The memory of our reverend father Hilarion the New

The Blessed Hilarion was the son of Peter of Cappadocia, who served at the king's table, and the mother of Theodosia, pious and God-fearing people; in his youth he was well educated in the Holy Scriptures. When he was 20 years old, according to the Gospel (Matthew 10:37; Luke 14:26), he left his mother, home and wealth and became a monk at the monastery of his father Isis near Byzantium.

Then he came to the Dalmatian monastery [the Dalmatian monastery was founded by St. Isaac himself, who was martyred in the IV century (see his life on May 30); but it received its name from the name of the abbot Dalmatus - Isaac's successor - who ruled the monastery for 55 years.] , took here the great angelic image and became a disciple of St. Gregory the Decapolis [His memory is celebrated by St. Gregory the Apostle].

He had a job in the monastery garden and labored in this obedience for ten years; reading the history of the virtuous and godly life of his namesake, the monk Hilarion the Great [His memory is celebrated by St.

He was called Ilarion the New, for he had purified and enlightened his soul like the sun, and had received from God power over unclean spirits, so that he could cast them out.

Several years later, when the abbot died, the monk Hilarion, learning that the brothers wanted to make him abbot, decided to leave; for this purpose he secretly left the monastery at night and went to Byzantium, hoping to find there his teacher St. Gregory, but the latter sailed to Rome and, returning from there, settled on Mount Olympus [Olympus is a mountain in the province of Asia Minor, on the border between Phrygia and Bithynia.

Here, by the way, there was a monastery "in the Symbols", famous for the strict ascetic life of its inhabitants.] Hilarion himself came to a monastery in Byzantium; the monks of the Dalmatian monastery, learning about this, began to ask the most holy patriarch Nicéphore [Nicéphore I was patriarch from 806 to 815.] to make him their abbot, even if against his wishes.

The patriarch reported this to the emperor: having summoned Hilarion to himself, the king and the patriarch urged him to accept the authority over the Dalmatian monastery.

In the 820s, Constantine, the bishop of Nicosia, who lived in the 8th century, was considered the founder of the heresy of iconoclasm.

This heresy was condemned at the 7th Ecumenical Council, held in 787 in Nicaea.], forcing many to his heretical wisdom; those who did not obey him, he either tortured, or banished to distant countries.

The good soldier of Christ not only did not obey the heretic emperor, but even dared to denounce him, calling him a godless and a new criminal, and thus aroused the fierce anger of the emperor against himself.

After some time, calling him again, much tormented, but achieving nothing, the king gave him to his like-minded patriarch Theodotus [Feodotus I Kasiter patriarched from 815 to 821], by the surname of Kasiter, who took the throne after the banishment for the piety of the most holy Nicéphore.

And this false patriarch Theodotus did to the saint as the king had done to him: he put the saint in a dark dungeon, and made him suffer hunger and thirst for many days, and commanded that he should not be given bread or water.

The saint, having come to the monastery, lived here one year; scarcely having had time to rest a little from the torments and hunger, the saint again condemned himself to the torments, for the king, waiting for the fulfillment of the promise of the monks, realized that he had been deceived [The monks obviously promised to obey the emperor in general in all his orders; contrary to the Orthodox beliefs, of course, they could not fulfill.] , why he sent soldiers to the monastery and punished the monks, and the monk, taking,

He put him in prison again; then he sent him to the monastery of Phanaeus, and there he ordered the saint to be imprisoned in the narrowest prison.

In this dungeon the saint languished for six months, receiving all kinds of troubles and annoyances from the cruel abbot of that monastery. Then, by the king's order, he was again brought to Constantinople: here he was again persuaded by various flattering exhortations to accept the heresy of iconoclasm. But since the martyr of Christ did not listen to the heretics, the king sent him to another monastery called Cycloweia.

From here the saint was again brought to the king and after severe beatings was exiled to the city of Protil [Protil city or, rather, the Protil camp; its location is unknown].

The wicked king, having destroyed many, himself perished furiously: he was slashed with swords in the temple by his own soldiers in the very place where, for the first time, having insulted the holy icon of Christ, he threw it down; so evil destroyed the wicked man his wounded soul.

Monsignor Hilarion, along with others, was released from prison, but he did not go to his monastery, since the heresy against icons had not yet ceased, and the hierarchical thrones were occupied by heretics, false teachers and false pastors, but he stayed with one faithful and pious woman, who in her estate gave him a secluded place, arranged a cellar with a garden and supplied him with everything he needed.

At this time, St. Theodore of Study returned from captivity and retired to the Lord, who also suffered many sufferings from heretics for his faith; his holy soul, being carried up to heaven by the Angels, was seen by St. Hilarion, as it is said in the life of Feodor.

And when he was walking in his garden, he heard strange voices in the air, and there was a strange odor; and he wondered, and stood still, and looked, and behold, many angels in white garments, and their faces shining, and they went out to meet one.

- This is the soul of Theodore, abbot of the monastery of Studium, who suffered for the holy icons and was very courageous in his sufferings, and now died and solemnly ascends to heaven, met by the heavenly forces.

When his son Theophilus came to the throne after Michael Travulus [6 Theophilus reigned from 829 to 842], he gathered all the confessors and again began to force them, like the previous wicked kings, to idolatry, and he brutally tortured those who did not obey him.

At this time he was taken and brought before the king and the monk Hilarion; compelled to idolatry, he did not obey the king's command and again denounced him as a wicked lawbreaker who had trampled on the true dogmas of faith; for this the saint received one hundred and seventy blows on the back and was exiled to the island of Afucius [7 The island of Afucius, or Ophius, was in the bay of Pas-Limani, near Constantinople].

When this wicked king died, the queen Feodora gathered all the confessors in the capital city, restored the Orthodox faith and ordered the holy icons to be brought into the temples; then the holy Ilarion was released.

He again took the position of abbot in his Dalmatian monastery and became famous for his miracles. After living there for three years and saving the lives of his disciples, he retired to the Lord.

His honest and holy soul, as well as the soul of Theodore he saw, was taken to heaven by angels and in the face of the holy confessors now stands before the throne of the glory of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the one God in the Trinity, to whom be the glory forever.

The hedges of thy pasture are lively, the flock shepherds safely, and thou art the height of great works, new Hilarion, in piety many pains and sorrows receive.