Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity). Life and testimony for church glorification

December 28 is the day of remembrance of the heavenly patron of the Sretensky Monastery, Hieromartyr Hilarion. On this day, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the monastery, which will begin at 9:30 am. On the eve of the holiday, we are publishing a biography of the Hieromartyr Hilarion, written by Metropolitan John (Snychev). One of the prominent figures of the Russian Church in the 20s was Archbishop Hilarion of Vereya, an outstanding theologian and a most talented person. His whole life was a burning passion for the Church of Christ, right up to his martyrdom for her. His works are distinguished by a strictly ecclesiastical direction, a tireless struggle against scholasticism and specific Latinism, which has influenced our theology since the time of Metropolitan Peter Mogila. His ideal is the churchliness of theological school and theological science. His constant reminder: outside the Church there is no salvation, outside the Church there are no sacraments. Archbishop Hilarion (in the world Vladimir Alekseevich Troitsky) was born on September 13, 1886 in the family of a priest in the village. Lipitsa, Kashira district, Tula province. From early childhood, the desire to learn awoke in him. As a five-year-old boy, he took his three-year-old brother by the hand and went with him from his native village to Moscow to study. And when the brother began to cry from fatigue, Vladimir told him: “Well, remain unlearned.” The parents realized it in time, noticing the disappearance of the children, and quickly returned them to the shelter of their home. Vladimir was soon sent to the Theological School, and then to the Theological Seminary. After completing a full seminary course, he entered the Moscow Theological Academy and graduated brilliantly in 1910 with a candidate of theology degree. He is left at the academy as a professorial fellow. It should be noted that Vladimir studied excellently in all schools, from the Theological School to the Theological Academy. He always had excellent grades in all subjects. In 1913, Vladimir received a master's degree in theology for his fundamental work “Essays on the History of the Dogma of the Church.” His heart burns with an ardent desire to serve God in the monastic rite. On March 28, in the monastery of the Paraclete of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, he took monastic vows with the name Hilarion (in honor of the Venerable Martyr Hilarion the New, commemorated on March 28), and approximately two months later, on June 2, he was ordained hieromonk. On July 5 of the same year, Father Hilarion was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. On May 30, 1913, Hieromonk Hilarion was appointed inspector of the Moscow Theological Academy. In December 1913, Archimandrite Hilarion was confirmed as an extraordinary professor of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. Archimandrite Hilarion gains great authority both as a teacher of students at the Theological School, and as a professor-theologian, and as a famous church preacher. One after another, his theological and dogmatic works are published, enriching church science. His sermons ring from church pulpits like a bell, calling God's people to faith and moral renewal. And when the question of restoring the patriarchate became acute, he, as a member of the Local Council of 1917–1918, spoke at the Council with inspiration in defense of the patriarchate. "Never," said Archimandrite Hilarion, "the Russian Church was without a first hierarch. Our patriarchate was destroyed by Peter I. Who did it interfere with? The conciliarity of the Church? But wasn't it during the time of the patriarchs that we had especially many Councils? No, it was not the conciliarity and not the Church that was hindered by the patriarchate. Who? Here before me are two great friends, two beauties of the 17th century - Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. To quarrel with friends, the evil boyars whisper to the tsar: “...Because of the patriarch, you have become invisible.” And Nikon, when he left the Moscow throne, among other things, wrote: “... Let him, the sovereign, have more space without me.” Peter embodied this idea, destroying the patriarchate. “Let me, the sovereign, have more space without the patriarch.” But the church consciousness, both in the 34th Apostolic Canon and at the Moscow Council of 1917, invariably says one thing: “... Bishops of every nation, including the Russian, should know the first of them and recognize him as the head.” And I would like to appeal to all those who for some reason still consider it necessary to object to the patriarchate. Fathers and brothers! Do not disturb the joy of our like-mindedness! Why are you taking on a thankless task? Why are you talking hopeless speeches? After all, you are fighting against church consciousness. Be afraid lest you turn out to be fighters against God (See Acts 5:39)! We