Maximus

Maximus and his brother Dometius were two young venerable monks of the desert of Nitria in Egypt, in the fourth century, disciples of Abba Macarius. The Greek synaxarion commemorates them together on 19 January and calls them brothers by blood, a pair of ascetics of unceasing prayer.

According to tradition, they were sons of an emperor and had been raised in plenty and honours, but they left everything for love of Christ. They came to Abba Macarius and asked to be received as disciples. Because he thought them unsuited to the harsh life of the desert, Macarius did not send them away, but showed them a place to build a small stone cell and gave them an axe, a sack of bread and salt. He taught them to weave baskets from palm leaves gathered in the marsh nearby and to give them to the guards, who would sell them so that they might earn their daily bread.

For three years they struggled in complete silence; they went only to church, to receive communion, and gave no sign to the old man. When Macarius came to see them, they received him in silence and shared with him their meal and their place to rest. In the night, as he prayed to God to show him their work, Macarius saw the roof of the cell open and a light like day. The two brothers were praying with raised hands; the younger, assailed by flies, was guarded by an angel with a sword of fire. At the morning prayer, at each verse of the Psalter, a flame came out of their mouths and reached up to heaven. Macarius left amazed and asked them to pray for him.

After a few days the elder brother fell asleep, and after three days the younger. From then on Macarius showed them to the other hermits as a pattern of ascetic struggle. In the desert of Nitria they are honoured to this day, and the monastery of Baramous, that is "Monastery of the Romans", arose at the place of their struggle.