A former camel driver who became one of the founders of the desert of Scetis, in Egypt. As a young man, falsely accused of seducing a village girl, he did not defend himself and worked all the harder to feed her, until the truth came out. Then he fled to the desert, for fear of honors. One of the most venerated of the fathers, people came from afar to seek a word from him; his sayings keep the trace of a stubborn gentleness: judge no one, pray briefly, stand like the dead before both praise and scorn.
In their own words
Multiplying words serves no purpose. Hold out your hands and say: Lord, as you will and as you know, have mercy. And when the fighting presses close: Lord, come to my help.
Sayings of the Desert Fathers, alphabetical collection, Macarius 19 (PG 65), translated from the Greek by the Manna team, his answer to the question of how one should pray
You have seen that the dead answer nothing, neither to insult nor to praise. Become like them, and you can be saved.
Sayings of the Desert Fathers, alphabetical collection, Macarius 23 (PG 65), translated from the Greek by the Manna team, to the brother sent to address the dead in the cemetery
Keeping the memory of the harm men have done us ruins in us the strength of the memory of God.
Sayings of the Desert Fathers, alphabetical collection, Macarius 36 (PG 65), translated from the Greek by the Manna team