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† Repose of St. Hilarion, Bishop of Mglinsky Blazh. Hilarion came from noble and pious parents 270. They sincerely tried to live according to the commandments of the Lord and were zealous prayer books of God. “They didn’t have children for a long time.” This made them sad. The mother especially grieved over her infertility and often poured out her grief before the Mother of God. The Queen of Heaven, compassionate for the sorrows of Christian hearts, asked her for consolation from her Son and God. Once in a dream vision, the Most Holy One told her: “Do not grieve, you will give birth to a son, and he will turn many to the light of truth.” – The words of the Most Pure One were fulfilled. The born son is named Hilarion, meaning that he was a joy for the mourning parents. A three-year-old child sang: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord. The boy was taught book reading, and he made rapid progress. At the age of 18 he left the world and became a monk. In the monastery, obediences were carried out with zeal, and the abbot was comforted by them. Several years passed like this. On his deathbed, the rector gathered the brethren and handed them over to the care of the blessed one. Hilarion. With the rank of abbot, Hilarion was an intelligent mentor and continued his strict life. Having studied the rules of Rev. Pachomius, he often spent whole nights without sleep - in prayer and reading what was useful to his soul 271. Caring for the salvation of the souls entrusted to him, he encouraged them not to waste precious time on sins. He especially did not tolerate drunkenness and strictly drove her out of the monastery. There was a severe famine in the country. Hilarion prayed to God, and his empty granaries were filled with grain; he fed not only his own, but also strangers who came to him. A strict life glorified the blessed one. Hilarion, and his celebrity attracted many to the monastery; some came for Hilarion's advice, others remained to live under his leadership. At the inspiration of the Mother of God, the Bulgarian Archbishop Eustathius dedicated the blessed. Hilarion as Bishop of Mglinsky, in 1134 272. The good heaven stood up for its Church and sent the necessary figure to Bulgaria, while human politics, through its blindness, caused terrible troubles for itself. The Manichaeans, living in Armenia among Mohammedanism, did little harm to Christianity. Imp. Tzimisces (969–976) resettled them from Armenia to Bulgaria, while there were already Bogomils here anyway. If Tzimiskes were the villain of St. faith and empire - such an act would be natural for him. But without being like that, but remaining a bad master of the empire, he transferred a destructive beginning to the environment of the empire and the Church 273. Mglin (Μεγλενα, Μογλενα) in the northeast of Vodina - Greek Edessa, the main city of the region 274, and the neighboring Slavic region of Drogovichi during St. Hilarion became notorious. The Bogomil heresy teachers themselves wrote: “our Roman, Dregovitsky, Mglinsky, Bulgarian, Dalmatian societies are divided in places, but not in contradiction with each other in any way” 275. According to another review by them, all Bogomil societies that spread throughout different Western countries originated from the Bulgarian and Drogovichi Bogomils 276 . The Drogovich party of dualists adhered to the old theory of the primordial existence of evil equal to good: the Bulgarian Bogomil party adhered to the new theory of dualism, combining dual command with unity of command 277. In essence, both Manichaeism and Bogomilism are the same as what later became known with the name of Protestantism: here and here proud arbitrariness, dressed in clothes a converter of Christianity, interpreting the revelation of God as he pleases, and subordinating God to humanity. Anyone who valued heavenly truth, the glory of God and the salvation of people had to wage a fierce struggle with people of proud arbitrariness and had to have a lot of grace to fight the battle with success. St. Hilarion armed himself with Apostolic zeal and fervent prayers. He tirelessly denounced the wickedness of the Bogomils, removing from them the mask of hypocritical goodness with which they deceived others. His preaching, supported by living piety, had a miraculous effect. The number of those who abandoned delusion increased from time to time. The leaders of the heresy were angry and used various unclean measures to maintain their society. But the truth reached the hearts, conveyed by the living word of sincere piety. The modern definitions of the Church of Constantinople served as an aid to the saint in the fight against the Bogomils. In the Orthodox East, after the physician Vasily was burned in 1110 for spreading Manichaeism 278, they continued to vigilantly watch every manifestation of Manichaeism. Archbishop of Ohrid, modern Blessed. Hilarion, was twice present at the councils