A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

7. Of the CELLS, or JUNIOR. Macarius, whom Sozomen calls πρεσβύτερον τω-ν κελλίων, " presbyter of the Cells," i. e. of that part of the desert of Nitria in Egypt which was so called, was a herd boy, who having, while feeding his cattle by the Maraeotic lake, accidentally killed one of his companions, fled into the wilderness in order to avoid the punishment of his homicide. He was thus led to embrace a solitary life, which he followed for nearly thirty years. This Macarius must not be confounded with Nos. 1, 2, or 5, with whom he appears to have been contemporary. (Sozomen, H. E. 6.29; Pallad. Hist. Lausiac. c. xvii.; Tillemont, Mémoires, vol. viii. p. 575.)