Macrina the Younger

Not to be confused with Melania the Younger.

Saint Macrina the Younger
Virgin
Born	c. 327 Caesarea, Cappadocia, Roman Empire (modern-day Kayseri, Turkey)
Died	19 July 379 Pontus, Roman Empire (modern-day Anatolia, Turkey)
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church Oriental Orthodoxy Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion Lutheranism
Canonized	Pre-congregation
Feast	19 July 14 June (with Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzus; Lutheranism)
Patronage	Virgins, monastics, theologians, educators, students of Scripture

Macrina the Younger (Greek: Μακρίνα; c. 327 – 19 July 379) was a 4th-century early Christian consecrated virgin, ascetic, and influential figure in the development of Christian theology and monasticism. She belonged to a devout Christian family associated with the Cappadocian Fathers. Her brother Gregory of Nyssa documented her life and teachings in Life of Macrina and the philosophical dialogue On the Soul and Resurrection, portraying her as a model of piety and wisdom. Macrina founded a proto-monastic community at Annisa in Pontus, influencing her brother Basil the Great's monastic rules. She is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism, with her feast day celebrated on 19 July. Macrina lived a chaste and humble life, dedicating herself to prayer, scriptural study, and mentoring her younger brother Peter of Sebaste in his spiritual and ecclesiastical development.

Life and Family

Early life

Macrina was born around 327 in Caesarea, Cappadocia, in the Roman Empire (modern-day Kayseri, Turkey), to a wealthy and prominent Christian family led by Basil the Elder and Emmelia. Her grandmother, Macrina the Elder, was a confessor during the Diocletianic Persecution, and Macrina was named in her honor, also bearing the private name Thecla after a vision linking her to the legendary ascetic Thecla. Her education, overseen by Emmelia, emphasized Scripture, particularly the Wisdom of Solomon and the Psalter, which she studied with remarkable depth for a child, focusing on passages with ethical significance. Gregory of Nyssa notes that "such parts as you would think were incomprehensible to young children were the subject of the girl's studies," highlighting her precocious intellect.

At age twelve, her father arranged for her to marry a young advocate, but his untimely death led Macrina to dedicate herself to Christ as her eternal bridegroom, embracing consecrated virginity. She justified this choice by her faith in the resurrection, considering her betrothed "not dead but alive in God," and argued it would be a "sin and shame" to marry another, reflecting her commitment to fidelity and ascetic ideals. This decision marked her as a pivotal figure in early Christian asceticism, aligning with 4th-century ideals of purity and devotion.

Family and Influence

As the eldest of ten siblings, including the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, as well as Peter of Sebaste, a bishop, and Naucratius, a jurist who died in a hunting accident in 357, Macrina played a central role in her family's spiritual and domestic life. After her father's death, she took on the management of family estates across three provinces, demonstrating administrative skill and ensuring the family's economic stability. The death of Naucratius, a significant loss, deepened her responsibilities, as she provided emotional and spiritual support to her grieving mother, Emmelia, and siblings.

Macrina's resolve never to leave her mother led her to persuade Emmelia to adopt an ascetic lifestyle, transforming their family estate at Annisa into a proto-monastic community of virgins. This community, where she lived alongside women from aristocratic and non-aristocratic backgrounds, including former slaves, operated on principles of equality, with all members sharing the same rights and obligations. Her influence profoundly shaped her brothers: she steered Basil toward asceticism, directly informing his monastic rules, which became foundational for Eastern monasticism, and guided Gregory's theological perspectives, particularly on the soul's immortality. Her mentorship of Peter was instrumental in his ecclesiastical development, leading to his role as bishop of Sebaste. Her role as a spiritual and intellectual guide underscores her significance in 4th-century Christianity.

In 379, Macrina died at her family's estate in Pontus, which with the help of her younger brother Peter she had turned into a convent of virgins. Gregory of Nyssa composed a Dialogue on the Soul and Resurrection (peri psyches kai anastaseos), entitled ta Makrinia (P.G. XLVI, 12 sq.), to commemorate Macrina, in which Gregory purports to describe the conversation he had with the dying Macrina, in a literary form modelled on Plato's Phaedo. It was a work that represented one of the very rare philosophical dialogues in which a woman is the protagonist. Even when dying, Macrina continued to live a life of sanctity, as she refused a bed, and instead chose to lie on the ground. Her feast day is 19 July.

