Macarius Magnes ( grc-gre, Μακάριος Μάγνης) is the author of an apology against a
Neo-Platonic philosopher of the early part of the fourth century, contained in a manuscript of the fifteenth century discovered at
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
in 1867 and edited by C. Blondel (Paris, 1876). This work (called in Greek; ''Apocriticus'' in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
) agrees in its
dogmatics with
Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen ( grc-gre, Γρηγόριος Νύσσης; c. 335 – c. 395), was Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 395. He is venerated as a saint in Catholicis ...
, and is valuable on account of the numerous excerpts from the writings of the opponent of Macarius. These fragments are apparently drawn from the lost ''Against the Christians'' of
Porphyry or from the ''Lover of Truth'' of
Hierocles.
He may be the Macarius, bishop of Magnesia, who, at the
Synod of the Oak in 403, brought charges against
Heraclides,
bishop of Ephesus, the friend of
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...
, although
Adolf Harnack
Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...
dated him in the late third century.
Like
Macarius the Younger, this Macarius is frequently confused with
Macarius of Egypt
Macarius of Egypt, ''Osios Makarios o Egyptios''; cop, ⲁⲃⲃⲁ ⲙⲁⲕⲁⲣⲓ. (c. 300 – 391) was a Christian monk and hermit. He is also known as Macarius the Elder or Macarius the Great.
Life
St. Macarius was born in Lower Egypt. ...
.
References
Sources
*A. Capone, "The narrative sections of Macarius Magnes’ Apocriticus", in Lessico, argomentazioni e strutture retoriche nella polemica di età cristiana (III-V sec.), a c. di A. Capone, Turnhout 2012, pp. 253-27
*
Macarius Magnes: Apocriticus at Tertullian.org
External links
translated by T. W. Crafer
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{{Authority control
4th-century Christian theologians
4th-century bishops in Roman Anatolia
4th-century writers