Saint Macrina the Younger
Nun, teacher of the Cappadocian Fathers
- Feast day
- July 19
- Lived
- c. 327–379
- Patronage
- Women's monasticism, teachers, bereaved families
Called 'the Teacher' by her own brothers Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Macrina turned the family estate into a monastic community and shaped the theology of the Cappadocian Fathers.
Life
Eldest of ten children, Macrina was betrothed at twelve; when her fiancé died she refused to marry another, saying that he was not dead but living with God. She educated her younger siblings herself and pressed the brilliant, worldly Basil toward the ascetic life after his return from Athens.
With her mother Emmelia she transformed the estate at Annisa in Pontus into a community where mistresses and former servants lived on equal terms under a common rule, giving the Christian East one of its first women's monasteries.
On the Soul and the Resurrection
Gregory of Nyssa's dialogue On the Soul and the Resurrection records the conversation he had with her as she lay dying — she is the teacher and he the pupil throughout. His Life of Macrina describes a woman with no possessions, buried in a borrowed cloak, who had run a household, a monastery, and the theological formation of a family of saints.
When Saint Macrina the Younger is commemorated
The feast falls on July 19 on the Revised Julian (New) calendar used by most Greek, Antiochian and Romanian parishes. Parishes that keep the Julian (Old) calendar — much of the Russian, Serbian and Georgian Churches, and Mount Athos — celebrate it on the civil date August 1, thirteen days later. You can switch between both reckonings anywhere on this site.
See the full liturgical day for July 19, 2027
That page gives the fasting rule in force, the Epistle and Gospel appointed for the day, and every other saint commemorated alongside Saint Macrina the Younger. To keep the feast, look for a parish in the USA, Canada or Australia directory, and read the Akathist hymns appointed for private prayer.
Other saints commemorated in July
- John of Shanghai and San FranciscoJuly 2
- Mary MagdaleneJuly 22
- Paisios of Mount AthosJuly 12
- PanteleimonJuly 27
- ParaskeviJuly 26
- Vladimir of KievJuly 15