Macarius of Leteti

Venerable Macarius of Leteti (ninth century), also called Macarius the Infirm, was a monk in the Georgian community of the Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified in Jerusalem, born in the village of Leteti, in Shida Kartli. He is venerated as a saint in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers and Mothers of Klarjeti of the Orthodox Church of Georgia, canonized in October 2002 (by other data in 2003); he is commemorated on 5 October (old calendar).

He was the initiator of the compilation and one of the three copyists of the well-⁠known Georgian collection of homilies and services, the Sinai Polykephalon (Sinait. iber. 32-59-33, of the year 864), made in the lavra of Saint Sabbas, as a gift to the Georgian community of the monastery of Saint Catherine the Great Martyr at Sinai. In his testament, placed at the end of the book, it is said that he was the son of George Grdzeli (the Long); in copying the manuscript he was helped by his cousin Amona Vakhtang Modzargulisdze and his spiritual brother Pimen Kakha.

Macarius is regarded as the same as Macarius the Infirm, a disciple of Venerable Gregory of Khandzta, who struggled at the Lavra of Saint Sabbas with the monk Arsenios. The Life of Gregory (chapter 62) calls both of them "wonderful men, perfect monks, full of wisdom, wonderworkers, seekers of the Kingdom of Heaven, fleeing the glory of the world, worthy priests." His commemoration was entered in the calendar of the Church of Georgia in the second half of the twentieth century, together with that of the other saints in the Life of Gregory.