Venerable Macarius of Altai
(November 8, 1792 – May 18, 1847)
(November 8, 1792 – May 18, 1847)
Archimandrite, founder of the Altai Spiritual Mission, spiritual writer, author of translations of the Bible and patristic literature into the Russian and Altai languages.
Day of Commemoration: May 18 (31)
Childhood Years and Education
Venerable Macarius, in the world Mikhail Yakovlevich Glukharyov, was born on November 8, 1792, in the family of the priest of the Cathedral of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos in the city of Vyazma of the Smolensk province. Mikhail received his initial, very good education from his father, who had completed the full course of the theological seminary, which in those times was a rarity. Father Yakov was a preacher well known in the district. He taught his son Latin so well that at the age of seven the boy could translate from the Russian language into Latin. At the age of 8 he was immediately placed into the 3rd class of the ecclesiastical school attached to the Forerunner Monastery of Vyazma.
Once, while returning home, he caught a cold and was ill for half a year. The illness caused serious complications to his vocal cords and lungs. Later, already as a priest, missionary, and teacher, he experienced significant difficulties because of this.
Upon completion of the school, Mikhail was transferred to the Smolensk Theological Seminary. In 1812, because of Napoleon’s invasion and the beginning of the Patriotic War, studies at the seminary were interrupted for a year. In 1813 Mikhail Glukharyov graduated from the seminary with distinction and was retained there as a teacher of Latin grammar.
By synodal decree of 1814, the seminary was required to send two of its best students for the formation of the second course of the renewed Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, and Glukharyov was one of them. Here he attracted the attention of the rector of the academy, Archimandrite Philaret (Drozdov; later Metropolitan of Moscow), who became his first spiritual mentor. “I surrendered my will to His Grace Philaret,” Father Macarius later wrote, “and did nothing and began nothing without his counsel and blessing, almost daily confessing my thoughts to him.” Mikhail was distinguished by deep knowledge in theology, history, geography, and excellent command of the Latin, German, French, Ancient Greek, and Ancient Hebrew languages.
Teaching
He graduated from the academy in 1817 and was appointed inspector and teacher of Church history and the German language at the Ekaterinoslav (later the city of Dnepropetrovsk, now Dnipro in Ukraine) Theological Seminary, and later rector of the Ekaterinoslav district and parish ecclesiastical schools. He became close to the hieroschemamonk Liverii, nephew of Venerable Paisius (Velichkovsky). Later he wrote concerning Elder Liverii: “Everything that he did with me in spiritual guidance was wise, beneficent, holy, and came from the Lord.”
In June 1818, by the Bishop of Ekaterinoslav, Kherson, and Taurida, in the domestic episcopal church, he was tonsured into monasticism with the name Macarius; the next day he was ordained hierodeacon, and three days later — hieromonk. By decree of the Synod he was assigned to the brotherhood of the Kiev Caves Lavra.
At the Ekaterinoslav Seminary Father Macarius had to carry out the reform of theological education that was then being implemented, which was not always accepted locally. Because of difficult relations with the leadership of the seminary and dissatisfaction with administrative activity, in the spring of 1820 he submitted a petition for dismissal from the post of inspector. Through the intercession of Archbishop Philaret (Drozdov) of Yaroslavl and Rostov, in February 1821 Father Macarius was appointed rector of the Kostroma Seminary.
In 1821 he was elevated to the rank of abbot, then archimandrite, and received under his administration the Kostroma Theophany Monastery, in which the seminary was located. “The labors connected with the seminary are consuming me; I am exhausted in bodily and spiritual strength,” he wrote in a private letter. His relations with the ruling bishop also developed with difficulty. Bishop Samuel (Zapolsky-Platonov) wrote concerning Father Macarius:
“Despite a strict, truly monastic life and honorable conduct, he is often noticed to be melancholy, often irritable. He is subject to frequent attacks. Extremely weak-voiced. For the continuation of his duties in the future he appears little reliable.”
Life in Kiev and the Glinsk Hermitage
At the end of 1825, at his own request, Father Macarius was retired to the Kiev Lavra with a master’s stipend. On the way to the Lavra he visited Venerable Seraphim in the Sarov Hermitage and conversed with him for more than two hours.
The crowded Kiev Caves Lavra seemed noisy to Father Macarius, and he settled in the Kitaev Hermitage.
In 1826 he transferred to the Glinsk Theotokos Hermitage of the Kursk diocese. This was the desire of Archimandrite Macarius himself, who, having learned of the spiritual struggles of the superior of the hermitage, Abbot Philaret (Danilevsky), desired to become his disciple.