Contributions to Christianity

Ascetic Community

Around 357, Macrina established a proto-monastic community at the family estate in Annisa, Pontus, near the modern Yeşilırmak River, Turkey. This community, comprising women from diverse social backgrounds, including former slaves, lived as equals, practicing strict asceticism, prayer, and charitable works. The Annisa community included a hospice for travelers and the sick, reflecting Macrina's commitment to Christian charity and social service. The community's egalitarian structure, where slaves and aristocrats shared identical roles, challenged Roman social hierarchies and set a precedent for Christian communal living.

After Emmelia's death around 373, Macrina led the community with assistance from Peter, fostering a disciplined environment centered on scriptural study, manual labor, and communal prayer. Her leadership emphasized education, promoting literacy and theological reflection among women, which was revolutionary for the time. The community's structure and emphasis on service directly influenced Basil's monastic rules, which became a cornerstone of Eastern Orthodox monasticism.

Theological Contributions

Macrina’s intellectual contributions are documented in Gregory's On the Soul and Resurrection, a philosophical dialogue modeled on Plato's Phaedo, where she discusses the soul's immortality and resurrection on her deathbed. She argued that the soul achieves immortality through union with God, blending Platonic philosophy with Christian doctrine, a rare role for a woman in early Christian theology. Her teachings influenced Basil's emphasis on virginity as reflecting the "radiant purity of God" and shaped Gregory's writings on the soul, contributing to the Cappadocian Fathers' theological framework.

Her ideas on virtue and divine likeness anticipated later Christian mysticism, earning her the title "philosopher of God." Her mentorship of Gregory, particularly during their deathbed dialogue, underscores her intellectual legacy.

Legacy and Veneration

Miracles and Death

Macrina was attributed with miracles, such as healing a child's eye tumor and multiplying corn during a famine, as recorded in Gregory's Life of St. Macrina. In 379, as her health declined, Gregory visited her at Annisa, where they engaged in theological discussions, documented in On the Soul and Resurrection. Choosing to lie on the ground rather than a bed, Macrina embodied her ascetic ideals until her death on 19 July 379. Her relics reportedly emitted light, a sign associated with martyrs, and her funeral drew widespread devotion, reflecting her sanctity.

Legacy

Macrina¿s contributions to Christian monasticism, theology, and social service profoundly shaped early Christianity. Her Annisa community, established with her mother and brother Peter, set a precedent for Eastern monasticism with its egalitarian structure and charitable works, directly influencing Basil's monastic rules, which remain foundational in Orthodox traditions. Her emphasis on virginity as a reflection of divine purity shaped early Christian ideals of sanctity, influencing Basil's writings and the broader ascetic movement. By fostering scriptural literacy and theological reflection among women, Macrina challenged 4th-century gender norms, creating a model of female intellectual and spiritual leadership that anticipated later feminist theological perspectives.

Scholars debate her views on universal salvation, with some, like Thomas Allin and J. W. Hanson, citing passages in On the Soul and Resurrection to argue she supported universal reconciliation, where all sinners and demons would ultimately be purified and confess Christ. However, her final prayer, invoking salvation for the elect, suggests a nuanced eschatology, possibly aligning with Maximus the Confessor's universal reconciliation. Her intellectual and spiritual legacy continues to inspire scholarship on early Christian theology, gender, and asceticism, positioning her as a pivotal figure in Christian history.

See also

• Macrina the Younger, patron saint archive
• Cappadocian Fathers
• Consecrated virgins
• Early Christianity
• Christian monasticism

Sources

Primary sources

• Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Macrina, limovia.net, London, 2012. ISBN 978-1-78336-017-8
• Gregory of Nyssa, "On the Soul and the Resurrection"
• Saint Gregory of Nyssa: The Life of Saint Makrina and On Virginity. Translated by W.K. Lowther Clarke; W. Moore; H.A. Wilson. SAGOM Press. 2019. ISBN 978-1-945699-05-4.

