Life of our Venerable Father Hilarion the Great

Essay by blzh. Jerome of Stridon "The Life of our Venerable Father Hilarion the Great" was written in Bethlehem in 386 or 390-391. It tells about the disciple St. Anthony the Great and the founder of Palestinian monasticism - St. Hilarion. After 22 years of hermitage, he became abbot of the monastery he founded, located near Gaza, and became famous not only for his ascetic deeds, but also for his numerous miracles. Blessed Jerome gives a rather concise description of the life of Saint Hilarion, limiting himself only to the essence, wanting to recreate the image of a little-known hermit (some doubted his historical existence). Necessary information for your essay blzh. Jerome could have received from St. Epiphanius of Cyprus, whose spiritual mentor was St. Hilarion. *The title of the work in Latin is Vita S. Hilarionis. Starting to describe the life of Blessed Hilarion, I pray to the Holy Spirit who dwelled in him, that He who endowed him with virtues will give me the word to narrate them, so that the speech will be worthy of the feats being described. For the valor of the figures, as Crispus says, is as great as the famous writers could show them in their stories. 1 The great Alexander the Great, whom Daniel calls sometimes a ram, sometimes a leopard, sometimes a shaggy goat, approaching the tomb of Achilles, said: “Happy are you, young man, that you had a great herald of your merits,” hinting at Homer. And I have to talk about the exploits and life of such a man that Homer himself, if he were alive, would either envy the subject, or would turn out to be insolvent. Although Saint Epiphanius, Bishop of the Cypriot city of Salamis, who lived with Hilarion for a very long time, wrote praise to him in a well-known letter; but it is another thing to praise the deceased in general terms, and another to talk about the virtues that were the distinctive property of the deceased. Why, treating the work he began with favor rather than reproach, we will proceed to continue it, despising the cries of the slanderers. Those who once reviled my Paul, perhaps now revile Hilarion. This one was slandered for his solitude, and this one is reproached for living in society; so that one who has always hidden is considered not to have existed, and one who lived in plain sight of people is considered not worthy of attention. This is what their ancestors, the Pharisees, once did, who equally did not like either the desert and the fast of John, or the treatment in crowds, the food and drink of the Savior. But I will begin my planned work, and walk past Scylla’s dogs, covering my ears. Hilarion was born in the village of Tawafa, which lies almost five miles south of Gaza, a Palestinian city. Since he had parents who were idolaters, he, as they say, blossomed like a rose between thorns. Sent by them to Alexandria, he was given to the grammarian. There, as far as his age permitted, he gave strong evidence of his intelligence and excellent character, and in a short time acquired general favor and became famous for his eloquence. And most importantly, having believed in the Lord Jesus, he found no pleasure either in the furies of the circus, or in the blood of the arena, or in the debauchery of the theater; but the highest pleasure for him was the church meeting. Having heard the then famous name of Anthony, which was on the tongue of all the Egyptian peoples, and inflamed with the desire to see him, he went into the desert. And when he saw him, he immediately changed his previous clothes, and lived near him for almost two months, observing the order of his life and the severity of his character, namely: how often he prayed, with what humility he received his brothers, how strict he was in reproof, how zealous in exhortation, and how no physical weakness ever diminished his abstinence and the severity of his food. But he could no longer endure the frequent visits of persons who resorted to Anthony regarding various sorrows and demonic slander; found it inappropriate to tolerate urban populations in the desert; he considered it proper for himself to begin as Anthony began; in the latter he saw a brave warrior who had received awards for victory, but himself who had not yet begun to fight. Therefore, with some monks, he returned to his fatherland. Since his parents had already died, he gave part of his property to his brothers, part to the poor; He left absolutely nothing for himself, fearing the example known from the Acts of the Apostles, or the execution of Ananias and Sapphira, and especially remembering the Lord who said: “Whoever does not renounce all his property cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). At this time he was fifteen years old. So naked, but clothed as with Christ as a weapon, he entered the desert, which lies seventh mile to the left along the coastal route to Egypt from Mayuma, the market of Gaza. Although these places were terrible with robberies, and people close to him and friends warned him of the impending danger, he despised death in order to avoid death. Everyone was surprised at his courage; were surprised at the age. But a certain flame burned in his chest; a spark of faith shone in his eyes. His face was childish, his body was tender and thin, unable to endure adversity of any kind: slight cold or heat could exhaust him. So, covering his limbs with sackcloth and having outer leather clothing, which Blessed Anthony gave him for the journey, and a Deveven cloak, he spent his time between the sea and the swamp in the vast and terrible desert, eating only fifteen figs at sunset. Since the country was disgraced by robberies, he never lived in the same place. What will the devil do? What will he do? He, who boasted before, saying: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, and I will be like the Most High (Isa. 14:13-14), saw himself defeated by the boy, and trampled upon even before he reached the age capable of sin. So he began to tickle his feelings, and, as his body matured, he fanned the usual flame of lusts. The little ascetic of Christ was forced to think about what he did not know, and to weigh in his mind the sweetness of an object that he had not known from experience. Finally angry with himself, and striking his chest with his fists (as if he could disperse his thoughts with blows of his hand!), he said: “I will do to you, donkey, so that you will not kick: I will feed you not with barley, but with chaff. I will kill you with hunger and thirst; I will lay a heavy burden on you; I will chase you in both heat and cold, so that you think more about food than about bliss.” Why did he support the weakened life after three and four days with the juice of herbs and a small amount of figs; He often prayed and sang psalms, and dug the earth with a spade, so that through labor he could double the labor of fasting. At the same time, while weaving baskets from reeds, he followed the rules of the Egyptian monks and the saying of the Apostle, who says: if anyone does not want to do the work, let him eat (2 Thess. 