in Constantinople against the Bogomils. At the first time, in 1140, the writings of Constantine Chrysomalos, who had become infected with the teachings of the Bogomils, were condemned, and the second time, in 1144, the monk Niphon, who was carried away by the criminal severity of Manichaeism against the body and rejected the Jewish God, was condemned and imprisoned; in 1147, Patriarch Kozma himself was dethroned from the throne because he, in his simplicity, praised the strict Niphon 279. The leaders of the heresy dared to enter into an open dispute with Saint Hilarion. Why, they told the saint, don’t you accept the obvious truth - the thought of two principles, good and evil, when good and evil are before the eyes of everyone in this world? Why do you not distinguish the good Creator of the sky from the evil builder of matter? The saint answered: some of us consider heaven itself to be the creation of the enemy. How does God rest in heaven, the creation of the evil one? We must learn everything from the eternal truth - God, we must think and believe as the revelation of God teaches. And the revelation of God tells us about one Creator of the world, of everything visible and invisible. Our Father, who art in heaven, Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth (Matthew 6:9-10): this is how the Lord Jesus commanded us to pray. Isn’t He clearly showing us that there is only one Lord of heaven and earth, one is the true God, omnipotent and omnipotent. And there can be only one true God: two omnipotent ones cannot be conceived; one must be somehow lower than the other; and in this form he is no longer God. The evil that exists in the world did not come from the Creator of the world; it appeared in the world after the world was created. Why insult both God and history with a non-clever thought about the beginning of evil? The Bogomils said that the flesh of Christ was brought from heaven. Hilarion replies: “Where did you get this teaching from? Which of the Apostles or Evangelists taught this? Nobody. If the body of Christ Jesus were heavenly, it would not experience hunger, thirst, fatigue, or suffering, and would not be subject to death on the cross.” The Bogomils said that the Old Testament was the work of the evil one. If, the saint said, the Old Testament had come from the evil one, then Christ would not have said: try the Scriptures, that in them you think you have eternal life (John 5:39). Christ the Lord recognized the commandments of love for God and neighbor given to Moses as the highest commandments. Do not think, He also said, that I came to destroy the law - I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. The Bogomils expressed hostility towards the cross of Christ. What will we think, said the saint, when the sign of the Son of Man, His cross, appears in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth who did not believe in the cross or did not live according to the will of the cross will weep? Poor people expose themselves to lies - they say that all trouble comes from evil matter, and yet they do not want to bow to that tree with which the material world is sanctified. Why do you, Bogomils, the saint continued, deceive yourself and others, call yourself Christians, when you are not Christians at all - you are hostile to the cross of Christ the Savior, you do not recognize one God, as Christians believe, you revile the ancient revelation, revered according to the word of the Lord by Christians? You deceive simple good people with hypocritical meekness when you breathe pride. There cannot be true piety in those who do not recognize the corruption of their hearts through self-love and do not ask for God’s grace through prayer and humble submission to the order of salvation established by the Lord! What are your posts for? Believe yourself sincerely - and you will see that evil thoughts - envy, vanity, vanity, deceit, lies, deceit - are not the work of an evil substance in us, and are not overcome by fasting, but they are the fruit of spoiled pride and therefore require spiritual medicines and spiritual achievements for themselves. Heeding the pastoral admonition, many of the Bogomils were touched in their hearts and, condemning their previous wickedness, united with the Church of Christ 280. The zealous shepherd of the Mglin Church still had to fight the Armenians. These world-wide traders came to Bulgaria, according to trade calculations 281; but they were also companions of the Paulicians, resettled by Tzimiskes from Armenia - The Armenian Teachers were annoyed that Saint Hilarion acted so successfully on the Bogomils - They dared to enter into a dispute with Hilarion about the advantages of their Church; boasted that “they contain the most ancient traditions, holy services, fasts and everything that the Apostolic Church has betrayed from the first times.” “It’s good,” answered the saint, to maintain the ancient rituals. It is even more important that until the IV