Macarius of Corinth
Former metropolitan of Corinth who gathered the writings of the ascetic fathers from the libraries of Mount Athos and sent them to Venice, where they were printed in 1782 as the Philokalia.
What is told of Macarius here comes from a letter of Paisius Velichkovsky, written while the Philokalia was at the press (Life and Writings of Paisius Velichkovsky (1847), letter to Archimandrite Theodosius, para. beginning ‘Святыня же ваша’). Paisius calls him the former metropolitan of Corinth and says that from his youth he sought out and copied the books of the fathers on watchfulness and the prayer of the heart, that he searched the libraries of Mount Athos, above all that of Vatopedi, and that from Smyrna he sent thirty-six such books to Venice to be printed (Life and Writings of Paisius Velichkovsky (1847), letter to Archimandrite Theodosius, para. beginning ‘Святыня же ваша’). The catalogue record of the first edition names him, as Macarius Notaras, with Nicodemus the Hagiorite (Philokalia (1782), Onassis Library copy, catalogue record). See the Philokalia Is Published.
In the timeline
- 1782, firm dateThe Philokalia Is Published
A Greek anthology of writers on watchfulness and the prayer of the heart, gathered from the libraries of Mount Athos, is printed at Venice in 1782. Its preface offers the prayer to laypeople as well as monks. A Slavonic version follows at Moscow in 1793.