God’s Radiant Purity – Br. James Koester
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Br. James Koester
Macrina of Caesarea
A few weeks ago, we remembered one of the great Eastern saints of the church, Basil of Caesarea. Today we remember another member of that remarkable family, his sister Macrina. I use the word remarkable to describe this family on purpose, because not only are the siblings Basil and Macrina regarded as saints, but so too are their grandparents,[1] parents,[2] two other brothers,[3] and a sister![4] Pity the other four siblings whose names we don’t know, and who are not counted among the saints of the church!
While it is through her brother Basil and his writings about his sister that we know of her, it is clear that her impact on him, and consequently on the church at large, is significant. The defining moment in her life was the death of her fiancé. This, coupled by a profound belief in the resurrection, shaped the rest of her life, which was focused on her expectation that she would be reunited with her fiancé in the next life. Basil tells us in his Life of Macrina that her hope of reunion with her fiancé was in fact a striving toward union with her true bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
Determined not to marry, Macrina established herself, along with her mother Emmelina, on one of their country estates. There she gathered around her a community of women, thus establishing one of the first monastic communities in the church and setting the standard of holiness for early Christian women. This community was made up of women from aristocratic and non-aristocratic backgrounds. All members of the community were free, and all had the same rights and obligations, including the slaves on the estate. The focus on caring for their neighbours, especially the poor and sick among them, and their virginity, was said to reflect the radiant purity of God.
Reflecting of Macrina, two things stand out for me. One is how her belief in the resurrection shaped her entire life. We see this not simply in her determination not to marry someone other than her deceased fiancé, but also in the way she ordered her life and her relationships with others. This can only be described in terms of a life of radical equality. It is this radical equality which in turn connects us to the gospel for today: Who are my mother and my brothers? … Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.[5]
We live in an age of radical inequality. Macrina shows us another way, and in doing so, returns us to our roots as Christians, a profound and profoundly radical belief in the resurrection as well as a profound and profoundly radical notion of the equality of all people, that are not interesting add-on to our life, but the things that shape us, and results in our lives becoming reflections the radiant purity of God.
[1] St. Macrina the Elder
[2] St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelina
[3] St. Peter of Sebaste, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Naucratius
[4] St. Theosebia the Deaconess
[5] Mark 3:34-35