Ecumenical Council you adhered to the teachings transmitted in the Church from the Apostles; but the trouble for you is that after the Council of Chalcedon you separated from the Church, holding the wicked teaching of Eutyches.” The saint denounced the Armenians for not mixing wine with water in the Eucharist. The cross, he said, no matter what it is made of, you do not begin to honor it until you baptize it as a person, drive nails into it and anoint it with sacrificial blood. If a cross, imagined by the hand, in any case sanctifies the objects it overshadows, why do you baptize and smear it with blood? Where did you get the Artsyburiyev post from? It is not the post of fathers at all. The denounced Armenians were cruelly angry with the saint. Once they got to the point that, defeated by his answers, in a fit of rage they took up stones and left the saint beaten dead in a field, near the place where he loved to retire to silence. God revived him; he came to his senses and somehow reached his deserted cell. The Orthodox Mglitians, having learned about all this, wanted to kill the Armenians, but the saint restrained them. “Everyone who lifts a knife will die by the knife,” he said in the words of the Lord. - The Armenians, having heard about such a decision of the saint, came into thought and then sorted out their opinions. “This is the good, true shepherd,” some said; “No, others said, he is cunning and deceives people.” Some of the Armenians joined Orthodoxy. Imp. Manuel at this time was against the Armenians. Teroz, the Armenian prince, made many insults to the empire, and Manuel in 1156 was forced to tame his insolence by force of arms 282. In this disposition, having learned about the exploits of the Mglinsky saint against the Armenians, the emperor sent a message, with which, encouraging him to continue his work, he authorized Blessed Hilarion to expel the rebellious and restless Armenians from the region. The will of the emperor had the effect that the Armenians who remained committed to false opinions accepted Orthodoxy. Blessed Hilarion built a magnificent church of St. on the site of a heretical meeting. Apostles and built a monastery. Peter, a disciple of the saint, a man of spiritual life, was placed in charge of the monks. Blessed Hilarion himself vigilantly watched the life of the monks; He especially did not tolerate drunkenness between them. Blessed Hilarion died peacefully in 1164. After his death, his commandment about sobriety began to be violated in his monastery. Abbot Peter exhorted the weak and mourned their lack of attention to himself. In a dream vision, he sees that Hilarion threateningly denounced some, and cruelly punished others with a stick. It turned out that the first ones lay sick for a long time, but recovered, while the others soon died. – According to the cathedral’s definition, his relics were discovered and turned out to be incorrupt. Many sick people received healing from his relics 283. Under the Bulgarian Tsar John Yasen, in 1206, the relics were transferred to Ternov, and under his son, 40 martyrs were laid in the new church 284. When attacked by the Turks, they were put into a dungeon, and, recently discovered, they were secretly transferred to Constantinople 285. Memory of Rev. Theophilus and Jacob of Omuch The Monks Theophilus and Jacob first asceticised on the island of Konevets together with the Monk Arseny. Then in 1396 they founded a hermitage in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God on the Omucha River, in the vicinity of the Demyansky churchyard, 65 versts from Porkhov. Theophilus was the founder of the desert, and Jacob was the organizer of the monastery. Their blessed death followed around 1412 October 21 days. Their relics rest hidden in the Assumption Church, which has been a parish church since 1764 286 . Hilarion was born in 291 in Tawaf, 5 miles south of Gaza; as a child he was sent by his pagan parents to Alexandria for education; here, having had the opportunity to become close to Christians, he accepted the Christian faith and was baptized by St. Bishop Peter. Having witnessed many torments of Christians here, Hilarion confirmed in himself an even greater disposition towards Christian life; carefully studied the priest. Scripture and wished to get acquainted with the life of ascetics; At the age of 15, in 306, he came to Anthony the Great in the desert and, having lived with him for about 2 months, was forever imbued with a zealous desire to imitate this great example. Therefore, returning in the same year together with several monks to Gaza and not finding his parents alive, Hilarion freely distributed all his inherited property to the poor and retired to the Maiyum desert (Mayyum is a port city 20 stadia north of Gaza). Here, after twenty-two years of harsh ascetic life 287 - in the indescribable struggle between spirit and flesh, he achieved victory over it, became famous for his high spiritual wisdom and was even glorified