HILARION THE YOUNGER

Among the countless number of saints, only a few entered the memory of the Church with the name “Great”. These are the Fathers of the Church, bishops, thinkers and theologians. In the East these are Denis and Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea; in the West these are Leo and Gregory of Rome. These are the hermits, monastics, founders of the great ascetic traditions: Anthony, Theodosius, Pachomius, Poemen, Barsanuphius, Arsenius, Onuphrius and Hilarion.

We owe the biography of Hilarion the Great (291–371) to St. Jerome. It was he, an ascetic, theologian and translator, who preserved for subsequent generations precious information about the life of the founder of Palestinian monasticism in Gaza. In this, Jerome followed the example of Athanasius of Alexandria, who, around 360, wrote the life of Anthony the Great (251–356). The life of Anthony, which began with Anthony’s own conversion to an ascetic lifestyle in the desert, became the reason for the conversion of many people to Christ. It inspired Saint Jerome to write the lives of other ascetic saints of his time.

According to Jerome, Hilarion the Great was born near Gaza into a pagan family who sent him to study in Alexandria. There he converted to Christianity, became close to the monks, and around 307 stayed with Anthony for two months. At the age of 15 he returned to Palestine. His parents had already died by that time, and Hilarion, having distributed his property to the poor, began to live as a hermit.

By attacking Hilarion, the demons seemed to be testing themselves in the physical body. In response, the Lord granted the ascetic the grace to expel them from the real bodies of people. These healings and expulsions of demons that Hilarion performed attracted crowds of admirers and pilgrims to him. And he… ran. At first, he saved himself by becoming a hermit, but then, finding no peace, he simply began to wander, moving from country to country: Egypt, Libya, Sicily, Dalmatia, and, finally, Cyprus, where he died in 371. Thus, conversion, asceticism, teaching, the founding of a monastery, working miracles in the image of the biblical prophets, veneration, and, finally, flight and wandering became the Path of the Great Hilarion from Palestine to Heavenly Jerusalem.

If the addition of the adjective “Great” to the name of one or another saint did not happen often, then the epithet “new” was also a rare occurrence. After all, “new” in this case means nothing more than a translation of the Greek term “younger.” In other words, by calling this or that saint “new,” the Church recognized that his life and feat were a continuation of the virtues of his heavenly patron, a renewed embodiment of a single common ideal. Continuity in the Holy Spirit has become a reality. In other words, both saints had to be canonized by the Church. There had to be a commonality between them in the way of life and in the way of the path to holiness. And, of course, they had to be called by the same name.

The amazing exclusivity of the name “Hilarion” is that there were two ascetics who entered the memory of the Church with the name “Hilarion the New”: these are Saints Hilarion of Pelekete (694–754) and Hilarion of the Dalmatos monastery (775–845), so named after the monasteries, which were led. The monastery of the Pelekete ascetic was located on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, while the famous Dalmatos monastery was located in Constantinople.

The monastery of the first ascetic was located on Mount Olympus in Bithynia, while the famous Dalmatos monastery was located in Constantinople. It was founded under the first Orthodox Emperor of the Roman Empire, Theodosius the Great (379–395), to satisfy the new capital’s thirst for authentic spiritual life. Over time, the abbot of the Dalmatos monastery became the dean of the entire monastic clergy of Constantinople. The Pelekete monastery was one of the monasteries of the Bithynian Olympus. This Olympus was one of the four “Holy Mountains” of the Byzantine Empire, each of which was a kind of monastic republic of many monasteries, of which only Athos has survived to this day.

The word “Pelekete” denotes a geographical area, and the adjective “Dalmatian” comes from the name of the second abbot of this monastery named Dalmatos (+ after 446). Although the first abbot was a famous ascetic named Isaac (+383), he died too early and did not really have time to be at the head of the monastery. Russian Emperor Peter I (1682–1725) was born on the day of memory of this ascetic, and therefore the famous St. Isaac’s Cathedral was erected in the new capital of the Russian Empire. A remarkable intertwining of the destinies of two capitals, on the Bosporus and on the Neva, each of which at the time of its founding received new shrines, a monastery and a cathedral, each of which was associated with the name of St. Isaac!