have already sinned, we sinned by not restoring the patriarchate two months ago, when we arrived in Moscow and met each other for the first time in the Great Assumption Cathedral. Wasn’t it painful for anyone then to see the empty patriarchal place to the point of tears?.. And when we venerated the holy relics of the wonderworkers of Moscow and the first thrones of Russia, didn’t we then hear their reproach for the fact that for two hundred years their primate cathedra had been widowed among us?” After coming to power, the Bolsheviks immediately began persecuting the Church, and already in March 1919, Archimandrite Hilarion was arrested. The first prison sentence lasted three months. On May 11/24, 1920, Archimandrite Hilarion was christened, and the next day, May 12/25, he was consecrated Bishop of Verei, vicar of the Moscow diocese. His contemporaries paint his portrait with light colors. He is young, cheerful, comprehensively educated, an excellent church preacher-speaker and singer, a brilliant polemicist, always natural, sincere, and open. Physically very strong, tall, with a broad chest, had lush brown hair, a clear, light face. He was the people's favorite. As a preacher and speaker, he was placed on a par with Lunacharsky and Alexander Vvedensky, and even above them. Bishop Hilarion enjoyed great authority among the clergy and his fellow bishops, who called him “great” for his intelligence and firmness in the faith. His episcopal service was the way of the cross. Less than two years had passed since his consecration when he found himself in exile in Arkhangelsk. For a whole year, Bishop Hilarion was away from church life. He continued his activities upon returning from exile. His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon brought him closer to himself and, together with Archbishop Seraphim (Alexandrov), made him his closest adviser and like-minded person. Immediately after returning from exile, the Patriarch elevated Bishop Hilarion to the rank of archbishop. His church activities are expanding. He is conducting serious negotiations with Tuchkov (the OGPU commissioner for church affairs) about the need to organize the life of the Russian Orthodox Church in the conditions of the Soviet state on the basis of canon law, is engaged in the restoration of church organization, and draws up a number of patriarchal messages. For renovationists, he becomes a thunderstorm; in their eyes, he is inseparable from His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. On June 22/July 5, 1923, Bishop Hilarion holds an all-night vigil on the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in the Sretensky Monastery, captured by the renovationists. The Bishop expels the renovationists and with a great rite, having re-consecrated the cathedral, annexes the monastery to the Church. The next day, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon serves at the monastery. The service lasts the whole day and ends only at six o'clock in the evening. Saint Tikhon appoints Bishop Hilarion as rector of the Sretensky Monastery. In his messages, the leader of renovationism, Metropolitan Antonin (Granovsky), with unspeakable anger, attacks both the Patriarch and Archbishop Hilarion, unceremoniously accusing them of counter-revolution. "Tikhon and Hilarion," he wrote, "were producing 'blessed'-choking gases against the revolution, and the revolution took up arms not only against Tikhon's churchmen, but against the entire church, as if it were a crowd of conspirators. Hilarion goes around and sprinkles churches after the Renovationists. He enters these churches with impudence... Tikhon and Hilarion are defendants before the revolution, harassers of the Church of God, and in their apology they cannot present any good deeds” (“Izvestia”, September 23, 1923). Archbishop Hilarion clearly understood the criminality of the Renovationists and led heated debates in Moscow with Alexander Vvedensky. The latter, as Archbishop Hilarion himself put it, during these debates he “pushed him to the wall” and exposed all his tricks and lies. The Renovationist leaders felt that Archbishop Hilarion was interfering with them, and therefore made every effort to deprive him of his freedom. In December 1923, Archbishop Hilarion was sentenced to three years in prison. He was taken by stage to the Kem camp, and then to Solovki. When the archbishop saw the horror of the barracks environment and the camp food, he said: “We won’t get out of here alive.” Archbishop Hilarion embarked on the Way of the Cross, which ended with his blessed death. The Way of the Cross of Archbishop Hilarion is of very great interest to us, for it revealed all the greatness of the spirit of a martyr for Christ, and therefore we will allow ourselves to dwell in more detail on this moment of his life. While on Solovki, Archbishop Hilarion retained in himself all those good qualities of the soul that he acquired through exploits both before becoming a monk, and in monasticism, and in the priesthood. Those who were