Besides monastic struggles, Father Macarius in the Glinsk Hermitage, chiefly on feast days, delivered instructions in church, while in his cell he translated the Bible from the Hebrew language into Russian. The Optina elder Hieromonk Macarius (Ivanov) wrote to Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), then still an archimandrite, that while “living in seclusion in the Glinsk Hermitage, Archimandrite Macarius (Glukharyov) translated 'The Ladder' into the Russian language: his intention was to publish it.” At the same time he compared already existing translations of 'The Ladder'. Father Macarius recognized the translation of Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky) as the best. In the Glinsk Hermitage Archimandrite Macarius translated into Russian the homilies of Saint Gregory Dialogos and the 'Confessions' of Blessed Augustine, and composed a 'Historical Description of the Glinsk Theotokos Hermitage', in which he devoted significant space to the activity of Abbot Philaret.
Departure for Altai
With the blessing of Elder Philaret, Archimandrite Macarius submitted a petition expressing his desire to be a missionary in Altai, to convert the peoples living there to Orthodoxy. The Synod and the secular authorities granted this request, and in May 1829 instructed Father Macarius to go as a missionary to Siberia. In Moscow he received the blessing of Metropolitan Philaret for the forthcoming activity.
In Tobolsk Father Macarius and his two assistants in missionary service (students of the local theological seminary Alexei Volkov and Vasily Popov) received missionary passports. By common agreement a brotherhood was formed among them, one point of whose rule stated:
“We desire that everything among us be held in common: money, food, clothing, books, and other things, and may this measure be for us conducive to striving toward unanimity.”
Archbishop Eugene (Kazantsev) of Tobolsk drew Father Macarius’s attention to the pagan Kalmyks (in the nineteenth century the southern tribes of the Mountain Altai were thus called; the northern tribes were called Black Tatars), who lived in the Biysk district of the Tomsk province.
The Altai Mission
In the summer of 1830, having received a traveling church and money for travel and maintenance together with two seminarians, Father Macarius departed from Tobolsk for Biysk. Before his arrival in Altai, parish priests had baptized no more than three hundred people, so that almost all the inhabitants of the Biysk and Kuznetsk districts were then pagans.
The first half-year of service Father Macarius devoted to journeys through the settlements of the Mountain Altai. He became acquainted with the local inhabitants and their dialects and searched for a suitable place for the central station of the mission. In order to be nearer to the nomadic tribes, in May 1831 he moved to Ulala. But learning that the inhabitants of Ulala, fearing baptism, intended to migrate away from there, he withdrew to the nearby village of Maima, where he opened the first missionary station. Here he began to become acquainted not only with the Ulala Teleuts, but also with representatives of other Altai tribes thanks to the favorable location of the village “at the entrance to the regions of the Black Tatars and the nomadic Kalmyks.”
The first period of Father Macarius’s missionary activity was the most difficult, yet despite this a certain number of pagans were converted to Orthodoxy and the first settlements of the newly baptized were established. Father Macarius understood that the newly baptized at first needed all-sided assistance and could not be left to themselves. This idea he began to put into practice in the mission.
He built houses for the newly baptized, purchased cattle, agricultural implements, and seeds of grain crops for sowing — in a word, everything necessary for a settled way of life. For these needs he spent his master’s stipend. He subscribed from Saint Petersburg to agricultural journals, vegetable seeds, medicinal herbs, and books on sheep-breeding and agricultural chemistry.
Moreover, Father Macarius was the first among Siberian missionaries to apply the Regulation of the State Council “On Privileges for Aliens Accepting Holy Baptism.” According to it, the newly baptized were exempted from all taxes and obligations, including military conscription, for three years after baptism.
The ministry of Father Macarius, filled with compassion for people, changed the attitude of the inhabitants of Ulala toward him, and by 1834 the greater part of them had accepted Baptism. In 1834 the archimandrite moved to the village of Ulala, which became the central station of the Altai mission. Having two antimensions for traveling churches (one for the church in the name of the All-Merciful Savior, the other for the church in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God), he served alternately in Ulala and Maima. By 1836 almost all the inhabitants of Ulala had accepted Baptism.
Father Macarius paid special attention to the attendance of the newly baptized at Sunday and festal services, and often conducted conversations with them outside the services as well. Through translator-interpreters he asked about their needs and concerns, offered “appropriate advice and necessary instruction,” and taught them to sing spiritual hymns — canticles — from the collection he compiled entitled Lepta (“The Widow’s Mite”).
It is astonishing how Father Macarius, suffering from bodily infirmities, endured long journeys and crossings over mountain rivers, how he endured the hardships of a wandering life while fulfilling his pastoral duty: catechizing, baptizing, and visiting his spiritual children.
Education of the Altaians and Translation Labors
From the very beginning Father Macarius gave thought to the education in literacy of the native peoples. An enormous research work was begun for the creation of an Altai written language on the basis of Cyrillic and of a dictionary (primer) of individual phrases and words comprising three thousand words.
