[1] He was born in the village of Prodromos, Ottoman Cyprus, and his original surname was Christodoulides (Greek: Χριστοδουλίδης).
For his days, thanks to the Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856, he managed to rise and sound the bell for the first time in the Turkish-occupied Nicosia, in the cathedral of St. John.
He made sure that the religious duties of the clergy were guaranteed, while he was the first Archbishop to gain the right to participate in the general board of the island.
He also sought to have the tax burden eased by written requests to Kâmil Pasha the Grand Vizier in Constantinople who was himself a Cypriot.
Makarios died in Nicosia on 4 August 1865 from cholera, after refusing to leave the city when an epidemic broke out.