MACARIO (IVANOV). - A Russian monk of the Optina pustyn near Kozelsk, b. in 1788, d. 19 September (7 according to the old style) 1860; one of the most celebrated starcy in nineteenth-century Russia. Persons of every rank and condition gathered around him for long periods to receive counsel and consolation.
His influence was immense. He was able to increase it further by means of a printing press established in the monastery in 1830. Thus he was able to disseminate throughout Russia many writings expressing his spiritual tendency, which was wholly based on the writings of the Fathers of the Church and of the monks of Mount Athos, in accordance with the spirit of the first great Russian starec [*staretz], Paisij Veličkovskij. His disciple, even better known than he, was Ambrogio Grenkov, the most famous of all the Russian startsi*.