3:10). He became so thin and his body so exhausted that only his bones remained. One night he heard the crying of children, the bleating of a herd, the mooing of bulls, similar to the moans of women, the roaring of lions, the noise of an army, and various voices of a completely monstrous nature, so that the sounds struck him with horror before the vision itself. He understood the mockery of the demons; falling to his knees, he marked his forehead with the cross of Christ, and armed with it, spread out, he fought more courageously. However, he wanted to somehow see those whom he was afraid to hear, and with restless eyes he looked around in all directions. Meanwhile, the moon suddenly flashed. He saw a road cart being carried towards him by mad horses. But when he called out to Jesus, the earth instantly opened up before his eyes and swallowed up the entire train. Then he said: the horse and the rider are thrown into the sea (Ex. 15:1); and these on chariots, and these on horses: but in the name of our Lord we will be glorified (Ps. 19:8). His temptations were numerous, and the day and night slander of demons varied. If I wanted to tell them all, there wouldn't be enough books to do it. How many times did naked women appear to him while he was lying down, and luxurious tables when he was starving! At times, when he was praying, a wolf with a howl and a fox with a squeal would jump over him; and when the psalms were sung, a battle of gladiators was imagined, and one of them, as if killed, falling at his feet, asked for burial. One day he was praying, bowing his head to the ground, and as is natural for people, having distracted himself from prayer with his mind, he thought about something else. The tempter jumped on his back, hit him on the sides with his heels and on the neck with a whip and said: well, why are you sleeping? And then, laughing loudly, he asked if you would like to eat some barley if you were weak. From the sixteenth year of his age to the twentieth, he took refuge from the heat and rain in a small hut, which he wove from reeds and sedges. Then he built himself a small cell, which is still intact. It was five feet tall, i.e. shorter than his height; somewhat longer in length, however, commensurate with his short stature; so that it resembled a coffin rather than a house. Once a year, on Easter Day, he cut his hair: he slept until his death on bare ground and a bed of reeds. He never washed the sackcloth he once put on: it was unnecessary, he said, to look for cleanliness in a sackcloth. He did not change clothes for new ones until the old ones were completely torn. Knowing the Holy Scriptures by heart, after prayers he sang psalms, as if in the presence of God. But since it would be lengthy to tell his ascent (from strength to strength) at different times in fits and starts, I will present this ascent to the eyes of the reader in a brief sketch of his life; and then I will return to the story. From the twenty-first year to the twenty-seventh, for three years he ate half a sextary of lentils moistened with cold water, and in the remaining three years dry bread with salt and water. Then, from the twenty-seventh to the thirtieth, he supported his life on field grass and the raw roots of some bushes. From the thirty-first to the thirty-fifth, he ate six ounces of barley bread and lightly boiled vegetables without oil. Feeling weakened vision and seeing his whole body covered with scabies and scabs, he added oil to the said food; and even until the sixty-third year of his life he maintained this degree of abstinence, not adding tree fruits, flour, or anything else to his food. After this, seeing himself physically exhausted and considering his death close, from the sixty-fourth year to the eightieth year, he abstained from bread with incredible enthusiasm, so that he seemed like a novice in serving the Lord at a time when others usually allowed themselves relaxation in their lifestyle. He had a soup made from flour and a reduced amount of butter, and the food and drink weighed five ounces; and leading such a lifestyle, he never allowed fasting until sunset, either on holidays or during illness. But it’s time for us to return to the story. When he was still living in a hut, being eighteen years old, robbers came to him at night, either because they expected to find something to carry away, or because they considered it humiliating for themselves if the lonely youth was not afraid of their attack. But wandering from evening until sunrise between the sea and the swamp, they could not find the place where he lay. When it was dawn, seeing the boy, they said to him as if in jest: what would you do if robbers came to you? “A naked man is not afraid of robbers,” he answered them. “But you can be killed,” they tell him. “I can,” he says, “I can;” but that’s why I’m not afraid of robbers, because I’ve prepared myself for death. Then, surprised by his firmness and faith, they confessed to their night wandering and blindness of their eyes, and promised to improve their lives from then on. He had already lived twenty-two years in the desert; became known to everyone only by rumor, and they were barely talking about him in all the cities of Palestine, when one woman from Eleutheropolis, seeing herself in contempt for her husband for infertility (because she had not borne any marital fruit for fifteen years), was the first to dare to disturb the solitude of blessed Hilarion. He did not suspect anything of the kind when, unexpectedly falling to his knees, she said: forgive my courage, forgive my extreme need. Why do you turn your eyes away? Why are you running away from someone who is begging you? Look at me not as a woman, but as an unfortunate one. This sex gave birth to the Savior. Health does not require a doctor, but those who are sick (Luke 5:31). Finally he turned to her, and, seeing the woman after such a long period of time, asked about the reason for her coming and crying. When he learned this reason, he raised his eyes to heaven and told her to have faith; and having seen her off with tears, after a year he saw her with her son. This was the beginning of his miracles; another miracle glorified him more. Aristeneta, the wife of Elpidius, who was later the praetorian prefect, very famous in her circle and even more famous among Christians, returning with her husband and three children from Blessed Anthony, due to their illness, stopped in Gaza. Whether from the depravity of the air, or for the sake of the glory of the servant of God Hilarion (as it was explained later), they simultaneously fell ill with fever (hemitritaeo) and were all declared by doctors to be in a hopeless condition. The mother was in terrible grief, and running as if between three corpses of her sons, she did not know whom to mourn first. Having learned that there was a monk in the neighboring desert, she, forgetting about the usual pomp for noble women (remembering herself only as a mother), went to him, accompanied by maids and eunuchs; her husband barely convinced her to ride a donkey. Having come to him, she said: I beg you by the most merciful Jesus our God, I conjure Him with the cross and blood - return my three sons; let the name of the Lord the Savior be glorified in the pagan city, and let his servant enter Gaza and destroy the idol of Marne 2. When he refused and said that he did not have the habit of going not only to the city, but also to any village, she threw herself to the ground, crying incessantly: Hilarion, servant of Christ, give me my sons. Anthony kept them in Egypt, save them in Syria. Everyone present was crying; he cried and refused. In a word, the woman did not retreat