Saint Macarius Macres

Macarius Macres (also Macra or Macrus; Greek: Μακάριος Μακρῆς) was a 15th-century Greek monk from Mount Athos. He was a close friend of George Sphrantzes, who sponsored his appointment as hegumen (abbot) of the Pantokrator Monastery in Constantinople. He also attained the dignity of protosyncellus. He opposed the Latin Church and clashed with Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople, who supported the union of the churches. John VIII Palaiologos sent him as an ambassador to Pope Martin V to discuss the convocation of a union council. He died on his return journey in 1431. It is unknown whether he was the same person as the monk Macarius of the Xanthopoulos Monastery, who is said to have been of Jewish origin and the spiritual father of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos. However, it is clear that he was distinct from Macarius Kourounas, another ambassador of Emperor John to the Pope, who served after 1431. Macarius Macres wrote a work against the Latin doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit titled *Quod necessarium non est, sed Innovatio Fidei, dicere et Filio procedere Spiritum Sanctum* (That it is not necessary, but an innovation of the Orthodox faith, to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son), a work cited by Leo Allatius. Fabricius includes him in his *Bibliotheca Graeca*.