MACARIUS I of JERUSALEM, St. — He was the 39th bishop of Jerusalem from 313 to 334.
He is found among those present at the Council of Nicaea (325), where he showed himself a bitter opponent of Arius, from whose heresy he sought with all his strength to preserve his flock. Arius himself considered him one of his most vigorous enemies (cf. letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia in Theodorus, Hist. etc., I, 4; PG 82, 911). Partly his is the so-called Nicene Symbol. His name is especially linked to the construction of the Constantinian basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, which the Emperor entrusted to him, begging him to make it the most beautiful of all churches (cf. Eusebius, Hist. etc., III, 30-32; PG 20, 1090-94). Feast day March 10.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Martii, II, Antwerp 1668, pp. 34 ff.; A. Heisenberg, Grabeschirche u. Apostelkirche, I, Leipzig 1908, pp. 66 ff.; 167 ff.; H. Vincent and F. M. Abel, Jérusalem. Recherches de topographie, d'archéologie et d'histoire, II, Paris 1914, pp. 154-180; 903-908. Celestino Testore