until he made a promise to enter Gaza at sunset. Having arrived there, he cried out to Jesus, marking the beds and the burning members of each. And, oh wonderful power! sweat appeared simultaneously as if from three sources: during the same hour they took food, began to recognize the crying mother, and, blessing God, kissed the holy hands. When they learned about this and the rumor spread far in all directions, people from Syria and Egypt zealously came to him, so that many believed in Christ and took the vow of monasticism. For at that time there were no monasteries in Palestine, and before St. Hilarion no monk was known in Syria. He was the founder of this way of life and exploits in this area. The Lord Jesus raised up the old man Anthony in Egypt, and the young man Hilarion in Palestine. Fadicia is the name of a suburb of Rhinocorura, an Egyptian city. From this suburb, a woman who had become blind ten years ago was brought to Blessed Hilarion. Introduced to him by the brothers (because many monks were already living with him at that time), she said that she had spent all her property on doctors. He answered her: if you had given what you lost on doctors to the poor, the true physician Jesus would have healed you. When she continued to cry out and beg for mercy, he spat in her eyes, and immediately the same miraculous power followed the example of the Savior. Likewise, the Ghaz driver, struck by a demon on his chariot, became completely numb so that he could neither use his hands nor bend his neck. Brought to bed and being able only to move his tongue to make requests, he heard that he could not recover before he believed in Jesus and vowed to renounce his former profession. He believed, made a vow, recovered, and rejoiced more at the salvation of his soul than at the recovery of his body. In addition, one very strong-built young man named Marsit, from the Jerusalem region, boasted so much of his strength that he sewed fifteen modius of bread for a long time and far, and saw in this a triumph for himself that he was superior in strength to donkeys. Struck by the most evil demon, this young man did not leave chains, iron fetters, or door locks intact: he chewed off the ears and noses of many; He broke the legs of some, the shins of others. He terrified everyone so much that he was dragged into the monastery like the most ferocious bull, burdened with chains and held on ropes from different sides. When the brothers saw him, they informed their father about this with horror (because he was of amazing size). Hilarion, as he sat there, ordered him to be dragged to him and left free. When they untied him, he said: bow your head and come closer. He trembled, bowed his neck and, not daring to look him in the eyes and abandoning all atrocity, began to lick the feet of the man sitting. After this, the demon, cursed and defeated, came out of him on the seventh day. But I cannot pass in silence how Orion, one of the most noble and wealthy men of the city of Ayla, which lies near the Red Sea, was brought to him, who was possessed by a legion of demons. His arms, neck, chest, legs were burdened with iron, and his terrible eyes threatened with furious fury. When the saint was walking with his brothers and discussing something from the Scriptures, he broke free from the hands of those who were holding him, and, grabbing him from behind, lifted him high. Everyone screamed, afraid that he would crush the members exhausted by fasting. The saint said with a smile: be silent and give me my fighter. Then, putting his hand on his shoulder, he touched his head, and, taking him by the hair, bent him to his feet. He folded his arms on his chest and trampled on the grass with his feet, repeating at the same time: a crowd of demons is tormented, tormented. When he howled and, bending his neck, touched the top of his head to the ground, the saint said: Lord Jesus, free the unfortunate one, free the captive. Victory over both one and many belongs to you. I’ll say something unheard of: from the same human lips different voices and the seemingly mixed noise of a crowd were heard. So, this one too, healed, after a little time came to the monastery with his wife and children, and brought, as if in gratitude, a lot of gifts. The saint said to him: haven’t you read how Gehazi suffered (2 Kings 5), how Simon (Acts 8), of whom one took payment, the other brought it - he sold the grace of the Holy Spirit, and this one bought? And when Orion spoke with tears: take and give to the poor; he answered: you are better able to distribute yours, because you walk around the cities and know the poor. But I, who left what was mine, why would I desire what belongs to someone else? For many, the name of the poor is an excuse for greed; but mercy does not require art. No one gives better than the one who keeps nothing for himself. When this one, saddened, lay prostrate on the ground, he said: Do not be distressed, my son, what I do for myself, I do for you. If I took this, I myself would offend God, and the legion would return to you. Who could keep silent about how Gavan Mayomite, while cutting stones for buildings on the seashore not far from his monastery, was struck with paralysis and brought to the saint by those working with him, immediately returned to work healthy? For the coast, which stretches near Palestine and Egypt, is soft by nature, hardens from the turning of the sands into stone; and gradually connecting with the cartilage, changes to the sense of touch, although it does not change in appearance. Italik, a citizen of the same city, who was a Christian, was preparing horses for a competition in the circus with the Gazan duumvir, a worshiper of the idol of the Marne. In Roman cities, since the time of Romulus, a custom was observed according to which, in honor of Consus, as the God of advice, in memory of the happy abduction of the Sabine women, they ran around seven times in chariots, and it was considered a victory to leave behind the enemy’s horses. So he, having as his rival a sorcerer who, with well-known demonic spells, prevented the horses of one and excited the horses of the other to run, came to Blessed Hilarion and asked him not so much to harm the enemy as to ban him himself. It seemed inappropriate to the venerable elder to waste prayer on trifles of this kind. When he laughed and said: “Why don’t you rather give the price of your horses to the poor?” He replied that this was a public duty, and that he was doing it not so much out of desire as out of compulsion; that he cannot, as a Christian, use magic, but asks first of all for help from the servant of Christ, especially against the Gaza enemies of God, who curse not so much at him as at the Church of Christ. Then, entreated by the brethren who were present, he ordered the clay cup from which he usually drank to be filled with water and given to him. Taking it, Italik sprinkled the stall, the horses, his charioteers, the chariot and the locks of the punishment cells 4 . The expectation of the people was amazing: because the rival, laughing at this very thing, dishonored Italik, and Italik’s well-wishers triumphed, promising a certain victory for themselves. Now, when the sign was given, these fly, those encounter obstacles; the wheels are burning under these chariots; they can barely see the backs of those flying past. The cry of the people was