What is Macrina’s Table?
Macrina’s Table is Cross and Crown’s speaker series, geared toward starting intellectual conversations in the local church.
Having good conversations about history, philosophy, theology, art, ethics, etc., is an important part of Christian community. Some of the most fruitful periods in church history have come out of good conversation (around Macrina the Younger’s table, for instance, or Luther’s). Today, the church is one of the last places where those kinds of conversations are possible. The church needs it, and so does the world.
Upcoming Speaker Details:
Dr. Mike Licona – The Historical Case for the Resurrection of Jesus – 2/6/2026
The Bible reports that Jesus rose from the dead. That’s a huge claim from a religious book. Must it be accepted on faith alone? What if one does not think the Bible derives from God and contains a lot of fictitious stories? In this lecture, Dr. Mike Licona contends there is sufficient historical evidence for historians to conclude the resurrection of Jesus truly occurred.
Who was Macrina?
Macrina the Younger lived in the A.D. 300s. When her parents died, she turned the family estate into a Christian community. There she taught her younger brothers philosophy and theology and modeled a life of profound spirituality1. Their home became a center of theological conversation for the group that became known as the Cappodocian Fathers – Gregory of Nyssa and Basil the Great, two of Macrina’s brothers, and their friend, Gregory of Nazianzus. The Cappodocian fathers helped formulate and defend the doctrine of the Trinity. Gregory of Nyssa wrote a biography of Macrina in which he called her “sister and teacher at the same time.” He also said that she was the only one he trusted to answer the objections of unbelievers to the resurrection of the dead.
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1. See Jaroslav, Pelikan, Christianity and Classical Culture: The Metamorphosis of Natural Theology in the Christian Encounter with Hellenism.
Macrina’s Prayer
You, O Lord, have freed us from the fear of death. You give our bodies, which you have made with Your hands, to the earth to rest in safety until the last trumpet sounds. Then You will take our mortal and unsightly remains and transfigure them with immortality.
To free us from sin and from the curse laid upon us, You took both sin and the curse upon Yourself. You crushed the head of the dragon that had seized men by the throat. You shattered the gates of hell and trampled the devil, death’s lord, beneath Your feet. You cleared the way for our resurrection. You broke the flaming sword and restored to Paradise the man who was crucified with You and implored Your mercies.
Remember me, too, in Your kingdom. Do not let the slanderer stand against me in the way or let my sin be found in Your eyes, if I have been led astray by the weakness of my nature. O You Who have the power to forgive sins on earth, forgive me, that I may be refreshed, and when I put off my body let me stand before you with my soul unspotted and undefiled. Amen.
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