Memorial Day of St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'

In the Orthodox calendar, January 12 marks the Day of Remembrance of St Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' His life was filled with good deeds aimed at ensuring that Russia became the political and spiritual heir of Byzantium The saint understood how important it was for the country to establish printing Tsar Ivan the Terrible, whom he crowned to the throne, always took into account his opinion According to sources that preserve information about the Metropolitan of Moscow, Macarius was born in 1482 in Moscow His parents were pious people and at birth they named their son in honor of the Archangel Michael The boy's father Leonty died shortly after Mikhail was born The mother was grieving the loss of her husband and decided to take monastic vows, after which they began to call her Euphrosyne Having matured, Mikhail decided that he also wanted to serve the Lord He was accepted as a novice into the Pafnutiev Borovsky Monastery, which was located in the Kaluga region, on the outskirts of the small town of Borovsk During his tonsure, he was named Macarius, part of the famous Egyptian desert ascetic who preached Orthodoxy At the time when Macarius became the High Hierarch, he had a great influence on the young Ivan the Terrible, whom he himself later crowned to the Russian throne Despite the fact that the main goal of the Metropolitan of Moscow was to serve God, he contributed to the development of the history of Russian literature Saint Macarius understood how important a systematic approach to the presentation of history is for future generations Under him, the Degree Book was compiled, telling about Russian history, starting from ancient times, and printing was also established in Rus' Thanks to him, the opening of the first printing house became possible According to contemporaries, the Metropolitan was a wonderful man, whose name became very significant for Rus' in the 16th century Saint Macarius died in 1563 The Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' was canonized in 1988 This happened during the celebrations in honor of the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus' Subsequently, a lot of literature of different genres was published about the life of Macarius and his good deeds The main book creation of Metropolitan Macarius is considered to be the Menaion of Chetya Many years later, in the 19th century, they decided to reissue them and rename them the Great Makaryev Minaions of Chetyi in honor of the great saint However, publication was stopped in 1917 without being fully completed In the 20th century, the May Menaion was published by the Assumption edition During the preparation of this publication, experts identified the missing Sofia May Menaion Along with the primary sources, various creations of Russian authors were placed in Miny Thanks to the work carried out, the content of these works is also accessible to modern readers