extraordinary; so that the pagans themselves thundered that Christ had conquered the Marne. After this, enraged opponents demanded that Hilarion be executed as a malicious Christian. But the victory, undoubted both for them and for many returning from the ceremonial games, was the reason for the conversion of many to Christianity. In the same trading city of Gaza, a neighboring young man was passionately in love with the Virgin of God. When he did not manage to achieve anything with frequent touching, jokes, winks, and other such means usually used to kill virginity, he went to Memphis so that, having confessed his love, he would return to the maiden armed with magical art; taught by the soothsayers of Aesculapius, who did not heal souls, but destroyed them, he returned a year later, enthusiastically dreaming in his soul about fornication; and buried under the threshold of the girl’s house some magical things with words and magical images carved on a sheet of Cypriot copper. The girl immediately went crazy, and, throwing the veil off her head, let her hair down, gnashed her teeth, and called the young man by name. The power of her love turned into frenzy. Therefore, brought to the monastery by her parents, she was given to the elder. Immediately the demon howled and spoke openly: I was violated, brought against my will: how successfully I deceived the people in Memphis with dreams! What kind of torment, what kind of torture that I endure! You force me to leave, and I remain tied under the threshold. I won’t go out if the young man who’s holding me doesn’t let me go. Then the elder said: Great is your strength if you are held bound by a thread and a leaf. Tell me, why did you dare to enter the damsel of God? “To keep her a virgin,” he answered. “Will you keep your virginity, traitor?” Why didn’t you quickly enter into the one who sent you? - How would I enter the one who had my comrade, the demon of love? - he answered. But until he had cleansed the virgin, the saint did not want to order an investigation into either the young man or the magical signs, so that it would not seem that the demon had left as a result of the destruction of the spell, or that he himself believed his words. He assured that demons are cunning and skilled in deception: and after returning the girl to health, he reprimanded her why she did such a thing, because of which the demon could enter her. His fame spread not only to Palestine and the adjacent cities of Egypt or Syria, but also to remote areas. So the candadate 5 of Emperor Constantius, from the region indicated by the golden color of his hair and the whiteness of his body (its people, between the Saxons and Allemans, are distinguished not so much by their numbers as by their strength; historians call it Germany, and now France), for a long time, i.e. since childhood, having fallen under the power of a demon, who forced him to howl, moan, and chatter his teeth at night, he secretly asked the emperor for evection 6, who openly explained the reason. Having also stocked up with letters to the ruler of Palestine, he was taken to Gaza with great honor and retinue. When he asked the local decurions where the monk Hilarion lived, the Gaza people were greatly frightened, and, considering him sent from the emperor, they escorted him to the monastery, both in order to honor him with due honor, and in order to make amends for any insults previously made to Hilarion with this service. The elder at that time was walking along the loose sand and muttering something quietly from psalms; Seeing such a suitable crowd, he stopped. When everyone greeted each other and he blessed them with his hand, after a while he ordered the others to leave, but he and his servants and retinue to remain; because I knew why he came by his eyes and face. But immediately put into difficulty by the question of the servant of God, this man began to barely touch the ground with his feet, and, blushing extremely, answered in the secular language in which he was asked. From the lips of a barbarian who knew only Frankish and Latin, purely worldly words were heard; so that neither the pronunciation, nor the aspirations, nor any other feature of the Palestinian dialect was noticeable. So he 7 confessed how he entered it. And so that his translators, who knew only Greek and Latin, would understand, they asked him in Greek. When he answered the same thing in Greek and with the same words, and expanded on various cases of magic and accessories of magical art, the saint said: I don’t care about how you entered; but I command you to come out in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When he was healed, out of rustic simplicity he offered ten pounds of gold as a gift; but received from him (Hilarion) barley bread, with the words that those who eat such bread consider gold to be dirt. It’s not enough to say about people: rabid, senseless animals were brought to him every day. By the way, thirty or more people were brought screaming on the strongest ropes of a Bactrian camel, of extraordinary size, which had already trampled many. His eyes were bloodshot, foam was flowing from his mouth, his rapidly moving tongue was swollen, and to complete the horror, he uttered a terrible roar. The elder ordered him to be released. And those who brought him, who were with the elder, all ran away immediately. Then the elder went alone to meet him and said in Syrian: You will not frighten me, devil, with such a huge body: both in the fox and in the camel you are one and the same. Meanwhile, he stood with his hand outstretched. When the beast, mad and as if ready to devour him, ran up to him, he fell immediately and bent his submissive head to the ground. All those present were surprised by such unexpected meekness after such fury. But the elder began to teach that the devil, for the sake of people, even takes possession of draft animals; and he burns with such hatred for them that he wishes destruction not only for them, but also for everything that belongs to them. And he gave as an example that before he was allowed to tempt blessed Job, he destroyed all his property. And no one should be indignant at the fact that, at the command of the Lord, demons killed two thousand pigs (Matthew 8 and Mark 5); because otherwise it was impossible to convince those who saw that such a multitude of demons had come out of a person, as when a great number of pigs, as if driven by many, fell (into the water) at once. I would not have enough time if I wanted to talk about all the miracles that he performed. For the Lord glorified him to such an extent that blessed Anthony, having heard about his exploits, wrote to him and received letters from him with pleasure. And when sick people from the Syrian regions came to Anthony, he said to them: why did you travel so far when you have my son Hilarion with you? Therefore, following his example, countless monasteries began to be established throughout Palestine, and all the monks vied with each other to run to him. He, seeing this, glorified the grace of the Lord and exhorted each of them to spiritual perfection, saying: the image of this world passes away, and true life is that which is bought by the misfortunes of this life. Wanting, however, to show them an example of both humility and sociability, on certain days before the time of picking grapes, he walked around the cells