Although he seems to have possessed the gifts of prophecy and healing and power over the demons in a still higher degree, posterity has paid less attention to him than to his namesake as is evident from the few Apophthegmata or 'Sayings of theFathers' dealing with him.
About the year 335 he established himself in the desert of Celliata. ke,llia not far from Nitria, where he was priest and superior.
It was at Cellia that Palladius, the author of the Lausiac History, who admits that he never saw Macarius the Egyptian, met the Alexandrian three years before his death. He tells of his heroic asceticism and that he was a priest.
For a time he must have been in charge of a monastic colony in Nitria.
He died, almost a hundred years old.
St. Evagrius wrote: “Once I visited St. Macarius at noon… Then, as I was telling him of my difficulties in practicing self- restraint, he said: ‘Take heart my son; for during the whole oftwenty years I have never had my fill of bread, water or sleep;but I have carefully measured my bread and water, andsnatched some sleep by leaning a little against the wall.’ ”
What he wrote
Palladius does not mention any of his works, and it seems that he wrote nothing.
At any rate, the three sayings (MG 34, 261-263), the Sermo S. MacariiAlexandrini de exitustatuque animarum post hanc vitae(MG 34, 385-
and the two monastic rules S. MacariiAlexandriniablatesNitrienaisregulaadmonachos (MG 34, 967-970) and S. Serapionis,Macarii, Paphnatii et altering Macarii regula admonachos'(MG 34, 971-978) are not authentic.
St. Macarius the Alexandrian strove with his soul and with Satan saying to himself, “What dost thouwish for, O thou wicked old man? Behold thouhast eaten oil, and thou hast drunk wine, whatmore dost thou wish for?…And he was reviling himself. And he said unto Satan, “I cannotconquer thee in any wise, and thou art not able todo anything unto me; get thee gone from me.” And again he said to himself, “How long shall Ibe with thee?”