During the whole time of his stay in Altai (1830–1844), Father Macarius, with the help of translator-interpreters, translated into the local dialect, chiefly Teleut, almost the entire Gospel, selected passages from the books of the Old Testament, the Acts of the Apostles and the apostolic epistles, including in full the First Epistle of the Apostle John the Theologian, church hymns and psalms, the most important prayers, the Short Catechism of Metropolitan Philaret, a catechetical instruction, the Symbol of Faith, the Ten Commandments with interpretations, a brief Sacred History, the questions asked at baptism, and so forth.
A particular concern of the archimandrite became the teaching of literacy to Altai children and the establishment of missionary schools for them. In the 1830s he opened the first schools in Altai: two for boys and one for girls.
At first Father Macarius himself taught the children in Maima and Ulala. According to the recollections of one of the students, he conversed with them on various themes from Sacred History, taught and sang prayers with them. After lessons he played with the children, even “ran races with them.” One of the missionaries wrote in a report that “Archimandrite Macarius tried to connect the school in the closest way with life, to establish it so that it might be the soul both of the young and of the adults. Through the children he influenced the enlightenment of the parents themselves. For this purpose the teaching was presented in such a way that the children conveyed to their parents what they had heard and learned.”
Transfer from the Altai Mission
In December 1842 Archimandrite Macarius submitted to the Synod a petition for release from the post of head of the Altai Mission, citing the weakening of his health, above all his eyesight.
In June 1844, by decree of the Synod, he was relieved of leadership of the mission and appointed superior of the Bolkhov Trinity Optina Monastery of the Orel diocese. According to the recollections of the cell-attendant with whom Father Macarius set out on the journey, the inhabitants of Maima and Ulala, who were escorting their shepherd, continued for about five versts “with cries and weeping,” trying to restrain the carriage and stop the horses.
In Bolkhov
In November 1844 Archimandrite Macarius arrived at the Trinity Optina Monastery. Here he continued his missionary activity, since in his opinion the Russian provinces no less than Altai needed spiritual and moral enlightenment. It became evident that even the mayor did not know the Symbol of Faith, and among prayers remembered only the “Votchu” (as he called the prayer “Our Father”). Knowing from experience how “it is not superfluous to be a missionary even among the Orthodox,” Father Macarius decided himself to teach the inhabitants of Bolkhov. He conducted enlightening conversations with the people. The monastery together with the superior’s residence became a true school of piety.
“The Lord has sent us a true father!” one townsman related. “And if only you could see how many children are around him! They themselves run to him from all over the town. And he himself teaches them all: to some he gives little books, to others little crosses, others he sets to prayer and teaches them to pray, and others he orders his novices to teach literacy.”
Father Macarius reposed on May 18, 1847, in the Bolkhov Monastery. He was buried in the monastery cathedral church on the right side of the altar.
In the year 2000, by the Bishops’ Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, “for his righteous life, equal-to-the-apostles labors in translating Sacred Scripture into the Altai language, and the spreading in Altai of the faith of Christ,” Archimandrite Macarius (Glukharyov) was glorified as Macarius of Altai in the rank of the venerable saints.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
In the summer of 1830, having received a traveling church and money for travel and maintenance together with two seminarians, Father Macarius departed from Tobolsk for Biysk. Before his arrival in Altai, parish priests had baptized no more than three hundred people, so that almost all the inhabitants of the Biysk and Kuznetsk districts were then pagans.
The first half-year of service Father Macarius devoted to journeys through the settlements of the Mountain Altai. He became acquainted with the local inhabitants and their dialects and searched for a suitable place for the central station of the mission. In order to be nearer to the nomadic tribes, in May 1831 he moved to Ulala. But learning that the inhabitants of Ulala, fearing baptism, intended to migrate away from there, he withdrew to the nearby village of Maima, where he opened the first missionary station. Here he began to become acquainted not only with the Ulala Teleuts, but also with representatives of other Altai tribes thanks to the favorable location of the village “at the entrance to the regions of the Black Tatars and the nomadic Kalmyks.”
The first period of Father Macarius’s missionary activity was the most difficult, yet despite this a certain number of pagans were converted to Orthodoxy and the first settlements of the newly baptized were established. Father Macarius understood that the newly baptized at first needed all-sided assistance and could not be left to themselves. This idea he began to put into practice in the mission.
He built houses for the newly baptized, purchased cattle, agricultural implements, and seeds of grain crops for sowing — in a word, everything necessary for a settled way of life. For these needs he spent his master’s stipend. He subscribed from Saint Petersburg to agricultural journals, vegetable seeds, medicinal herbs, and books on sheep-breeding and agricultural chemistry.