with him at that time witnessed his complete monastic non-covetousness, deep simplicity, genuine humility, and childish meekness. He simply gave everything he had to whatever was asked of him. He was not interested in his things. Therefore, out of mercy, someone had to keep an eye on his suitcase. And he had such a novice on Solovki. Archbishop Hilarion could be insulted, but he never responded to this and could not even notice the attempt made. He was always cheerful, and even if he was preoccupied and worried, he quickly tried to cover it up with the same cheerfulness. He looked at everything with spiritual eyes, and everything served him for the benefit of the spirit. "At the Filimonova fishing camp," said an eyewitness, "seven versts from the Solovetsky Kremlin and the main camp, on the shore of a bay of the White Sea, Archbishop Hilarion and I, two other bishops and several priests (all prisoners) were net makers and fishermen. Archbishop Hilarion liked to talk about this work of ours by translating the words of the stichera on Trinity Day: "Everything is given by the Holy Spirit: formerly fishermen were theologians of the show, but now, on the contrary, theologians are the fishermen of the show.” Thus his spirit reconciled himself to the new position. His complacency extended to the Soviet government itself, and he could look at it with kindly eyes. Once they brought a young hieromonk from Kazan to Solovki, who was given three years of exile for removing the orarion from a Renovationist deacon and not allowing him to serve with him. The archbishop approved of the hieromonk and joked about the different terms of imprisonment given to certain individuals, regardless of the severity of their “crimes.” “The godly Lord is devout,” said Archbishop Hilarion in the Paschal words of John Chrysostom, “he accepts the last as he did the first; he gives rest at the eleventh hour to the one who comes, as he did from the first hour. And he accepts the deeds, and kisses the intention, and honors the deed and praises the proposal.” These words sounded ironic, but they gave a feeling of peace and forced us to accept the test as if it were from the hand of God. Vladyka Hilarion was very pleased with the idea that Solovki was a school of virtues - non-covetousness, meekness, humility, abstinence, patience, hard work. One day, an arriving party of clergy was robbed, and the fathers were greatly upset. One of the prisoners jokingly told them that this was how they were taught non-covetousness. The Bishop was delighted with this joke. One exile lost his boots two times in a row, and he walked around the camp in torn galoshes. Archbishop Hilarion, looking at him, became truly joyful, which instilled complacency in the prisoners. His love for every person, his attention and interest in everyone, his sociability were simply amazing. He was the most popular person in the camp, among all its layers. We do not say that the general, the officer, the student and the professor knew him, talked to him, found him or he them, despite the fact that there were many bishops and there were older and no less educated. He was known to the “punks”, criminals, the underworld of thieves and bandits precisely as a good, respected person whom one could not help but love. Whether at work in fits and starts, or in his free time, he could be seen walking arm in arm with some such “instance” from this environment. This was not condescension towards the younger brother and the deceased, no. The Bishop spoke to everyone as an equal, inquiring, for example, about each person’s “profession” and favorite activity. “Shpan” is very proud and sensitively proud. She cannot be shown disdain with impunity. And therefore the ruler’s manner was all-conquering. He, like a friend, ennobled them with his presence and attention. His observations in this environment, when he shared them, were of exceptional interest. He is accessible to everyone, he is the same as everyone else, it is easy for everyone to be, meet and talk with him. The most ordinary, simple, unholy appearance - that’s what the ruler himself was. But behind this ordinary form of gaiety and worldliness one could gradually discern childlike purity, great spiritual experience, kindness and mercy, this sweet indifference to material goods, true faith, genuine piety, high moral perfection, not to mention mental, coupled with the strength and clarity of conviction. This type of ordinary sinfulness, foolishness, and the guise of secularism hid his inner work from people and saved him from hypocrisy and vanity. He was a sworn enemy of hypocrisy and every “form of piety,” completely conscious and direct. In the “Trinity Artel” (that was the name of Archbishop Hilarion’s working group), the clergy received a good education in Solovki. Everyone understood that it was not worth calling oneself a sinner or just having long pious conversations or showing the severity of one’s life. And even more so, think about yourself more than you really are. The bishop questioned each