[1] If a forgery, why should this letter have been assigned to
Macarius, a comparatively obscure person whose name is not even found
in the menaea of the Eastern church? But convincing proof of its
authenticity lies in Macarius' reference to himself as merely
archbishop of Jerusalem, and his avowal that he was unwilling to
advise the Armenians, "being oppressed by the weakness of the
authority conceded him by the weighty usages of the church."
Jerusalem was only allowed to rank as a patriarchate in 451, and the
seventh canon of Nice subordinated the see to that of Caesarea in
Palestine. To this decree Macarius somewhat bitterly alludes.