Hilarion

Hilarion was born around 291 to pagan parents in Tabatha, a village five miles north of Gaza.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=188}} Hilarion was at least bilingual, speaking both Greek as well as Aramaic which was common around Gaza.{{cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Everett |title=Personalities of the Early Church |date=1993 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-8153-1061-7 |page=203 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0fIq9wd3Z3oC |access-date=12 October 2024}} His pagan parents sent him in his youth to study with a grammarian in Alexandria, where he gave, according to Jerome, a remarkable proof of his ability and character and became an accomplished speaker.{{sfn|Binns |1994|p=75}} While in Alexandria, he heard of the hermit Anthony and set off to study with him. After two months of learning the ascetic life from Anthony, Hilarion started to feel that the many visitors who came to Anthony for healing or exorcism were too much to bear and he decided to set off in the wilderness of Palestine to live alone as a hermit.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|p=12}}{{cite book |last=Shaw |first=Teresa M. |title=The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality in Early Christianity |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1-4514-1888-0 |pages=108–110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZmlScS8bmYC |access-date=13 October 2024}}

File:Octave Tassaert - Temptation of Saint Hilarion.jpg, {{Circa|1857}} (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts)]]

Hilaron returned to Gaza where he found his parents dead and subsequently gave away his goods to his brothers and the poor.{{cite book |last=Farmer |first=David |chapter= Hilarion |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Saints |edition= 5th revised |date=14 April 2011 |publisher=OUP |location= Oxford |page=210 |isbn=978-0-19-959660-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_zJJtvK2_KsC |access-date=13 October 2024}} He then established himself as a hermit in the desert inland from the coastal road, seven miles from Maiuma, the port of Gaza.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=188}} Though he went on one occasion to Jerusalem to venerate the holy sites, he chose not to live in the Judaean Desert as he did not wish to appear to confine God within prescribed limits, believing he could be close to God anywhere.{{cite book |last=Wilken |first=Robert Louis |title=The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History and Thought |date=1 January 1992 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-06083-6 |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5R9NC_W_iAC}} Around 308, he built a hut where he lived in solitude for 22 years and which survived into the time of Jerome.{{sfn|Binns|1994|p=154}} Hilarion wove baskets as he had learned in Egypt where this was a common monastic occupation.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|p=12}} Here he also struggled against fleshly desires and Jerome said that the devil tempted Hilarion by igniting the "flames of lust" in the young man. Hilarion fought this sexual desire by mortifying his body with hunger, thirst and strenuous labour.

After the 22 years he lived in his solitary hut, Hilarion was approached by a brave woman who sought a cure for her sterility. First, he resisted, but soon he prayed for her upon which she was healed. From then on, Hilarion spent his life surrounded by disciples and people in need of healing and exorcism. Jerome reports several episodes in which Hilarion heals people, drives out demons, foresees the future, performs miracles and speaks divinely inspired words of wisdom. In one instance, Hilarion was able to heal the three children of Helpidius, who would later become praetorian prefect{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=190}} In Bethelea, Hilarion healed miraculously a certain Alaphion, which led to the conversion of the prominent family of the historian Sozomen.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|p=13}}

As there were no monasteries in Palestine or Syria at the time (questionable, cf. Chariton and the lavra of Pharan), people begun to flock to Hilarion for spiritual training.{{sfn|Binns |1994|p=154}} {{cite book |last=Ward |first=Walter D. |title=Mirage of the Saracen: Christians and Nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in Late Antiquity |year= 2014 |publisher=Univ of California Press |pages=32–33 |isbn=978-0-520-95952-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9IUUBQAAQBAJ |access-date=12 October 2024}} Sozomen, possibly due to his local sources, singles out Epiphanius and Hesyach as the two most outstanding in the circle around Hilarion.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|p=16}} Epiphanius, who is known by the bynames 'of Eleutheropolis' and 'of Salamis', became his disciple after returning from Egypt and would later go to Cyprus where he introduced monasticism and was elected bishop of Salamis around 367/368.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=184}} With many more people seeking his guidance, Hilarion established a monastery during the reign of emperor Constantius (337–361) which, by the time he was sixty-three, consisted of a large community with many visitors.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|p=13}}

Hilarion remained in Gaza until three years after the death of Anthony (around 356), upon which he went to the place where Anthony had died in Egypt in order to escape the crowds that visited him.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=190}} While he was there, the pagan Julian became emperor of the East in the winter of 361/362 and the city authority of Gaza attempted to arrest Hilarion who then had to flee. Jerome's and Sozomen's account differs slightly as Jerome writes that Hilarion escaped arrest in Egypt and lived there until Julian's death before travelling to Sicily, Hilarion went according to Sozomen directly to Sicily.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=188}} From there, he went soon to Epidauros in Dalmatia where he was said to have stilled the sea during the tsunami of 21 July 365 by drawing three crosses in the sand. Immediately after that, he went to Cyprus.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=189}}

