Eternal Joy

On the 70th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity) The appearance of this man was amazing. It is embodied in the very name Hilarion, which translated from Greek means “quiet, affectionate, cheerful” (“comfortable”, as one of the modern scientists puts it). “Quiet Light” speaks precisely of this quality. Vladimir Alekseevich Troitsky was by nature a cheerful and sociable person. At the age of seven, he and his three-year-old brother set off from their native village on foot to Moscow to study. When their father on horseback caught up with them far from home, the future Bishop Hilarion humorously explained his action: “What about Lomonosov? He went to Moscow on foot, and I also decided to go to study.” From early childhood, the main source of his joy was the Church of God: when he was very tiny, he was already standing on the choir. Then came a deep understanding of the Church as a Divine-human organism, where people are united by love. It is the Church, as the only source of true joy, that most of Professor Trinity’s theological works are devoted to. Their main idea - “To whom the Church is not a Mother, God is not a Father” - explains that happiness is possible only in the completeness of this Family Union. Archbishop Hilarion wrote to the secretary of the commission for the organization of the world conference of Christianity, Robert Gardiner: “I am gladly ready to talk with you on an issue so dear to me as the question of the Church...” And this joy was clearly reflected in his appearance. At the Moscow Theological Academy, where Professor Vladimir Troitsky lectured on the New Testament, he was endlessly loved. Tall and slender, with beautiful blue eyes, a sonorous voice, always cheerful and inspired, he gave the impression of a Russian hero with remarkable strength and intelligence. A noble, pure soul shone through his beautiful appearance - and this was the source of his charm. After Vladimir Troitsky was tonsured in 1913, his spiritual joy only increased. With his Easter appearance, Archbishop Hilarion resembled St. Seraphim of Sarov, whom he loved very much. Once the bishop wrote: “There are on earth bearers of triumphant Christianity, always joyful, always with Easter chants on their lips, and their face is like the face of an Angel.” But those were relatively prosperous years. Our country and Church were awaiting terrible, tragic events that would inevitably destroy the bright and peaceful spirit of any person. Especially if this person was standing at the very helm of the church ship. It was here that Archbishop Hilarion ended up, who became an associate of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. The Bishop had the terrible role of a human shield between the All-Russian Patriarch and the godless authorities. He, then already the abbot of the Sretensky Monastery, was summoned to the Lubyanka, arrested for no reason, and in 1923 he was exiled to Arkhangelsk for a year. Upon his return, Bishop Hilarion had to enter into a fight with the “renovationists” who were then trying to seize power in the Church. He expelled them from churches, reconsecrated thrones, and returned people to Orthodoxy. He was not afraid of public disputes in the Polytechnic Museum with the People's Commissar Lunacharsky and the leader of the renovationists Vvedensky. And the listeners felt the spirit of truth and life contained in the words of the ruler; the people gave him a standing ovation and warmly thanked him. All this activity of Archbishop Hilarion finally infuriated the Bolsheviks, and Vladyka was sent to the Solovetsky concentration camp. “You have to spend at least a little time in this environment, but you can’t describe it that way. This is Satan himself in person,” Archbishop Hilarion wrote from the camp. According to another prisoner, the Solovetsky penal servitude was “a terrible, gaping pit full of blood, torn bodies, crushed hearts.” Could there be a place for joy here? However, even in the camp, Archbishop Hilarion remained cheerful and cheerful. The Bishop, with two bishops and several priests, worked as a net maker and fisherman. On this occasion, he joked by translating the words of the stichera for Trinity Day: “Everything is given by the Holy Spirit: formerly fishermen were theologians of the show, now, on the contrary, theologians are the fishermen of the show.” His complacency even extended to the Soviet government, which he could look at with kindly eyes. Archbishop Hilarion even saved one of the security chiefs from certain death, risking his own life. In general, the bishop was very pleased with the idea that Solovki was becoming a school of virtues: non-covetousness, meekness, humility, abstinence, patience, hard work. Archbishop Hilarion enjoyed extraordinary respect in the camp. His love for every person, attention to everyone, and sociability were simply amazing. He was the most popular person among all layers on Solovki. Even punks and criminals, with whom it seemed unbearable for a highly spiritual person to be around, became his friend and interlocutor. She loved and respected him for his simplicity and openness. But behind this form of gaiety and secularism stood childlike purity, great spiritual experience, kindness and mercy, fearlessness and deep faith, unfeigned piety, combined with extraordinary intellect. This type of ordinary sinfulness, foolishness, and the guise of secularism hid his inner work from people and saved him from pride and vanity. Vladyka spent six terrible years in the camp - the last years of his life. But his jubilant joy did not disappear during this time; it only seemed to take on the form of Easter Matins, which was only allowed on Solovki in 1926. This is how an eyewitness talks about it. "Silence; pitch darkness all around on earth; and rainbow pillars of light walk across the sky - the northern lights are playing... And then sacred chants were heard from the open gates of the church. With the formidable command of a hierarch invested with unearthly power, the spell-exclamation of Bishop Hilarion thundered: - May God rise again and let His enemies be scattered! And an unprecedented religious procession moved out of the church gates, sparkling with multi-colored lights. Seventeen bishops walked in ancient vestments, surrounded by lamps and torches, more than two hundred priests and the same number of monks, and behind them were endless waves of those whose tormented hearts thirsted for one thing - the light of the Resurrection. Shining banners made by the masters of Veliky Novgorod floated out of the doors of the church; the lamps moved - a gift from the Venetian doges of the northern monastery; the clergy sparkled with sacred vestments embroidered by the thin fingers of the Moscow Grand Duchesses. - Christ is risen! – Bishop Hilarion proclaimed. - He is truly risen! - sounded in response, like a thousand-voiced echo, under the dome of the shining sky..." In 1929, Archbishop Hilarion's term ended, and he was sent to a new exile - to Central Asia. The ruler didn’t get to her... He died of typhus while in transit, in the Petrograd prison hospital on December 28, 1929. The doctor heard the bishop’s last words: “How good! Now we are far from...” He left a land where joy is endless.