The Synaxis of the Near Caves Fathers
Macarius is listed among the more than seventy identified monks of the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers venerated in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony, celebrated on September 28. Within that commemoration he appears as 'Monk Macarius (January 19),' cross-referencing his individual feast.
The September 28 observance originated in 1670 during restoration efforts following earthquake damage, when the relics of ancient ascetics were discovered. The commemoration was first kept on the first Saturday after the Exaltation of the Cross. In 1760 a stone church honoring the Exaltation was built over the caves, and by 1886 Metropolitan Platon moved the celebration to September 28 to distinguish it from the Far Caves commemoration on August 28.
The fathers of the Near Caves include Anthony, the founder; Agapitus, the unmercenary physician; Alypius the iconographer; and Nestor the Chronicler. Two canons commemorate them: the first compiled by the hieromonk Meletius the Orphan and inscribed in the Kiev Akathistnik of 1764, and the second by Saint Demetrius of Rostov. A joint synaxis of the Near and Far Caves monks is also kept on the second Sunday of Great Lent.