by God for the gift of miracles, seeing which many turned to Christ. The rumor that spread about Hilarion's holy life attracted many disciples to him. Among other manifestations of Hilarion’s miraculous foresight, the following are remarkable, testifying that God is not pleased with gifts from stingy people whose hearts are callous to pity for their neighbors and are overwhelmed by a passion for acquisition: - once, when a monastery had already been built with his blessing, fruits were brought and placed on the table of the meal, sent by one of the brethren, obsessed with the passion of stinginess and love of money, then Hilarion, seeing the fruits and not knowing from whom they came, said: “Take away these fruits, I can’t stand the stench coming from them”... “Father, do not disdain your brother’s offering, because out of zeal he sent you the firstfruits of his grapes,” one of the brothers Hesychius said then to Hilarion. “Don’t you feel that the fruits give off the stench of vile stinginess?” - the ascetic objected; - If you want to make sure of this, then put them in a manger for the oxen. And indeed the animals did not touch the fruit, but ran away from the manger, as if from the stench. Another time, Hilarion denounced stinginess as follows. Once, when he, accompanied by his many disciples, was touring the monasteries, one of the strangers invited him, along with everyone who was with him, to eat fruits from his vineyard. Everyone took as much as they wanted, with the most cordial treatment of the owner, and Hilarion blessed him for his zeal, and the blessing of the ascetic turned out to be so effective that the vineyard, which delivered about a hundred measures to its owner, this year gave him three times more. Not far away there lived another owner of a vineyard, a stingy and cruel man, who assigned a watchman to his property and ordered him not to allow any of the monks who were with Hilarion to enter, and even to drive them away with stones if they approached. And the ascetic did not bless the stingy one, and his vineyard produced much less fruit than before, and those turned out to be of poor quality. Since the number of Hilarion’s disciples quickly spread, they, with his blessing, built a large monastery; He, burdened by both the violation of his solitude and human glory, taking with him several disciples, undertook a distant journey to monastic monasteries in order to enrich himself with the experiences of Christian asceticism while visiting holy men. He went to Jerusalem, then to Elusa (now El Kulasa in the north of the Cadiz desert), here he converted many to Christianity, founded a monastery near it and many others in Palestine. A year or two after the death of St. Anthony the Great (356) Hilarion visited the place of asceticism of his teacher. On this path, he visited shepherds and saints, talked with confessors who were in captivity - finally, after passing through the sultry, waterless desert for three days, he reached the goal of his journey with incredible difficulty. Here, accompanied by two students, Rev. Anthony, Hilarion prayed for a long time at his tomb and visited all the places where the memory of the great elder was preserved. “In this place,” Anthony’s disciples pointed out to him, “the great father sang sacred hymns and prayed; here he wove quilts, here he rested from his labors, there he ate food, received visitors, and taught the brethren. These are the trees he planted, this is the threshing floor he built, this pond he dug with his own hands.” The former student looked with reverence at all these evidences of the simple but great life of his teacher. Having stayed here for more than a year, Rev. Hilarion “returned to the monastery between Aphroditepolis and Ankyropolis, where in 359 he saved the surrounding country from drought by prayer; in 362 he retired to Alexandria and settled in Bruchia, its suburb; then retreated to an inner oasis; in the fall of 363 he went to Pareton and Sicily and settled on Cape Pihon, on the southernmost part of the island; in 365 he went to Epidaurus of Dalmatia, from where, as a result of a miracle that drew the attention of the city to him, he disappeared to Cyprus around September 365, where, received by Bishop Epiphanius, with whom he spent time in frequent and lengthy conversations, he settled near Paphos and here, after his long, not idle, but arduous and fruitful pious wandering, he died in 371 or 372, October 21st" 288. “This ascetic pleased God so much,” Sozomen, a writer of the 5th century, writes about Hilarion the Great, “that at his grave to this day many sick people and those possessed by an evil spirit receive healing, and, most surprisingly, they are healed on the island of Cyprus, where he was buried by the local inhabitants, who gave him great veneration. One of his disciples, Hesychius, or Gezichius, secretly took his remains from there, transferred them to Palestine and placed them in his own monastery. Since that time, the local residents have publicly and solemnly celebrated the annual festival in honor of him, for the Palestinians have a custom - this is how they express respect for their former holy men.” Of the many students, Rev. Hilarion the Great, many founded monasteries in Gerar, Cadiz, Bethel and Cyprus. Life of Rev. Hilarion was carefully described by Blessed Jerome 20 years after his death - based on information he collected at the site of the saint’s exploits from his contemporaries. Rev. also wrote about him. Epiphanius of Cyprus, who had many conversations with him. Life of St. Hilarion is described by P. Euthymius, Izv. acad. VII, 155.156, in Tsarsky No. 614. 