On the way back from Kazan to the Yellow Water Lake, Macarius is said to have stopped at a site near today's Sviyazhsk, blessing the future location of Makaryev Sviyazhsk Monastery. However, Macarius and his companions were not allowed to stay at the Yellow Water Lake site. He decided to leave a safe distance between themselves and the Khanate, and went to the forests of the Unzha River, a few hundred kilometers north of the Nizhny. It is a long way, and the travellers soon run out of food, but were miraculously saved from starvation (Venerable Macarius' Miracle of the Moose). Once they reached the Unzha, still in 1439, Macarius and his party founded Unzhensky Makaryev Monastery (now a convent).