Abba Macarius the Great on the Name of Jesus
Taken from St Macarius the Spiritbearer: Coptic texts relating to Saint Macarius the Great, translated by Tim Vivian and published by St Vladimir’s Seminary Press
Abba Macarius Teaches about the Sweetness of Christ
A brother again asked Abba Macarius, “My father, guide me concerning what is sweet and what is salty” (James 3:11). Abba Macarius said to him, “They say that if the mother of a small child places the child on the ground, she puts some kind of sweet in his hand for him to lick so he won’t vex his mother. The vexing can be likened to sin and pleasure while the sweet, on the other hand, represents our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed name, the true pearl, for it is written in the Holy Gospel that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who is looking for precious jewels. Therefore, when he found a valuable jewel, he went and sold what he possessed and bought it. So he gave up what he owned, his heart’s desires, and wanted only the precious stone, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, king of kings and lord of lords” (Mt 13:45, 1 Tim 6:15, Rev 17:14).
Abba Macarius Speaks to Abba Poemen about the Sweetness of Heaven
Abba Poemen said, “I was sitting one time with some brothers beside Abba Macarius. I said to him, ‘My father, what work must a person do in order to acquire life for himself?’ “The old man said to me, ‘I know that when I was a child in my father’s house I used to observe that the old women and the young people were chewing something in their mouths so that it would sweeten the saliva in their throats and the bad breath of their mouths, sweetening and refreshing their liver and all their innards. If something fleshly can so sweeten those who chew it and ruminate it, then how much more the food of life, the spring of salvation, the fount of living water, the sweet of all sweets, our Lord Jesus Christ! If the demons hear his glorious name blessed by our mouths, they vanish like smoke. This blessed name, if we persevere in it and ruminate on it, opens up the spirit, the charioteer of the soul and the body, and drives all thoughts of evil out of the immortal soul and reveals to it heavenly things, especially him who is in heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ, king of kings and lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15, Rev 17:14), who gives heavenly rewards to those who seek him with their whole heart.’” When Abba Poemen heard these things from him about whom Christ bears witness (“The righteous Macarius stands today before my judgment seat”), they threw themselves at his feet with tears, and after he prayed over them, he dismissed them and they gave glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Abba Macarius Teaches about Ruminating on the Name of Christ
The brother again asked, “What work is best for the ascetic and the abstinent?” He responded and said to him, “Blessed is the person who will be found tending the blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ without ceasing and with contrition of heart. Of all the ascetic practices, none is better than this blessed nourishment if you ruminate on it at all times like the sheep: the sheep regurgitates and savors the sweet taste of its cud until it enters the interior of its heart and brings sweetness and good fatness to its intestines and to all its innards. Do you not see how beautiful its cheeks are, filled with the sweet cud that it ruminates in its mouth? May our Lord Jesus Christ also bless us with his sweet and fat name!”
Abba Macarius Explains the Above Saying
A brother asked Abba Macarius, “Tell me the meaning of this saying, ‘the meditation of my heart is placed before you’” (Ps 19:14, 49:3). The old man said to him, “There is no better meditation than having this saving and blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ continually within you, as it is written: ‘Like a swallow I will call and like a dove I will meditate’ [Is 38:14 (LXX)]. Thus it is with the person who worships God by tending the saving name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Abba Macarius Teaches about Relying upon the Name of Christ
Abba Macarius the Great said, “Concentrate on this name of our Lord Jesus Christ with a contrite heart, the words welling up from your lips and drawing you to them. And do not depict him with an image in your mind but concentrate on calling to him: ‘Our Lord Jesus, have mercy on me.’ Do these things in peace and you will see the peace of his divinity within you; he will run off the darkness of the passions that dwell within you and he will purify the inner person (2 Cor 4:16, Eph 3:16) just as Adam was pure in paradise. This is the blessed name that John the Evangelist pronounced: ‘Light of the world and unending sweetness, the food of life and the true food’” (Jn 6:48, 6:55, 8:12).
Abba Macarius Teaches Abba Evagrius to Call upon the Name of Christ
Abba Evagrius said, “I visited Abba Macarius, distressed by my thoughts and the passions of the body. I said to him, ‘My father, tell me a word so I may live.’ “Abba Macarius said to me, ‘Bind the ship’s cable to the mooring anvil and through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the ship will pass through the diabolical waves and tumults of this murky sea and the deep darkness of this vain world.’ “I said to him, ‘What is the ship? What is the ship’s cable? What is the mooring anvil?’ “Abba Macarius said to me, ‘The ship is your heart. Guard it. The ship’s cable is your spirit; bind it to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the mooring anvil that prevails over all the tumults and diabolical waves that fight against the saints. For it is not easy to say with each breath, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me. I bless you, my Lord Jesus.” If you are distressed by people and the misfortunes of this world, say “My Lord Jesus, help me.” The fish swallows the waves and will be ensnared in them and will not know it. But when we persevere in the saving name of our Lord Jesus Christ, he, through the things he does for us, will ensnare the Devil by his nostrils [Job 40:26]102 and we will know our weakness, because our help is in our Lord Jesus Christ’” (Ps 124:8).
Abba Macarius Recounts a Visit He Made to an Old Man
Abba Macarius said, “I visited an old man who had taken to his bed with an illness, but the old man preferred to say the saving and blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ. While I asked him about his health he joyfully said to me, ‘While I was persevering in partaking of the sweet food of life of the holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I was seized with the sweetness of sleep. I saw in a vision Christ the King like a Nazirite (Num 6:2, Jdg 13:5, Mt 2:23) and he said to me three times, “See, see that it is I and no one besides me” (Is 45:18, 21–22). Afterwards, I burned with great joy for what is high and forgot the pain.’”