But let’s return to Hilarion the New, who is also called “Hilarion of Pelekete.” Of the two “Hilarions the New” he was the eldest. Information about this Hilarion the New has been preserved thanks to the canon dedicated to him. In the text Hilarion is called a martyr for the veneration of icons. His memory is celebrated on April 10 (28 March).

So, Hilarion the New was the abbot of the monastery of Peleketa in Bithynia. Before his election, he lived as a hermit for many years, acquired the gift of prophecy and was ordained a priest. This monastery in the name of John the Theologian was located near the medieval settlement of Triglia in Bithynia, not far from the Dardanelles Strait. As the etymology of the name itself indicates, the monastery was located on a rock.

This area was relatively remote from Constantinople. During the Arab conquests, the monasteries were in danger. This contributed to the fact that the monks could maintain spiritual freedom and would not obey government decisions against icon veneration. Thus, by the destinies of God, the monastery became a center of resistance to iconoclasm and suffered especially during its first wave, from 730 to 787. One day, the commander, ruler of the region and confidant of the iconoclast emperor Constantine V Copronymus (718–775), Michael Lachanodrakon, attacked the monastery on Maundy Thursday 764 and burned it down.

The exact sequence of events of that time cannot be reconstructed. But there is much evidence that monastic life was secretly preserved by those monks who managed to escape. Under Copronymus’ successor, Leo IV (775–780), the monastery was attacked a second time. For refusing to renounce icon veneration, monks were tortured, burned with boiling resin, and their nostrils were torn out. Hilarion was at the head of the monastery at that time. The circumstances of his death are unclear. In the liturgical canon of St. Joseph, who was his contemporary and therefore knew the details of his life, Hilarion is called a martyr; in our monthly book he is mentioned with the name of the venerable one, that is, a holy ascetic.

At that tragic time, Hilarion had prophetic traits: healing the sick, expelling demons and ending droughts. Contemporaries familiar with the biographies of the pioneers of monastic life saw in the ascetic the New Hilarion. Thanks to the abundance of grace, combined with the sorrow of his final earthly fate, believers saw in him a spiritual relative of Hilarion the Great. By the end of the 8th century, the monastery was restored in order to again become a center of resistance to error during the second wave of iconoclasm (814–842).

It is from this period that the biography of the “other” New Hilarion dates back, whose memory is celebrated on June 19 (5). Thanks to existing research, his life is known in sufficient detail. It was in honor of this ascetic that our contemporary Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Hungary received his name in monastic vows.

Hilarion the New of the Dalmatos monastery was born in 775 in Constantinople. His father Peter was a courtier of the imperial palace, the saint’s mother’s name was Theodosia. At the age of twenty, Hilarion went to one of the capital’s monasteries, but then moved to the monastery of St. Dalmatos, historically located in the suburbs of the capital.

Even then, the ascetic was granted spiritual gifts, and the abbot of the monastery insisted on his ordination as a priest. Immediately after the death of the abbot, rightly fearing his election as abbot of the monastery, Hilarion fled to one of the monasteries on Olympus in Bithynia. Flight and desire for the unknown makes him biographically related to the Palestinian Hilarion and leaving for the Holy Mountain with the “other” Hilarion the New.

However, the brethren of the Dalmatian monastery managed to find out about his whereabouts, and they turned to Patriarch Nikephoros (758–828) with a request to facilitate his return. In 807, by order of not only the patriarch, but also the emperor himself, Hilarion was returned to be elected abbot of the monastery. At one of the Church Councils, the archimandrite represented the capital’s monasteries as an “exarch”. Everything then pointed to a very prosperous and peaceful continuation of his biography, perhaps even without his initial consent.

Eight years later, when Emperor Leo V the Armenian (813–820) came to power, a second wave of iconoclasm began. Leo began to fight against icon veneration and tried to involve Hilarion in this process. For refusing to submit to the heretic emperor, the abbot was imprisoned. The brethren of the monastery interceded with Leo on behalf of their primate, promising him to persuade Hilarion to submit to the imperial will. Unlike the four Byzantine monastic mountains, which were located far from the capital and were capable of being independent, the capital’s monasteries were threatened with desolation if they resisted the Empire’s policies in religious matters. That’s why they looked for a compromise.

Then Leo freed the ascetic but soon realized that he had been deceived. Hilarion condemned his iconoclasm. After this, the emperor became furious and ordered the arrest again. Having ordered the abbot of the monastery of Phoneos on the Bosporus to treat the saint without mercy, the emperor kept him there for six months, after which, again trying to persuade him to agree, he imprisoned him for two years in another monastery on the western bank of the Bosporus.

Apparently, suspecting the monks of the monasteries in which he was kept of sympathy for the prisoner, the ruler placed the ascetic in a prison at the imperial palace, subjected him to scourging and again imprisoned him in one of the fortresses. Suddenly, on Christmas Day 820, Emperor Leo was assassinated in the Hagia Sophia during a service. But the time of peace did not come, and Hilarion hid for seven years in the house of a pious woman.

After the accession of Theophilus to the throne (829–842), Hilarion, together with the abbots of other monasteries, listened to the emperor’s demand to submit to the policy of iconoclasm, again professed Orthodoxy, for which he was subjected to 117 lashes and was sent to an island in the southern part of the Sea of ​​​​Marmara, which then served as a place of exile for criminals. But here the ascetic built himself a cell from rough stones, in which he remained for eight years. The death of Theophilus on January 20, 842 allowed Hilarion to return to his monastery and witness the final restoration of icon veneration. The saint reposed in the Lord on June 19, 845 at the age of 70. According to his life, he possessed various spiritual gifts, power over demons, the gift of healing the sick and power over the elements.

Unlike previous heresies and errors, iconoclasm, at first glance, did not pose a direct threat to the fundamental tenets of the Orthodox faith. But, like a virus, it seemed to undermine the immunity of faith in relation to non-Orthodox teachings and especially in relation to Islam, which was then beginning its civilizational dominance. Condemned at the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787, iconoclasm seemed to have been stopped, but then, a quarter of a century later, it reasserted itself. Many representatives of the great Orthodox resistance, both the first and second waves, did not live to see it overcome in 843, tortured or exhausted by repeated persecution. The fact that Hilarion the New survived the iconoclasts, apparently, was a special divine blessing. Called “New” for his truly prophetic vocation and amazing likeness to the ancient Great Hilarion, Hilarion was a man of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

The Eight Desert Fathers are called “Great” by Orthodox Tradition. Imitating the symbolic thinking of the Church Fathers, we can say that their number is like the number of evangelists multiplied by two. Among them is Hilarion the Great, who was the founding father of Palestinian monasticism. He left the monastery he founded, because the glory of his exploits, signs and miracles began to haunt him. Several centuries later, during the era of iconoclasm, the Lord installed “two Hilarions” in the Church.

“And I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. If anyone wants to offend them, he must be killed. They have power to shut up the heavens, and have power over the waters, and to smite the earth. The Beast Coming Out of the Abyss will fight with them and kill them on the street of the Great City, where our Lord was crucified. But after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they both stood on their feet; and great fear fell on those who looked at them” (Rev. 11:2-8,11-12).

Chronologically, both ascetics are separated by approximately a century. Both were abbots of important monasteries. Both became martyred heroes against the waves of Constantinople iconoclasm. The method of this confrontation is also very similar: first, the desire to flee from worldly glory, because it was camouflaged as spiritual glory. Further, the Antichrist’s thirst for imperial power wanted to enlist their support in its fight against Orthodoxy. In response to the refusal, persecution, intrigues and torment followed. These circumstances lead us to remember images from the mysterious biblical Book of the Apocalypse.

The circumstances of the lives of these two saints and the image of holiness are so similar that Tradition, as if identifying them both with the great Hilarion and affirming their mutual spiritual kinship, calls them by the name “Hilarion the New.” In turn, modern researchers sometimes make mistakes about the circumstances of each of their lives and incorrectly identify one with the other. Remembering and discerning the saints is an important exercise in virtue.