Macarius the Faster

Venerable Macarius the Faster was a monk and deacon of the Kiev Caves Lavra, in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony, in the twelfth century. The epithet Faster shows the way by which he drew near to the Lord: strict fasting. The Lavra's records have not kept details of his life.

His relics rest in the Near Caves. He is commemorated on 19 January, together with Saint Macarius of Egypt, whose name he bears, on 28 September in the Synaxis of the Fathers of the Near Caves, and on the second Sunday of Great Lent, in the Synaxis of All the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves. He should not be confused with Venerable Macarius the Deacon of the Far Caves, who lived later.