visiting priest in detail about everything that preceded his imprisonment. One day they brought an abbot to Solovki. The Archbishop asks him: - Why were you arrested? “Yes, I served prayer services at my home when the monastery was closed,” Father Abbot answers, “well, people gathered, and there were even healings... - Oh, that’s how it is, there were even healings... How many Solovki did they give you? - Well, this is not enough, more should be given for healings, the Soviet government overlooked... It goes without saying that talking about healings through one’s prayers was more than immodest. In the middle of the summer of 1925, Archbishop Hilarion was sent from Solovki to Yaroslavl prison. The situation here was different than on Solovki. In prison he enjoyed special benefits. He was allowed to receive books of spiritual content. Taking advantage of these benefits, Archbishop Hilarion reads a lot of patristic literature, makes extracts, from which many thick notebooks of patristic instructions are obtained. After prison censorship, he had the opportunity to transfer these notebooks to his friends for safekeeping. The saint secretly visited the prison warden, a kind man, and collected from him underground handwritten religious and Soviet literature and copies of all kinds of church administrative documents and correspondence of bishops. At the same time, Archbishop Hilarion courageously endured a number of troubles. When he was in Yaroslavl prison, a Gregorian schism arose within the Russian Church. It was then that, as a popular bishop, an agent of the GPU came to him and began to persuade him to join the new schism. “Moscow loves you,” said a representative of the GPU, “Moscow is waiting for you.” Archbishop Hilarion remained adamant. He understood the GPU’s plan and courageously rejected the sweetness of freedom offered for treason. The agent was surprised at his courage and said: “It’s nice to talk to an intelligent person.” And then he added: “How long do you have a sentence on Solovki? Three years?! For Hilarion, three years?! So little?” It is not surprising that after this three more years were added to Archbishop Hilarion. And it was added “for divulging state secrets,” that is, divulging his conversation with an agent in the Yaroslavl prison. In the spring of 1926, Archbishop Hilarion was again returned to Solovki. His way of the cross continued. The Gregorians did not leave him alone. They did not lose hope that they would be able to win over to their side such an authoritative hierarch as Archbishop Hilarion, and consolidate their positions with his transition. At the beginning of June 1927, as soon as navigation on the White Sea began, Archbishop Hilarion was brought to Moscow for negotiations with Archbishop Gregory. The latter, in the presence of secular people, persistently begged Archbishop Hilarion to “pluck up courage” and head the Gregorian “higher church council,” which was increasingly losing importance. Archbishop Hilarion categorically refused, explaining that the work of the Supreme Church Council was unfair and lost, conceived by people ignorant of either church life or church canons, and that this work was doomed to failure. At the same time, Archbishop Hilarion fraternally exhorted Archbishop Gregory to abandon plans that were unnecessary and harmful to the Church. Similar meetings were repeated several times. Vladyka Hilarion was begged and promised complete freedom of action and a white hood, but he firmly held to his convictions. There was a rumor that he once said to his interlocutor: “Although I am an archpastor, I am a hot-tempered person, I beg you to leave, because I could lose power over myself.” “I would rather rot in prison and not change my direction,” he once told Bishop Gervasius. He maintained this position towards the Gregorians until the end of his life. In troubled times, when, after the Renovationist schism, disagreements also penetrated among the exiled bishops on Solovki, Archbishop Hilarion appeared as a real peacemaker among them. He managed to unite them with each other on the basis of Orthodoxy. Archbishop Hilarion was among the bishops who developed an ecclesiastical declaration in 1926, defining the position of the Orthodox Church in new historical conditions. She played a huge role in the fight against the divisions that arose then. In November 1927, some of the Solovetsky bishops began to hesitate in connection with the Josephite schism. Archbishop Hilarion managed to gather up to fifteen bishops in the cell of Archimandrite Theophan, where everyone unanimously decided to remain faithful to the Orthodox Church, headed by Metropolitan Sergius. “No schism!” declared Archbishop Hilarion. “No matter what they tell us, we will look at it as a provocation!” On June 28, 1928, Bishop Hilarion wrote to his loved ones that he did not sympathize with all those who separated to the extreme and considered their cause to be unfounded, absurd and extremely harmful. He considered such separation to be an “ecclesiastical