Hilarion was welcomed in Cyprus by his old disciple Epiphanius who encouraged him to stay.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=185}} He initially settled near Paphos but later retired to a more remote place twelve miles away. Here, Hilarion died at the age of eighty and was buried.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=189}} Ten months after Hilarion's death, his disciple Hesyach stole his body, which was perfectly preserved and smelled sweetly, and interred it in his own monastery at Maiuma.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|p=16}}{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=189}}

{{Christian mysticism}}

Sozomen reports that after Hilarion's body was interred at his monastery, the local population started to celebrate an annual festival at the place.{{cite web |last=Erizos |title=E04018: Sozomen in his Ecclesiastical History mentions veneration and miracles at the tombs of *Hilarion (anchorite in Palestine and Cyprus, ob. 371, S00099) in Cyprus and Palestine. Sozomen describes the posthumous veneration of ascetics as common in Palestine, mentioning the 4th c. monks and missionaries *Aurelios (S01700), *Alexion (S01701), and *Alaphion (S01702). Written in Greek at Constantinople, 439/450. |url=https://portal.sds.ox.ac.uk/articles/online_resource/E04018_Sozomen_in_his_Ecclesiastical_History_mentions_veneration_and_miracles_at_the_tombs_of_Hilarion_anchorite_in_Palestine_and_Cyprus_ob_371_S00099_in_Cyprus_and_Palestine_Originally_buried_in_Cyprus_his_body_was_stolen_and_reburied_in_h/13841888 |website=figshare |publisher=University of Oxford |doi=10.25446/oxford.13841888.v1 |date=12 September 2017}} His relics continued to be venerated and are also mentioned by the anonymous Piacenza Pilgrim around the year 570.{{cite web |last=Robert |title=E00506: The Piacenza Pilgrim, in his account of his visit to Gaza (Palestine), mentions the tomb close by of *Hilarion (anchorite in Palestine and Cyprus, ob. 371, S00099). Account of an anonymous pilgrim, written in Latin, probably in Placentia (northern Italy), c. 570. |url=https://portal.sds.ox.ac.uk/articles/online_resource/E00506_The_Piacenza_Pilgrim_in_his_account_of_his_visit_to_Gaza_Palestine_mentions_the_tomb_close_by_of_Hilarion_anchorite_in_Palestine_and_Cyprus_ob_371_S00099_Account_of_an_anonymous_pilgrim_written_in_Latin_probably_in_Placentia_northern/13748317 |website=figshare |access-date=5 January 2024 |doi=10.25446/oxford.13748317.v1 |date=15 May 2015}}

Hilarion was venerated from early time in both East and West as an example of monastic holiness. Bede included him in his martyrology and he appeared frequently in Pre-Conquest English monastic calendars before his feast was ousted by those of Ursula and Dunstan's ordination. Charlemagne is said to have brought the relics of Hilarion to Moissac Abbey from where they were transferred to the church of Duravel in 1065.{{cite book |last=Baudoin |first=Jacques |title=Grand livre des saints: culte et iconographie en Occident |lang=fr |date=2006 |publisher=Éditions Créer |isbn=978-2-84819-041-9 |page=267 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Hwa38EjyoAC |access-date=13 October 2024}}

Hilarion is the patron saint of Caulonia, a southern Italian town in Calabria, under the name Sant'Ilario.[https://sainthilarion.asn.au/about-us/our-history-and-culture/ The Society of Saint Hilarion]

On icons, Hilarion is depicted as an old man with a brown, rush-like beard divided into three points and he holds sometimes a scroll which reads: "The tools of a monk are steadfastness, humility, and love according to God."

Upon Hilarion's death, Epiphanius announced his death in a laudatory letter which served as primary source for both Jerome and Sozomenus who wrote subsequent hagiographies about Hilarion.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=185}} Jerome wrote his Life of Hilarion in Latin around 390 in the monastery of Paula in Bethlehem. Jerome's work was translated into Greek by contemporary writer Sophronius upon whose translation Jerome looked favourably.{{cite book |last= Efthymiadis |first= Stephanos |title=The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography |volume= I: Periods and Places |date=28 July 2013 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |pages=202–203, 389 |isbn=978-1-4094-8268-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gOiAgAAQBAJ |access-date=12 October 2024}} Jerome was inspired by reading the Life of Anthony which also served as a literary model with regard to its content and ecclesiastic function of the text.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|p=9}} There are two major themes Jerome focuses on, one being Hilarion's search for a life of solitary prayer and contemplation and the other being Hilarion's role as successor to Anthony.{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=189}} Jerome's goal was not so much to write a historical exact account but rather a hagiographic composition focusing on the life and deeds of Hilarion.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|p=13}} Though Jerome's historical accuracy has been occasionally questioned, there can be no doubt that Hilarion was a historical figure and that Gaza became during his time a center of monasticism.{{sfn|Binns|1994|p=154}}{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=192}}