Moreover, Father Macarius was the first among Siberian missionaries to apply the Regulation of the State Council “On Privileges for Aliens Accepting Holy Baptism.” According to it, the newly baptized were exempted from all taxes and obligations, including military conscription, for three years after baptism.
The ministry of Father Macarius, filled with compassion for people, changed the attitude of the inhabitants of Ulala toward him, and by 1834 the greater part of them had accepted Baptism. In 1834 the archimandrite moved to the village of Ulala, which became the central station of the Altai mission. Having two antimensions for traveling churches (one for the church in the name of the All-Merciful Savior, the other for the church in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God), he served alternately in Ulala and Maima. By 1836 almost all the inhabitants of Ulala had accepted Baptism.
Father Macarius paid special attention to the attendance of the newly baptized at Sunday and festal services, and often conducted conversations with them outside the services as well. Through translator-interpreters he asked about their needs and concerns, offered “appropriate advice and necessary instruction,” and taught them to sing spiritual hymns — canticles — from the collection he compiled entitled Lepta (“The Widow’s Mite”).
It is astonishing how Father Macarius, suffering from bodily infirmities, endured long journeys and crossings over mountain rivers, how he endured the hardships of a wandering life while fulfilling his pastoral duty: catechizing, baptizing, and visiting his spiritual children.
Education of the Altaians and Translation Labors
From the very beginning Father Macarius gave thought to the education in literacy of the native peoples. An enormous research work was begun for the creation of an Altai written language on the basis of Cyrillic and of a dictionary (primer) of individual phrases and words comprising three thousand words.
During the whole time of his stay in Altai (1830–1844), Father Macarius, with the help of translator-interpreters, translated into the local dialect, chiefly Teleut, almost the entire Gospel, selected passages from the books of the Old Testament, the Acts of the Apostles and the apostolic epistles, including in full the First Epistle of the Apostle John the Theologian, church hymns and psalms, the most important prayers, the Short Catechism of Metropolitan Philaret, a catechetical instruction, the Symbol of Faith, the Ten Commandments with interpretations, a brief Sacred History, the questions asked at baptism, and so forth.
A particular concern of the archimandrite became the teaching of literacy to Altai children and the establishment of missionary schools for them. In the 1830s he opened the first schools in Altai: two for boys and one for girls.
At first Father Macarius himself taught the children in Maima and Ulala. According to the recollections of one of the students, he conversed with them on various themes from Sacred History, taught and sang prayers with them. After lessons he played with the children, even “ran races with them.” One of the missionaries wrote in a report that “Archimandrite Macarius tried to connect the school in the closest way with life, to establish it so that it might be the soul both of the young and of the adults. Through the children he influenced the enlightenment of the parents themselves. For this purpose the teaching was presented in such a way that the children conveyed to their parents what they had heard and learned.”
Transfer from the Altai Mission
In December 1842 Archimandrite Macarius submitted to the Synod a petition for release from the post of head of the Altai Mission, citing the weakening of his health, above all his eyesight.
In June 1844, by decree of the Synod, he was relieved of leadership of the mission and appointed superior of the Bolkhov Trinity Optina Monastery of the Orel diocese. According to the recollections of the cell-attendant with whom Father Macarius set out on the journey, the inhabitants of Maima and Ulala, who were escorting their shepherd, continued for about five versts “with cries and weeping,” trying to restrain the carriage and stop the horses.
In Bolkhov
In November 1844 Archimandrite Macarius arrived at the Trinity Optina Monastery. Here he continued his missionary activity, since in his opinion the Russian provinces no less than Altai needed spiritual and moral enlightenment. It became evident that even the mayor did not know the Symbol of Faith, and among prayers remembered only the “Votchu” (as he called the prayer “Our Father”). Knowing from experience how “it is not superfluous to be a missionary even among the Orthodox,” Father Macarius decided himself to teach the inhabitants of Bolkhov. He conducted enlightening conversations with the people. The monastery together with the superior’s residence became a true school of piety.
“The Lord has sent us a true father!” one townsman related. “And if only you could see how many children are around him! They themselves run to him from all over the town. And he himself teaches them all: to some he gives little books, to others little crosses, others he sets to prayer and teaches them to pray, and others he orders his novices to teach literacy.”
Father Macarius reposed on May 18, 1847, in the Bolkhov Monastery. He was buried in the monastery cathedral church on the right side of the altar.
In the year 2000, by the Bishops’ Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, “for his righteous life, equal-to-the-apostles labors in translating Sacred Scripture into the Altai language, and the spreading in Altai of the faith of Christ,” Archimandrite Macarius (Glukharyov) was glorified as Macarius of Altai in the rank of the venerable saints.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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