of the monks. When the brethren found out this, they all began to gather to him and, accompanied by such a leader, went around the monasteries, having with them their own travel supplies: because sometimes up to two thousand people came together. However, when this time came, every village happily delivered food to the neighboring monks to receive the saints. His zeal was so great that they did not pass by the simplest, poorest brother; which is evidenced by the fact that on the way to the desert of Kadesh, he, with an uncountable number of monks, reached Blouse, and by chance, on the very day when the entire population of the city was gathering for an annual holiday in the church of Venus. They worshiped her for the sake of Lucifer, whom the Saracen people idolized. However, the city itself, due to its local situation, had a semi-barbarian majority of the population. So, hearing that Saint Hilarion was passing by (he often healed many Saracens possessed by a demon), the inhabitants came out to meet him in crowds with their wives and children, bowing their heads before him and exclaiming in Syrian barech, i.e. bless. Receiving them kindly and meekly, he begged them to honor God more than stones; at the same time, he wept bitterly, looking at heaven and promising to come to them often if they believed in Christ. The grace of the Lord is amazing: it allowed him to leave not before he laid the foundation of the future church; and their priest, who had previously worn a crown, imprinted himself with the sign of Christ. Another year, when he was going to visit monasteries and was writing down on a piece of paper with whom he should stay, whom he should visit in passing, the monks, knowing the great stinginess of one of the brothers and at the same time wanting to cure him of his vice, asked him to stay with him. He said to them: Why do you insult yourself, and want to upset your brother? When the stingy brother later heard about this, he felt ashamed; and he barely, with the assistance of everyone, somehow begged the elder to include his monastery on the list of his stops. When ten days later they came to him, in the vineyard into which they entered, watchmen had already been posted, who, walking around, threatened with stones, throwing blocks and waving slings. Everyone left early without eating a grape. The elder smiled and pretended as if he did not know what had happened. Then they were received by another monk named Savvoy (we must keep silent about the name of the miser, but name the generous one). Since it was Sunday, he invited everyone to the vineyard so that before lunchtime they would refresh themselves with grapes after a difficult journey. The saint said: cursed is the one who seeks restoration of bodily strength before mental strength. Let's pray, sing a psalm, pay tribute to the Lord, and then go to the vineyard. So, at the end of the service, he, standing on an elevated place, blessed the vineyard, and sent his sheep out to pasture. There were no less than three thousand who were fed. Meanwhile, the vineyard, from which, while it was still untouched, they expected to receive a hundred jugs (of wine), twenty days later gave three hundred. The same stingy brother was in extreme sorrow: because not only had he collected much less than usual, but even what he had had turned into vinegar. The elder predicted this to many brothers even before it happened. He had an aversion especially to monks who, with some betrayal of their vows, protect their property for the future, and observe frugality either in expenses, or in clothing, or in anything else that passes away with time. Finally, he drove out of his sight one brother who lived almost five miles from him; because he learned that he takes care of his vineyard extremely carefully and cowardly, and has little money. He, wanting to make peace with the elder, often came to the brothers, and especially to Hesychius, whom the elder loved very much. And then one day he brought a bundle of green peas, with a snare, as he grew up. When Hesychius laid it on the table in the evening, the elder shouted that he could not stand its bad smell, and together asked where these peas came from. Hesychius replied that one brother brought the brothers the firstfruits of his small arable land. Then he said: Don’t you really hear the disgusting smell, and don’t you feel the stink of stinginess from the peas? Give it to the oxen, give it to the foolish cattle, and see if they will eat. When he, following the order, put the peas in the manger, the oxen, frightened and mooing more than usual, broke their leashes and ran away in different directions. The elder had the blessed gift to recognize the demon, or the vice to whom someone was transferred, by the smell of the body and clothes, and everything that someone touched. So, seeing in the sixty-third year of his life a huge monastery and many brothers living with it, as well as crowds of people who brought to him various sick people and those possessed by unclean spirits, so that the desert on all sides was filled with people of all kinds - seeing all this, the elder cried every day and with incredible love recalled his former way of life. When the brothers asked what it was that was crushing him, he said: again I returned to the world and received my reward during my life. The people of Palestine and the neighboring region consider me something important; and I, under the pretext of fraternal economy in the monastery, have some household junk. But the brethren, especially Hesychius, who honored the elder with amazing love, guarded him. When he had lived like this in tears for two years, the famous Aristeneta, whom we mentioned before, who was then already the wife of the prefect, but had nothing of the usual prefects’ circumstances, came to him, with the intention of going from him to Anthony. I would like to go myself, he told her with tears, if they did not keep me locked in the prison of this monastery, and if there was any benefit from the journey. Today is two days since the whole world lost this father. She believed him and did not continue on her way. And a few days later a messenger arrived, and she heard about Anthony’s death. Others are surprised at the miracles he performed - they are surprised at his incredible abstinence, knowledge, and humility. And I am more amazed at nothing than at the extent to which he could neglect fame and honor. Bishops, presbyters, whole crowds of clergy, monks and noble Christian women (a great test!), and not only simple people from all over the cities and villages, but also strong people and judges, came to him to receive blessed bread or oil from him. But he didn’t think about anything other than the desert, so he set a certain day for departure. A donkey was also brought (because, exhausted by excessive fasting, he could barely walk); he used every effort to get on the road. When the news of this spread, it seemed as if Palestine was destined for eviction and vacancy: more than ten thousand people of different ages and sexes gathered to keep him out. He remained adamant to the requests, and, breaking the sand with his staff, said: I will not make my Lord a liar; I cannot see churches overthrown, the altars of Christ trampled, the blood of my children spilled. All those present understood that something mysterious was revealed to him, which he did