§ 119. Св. Иларий Пиктавийский, Жизнь его.

Hilary Bishop of Pictavia (Pictaviensis) came from a noble family and devoted his young years to the study of verbal sciences 224. Being a pagan, he, as he himself says, tried to maintain a purity of conscience, to live as the highest freedom of spirit required; looked for his Creator and saw the ugliness of paganism; by chance he began to read the books of Moses and the words: I am, who am, showed him the true God; the reading of the prophets confirmed him in this knowledge, and the reading of the Gospel of John elevated his spirit and forever subdued him to the teachings of the Lord Jesus 225: the font of Baptism renewed his spirit, and his wife and daughter Abra were baptized together with him. In 353, “by the unanimous voice of the people” and against his own wishes, he was elected bishop of Pictavian. When in 355, Emperor Constantius deprived the fathers of the Council of Milan of the throne, who did not agree to condemn the defender of Orthodoxy - St. Athanasius and sign the Arian Confession 227: St. Hilary wrote in his excellent letter to the emperor: “We ask not only with words, but with tears, so that the Orthodox Churches will no longer be subjected to cruel oppression.... By your inherent wisdom, you can see that it is not decent and should not use violent measures to enslave believers to those who do not cease to scatter the seeds of false teaching... Even if in favor of the true faith they began to use violence similar to the present: the bishops, following the Gospel teaching, and then they would resist and say: God is the ruler of the universe, He does not require involuntary submission to Himself. He does not like forced confession.” And then he asked for; St. Athanasia 228. This was already enough to arm the Arians against Hilary: but in 356, at the Council of Beterra (in Languedoc), St. Hilary rebelled with firmness against the open Arians, especially against Saturninus, bishop of Arelate. The emperor, having heard about this, ordered Julian, who then ruled Gaul, to send Hilary and Rodanius of Toulouse into captivity in Phrygia 229; St. Hilary obeyed; but his flock did not accept another shepherd, and the defender of Orthodoxy continued to govern it through the elders. St. stayed for about four years. Hilary in Phrygia, and used this time to defend Orthodoxy; while in captivity he wrote 12 books about the Holy Trinity 230; and after that, in response to a question from the bishops of Gaul, he wrote about the Councils or about the Orthodox faith 231. From captivity, he wrote in a letter a tender conviction to his daughter Abreu - to preserve her heart for the groom Christ the Lord, and the obedient daughter fulfilled the will of her loving father 232. In 359, the prefect sent him to the Council of Seleucia; here Hilary defended the Western bishops from accusations of Sabellianism and presented his essay on the Holy Trinity; The Semi-Arians did not want to fully accept the Nicene Confession of Faith, and St. Hilary went to Constantinople, where in 360 the Council of Full Arians was convened. Here he described the actions of the Arians at the Arimin and Seleucia Councils, leaving everyone to judge who the Arians were 233. He provided the Emperor with his second letter, where, proposing to enter into an open debate with the Arian bishops, he showed to what absurd inconsistencies Arius’ advocates reach with themselves and with the Holy Gospel: “Behold, faith has become the faith of more times than the Gospel; or is it better to have as many faiths as there are desires... When they argue about words, ask about news, complain about writers, fight over sciences, find it difficult to agree, one begins to be anathema to one another: where are those of Christ? Every year, every month we formulate a belief about God, repent of our definitions and anathematize what we defended.”... 234. The Arians saw that it was more profitable for them for Hilary to be in the West than in the East and near the court and St. Hilary went to Gaul, in the words of Jerome 235, as a triumphant fighter from the arena. On the way to Gaul, he established Orthodoxy in Illyria and Italy; Meanwhile, Constantius (by 361) died; upon returning to Gaul, the first thing St. Hilary was to compose a Council in defense of Orthodoxy; one was followed by several others for the same purpose; the Arian bishops were deposed, the faith was purified, the deanery was restored; General peace reigns. The historian Sulpicius Severus says that one St. Gaul was favored to Hilary by the good fortune that the heresy of Arius was expelled from it 236. At this time he wrote an essay against Constantius, who had done so much harm to the Church and the Empire 237. When Emperor Valentinian arrived in Milan in the spring of 364, St. Hilary appeared in Italy to rid it of the cunning Arian, Bishop of Milan Auxentius; an open explanation was demanded from Auxentius; Auxentius used all the dexterity of his resourceful mind to hide his true way of thinking, but was brought by Hilary to the point that he confessed in words the consubstantiality of the Son of God with the Father: these, however, were only words; St. Hilary was not deceived and did not want the emperor to be deceived; but the emperor remained with his thoughts about Auxentius; St. Hilary was forced to leave Mediolanum and in a book against Auxentius depicted Auxentius and the true faith as a warning to the faithful; the consequence of this was that Auxentius was expelled from Mediolan. At this time St. wrote. Hilary's interpretation of the Psalms. In 368 238 the famous teacher of the Churches 239, Latin trumpet against the Arians 240, died peacefully 241. Jerome. Devir. illustr. 100. Praef. ad 2 libr. comm. in Ep. ad Galatos. Fortunatus (6th century) in Vita S. Hilarii. Fortunatus in the Life of Hilary. Libr. 1. § 5. Sulpicius Severus. Histor. s. 1. 41–42. Jerome De vir. illustr. 100. St. Hilary: Lib. 10. § 4. Loquaemur exules per hos libros et sermo Dei, qui vinciri non potest, liber excurret. Jerome: ... de Synodo Biterensi Phrygiam relegatus, duodecim libros adversus arianos confecit. Devir. illustr. 100. Sl. Rufini N. E. 10. c. 31. S. Hilarius de Synodis § 8. 9. 27. Fortunate in Vita S. Hilarii lib. 1. § 3. 6. 13. Jerome De vir. illustr. § 200. S. Hilarii historia syn. arimen Lib. 2. ad Constantium p. 1227–1228. Dialog,adv. Lucifer. § 19. At the North Hist. S. 1. 2. p. 45. Fortunatus § 8. Jerome De vir. illustr. § 100. Sulpicius Severus H.S. 2, 45. Augustin de Trinit. lib. 2. 8. § 26. 28. lib. 6. 10. § 11. cont Julianum lib. 1. p. 3. § 9. Fortunatus de vita S. Hilarii lib. 1. § 3–5. Jerome Adv. Rufin lib. 2. § 19. Epist. 34. ad Marcel. § 3. Epist. 49. ad Paulinum. p. 567. Ep. 83 ad Magnum. His memory is in the Roman Church on January 14. His name is not in the current menaions and monthly books of the Greek Church, although the holiness of his life is undoubted and justified by miracles. See Gregory Typ. de gloria confesses, p. 2., Alcuina de S. Willibrando; Sozomen: “We learned that in that country there was then Hilary, a divine man both in life and in teaching” (5.43). Cassian (de inc. 7. 17. 18. 24): “Hilary is a man adorned with all the virtues and virtues, famous both in life and in eloquence, a teacher of churches and a priest, exalted not only by his merits, but also by the success of others, unshakable amid the storm of persecution, for the firmness of his invincible faith received the name of Confessor.” Jerome (Ep. 6 ad Florentium; Ep. 13 ad Pauilnum calls him a saint; Augustine (Kb. 1 cont. Julianum c. 3) - most blessed and says: “Catholicus loquitur, insignis ecclesiarum doctor loquitur, Hilarius loquitur.” You might be interested in: