Saint Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow

Macarius (Russian: Мака́рий, romanized: Makary; 1482 – 12 January 1563) was Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, from 1542 to 1563. He was the tenth metropolitan in Moscow to be appointed without the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as had been the norm. Macarius was born in the region around Moscow. His parents' names (at least his mother's monastic names) are known because he dedicates the Great Menaion Reader to them. His secular name is thought to have been Mikhail. In the late 15th century, Macarius became a monk at the St. Paphnutius Monastery in Borovsk, where he would serve as a reader, subdeacon, deacon, and priest. It was here that Macarius mastered the art of icon painting. He is also known to have been a firm supporter of Joseph Volotsky and his disciples. He was a notable Russian cleric, writer, and icon painter. In 1523, Metropolitan Daniel raised Macarius to the rank of archmandrite of a monastery in Mozhaisk. It was there that Macarius became acquainted with the Grand Prince of Moscow, Vasili III. He was one of a few clerics who supported Vasili III's divorce from the barren Solomonia Saburova and blessed his second marriage with Elena Glinskaya. In 1526, Macarius was appointed as the archbishop of Novgorod, where he conducted pro-Muscovite policies. In 1533 and again in 1535, he sent the monk Ilya and others on missionary work among the Finno-Ugric peoples along the Neva, Lakes Ladoga and Onega, and up into the Kola Peninsula. His successor in Novgorod, Feodosii, send missionaries to the same region a decade later. In 1541, Macarius and his companions finished work on the first edition of their great work, the Great Menaion Reader. This compilation of lives of the Russian saints comprised 12 volumes arranged on monthly basis.