not want to say; but nevertheless they guarded him so that he would not leave. Then he decided, announcing this publicly, not to take any food or drink until he was released. After this, seven days later, exhausted by fasting and having said goodbye to very many, he finally went to Bethelium, accompanied by countless people; there, having convinced the crowds to return, he chose forty monks who had travel supplies and could set out on the road, observing fasting, i.e. after sunset. Having then visited the brothers who lived in the neighboring desert, and stopped for some time at a place called Lichios, three days later he reached the fortress of Teubatia to see the bishop and confessor Dracontius, who had been sent into exile there. He was incredibly comforted by the arrival of such a husband; and three days later, with much difficulty, he reached Babylon to visit the bishop and also confessor, Philo. Because Emperor Constantius, patronizing the Arian heresy, exiled both of them to those places. Setting out from there, he came to the city of Aphrodite three days later. There, having agreed with Deacon Baizan (who, due to the lack of water in the desert, transported travelers to Anthony with hired two-humped camels), he announced to the brothers that the day of Anthony’s dormition was coming, and that he should spend the night in vigil at the very place of his burial. So, after three days, they finally reached a very high mountain through a vast and terrible desert, where they found two monks, Isaac and Pelusian, of whom Isaac was Anthony's translator. Since the opportunity presented itself, and by the way, we consider it appropriate to briefly describe the home of such a husband. A stone and high mountain, about a thousand steps in circumference, squeezes out water at its base, part of which is absorbed by the sands, and the other, penetrating further, forms a stream, above which countless palm trees growing on both banks give the place a lot of charm and convenience. You would have seen the elder walking back and forth with the disciples of Blessed Anthony. Here, they say, he used to sing psalms, here he prayed, here he worked, here he rested. He planted these vines, these trees himself: he made this garden bed with his own hands. He made this pond for irrigating the garden with great difficulty. But with that hoe he cultivated the land for many years. He (Hilarion) lay down on his bed and kissed his bed as if it were still warm. His cell was no more in length and breadth than a sleeping person could occupy. In addition, at the very top, where they ascended as if by a twisted staircase and with extreme effort, they saw two cells of the same size: in them he lived, avoiding visits from those who came and the community of students who lived with him. However, these cells were carved from natural stone, and they were given only doors. After that they entered the kindergarten. “Look at this orchard, planted with trees and green with vegetables,” said Isaac. When, almost three years ago, a herd of wild donkeys devastated him, he ordered one of their leaders to stop and beat him on the sides with a stick, saying: why do you eat what you did not sow? And from then on, except for the water they came to drink, they never touched a tree or vegetables. Then the elder asked to be shown the place of his burial. They took him alone, and whether they showed him or not is unknown. They explained that, in accordance with the command of Anthony, they were hiding this place so that Pergalius, who was the richest man in that area, would not transfer the bodies to his village and build a martyrium 8. Returning from there to Aphroditeton, he kept only two brothers with him, and began to live in the neighboring desert in such abstinence and silence that, according to him, it was only then that he began to serve Christ for the first time. It had already been three years since the rainless sky dried up that area; Everywhere they said that the death of Anthony was mourned by the very elements. The glory of Hilarion did not hide from the neighboring inhabitants of that place: the male and female sex, with pale and thinned lips from hunger, begged for rain to the servant of Christ, i.e. successor of Blessed Anthony. The sight of them caused him great grief. Raising his eyes to the sky and stretching out his arms high, he immediately asked for what they begged for. But the country, dried up by lack of rain and sandy, after being wetted by rains, suddenly boiled with so many snakes and poisonous animals that countless numbers of those wounded by them died immediately if they did not turn to Hilarion. Why did all farmers and shepherds recover completely by anointing their wounds with blessed oil? Seeing himself there in amazing honor, he went to Alexandria, hoping to go to the most distant Oasis in the desert. Having never stopped in cities since he became a monk, he turned to some brethren he knew in Bruchia, not far from Alexandria. They received the elder with extreme joy. Night was already approaching. Suddenly they heard that his disciples were saddling a donkey and he was getting ready to set off. Falling at his feet, they asked him not to do this, and prostrated himself on the threshold, assuring him that they would rather die than let such a guest out. He answered them: I am in a hurry to leave so as not to cause you grief. Afterwards you will be convinced that it is not without a reason that I am leaving so soon. Indeed, the next day the Gazans entered the monastery with the lictors of the prefect (for they learned that he had come there the day before), and not finding him, they said to each other: is it really true what we heard - that he is a magician and knows the future?.. For the city of Gaza, after the departure of Hilarion from Palestine, Julian ascended the throne, having destroyed his monastery, submitted petitions to the emperor, and asked for the death penalty for Hilarion and Hesychius. Orders were sent throughout the empire to find both. So, leaving Bruchia, he entered the Oasis through the impassable desert, and lived there for exactly a year. But since the fame of him reached there too, as if unable to hide in the East, where many knew him both by ear and by sight, he decided to sail to secluded islands, so that at least the sea would hide the one about whom the earth was telling. At the same time, his disciple Adrian came to him from Palestine; this one told him that Julian had been killed, that a Christian emperor (Jovian) had begun to reign, and that he should return to the ruins of his monastery. Having heard this, the elder did not express his permission; and on a hired camel, through a vast desert, arrived at Paretonium, a seaside city of Libya. There, unfortunate Adrian, wanting to return to Palestine and seeking to continue to enjoy the glory of his teacher, inflicted many insults on him. Finally, having collected everything that was sent through him from the brothers, he left without his knowledge. Since there will be no other opportunity to talk about this, then, as a warning to those who despise teachers, I will only say that after a while he rotted from jaundice (disease). And the elder, having Gazan with him, boarded a ship sailing to Sicily. When he wanted to sell the book of the Gospel, which he had written with his own hand in his youth, in order to pay for transportation