719. In the prologue Oct. 21 only the news of the transfer of his relics to Ternov. Shown in the life of St. Hilarion The Bulgarian Archbishop Eustathius is not shown in the well-known list of Bulgarian archbishops (Rovenkampf on Helmsman note 73). It must be assumed that he was the predecessor of the archbishop. John Komnenos. Anna Komnena, Alexiada sar. 14, says that Tzimiskes thought to see in the Paulicians a stronghold “against the northern Scythians,” that is, the Russians; but those, “being a freedom-loving and rebellious people,” soon made themselves known to the empire by riots, “everything around Philippopolis became heretical.” Glinka East. 4.624. Mglin was considered one with Edessa (Chertkov on the Chronicle of Manasseh 124. 134), but erroneously. Edessa among the Slavs Boden. Tafel de Thessalonica p. 308. 309. So says the head of the Bogomils, Nikita, in 1167 at a gathering near Toulouse. Sandii Nucleus hist. eccl. p. 390 Col. 1676. Slavs Drogovichi and the Drogovichi diocese between Thessaloniki and Berea. Tafel de Thessalonica p. 59. Safarika ancient. III. 368–370. Rainer (summa de catharis et Leonistis † 1252) among the 16 Bogomil communities shows the following communities: Slavonia, Bulgaria, Dugunitae - Dragubitiae; then added: “but they all came from the last two.” Already Kozma distinguished between these two sects: “the devil, the creator, is called man and all of God’s creation (the old theory of dualism). They denounce the other angels who have fallen away and commit unrighteousness” (softened dualism). Ordo de Bulgaria and ordo Durgutiae - in Schmidt: Histoire des Alhigeois ou Cathares 1, 58. The founder of a softened dualism was the priest Bogumil; The Dregovichi party adhered to the old dualism and lived partly near Thessaloniki, partly in the Philippopolis diocese. Safarika of Antiquity II, 362. 369. Narratio de bogomilis ed. a Gieselero, Göttina 1842. L'art de verifier les dates, Par. 1818.t. 3, ad an. 1140. 1143. Kinnama reign of the Comneni, pp. 67–69. Allatii de consensu eccl. 2,678. Later, under the Bulgarian Tsar Boris, at the Council of 1210, it was decided to pronounce anathema to the Bogomils on the week of Orthodoxy, as well as to wish peace to the Bulgarian archpastors: the Patriarchs of Preslav and Tervov, the Metropolitans of Cherven (Ruschuk), Lovech, Sredech (Sofia), Ovech (Προβάτου - Pravod), Dristersky (Silistrian), Sersky, Bdinsky (Viddinsky), Philippopolis, Mesemvriysky; Archbishops of Ohrid; Bishops of Velbuzhd (Kyustendil), Branichsky at the Danube, Belgrade, Niszew. Vremennik, book. 23. Izv. Academician II, 111. Another book. Boris wrote in a letter to P. Nicholas, multi ex diversis locis christiani advenerunt, qui prout voluntas eorum existit, multa et varia loquuntur, i. e. Graeci Armenii et ex caeteris locis. Kinnama, Ist., pp. 192. 195–200. St. Petersburg 1859 Prologue Oct. 21. Tsarskoye No. 563 has service on Oct. 21 “for the transfer of the relics of St. Hilarion Bishop of Meglinsky." Description Muz., p. 539. Daskalova's discovery in Tarnovo - in Chten. General East. 1859, book. 2, p. 6. 7. Grigorovich 174. 175. According to the Otensky list of saints, “Rev. Theophilus the Hermit in the Theophilus Hermitage, on the river. Sheloni, in l. 6904 (1395) m. Oct. on the 21st day, the relics are hidden, the troparion and kontakion are there. Rev. Jacob is the head of the Assumption Monastery on Shelon.” – According to the senior list of saints, “Rev. Fathers Jacob and Theophilus, Omuchsky, abbots of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the Konevsky Monastery, formerly on Lake Ladoga in l. 6904 (1395) m. Oct. at 21 days." – According to the record of 1580, “Feofilova Hermitage” was ruzhnaya: 6 rubles were paid for it. 3 altyns and 4 money (Temporary General History, book 24, p. 38. 39). This indicates that even earlier than that time they began to honor St. Theophilus and Jacob. Sl. East. Jer. VI, 845. Ratshin has been reduced. about the monastery 456. Hilarion lived in such a wretched and cramped room - made of brushwood and broken tiles - that when standing, he had to bow his head, and when lying down, he had to bend his legs, and thus he deprived himself of all rest, while enduring and all other hardships. "Poly. Months East." archim. Sergius, vol. II, part 2, pp. 335–336.