Metropolitan Macarius I, Metropolitan of Kiev

The Hieromartyr Macarius came from a noble Lithuanian-Rus family; before his elevation to the see he was archimandrite of the Vilnius Holy Trinity Monastery. In 1495 he was elected by a council of Rus bishops as Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and All Rus — an unusual election that took place before confirmation by Constantinople, which followed in 1496 from Patriarch Niphon II.

Metropolitan Macarius worked to overcome divisions among clergy and laity, restored churches and monasteries at his own expense, and defended Orthodoxy against Catholic pressure in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

On May 1, 1497, while celebrating the Divine Liturgy on the bank of the Pripyat River near the village of Skrygalov (now Mozyr district, Belarus), he was attacked by a Tatar raiding party. Having ordered the worshippers to flee, the hierarch remained at the altar and was killed — according to tradition, beheaded with a saber right at the altar.

He is venerated as a hieromartyr of the Russian Church; he is included in the Synaxis of the Kiev Caves Fathers and the Synaxis of Belarusian Saints. His relics now rest in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kiev Caves Lavra (other sources say the Vladimir Cathedral of Kiev).

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: the original entry contained grossly incorrect dates "c. 300 — c. 391" — bearing no relation to the real 15th-century saint; his correct date of death is May 1, 1497. The feast_days have also been corrected: instead of the erroneous January 19/May 1, a single date of May 1/14 (death) has been established; January 19 was, according to some sources, the hierarch's name day, used before 1827.