almost in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, the son of the ship skipper, who was possessed by a demon, began to shout and say: Hilarion, servant of God, why are we not safe from you at sea? Give me the opportunity to reach dry land; otherwise, expelled here, I will be cast into the abyss. He said to him: if my God allows you to abide, abide; if he drives you out, then why do you bring hatred to me, a sinful and poor man? And he said this so that the shipmen and merchants who were sailing on the ship, having reached land, would not betray him. A little later he cleared the boy, making his father and others present promise that they would not tell his name. When he arrived at Pakhin, a Sicilian cape, he brought the Gospel to the skipper for transporting him and Ghazan. He didn’t want to take it; seeing that except for this book and what they were wearing, they had nothing more, he finally swore that he would not take it. And the elder, for his part, touched by the attention to the plight of the poor man, was especially happy that he had nothing temporary, and that the inhabitants of that place considered him a beggar. Then, fearing that merchants coming from the East would spread information about him, he went to places located in the middle of the island, that is, twenty miles from the sea. There, in one small uninhabited field, collecting a bundle of firewood every day, he put a student on his back, and having sold it in the nearest village, he bought food for himself and a little bread for those who might come to him. But Scripture rightly says: hail cannot hide on top of a standing mountain (Matthew 5:14). When a certain Scutarius suffered a painful attack in the church of Blessed Peter in Rome, the unclean spirit in him proclaimed: a few days before this, the servant of Christ Hilarion entered Sicily; no one knows him, and he expects to remain unknown. I'll go and give him away. And immediately, boarding a ship in the port, he landed at Pakhin, and, led by a demon, in the very place where he prostrated himself in front of the elder’s hut, he received healing. This beginning of his miracles in Sicily later attracted to him countless numbers of not only the sick, but also pious people. By the way, one of the noble people who suffered from water sickness was cured by him on the very day he came to him. Afterwards, having brought him an extraordinary multitude of gifts, I heard in response what the Savior said to the disciples: tuna eat, tuna give (Matthew 10:8). While this was happening in Sicily, his disciple Hesychius was looking for the elder throughout the empire, examining the shores, penetrating into the deserts, supported by the sole conviction that wherever the elder was, he could not hide for long. After three years had already passed, he heard in Metho from a Jew, who was selling cheap old things to the common people, that a Christian prophet had appeared in Sicily, who performed such signs and wonders that he was considered one of the ancient saints. When asked about his appearance, lifestyle and language, and especially his age, he could not obtain any information. Because the narrator said that he had only heard a rumor about that man. So, having entered the Adriatic Sea, he quickly sailed to Pakhin. There, in one village located on a bend of the coast, having collected rumors about the old man, he learned from the consenting testimony of everyone where he lived and what he did. Everyone was surprised at nothing so much about the old man as the fact that after so many signs and wonders, he did not take even a piece of bread from anyone in those places. Without going on for too long, I will say that the holy man Hesychius, having fallen at the teacher’s knees and watering his feet with tears, was then raised by him, two or three days later he heard from Ghazan that the elder could no longer live in those countries; but wants to go to some barbarian peoples, where neither his name nor glory would be known. So he took him to the Dalmatian city of Epidaurus; but having lived in a neighboring tract for several days, he could not remain unknown there either. A dragon of amazing size, which in the local language is called boas because due to their enormity they usually swallow bulls (boves), devastated the entire region around, and devoured not only large and small livestock, but also farmers and shepherds, whom he attracted to himself by the power of his breath. The elder ordered to prepare a fire and, having offered a prayer to Christ, summoned a serpent, ordered him to climb onto the stacked wood and added fire. Thus, in the eyes of all the people, he burned a huge beast. Then wondering what to do, where to turn, he prepared for a new flight; and running through deserted lands in his mind, he grieved that miracles were spoken about him when the tongue was silent. At this time, due to the general earthquake that occurred after the death of Julian, the seas overflowed their limits; it seemed that God threatened again with a flood, or that everything would return to ancient chaos; brought to the mountains, the ships hung on their cliffs. The Epidaurians, seeing this, i.e. how roaring waves, huge shafts and masses of whirlpools rush to the shores, and fearing, as had already happened before their eyes, that the city would not be destroyed to the ground, they followed the old man, and as if going to battle, they placed him on the shore. When he drew three crosses on the sand and stretched out his hand, the swollen sea stopped in front of him at such a height that it is difficult to believe; and making noise for a long time and as if angry at an obstacle, little by little it settled down within its former limits. Epidaur and the whole country talk about this to this day, and mothers teach their children to pass it on to their offspring as a keepsake. Truly, what was said to the apostles: if you have faith, and speak to this mountain, move into the sea, and it will happen (Matt. 21:21), - can be fulfilled literally, if only someone has the apostolic faith, and the kind that the Lord commanded them to have. For what difference does it make if the mountain plunged into the sea, or if the immeasurable mountains of water suddenly solidified, and petrified only at the feet of the old man, flowing on the other side in a liquid state? The whole city was in amazement; the miracle was so great that rumors of it reached Salona 9. Having learned this, the elder secretly fled at night on a small boat, and two days later, meeting a cargo ship, he continued his journey to Cyprus. Between Malea and Cythera, the sea robbers, leaving on the shore a fleet that was controlled not by yards, but by poles, came out to meet them on two large light-sailing frigates; and meanwhile, excitement began to be encountered from one side or the other. All the rowers were dumbfounded, crying, running back and forth, preparing their poles, and as if one messenger was not enough, they vying with each other told the elder that the robbers were close. He saw them from afar and smiled. Then, turning to the disciples, he said: you of little faith, why did you doubt (Matthew 14:31)? Are there more of them than Pharaoh's army? But the Lord drowned it all. So he spoke to them, and meanwhile the enemy ships, foaming the sea with their bows, were no more than a stone's throw away. Then he