2012 book
Schema-Archideacon Hilarion
https://azbyka-ru.translate.goog/otechnik/Zhitija_svjatykh/russkij-afonskij-otechnik-ili-izbrannye-zhizneopisanija-russkih-startsev-i-podvizhnikov-zhivshih-na-afone-v-h%D1%96h-hh-vekah-tom-1/1_8?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Hilarion (John, in the world) detail is found in the 2006 Sergius book!
22
The biography is compiled from the book:
Sergius (Vesnin), hieroschemamonk. Works and letters of Svyatogorets: In 2 vols. M., 2006. P. 169.
22
Жизнеописание составлено по книге:
Сергий (Веснин), иеросхимонах. Сочинения и письма Святогорца: В 2 т. М., 2006. С. 169.
Schema-Archideacon Hilarion
Hieroschideacon Hilarion
22 (in the world John) was born in 1810 in the village of Platomonos, Thessalonica diocese. His father's name was George. Father Hilarion was a very educated and spiritually deep man. One could say about him, a real man of the world, a true Christian, who does not distinguish between
“Jew and Greek” (
Gal. 3:28 ), who loves everyone with equal brotherly love. This intelligent and courteous interlocutor, comforter of Russians, owed his excellent qualities of heart to his upbringing under the supervision of His Holiness Patriarch Athanasius of Jerusalem and Metropolitan Meletius of Thessalonica.
In his youth, being under Patriarch Athanasius of Jerusalem, Hilarion was severely punished by him for his childhood pranks, which resulted in his secret escape from the Patriarch’s court. He found shelter in Thessaloniki, with Metropolitan Meletius, who ordained him a hierodeacon.
Life in the world and with the world, in itself noisy, exciting and full of imaginary charms, greatly disturbed the soul of young Hilarion. He was unable to bear her fuss. Therefore, desiring solitude, he decided to leave his master.
In 1837, he secretly fled from him to Athos, to a Russian monastery, where he took monastic vows. Metropolitan Meletius, who loved Hilarion as a father, himself followed in his footsteps. For a long time, the bishop did not give up trying to find out where his favorite had taken refuge. He threatened the Russian monastery with punishment if it condoned the fugitive. But all this finally ended with Hilarion standing firm in his sacred vow to the Lord God and remaining forever in the Russian monastery.
In addition to this biography, it must be said that Father Hilarion was honored in a dream vision with a visit from St.
Mitrophan of Voronezh . On the feast of St. Mitrofan, reverently revered in the Russian monastery and by the Greeks, the entire brotherhood has the custom of gathering in the church for an all-night vigil, at which singing and reading are conducted in both Greek and Slavic, i.e., it begins with the Russians, and then is replaced by Greeks and vice versa. This is how the vigil in memory of St. Mitrophan was celebrated in 1843.
Svyatogorsk vigils, even in ordinary times, are extremely long and tiring, and on especially solemn days the physically weak worshipers can hardly endure them, because they sometimes last up to twelve hours or more. Such was the vigil in memory of St. Mitrophan of Christ this time too. Hilarion, weak in strength and build, was with everyone else. Because of his precision in singing and his touching voice, he was sometimes forced into the choir, which further depleted his strength. This time, until the first hour, he managed to hold himself together somehow, but finally he was completely exhausted, left the temple, went to his cell and, in extreme exhaustion, fell on the trestle bed. In quiet thought and complaints about weakness, because of which he did not finish his prayer feat in honor of the Russian saint, he dozed off, a light sleep calmed his feelings. At this moment, Hilarion sees in front of him a gray-haired old man in a bishop’s robe with a holy staff in his hands. The holy schema covered the head of the one who appeared, illuminated by heavenly light, in whose features and attire Hilarion recognized our Russian wonderworker. “You have loved me,” Saint Mitrophan said to him meekly in Greek, “and I will be with you forever.” These touching words shocked Hilarion, he woke up, but there was no one in front of him, and only quiet heartfelt joy was the result of a comforting vision. Hilarion's strength was immediately restored, and, blessing the Lord, wondrous in His saints, Hilarion was more than ever imbued with love and reverence for our intercessor and sincere affection for the Russian monks.
He was a friend of the Russians, the closest assistant to Abbot Gerasim, Abbot Macarius and confessor Jerome, played a decisive role in pacifying the Greco-Russian dispute of 1874–1875, taking an unbiased position on the side of justice, for which the Russian brethren are grateful to him to this day and constantly remember him in prayer his.
Father Hilarion reposed on June 30, 1886.