Secondary sources

• Bear, Carl (2014). "Funeral Music in Early Christianity". Cross Accent. 22 (3): 4–14.
• Burrus, Virginia (2005). "Macrina's Tattoo". In Martin, Dale B.; Miller, P. Cox (eds.). The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies: Gender, Asceticism, and Historiography. Durham: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 103–116.
• Burrus, Virginia (2001). "Is Macrina a Woman? Gregory of Nyssa's Dialogue on the Soul and Resurrection". In Ward, Graham (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology. Malden: Blackwell. pp. 249–264.
• Dury, John L. (2005). "Gregory of Nyssa's Dialogue with Macrina: The Compatibility of Resurrection of the Body and the Immortality of the Soul". Theology Today. 62 (2): 210–222. doi:10.1177/004057360506200206.
• Frank, Georgia (2000). "Macrina's Scar: Homeric Allusions and Heroic Identity in Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Macrina". Journal of Early Christian Studies. 8 (4): 511–530. doi:10.1353/earl.2000.0063.
• Helleman, Wendy (2001). "Cappadocian Macrina as Lady Wisdom". Studia Patristica. Louvain: Peeters. pp. 86–102.
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Macrina the Younger" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Hotz, Kendra G. (2011). "Speaking Funk: Womanist Insights into the Lives of Syncletica and Macrina". In Holmes, Emily A.; Farley, Wendy (eds.). Women, Writing, Theology: Transforming a Tradition of Exclusion. Waco: Baylor University Press. pp. 71–94.
• Jallistos, Metr; Townsend, Ralph (1984). "The House of St Gregory and St Macrina: The First Quarter Century". Sobornost. 6 (2): 55–63.
• Johnson, Maria P. (1998). "Daughter, Sister, Philosopher, Angel: The Life and Influence of St Macrina the Younger". Diakonia. 31 (3): 176–186.
• Levering, Matthew (2017). "The Dying of Macrina and Death with Dignity". Trinity Journal. 38 (1): 29–52.
• McDonald, Durstan (1998). "Macrina: The Fourth Capadocian?". In Allen, Pauline (ed.). Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church. Vol. 1. Everton Park: Australian Catholic University Press. pp. 367–373.
• McNary-Zak, Bernadette (2005). "Gregory of Nyssa and His Sister Macrina: A Holy Alliance". Cithara. 45 (1): 3–12.
• Muehlberger, Ellen (2012). "Salvage: Macrina and the Christian Project of Cultural Reclamation". Church History. 81 (2): 273–297. doi:10.1017/S0009640712000601.
• Pranger, M. B. (1997). "Narrative Dimensions in Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Macrina". Studia Patristica. Louvain: Peeters.
• Rousseau, Philip (2005). "The Pious Household and the Virgin Chorus". Journal of Early Christian Studies. 13 (2): 165–186. doi:10.1353/earl.2005.0027.
• Sheather, Mary (1995). "The Eulogies on Macrina and Gorgonia: Or, What Difference Did Christianity Make?". Pacfica. 8 (1): 22–39. doi:10.1177/1030570X9500800104.
• Silvas, Anna M. (2008). Macrina the Younger. Philosopher of God. Turnhout: Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-52390-3.
• Smith, J. Warren (2005). "A Just and Reasonable Grief: The Death and Function of a Holy Woman in Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Macrina". Journal of Early Christian Studies. 13 (2): 57–84.
• Smith, J. Warren. (2001). "Macrina, Tamer of Horses and Healer of Souls: Grief and the Therapy of Hope in Gregory of Nyssa's De Anima et Resurrectione". Journal of Theological Studies. 52 (1): 37–60. doi:10.1093/jts/52.1.37.
• Van Loveran, A. E. D. (1982). "Once Again: 'The Monk and the Martyr': St Anthony and St Macrina". Studia Patristica. Elmsford: Pergamon Press. pp. 528–538.
• Wilson-Kastner, Patricia (1979). "Macrina: Virgin and Teacher". Andrews University Seminary Studies. 17 (1): 105–117.

External links

• "St. Macrina, Virgin", Butler's Lives of the Saints
• Macrina the Younger
• The Life of Saint Macrina public domain audiobook at LibriVox