MACHMAS (Hebrew Mikmās and Mikmās; Greek Μαϊζᾶζ; Arabic Muḥmās). - A village 13 km north of Jerusalem, famous for the valorous deeds of Jonathan (v.), son of Saul, against the Philistines who had come to fight Israel (1 Sam. 13:5-7, 15 ff.; 14:1-23). After the exile it was repopulated with Benjamites (Ezra 2:27; Neh. 7:31).

M. appears in Isaiah's prophetic description, which sees the Assyrian army marching on Jerusalem (Isa. 10:28-9). Jonathan Maccabeus, having defeated Bacchides, the Greek-Syrian general, around 158 B.C., made it his residence there while administering justice (1 Macc. 9:73). A Greek mosaic inscription, dated to around the 6th century, speaks of a Valentinus who, together with his wife and children, contributed to the erection and adornment of the local church. Not far from M., to the east, on the slopes of the Wādi es-Suwejnit — a name that recalls the biblical Seneh, where Jonathan fought — there are the remains of a monastery, commonly identified with that of Firminus, with the inscription of the baptistery in Syriac.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: L. Heidet, s. v. in DB, IV, coll. 507-11; M. Marcoff-J. Chitty, Notes on monastic research in the judaeian wilderness, 1928-29, in Palestine explorations fund. quart. stat., 61 (1929), pp. 167-71 (for the monastery); A. Mallon, Une église byzantine à Mikhmas, in Biblica, 13 (1931), pp. 117-19; R. V. Hamilton, Byzantine church at Mukhmas, in Quarterly of depart. of antiquities in Palestine, 1 (1932), pp. 103-104 (for the church); A. Fernández, El paso de Michmas, in Problemas de topografía palestinense, Barcelona 1936, pp. 126-33; F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1938, p. 386.

Bellarmino Bagatti

MACKENZIE, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE of - Grotto of the Virgin of Lourdes (70th Istitudine) at Paularuk, Journey of H. E. G. Breynat, apostolic vicar, and of Sister Anna Lusignan, provincial superior of the Grey Nuns of Montréal (1939).(by courtesy of the Grey Nuns of Montréal)

@incollection{ec7_machmas_ebr_mikmas_e_mikmas_gr, author = {Bagatti, Bellarmino}, title = {Machmas (Ebr. MikmĀS e MikmĀS; Gr. MayzĀZ; Arabo MuḤMĀS)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {1778--1779}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/machmas-ebr-mikmas-e-mikmas-gr-mayzaz-arabo-muhmas} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

About this entry