Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

St. Makovij

Question:

Please tell me who is St. Makovij?

Response:

Dr. Alexander Roman alex.roman@unicorne.org

In actual fact, on August 14th the Ukrainian Church commemorates the "Holy Maccabean Martyrs" which in Ukrainian parlance has become the feast of the "Holy Makovij."

These were a group of Hebrew martyrs who refused to break the Mosaic fast under the Syro-Antiochenes (who were descendants of the rulers established in that area by Alexander the Great).  As a result, St Salomonia, the elder St Eliezar and Salomonia's seven sons were publicly executed.  They became "martyrs of fasting" and their cult of veneration was very strong, especially throughout the Christian East.

In Ukraine, as Metropolitan Ilarion Ohienko (+memory eternal!) wrote in a number of his published works, the feast day of the Maccabean Martyrs or of "Makovij" became a national Church commemoration (others including the feast of the Holy Protection, of St Andrew of Constantinople and the translation of the relics of St Nicholas the Wonderworker to Bari).

The feast of Makovij coincides with the actual date on which St Volodymyr the Great baptized Kyivan-Rus' in the river Dnipro-Slavutych and so it is a solemn annual commemoration of this event (today, the feast of St Volodymyr, July 28, is the state-sponsored commemoration of the Baptism of Kyivan-Rus' in Ukraine).

And because "Makovij" contains the word "Mak" or "Poppy-seed," Ukrainians developed the tradition of blessing poppy-seeds on this day which are then kept for the making of Kutya for the Ukrainian Christmas Eve Holy Supper on January 6th. 

This practice became such an integral aspect of Ukrainian identity that, for example, the Poles would try and keep Ukrainian priests from blessing Mak on August 14th.  The Ukrainian bard, Taras Shevchenko, actually wrote about this in one of his works:  "And they even didn't allow us to bless herbs on Makovij, those damnable Liaks (Poles)."

In our Church today, the feast of Makovij is the first of three Feast of the Saviour in August and is characterized by the selling of honey and honey products at beekeeping markets (the Kyivan Caves Lavra hosts a particularly large honey market at this time).  It is therefore called the feast of the "Honey Saviour."

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