On this International Women’s Day, I write in praise of ‘Macrina the Younger’, who lived from 327 to 379 in Cappadocia, and was the sister of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. Gregory wrote a biography of her, lauding her saintly lifestyle.
Macrina lived a humble, ascetic life. But I write in praise of her example of counter-cultural charity.
Recently I was reading of the ancient practice throughout the Roman empire of abandoning children, but especially girls, on the rubbish dumps of cities and towns. In his epic work, Dominion, the making of the western mind, Tom Holland writes:
‘Girls in particular were liable to be winnowed ruthlessly. Those who were rescued from the wayside would invariably be raised as slaves. Brothels were full of women who, as infants, had been abandoned by their parents.’ (p.125).
For her part, Macrina responded to a desperate famine in Cappadocia by visiting the rubbish tips to find whatever she could for the poor and starving. There she found infant girls also, whom she rescued and raised in her own home as her own. That in itself was an astonishing, counter-cultural response, for which she is to be praised and remembered. Holland goes on to note, however, that it was in this place and time that Christians began to have visions of Mary, Jesus’ mother, and to speak of her as theotokos, ‘the bearer of God’. She, as Hollland writes, ‘had herself known what it was to have a baby when poor, and homeless, and afraid.’
‘Macrina, taking up the slight form or a starving baby in her arms, could know for sure that she was doing God’s work.’
It seems to me crucial to recognize here the gift of God’s presence in every such act of nursing a child, no matter the circumstances. Rich or poor, regardless of all measures and circumstances, the sheer gift of life and nourishment of a child is the work of God in the world.
When we name Macrina a saint, as she has been known in the church for centuries, we are saying this: here we see what God is like. Here we see and praise this gift of life and love. Thanks be to God.