Saint Macarius of Alexandria (c. 300–395 AD) was a 4th-century Egyptian hermit, ascetic, and spiritual father who lived a life of deep prayer and solitude in the Egyptian desert. He was revered as one of the great Desert Fathers, known for his wisdom, humility, and extraordinary acts of self-denial. Macarius' compassion extended beyond human beings to the creatures of the desert. According to tradition, he showed kindness to animals and viewed them as fellow inhabitants of God’s creation. He lived on a simple diet, consisting of bread, dates, herbs, and water.
Accounts of the saints time and again highlight that care for animals is an essential part of Christian sanctity, including a touching tale about St Macarius as recorded in Helen Waddell’s (1995) remarkable collection Beasts and Saints.
The story recounts that one day, as Macarius sat in his cell, he heard a knocking at the door. Expecting a fellow monk, he opened it and was astonished to see a hyena knocking with her head. She carried her puppy in her mouth and presented it to him while weeping. Taking the puppy in his hands, Macarius examined it and saw that it was blind in both eyes. He groaned, spat on the puppy’s face, and made the sign of the cross over its eyes with his finger. Instantly, the puppy’s sight was restored—it ran to its mother, suckled, and followed her away.
The next day, the hyena returned, again knocking on the hermit’s door. When he opened it, he saw she was holding a sheepskin in her mouth. He questioned her, asking where she had obtained it, whether she had killed a sheep, and stated that he would not accept it if it had come through violence. The hyena struck her head on the ground, bent her paws, and knelt in prayer, pleading for him to take it.
Macarius refused, saying he would only accept it if she promised not to harm the poor by preying on their sheep. The hyena nodded, as if making a vow. He then added that he would not take it unless she pledged never to kill any living creature again, but to eat only animals that were already dead, telling her that if she became hungry, she should come to him, and he would provide her with bread. Again, she bent, nodded, and gazed into his eyes, as though sealing her promise.
In response, Macarius praised God for granting animals understanding and for allowing him to comprehend God's ways. He then took the sheepskin, and the hyena departed. Over time, she would return to Macarius for food, and he would feed her bread. Until his death, he slept on the sheepskin.
Apparently, our beloved saint was vegan as he was concerned with not only the hyena but also other animals that she might kill. Alongside numerous other stories from Helen Waddell’s remarkable collection—e.g., St Jerome’s hospitality toward the lion or St Godric’s protection of a stag from the Durham Prince Bishop’s hunt—this account of St. Macarius demonstrates that Christians have long acknowledged that Christian holiness extends far beyond the world of humanity to encompass animals as sentient, grateful beings (cf. Clough 2018).
References
Clough, David (2018). “Animals: Who Cares? Animals: Tradition – Philosophy.” All-creatures. org, April. https://www.all-creatures.org/articles/an-tpr-animals-who-cares.html
Waddell, Helen (1995). “St. Macarius of Alexandria and the Grateful Hyena”
Beasts and Saints. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, pp. 13-15.
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