TODAY WE HONOR SAINT MACRINA: She Is Believed to Have Protected Women From a Serious Illness, Pray to Her With These Words!

The Serbian Orthodox Church and its faithful today commemorate Saint Macrina.

Saint Macrina was the eldest sister of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. As a young virgin, she was betrothed to a noble young man. However, when her fiancé died, Macrina vowed never to marry.

“It is not right for a girl, once betrothed to one man, to marry another; according to the law of nature there should be only one marriage, just as there is one birth and one death,” she would say.

She also justified this through her faith in the Resurrection, believing that her betrothed was not dead but alive in God.

“It is sinful and shameful,” she said, “for a wife not to remain faithful when her husband has gone to a distant land.”

She later embraced monastic life together with her mother Emilia in a convent, where they lived alongside other nuns. They supported themselves through the work of their own hands, devoting most of their time to contemplation of God, prayer, and the constant lifting of their minds toward Him. In time, her mother passed away, followed by her brother Basil. Nine months after Basil’s death, Gregory came to visit his sister but found her on her deathbed, writes badnjak.rs.

Just before her death, Saint Macrina raised this prayer to the Lord: “Lord, You allow our bodies to sleep in the sleep of death for a time, and You will awaken them again at the sound of the last trumpet. Forgive me, and grant that when my soul is stripped of its bodily garment, it may stand before You pure and without sin, and be like incense before You.” She then made the sign of the Cross upon her forehead, her eyes, her face, and her heart—and breathed her last. She reposed in the Lord in the year 379.

An Example of Modesty and Faith

The finest adornment of a woman is modesty, just as shamelessness is the most unnatural and repulsive sight in the world. Saint Macrina gave a remarkable example of feminine modesty throughout her life. In her youth, she developed a painful wound on her breast.

Although her mother urged her to show the wound to a physician and seek treatment, Macrina firmly refused. She had devoted herself completely to God and could not bear even the thought of exposing her body to anyone, not even to her own mother. One night, Macrina prayed fervently to God. Tears streamed from her eyes onto the ground before her. With unwavering faith in the Lord, she mixed the dust with her tears and applied it to her wound. The following morning, she awoke completely healed.

When her mother, filled with concern, came to see her daughter, Macrina did not tell her that the Lord had healed her, humbly concealing the miracle brought about through her prayers. Instead, she asked her mother, saying: “Mother, I will be healed if you place your right hand upon my breast and make the sign of the Cross over the sore spot.”

Her mother did as she asked and made the sign of the Cross over the place, but instead of finding the wound, she felt only the scar where it had healed. In this way, Saint Macrina concealed her body out of modesty and hid the miracle out of humility.