Hilarion
was born of pagan parents in the village of Tabatha, south of Gaza. He
was converted to Christianity in Alexandria and baptized at fifteen.
Visiting
St. Anthony of the Desert, he lived with him for two months, but
finding the desert hermit’s cave only a little less populated than the
city, because of the continuous flow of people seeking the saint’s help
and guidance, he retired into the desert of Majuma, in Palestine.
For
years he only ate fifteen figs a day, and for an occupation, he tilled
the earth and made baskets. His first abode was a small hut woven of
reeds. Later, he made himself a cell, one so small that it was more like
a tomb. As the years passed, he found he needed more nourishment than
figs alone provided and included a few vegetables and bread in his diet.
In
356 he was informed by revelation of the death of St. Anthony. He was
sixty-five and was so afflicted by the number of people who crowded to
him that he resolved to leave Palestine. From then on, he became a
pilgrim of solitude, seeking to be left alone with God. But though
silent, his miracles spoke loudly and people sought him out in whatever
wilderness he fled to.
Finally, after trying several remote
places, including Sicily, Hilarion wished to go into a country where not
even his language was understood. And so his friend, St. Heyschius,
took him to Dalmatia. But again miracles defeated the saint’s intent of
living alone. Fleeing to Cyprus, his popularity followed him there, so
traveling inland a dozen miles and climbing to an inaccessible but
pleasant place, he at last found peace and quiet.
After a few
years in this spot, he died at the age of eighty. Among those who
visited him in his last illness, was St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis,
who later wrote of him to St. Jerome. He was buried near Paphos, but St.
Hesychius secretly removed his body to Hilarion’s old home of Majuma.
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
St. Hilarion
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