14 January 347
A.D. Macrina Passed Her Faith to
Grandchildren--Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa
Graves, Dan. “Macrina Passed Her Faith to
Grandchildren.” Christianity.com. May
2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/macrina-passed-her-faith-to-grandchildren-11629661.html. Accessed 8 Jul 2014.
Turkey is an Islamic country today. It wasn't always so. The region occupied
by Turkey used to be called Asia Minor and the church flourished there. An
extraordinary preacher named Gregory the Wonder Worker led many people to
Christ before his death in 270. Two of those converts were a woman named
Macrina and her husband.
From time to time, the Roman
empire persecuted Christians savagely. During one of these persecutions, Macrina and her husband
fled into a nearby forest to escape from imperial soldiers. For seven years
they went cold and hungry, eating wild plants that they found among the trees.
Finally, when the terror died
down, they came home again. But their peace did not last long. The Empire
confiscated their house and belongings and they were left with nothing at all.
Despite these trials, the man and wife clung fast to the faith that Gregory had
taught them. After the persecution ended, Christians honored the two as
confessors of the faith. Macrina was later named a saint by the church and her
feast is on this day, January 14. By her example and
teaching she passed her faith on to her descendants.
Not many people can lay claim to
as many prominent saints as Macrina and her husband. The godly couple had a son
named Basil. He was father to ten children, three of whom became the most
exceptional Christians of that era. These were Macrina the younger, Basil the
Great and Gregory of Nyssa. Grandma Macrina imparted her faith to all three of
them.
Macrina the younger became a
great student of the Bible. She founded a female monastery. When she saw that
her brother Basil had become proud of his ability as a lawyer and was drifting
from the faith, she rebuked him. Basil didn't listen to her until one of his
brothers died unexpectedly.
Basil then dedicated his life to
Christ and became a powerful preacher. He founded a monastic order and
encouraged the monks to enjoy art and beauty as well as feeding the poor and
tending the sick. Basil and his brother Gregory of Nyssa were prolific writers.
We owe much of our knowledge of the early eastern church to their books. Both
wrote about their grandma. Basil praised her for teaching him to love the
Christian faith from the time he was small.
If Macrina and her husband had
not been faithful, what blessings the world would have lost! No wonder the eastern
church honors Macrina's memory every year on this day.
Bibliography:
Butler, Alban. Lives of the Saints. Westminster,
Maryland: Christian Classics, 1981, 1956.
Kirsch, J. P. "St. Macrina the Elder." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
Various volumes on saints, calendars of saints,
encyclopedia and internet articles.
Last updated May,
2007.
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