St. Macarius of Zheltovodsk, Unzhensky was born in 1349 in Nizhny Novgorod into a family of pious parents. At the age of twelve, he secretly left his parents and took monastic vows at the Nizhny Novgorod Pechersk Monastery from St. Dionysius (later Archbishop of Suzdal; + 1385; commemorated on June 26). With all the fervor of his youthful soul, he devoted himself to the cause of salvation: the strictest fasting and the exact observance of monastic rules distinguished him before all the brethren.
It was only three years later that the parents of St. Macarius found out where he had disappeared to. The father came to him and tearfully begged his son only to come out to see him. St. Macarius talked to his father through the wall and said that he would see him in his future life. "At least give me your hand," my father begged. The son fulfilled this small request, and the father, kissing his son's outstretched hand, returned home. Burdened by his fame, the humble Makarii retired to the banks of the Volga River and asceticized here in a cave near Lake Yellow Waters. Here, by firm abstinence and patience, he overcame the abuse of the enemy of salvation. Lovers of silence gathered to St. Macarius, and in 1435 he built a monastery for them in the Name of the Holy Trinity. Here he began to preach Christianity to the surrounding Cheremis and Chuvash people and baptized Mohammedans and pagans in a lake called the Saint. When the Kazan Tatars ravaged the monastery in 1439, St. Macarius was captured. Out of respect for his piety and charitable love, the khan released the saint from captivity and together with him released up to 400 Christians. But they took the word from St. Macarius not to settle at the Yellow Lake. St. Macarius honorably buried those who were beaten in his monastery and traveled 240 miles to the Galician territories. During this migration, all the travelers, through the prayers of the monk, ate miraculously. Having reached the town of Unzha, St. Macarius erected a cross 15 versts from the city on the shore of Lake Unzha and built a cell. Here he founded a new monastery. In the fifth year of his life in Unge, St. Macarius fell ill and passed away at the age of 95.
During his lifetime, St. Macarius was endowed with the gift of grace: he healed a blind and possessed girl. After the death of the monk, many received healing from his relics. The monks erected a temple over his coffin and established a dormitory in the monastery. In 1522, the Tatars attacked Unzha and wanted to strip the silver shrine in the Makariev desert, but they became blind and, distraught, rushed to flee. Many of them drowned in the Unge. In 1532, through the prayers of St. Macarius, the city of Soligalich was saved from the Tatars, and grateful residents built a chapel in the cathedral church in honor of the saint. Through the prayers of St. Macarius, more than 50 people were cured of serious ailments, as established by a commission sent by Patriarch Filaret on June 24, 1619.