MACRINA'S PARENTS

The virgin's name was Macrina; she was so called by her parents after a famous Macrina some time before in the family, our father's mother, who had confessed Christ [962A] like a good athlete in the time of the persecutions. This indeed was her name to the outside world, the one used by her friends. But another name had been given her privately, as the result of a vision before she was born into the world. For indeed her mother was so virtuous that she was guided on all occasions by the divine will. In particular she loved the pure and unstained mode of life so much that she was unwilling to be married. But since she had lost both her parents, and was in the very flower of her youthful beauty, and the fame of her good looks was attracting many suitors, and there was a danger that, if she were not mated to some one willingly, she might suffer some [962B] unwished-for violent fate, seeing that some men, inflamed by her beauty, were ready to abduct her----on this account she chose for her husband a man who was known and approved for the gravity of his conduct, and so gained a protector of her life.

Μακρίνα ἦν ὄνομα τῇ παρθένῳ, εὐδόκιμος δέ τις πάλαι κατὰ τὸ γένος ἦν ἡ Μακρίνα, μήτηρ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν γεγενημένη, ταῖς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ὁμολογίαις τῷ καιρῷ τῶν διωγμῶν ἐναθλήσασα, ᾗ ἐπωνομάσθη παρὰ τῶν γονέων ἡ παῖς. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἦν ἐν φανερῷ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ παρὰ τῶν γινωσκόντων ὀνομαζόμενον, ἕτερον δὲ κατὰ τὸ λεληθὸς αὐτῇ ἐπεκέκλητο, ὃ πρὶν παρελθεῖν διὰ τῶν ὠδίνων εἰς φῶς ἔκ τινος ἐπιφανείας ἐπωνομάσθη. Ἦν γὰρ δὴ τοιαύτη κατ' ἀρετὴν καὶ ἡ μήτηρ ὡς πανταχοῦ τῷ θείῳ βουλήματι χειραγωγεῖσθαι, διαφερόντως δὲ τὴν καθαράν τε καὶ ἀκηλίδωτον τοῦ βίου διαγωγὴν ἀσπασαμένη, ὡς μηδὲ τὸν γάμον ἑκουσίως ἑλέσθαι. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ὀρφανὴ μὲν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἦν, ὑπερήνθει δὲ τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ σώματος καὶ πολλοὺς ἡ φήμη τῆς εὐμορφίας πρὸς τὴν μνηστείαν συνήγειρε, κίνδυνος δὲ ἦν, εἰ μὴ κατὰ τὸ ἑκούσιόν τινι συναρμοσθείη, παθεῖν τι τῶν ἀβουλήτων ἐξ ἐπηρείας, πρὸς ἁρπαγὰς παρεσκευασμένων τῶν ἐπιμεμηνότων τῷ κάλλει: διὰ τοῦτο ἑλομένη τὸν ἐπὶ σεμνότητι βίου γνωριζόμενόν τε καὶ μαρτυρούμενον, ὥστε φύλακα κτήσασθαι τῆς ἰδίας ζωῆς, εὐθὺς ἐν ταῖς πρώταις ὠδῖσι ταύτης γίνεται μήτηρ.