Hilarion's life is mentioned in the third, fifth and sixth book of Sozomen's Ecclesiastical history, which was written in the 440s.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|pp=14–16}} Whereas in the third book no new information to Jerome's Life of Hilarion is added and is in parts less detailed,{{sfn|Barnes|2010|p=187}} Sozomen adds new information in the fifth and sixth books, possibly thanks to his local sources and own family history. Sozomen's own origin and literary aims as a historian therefore result in a different historical sketch of Hilarion's life than that of Jerome.{{sfn|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky|2006|pp=14–16}}

Hilarion is also mentioned twice in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.{{cite book |last= Ward |first= Benedicta |title=The Sayings of the Desert Fathers - The alphabetical collection |year=1975 |publisher=Cistercian Publications |location= Kalamazoo |pages= 57, 111 |isbn=0-264-66350-0}}

Johann Gottfried Herder wrote the poem "The Paradise in the desert" about the teacher-disciple relation between Anthony and Hilarion in 1797.Johann Gottfried Herder: Das Paradies in der Wüste. (Wikisource) This motif was also taken up by Gustave Flaubert in his The Temptation of Saint Anthony, though changed, as Hilarion attempts to tempt Anthony away from his faith by creating doubt.{{cite book |last=Orr |first=Mary |title=Flaubert's Tentation: Remapping Nineteenth-Century French Histories of Religion and Science |year= 2008 |publisher=OUP |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-925858-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4FUTDAAAQBAJ |access-date=13 October 2024}} Hermann Hesse adapted a biography of Hilarion as one of the three Lives of Joseph Knecht, making his Nobel Prize–winning novel The Glass Bead Game (also known as Magister Ludi).

• Chariton the Confessor (died {{Circa|350}}), also considered to be the founder of Palestinian monasticism
• Euthymius the Great (377–473), founder of monasteries in Palestine and saint
• Theoctistus (died 451), who together with Euthymius established and led the first coenobium (communal monastic settlement) in the Judaean desert (see also Theodosius)
• Paul of Thebes ({{Circa|226/7}}–{{Circa|341}}), known as "Paul, the First Hermit", who preceded both Anthony and Chariton
• Sabbas the Sanctified (439–532), monk and saint, founded several monasteries in Palestine
• Saint Hilarion Castle in Templos, Cyprus. Known in Turkish as "101 houses" (legends of Cyprus). Named for unconnected obscure saint.
• Saint Hilarion Monastery near Gaza
• Theodosius the Cenobiarch ({{Circa|423}}–529), a founder of cenobitic monastic life in the Judaean desert (see also Theoctistus)

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Barnes |first=Timothy David |title=Early Christian Hagiography and Roman History |date=2010 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-150226-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=diCOxa4OYwkC |access-date=12 October 2024}}
• {{cite book |last=Binns |first=John |title=Ascetics and Ambassadors of Christ: The Monasteries of Palestine, 314-631 |date=1994 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-826465-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C57YAAAAMAAJ |access-date=13 October 2024}}
• {{cite book |last=Bitton-Ashkelony |first=Brouri|last2=Kofsky |first2= Aryeh |title=The Monastic School of Gaza |date=February 2006 |publisher= Brill |isbn=9789047408444 |pages=36–43 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hOx5DwAAQBAJ |access-date= 12 November 2023}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3003.htm The life of St. Hilarion by Jerome]
• [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07347a.htm Kirsch, Johann Peter. "St. Hilarion." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 28 Jan. 2013]
• {{librivox book | title=The Life of St. Hilarion | author=Jerome}}
• [http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Colonnades/Saints/St%20Hilarion-136/StHilarion.htm Colonnade Statue in St Peter's Square]

{{Coptic saints|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilarion}}

Category:291 births

Category:371 deaths

Category:3rd-century Romans

Category:4th-century Romans

Category:4th-century Christian saints

Category:Converts to Christianity from ancient Roman religions

Category:Exorcists

Category:Desert Fathers

Category:People of Roman Palestine

Category:Saints from the Holy Land