crime”, which, under the conditions of the current moment, was very serious. “I see absolutely nothing in the actions of Metropolitan Sergius and his Synod that would exceed the measure of leniency and patience,” he declares. And in a letter dated August 12, 1928, he develops his thought: “Trifles are written everywhere, whoever writes on the contrary. What kind of thing they made up. He, they say, is an apostate. And as they write, as if they are crazy. They themselves fall into a hole and drag others along with them.” At the same time, he concludes that you cannot prove anything to Metropolitan Joseph, “even if you beat your forehead against the wall,” that he, as having committed the sin of secession out of malice, will remain with his views until the end of his life. Archbishop Hilarion put in a lot of work in order to convince Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov) of Glazov, who was close to the Josephites. “God forbid you talk to him,” the bishop wrote in a letter dated June 28, 1928. “He doesn’t want to listen to anything and considers himself alone to be right.” Despite this characterization, Archbishop Hilarion ensured that Bishop Victor not only realized that he was wrong, but also wrote to his flock, exhorting them to stop the division. It is interesting to note that Archbishop Hilarion fearlessly reproached the GPU agent for the absurd alliance of power with the renovationists. And at the same time, he gave him the idea that it would not be better to enter into an alliance with the Orthodox Church and support it: this would allow the real and authoritative Church to recognize the power of the Soviets. Although Archbishop Hilarion did not know everything about the church life of that time, nevertheless, he was not an indifferent spectator of certain church disorders and disasters that befell the Orthodox people. People turned to him for advice and asked what needed to be done in order to achieve pacification of the Church in the new conditions of political life. The question was very difficult. And Archbishop Hilarion gave a very deep and analyzed answer to it, based on Orthodox canons and church practice. This is what he wrote to the questioners in his letter dated December 10, 1927: "For the last two years or more I have not been participating in church life, I have only fragmentary and, perhaps, inaccurate information about it. Therefore, it is difficult for me to judge the particulars and details of this life, but I think the general line of church life and its shortcomings and its illnesses are known to me. The main drawback, which was felt even earlier, is the absence of Councils in our Church since 1917, i.e. at the very time when they were especially needed, since the Russian Church not without the will of God, it entered completely new historical conditions, unusual conditions, significantly different from earlier conditions. Church practice, including the decisions of the Council of 1917-1918, was not adapted to these new conditions, since it was formed in different historical conditions. The situation has become significantly more complicated since the death of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. The question of locum tenens, as far as I know, is also very confused, church administration is in complete disorder. I don’t know whether among our hierarchy and among conscious members of the Church in general there are such naive and short-sighted people who would have absurd illusions about the restoration and overthrow of Soviet power, etc., but I think that everyone who wants the good of the Church is aware of the need for the Russian Church to settle in new historical conditions. Therefore, a Council is needed, and first of all it is necessary to ask the state authorities for permission to convene a Council. But someone must convene the Council, make the necessary preparations for it, in a word, bring the Church to the Council. Therefore, we need now, before the Council, a church organ. I have a number of demands for the organization and activities of this body, which I think are common to everyone who wants church dispensation, and not disorder of the world and not new confusion. I will indicate some of these requirements. 1. A temporary church body should not be unauthorized at its inception, i.e. must have the consent of the Locum Tenens upon its commencement. 2. If possible, the temporary church body should include those who are entrusted by the Locum Tenens Metropolitan. Peter (Polyansky) or His Holiness the Patriarch. 