory Thaumaturgus, in folio; and in 2 vols. 8vo, at Leipsic, in 1698. ²