Life story
Macarius of Egypt, also known as Macarius the Great, lived in Upper Egypt between 295 - 392 A.D. A monk and ascetic, he is regarded as one of the founding Desert Fathers of the Church. His teaching and counsel, greatly sought during his lifetime, influenced the development of asceticism and monasticism throughout Christendom.
About the age of 30 Macarius retired to the desert of Scete (an area west of the Nile in the Libyan desert) after the death of his wife. He was ordained a priest some ten years later and spent the next 50 years living as a hermit.
During his life he acquired many disciples and followers from amongst the growing number of monks gathering in Scete and acquired considerable fame for his articulate homilies and insightful spiritual instruction. He was also known for his powers of healing and prophecy.
The story is told that on one occasion he was walking with a fellow monk when they passed by a pagan priest. The fellow monk addressed the pagan priest somewhat discourteously. St. Macarius however greeted him warmly and welcomingly which caused the man to enquire as to just why he had been addressed so thoughtfully. St. Macarius explained that he felt a great sorrow for a man whose whole work and worship were completely in vain. The pagan priest was so impressed with this compassionate answer that he promptly joined the monastery and became a model Christian.
Sayings of St. Macarius:
‘If you rebuke someone and do it with anger, you have allowed a passion to control you. You have not saved anyone and have destroyed yourself’.
‘How easy it is to say with every breath, “My Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me. I bless you, my Lord Jesus Christ. Help me”’.
"The soul that, prepared by the Holy Spirit to be his seat and house, and found worthy to participate in his Light, is illuminated by the beauty of his ineffable glory, becomes all light, all face, all eyes; there is no part of her that is not full of these spiritual eyes of light. That is to say no part of her is in shadow, but she is entirely transformed into light and spirit and is all full of eyes and has neither a part behind or a part in front but appears all face because of the ineffable glory of the Light of Christ, that has descended on her and lives with her...
If then you have become the throne of God, and the Heavenly Charioteer has seated himself within you, and your soul is entirely transformed into a spiritual eye, and is made into light; if you too are nourished with the heavenly food of that spirit and have drunk of the Living Water, and have put on the secret garment of light - if your inward being has experienced all these things and is established in rich unshakable faith, then you are living the Eternal Life, and your soul even in this present time rests with Christ."
Further reading:
Orthodox Wiki has an extensive page regarding St. Macarius: https://orthodoxwiki.org/Macarius_the_Great
Wisdom of The Desert Fathers // Episode 3: Saint Macarius The Great https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cq4usPdFVs
Fifty Spiritual Homilies, Saint Macarius Of Egypt, Audiobook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdk62GByDMQ
Brianica has a great short article on Marcius life titled Macarius the Egyptian.
Here is a short video with some of Macarius' sayings.
This is a video recount of Macarius life through the writings of Palladius read aloud (there are others remembered in this video too but Macrius is at the begnining)
And this video is a full audio book of 50 of Macarious' homilies - spanning 11 hours worth of listening. This one might be a good one to do while taking exercise or cleaning your home!