3. The temporary church body should unite and not divide the episcopate; it is not a judge or punisher of those who disagree - that is what the Council will be. 4. The temporary church body must think of its task as modest and practical - the creation of a Council. The last two points require special explanation. The disgusting ghost of the VCU of 1922 hovers over the hierarchy and church people. Church people became suspicious. The temporary church body should be afraid like hell of even the slightest resemblance of its activities to the criminal activities of the VCU. Otherwise, the result will only be new confusion. VCU began with lies and deception. Everything with us must be based on the truth. The VCU, a completely self-proclaimed body, declared itself the supreme arbiter of the destinies of the Russian Church, for which church laws and, in general, all Divine and human laws are not binding. Our church body is only temporary, with one specific task - to convene a Council. The VCU began persecuting everyone who did not obey it, that is, all decent people from the hierarchy and other church leaders, and, threatening executions right and left, promising mercy to the obedient, the VCU caused complaints against the authorities, criticisms that were hardly desirable for the authorities themselves. This disgusting side of the criminal activity of the VCU and its successor, the so-called Synod, with its councils of 1923–1925, earned them worthy contempt, causing a lot of grief and suffering to innocent people, brought only evil and had as its consequence only that part of the hierarchy and irresponsible church people lagged behind the Church and formed a schismatic society. There should be nothing of the kind, even the slightest hint, in the actions of a temporary church body. I especially emphasize this idea because this is where I see the greatest danger. Our church body must only convene a Council. Regarding this Council, the following requirements are mandatory. 5. The temporary church body should assemble, and not select, the Council, as was done in sad memory by the All-Russian Central Church in 1923. The council chosen will have no authority and will not bring peace, but only new confusion in the Church. There is hardly any need to increase the number of robber councils in history; Three are enough: Ephesus 449 and two Moscow 1923-1925. My first wish for the future Council itself is that it can prove its complete non-involvement and lack of solidarity with all sorts of politically unreliable trends, and dispel that fog of unscrupulous and foul slander with which the Russian Church is shrouded by the criminal efforts of evil figures (renewal). Only a real Council can be authoritative and be able to bring calm to church life and give peace to the tormented hearts of church people. I believe that at the Council there will be an understanding of the full importance of the responsible church moment, and it will organize church life in accordance with the new conditions.” Only with the conciliarity of the Church, as Archbishop Hilarion thought and asserted, will church pacification occur and normal activity of the Russian Orthodox Church will be established in the new conditions of the Soviet state. His way of the cross was coming to an end. In December 1929, Archbishop Hilarion was sent to settle in Central Asia, in the city of Alma-Ata, for a period of three years. He traveled in stages from one prison to another. On the way he was robbed, and he arrived in Leningrad in rags, infested with parasites, and already sick. From the Leningrad prison hospital, where he was placed, he wrote: “I am seriously ill with typhus, I am lying in the prison hospital, I must have become infected on the road; on Saturday, December 28, my fate (the crisis of the disease) is being decided, I am unlikely to survive it.” At the hospital they told him that he needed to be shaved, to which the Eminence replied: “Now do with me what you want.” In his delirium, he said: “Now I’m completely free, no one will take me.” The Angel of Death was already standing at the head of the sufferer. A few minutes before his death, a doctor approached him and said that the crisis was over and that he could recover. Archbishop Hilarion whispered barely audibly: “How good! Now we are far from...” And with these words, the confessor of Christ died. It was December 15/28. Metropolitan Seraphim Chichagov, who then occupied the Leningrad See, obtained permission to take the body for burial. White bishop's vestments and a white miter were delivered to the hospital. The deceased was dressed and transported to the church of the Leningrad Novodevichy Convent. The Lord has changed terribly. In the coffin lay a pitiful, all shaved, gray-haired old man. One of the relatives of the deceased, who saw him in the coffin, fainted. So he was unlike the former Hilarion. He was buried in the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent, not far from the graves of the relatives of the Archbishop, and later Patriarch Alexy. In addition to Metropolitan Seraphim and Archbishop Alexy, Bishop Ambrose (Libin) of Luga, Bishop Sergius (Zenkevich) of Lodeinopolsky and three other bishops took part in the burial. Thus, this hero passed away into eternity in spirit and body, a man of a wonderful soul, endowed by the Lord with outstanding theological talents, who laid down his life for the Church. His death was the greatest loss for the Russian Orthodox Church. Eternal memory to you, blessed Saint Hilarion!