The life of St Macarius of Moscow
In 1542 he was elevated to Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, a position he held for over twenty years and used to shape the religious life of the Russian Church at a formative moment in its history. He took charge of the education of the young Grand Prince Ivan, and in 1547 presided over his coronation as the first Tsar of Russia, remaining one of his closest advisers.
Macarius's most enduring work was scholarly and pastoral: he gathered a team of collaborators to compile the Great Menaion Reader, a twelve volume collection of the lives of the Russian saints arranged by the day of the year, completed in 1541, and he encouraged the introduction of printing to Moscow. At church councils he convened in 1547 and 1549, thirty nine Russian saints were formally glorified, greatly enlarging the calendar of saints recognized throughout Russia. He died in 1563, remembered as one of the great builders of the Russian Church's identity and memory.