stood on the bow of the ship, and stretching out his hand to meet those coming, he said: it’s enough for you to get here. And amazing agreement between deeds and words! The ships immediately began to retreat back, and although they rowed forward, they moved towards the stern. Разбойники удивлялись, против воли возвращаясь назад; and working with all their might to reach the ship, they rushed towards the shore even faster than they had come. I will omit the rest so that it does not seem as if I am expanding the scope of the book with a description of miracles. I will only say that during his successful voyage between the Cycladic islands, here and there he heard the voices of unclean spirits shouting from cities and villages and running out to the shores to meet him. So he arrived in Paphos, a Cypriot city known from the poems of poets, which, destroyed by frequent earthquakes, now only resembles in traces of ruins what it was in ancient times. He settled two miles from the city, unknown to anyone, and was glad that he would live in peace for at least a few days. But not even twenty days had passed before those possessed by unclean spirits all over the island began to shout that Hilarion, the servant of Christ, had come, and that they should hurry to him. They shouted this in Salamis, they shouted in Curia, they shouted at Lanef and other cities; many claimed that they knew Hilarion and that he was truly a servant of God, but did not know where he was. So no more than thirty days later, about two hundred both men and women gathered to him. Seeing them, he was upset that they would not leave him alone, and, as if in his hearts, in revenge for himself, he punished them with such intense prayers that some were healed immediately, others after two and three days, and all within one week. Living there for two years and constantly thinking about escape, he sent Hesychius to Palestine to greet the brethren and visit his monastery ashes, so that he would return to him in the spring. Когда тот вернулся, старец снова хотел плыть в Египет, т.е. to that area called Bucolia, because there were no Christians there, but only barbaric and ferocious people lived. Но Исихий посоветовал ему удалиться в более тайное место на том же острове. After a long examination of all kinds of places, having found such a thing, Hesychius took him twelve miles from the sea to lonely and rocky mountains, where he could barely climb, crawling on his hands and knees. Having made his way, he saw that the place was indeed very scary and secluded, surrounded on all sides by trees, irrigated with water from the top of the hill, looking like a very pleasant garden and many fruit trees, the fruits of which he had never eaten before; and near him were the ruins of an ancient church, from which (as he himself said and his disciples confirmed) at night and during the day the voices of such a countless number of demons were heard that it seemed like there was a whole army there. Very pleased with the latter circumstance, i.e. that he had opponents so close to him, he lived there for five years, and with frequent visits by Hesychius, in the last period of his life he found consolation in the fact that due to the wildness and inaccessibility of the place and the many ghosts (as rumor said), no one, or rarely anyone, could or would dare to penetrate to him. But one day, going out into the garden, he saw a man lying in front of the gate, completely broken by paralysis. Hesykhia asked who it was, or how he was brought here. He replied that it was the manager of that small village, to which the kindergarten belongs, where they themselves were located. Then he shed tears and extended his hand to the man lying down, saying: in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I say to you, get up and walk. Wonderful speed: the words were still spinning on the speaker’s tongue, and the members, already strengthened in strength, lifted the person! When this became known, extremes forced many to overcome both the difficulties of the place and the impassability of the path. All the surrounding villages were watching for nothing more than to ensure that he did not somehow escape. For a rumor had spread about him that he could not stay long in the same place. And he did this not out of any frivolity or childishness, but avoiding honor and importunity: because he always sought silence and a life in obscurity. In the eightieth year of his life, during the absence of Hesychius, he wrote, as if in return for a spiritual will, a handwritten letter in which he left all his wealth (i.e., the Gospel, a tunic of rough canvas, a hood and a cap) to him: because his servant had died a few days before. When he fell ill, many pious men came to him from Paphos, especially because they heard that he said that he was already going to the Lord and must free himself from bodily bonds. A certain holy woman, Constance, also came, whose son-in-law and daughter he saved from death by anointing with oil. He conjured them all not to preserve it even after death for one minute; but immediately, in the same garden, bury him in the ground, as he was dressed, in a hair shirt and a hood, and in a simple cap. The warmth in the chest was barely noticeable, and there were no signs of a living person left for the senses; however, he, opening his eyes, said: Come out, my soul, why are you hesitating? You have served Christ for almost seventy years, and you are afraid of death? With these words he breathed his last. And immediately covering him with earth, they announced to the city his burial before his death. When the holy man Hesychius heard about this, he arrived in Cyprus, and pretending that he wanted to live in the same garden (in order to ward off the suspicion of the carefully guarded neighboring residents), after almost ten months he stole his body with great danger to his own life. Having carried him, accompanied by all the monks and many inhabitants from the cities, to Mayuma, he laid him in the former monastery. The tunic, hood and cap were intact; the whole body seemed alive, unharmed, and emitted such incense that one could consider it anointed with ointments. In conclusion of the book, I find it impossible for myself to remain silent about the devotion (to Hilarion) of the mentioned most holy wife, Constance. When the news reached her that Hilarion’s remains were in Palestine, she immediately fell dead, proving even by her death her true love for the servant of God. For she used to spend nights in vigil at his grave, and to facilitate her prayers, talk with him as if he were present. There is a well-known and still surprising dispute between the inhabitants of Palestine and Cyprus; those prove that they have the body of Hilarion, and these prove that his spirit is with them. And yet great miracles happen in both places. But there are more of them in the Cypriot garden, perhaps because the saint loved that place more. Sallust on Catiline ch. 8 An idol idolized by the people of Gaza at that time. Modius is the largest measure of dry solids used by the Romans. Punishment cells were fenced-off places in the circus, from which those prepared to run left at a signal. Famous military official. Evection was the name given to the imperial charter, which allowed the use of state mail. Martyrium was the name of a church built over the tomb of a martyr or confessor.