The father brought his son to Kutaisi and sent him to serve in the royal palace. The young man came into the possession of the prince. George Tsereteli, who, seeing Jesse’s inclination towards spiritual life, sent him to the highly educated archimandrite. Gerontius (Sologashvili), who labored in the Dzhruchi monastery. The archimandrite continued his education, and also taught Jesse penmanship, grammar, arithmetic, etc. secular sciences. After 3.5 years, Jesse returned to Prince George and 3 years later entered service in the palace as a scribe on official matters. At the insistence of the Imeretian king, Saint Solomon II (1789, 1790-1810), he married and took the rank of presbyter, becoming a court confessor and royal adviser.
Prot. Jesse was involved in pacifying the princely civil strife and participated in all the negotiations of the holy King Solomon II, mainly related to the process of the Georgian lands becoming part of Russia. In the fall of 1803, the vassal of Imereti, the ruler of Megrelia, Prince. Grigol Dadiani accepted Russian citizenship. Since St. Solomon II had no heir, between him and Alexander I on April 25. In 1804, an agreement was concluded according to which Imereti, after the death of St. Solomon II will become part of the Russian Empire and Russian troops will have the opportunity to pass through the territory of Imereti to the border with Turkey and enjoy the support of Georgian troops. Prince Grigol Dadiani and Imeretian subject Prince Zurab Tsereteli, wanting the immediate overthrow of St. Solomon II, Alexander I and the commander-in-chief in Georgia, Adjutant General A.P. Tormasov, created an idea about St. Solomon II as an unreliable ruler who prevents the establishment of peace in the Caucasus.
Archpriest Jesse repeatedly denounced Tsereteli for betraying his monarch and advised St. Solomon II did not leave Kutaisi. Taking advantage of the departure of Rev. Jesse attended the funeral of his wife Maria, Tsereteli convinced the king to meet with Tormasov on neutral territory, in Surami. Tormasov headed to Tiflis, which belonged to the Russian Empire (Eastern Georgia became part of the empire on the basis of the manifesto of Alexander I of September 12, 1801), and Saint Solomon II was forced to follow him. In Tiflis he was placed under house arrest with an order to leave for permanent residence in St. Petersburg within 2 months. Realizing that he was losing the throne, St. Solomon II fled to Akhaltsikhe, which belonged to Turkey, on May 11, 1810. He counted on the military assistance of the Turkish Sultan Mahmud II, who allowed St. Solomon II to reside in Erzurum (Erzurum). Tormasov, having arrived in Kutaisi, announced the abolition of the Imeretian kingdom and its entry into Russia.
Archpriest Jesse was with the king, who tried in vain to gather military forces to return the throne, until his death in Trebizond on February 7. 1815
In May prot. Jesse returned to Imereti and was soon summoned by the widow of St. Solomon II by Queen Mary (1785-1841) to Moscow to become her confessor. Prot. Jesse was burdened by the social life of the queen and her courtiers, but Mary did not let him go and did not give him the documents. In 1819, with the help of the valet of the Tsarina and Metropolitan. St. Petersburg Seraphim (Glagolevsky) Archpriest. Jesse received a passport and, on the advice of the archimandrite of the Iveron Monastery (Iviron), who was visiting Moscow, went to Constantinople via Odessa on Mount Athos with the intention of visiting the Holy Land. However, in K-field, Patriarch Polycarp of Jerusalem (1808-1827) advised Archpriest. Jesse will live on Athos until Lent, about which Archpriest. Jesse “knew almost nothing” then. Hiding his origin and rank, he came to Iviron under the guise of a poor monk. However, he did not like the idiorhythmic rules and the absence of Georgian inhabitants, and he entered Dionysiat (see Dionysius the Monk Monastery on Athos), where, with the blessing of the abbot. Stefan bore obedience “in the magherna,” i.e.
He performed the most difficult jobs (chopping wood, carrying water, etc.), and also worked in the vineyards. In the desert near Dionysiatus, a Georgian acquaintance, Archpriest, labored. Jesse. During Great Lent in 1821 they took monastic vows: Archpriest. Jesse with the name Hilarion, his friend with the name Venedikt (the later famous Athonite elder Venedikt (Kiotishvili; † March 9, 1862)).
One day, a certain monk entered Hilarion’s cell, where he saw his documents (Russian passport and Turkish firman). The abbot demanded to bring them, and one of the monks was able to read the firman. Thus, the monastery learned about Hilarion’s priestly rank, but the ascetic begged the brethren to hide it. One day, the Monk Hilarion asked the abbot’s permission to go to the Iveron Monastery to get Georgian books, because, not knowing the Greek language, “he was deprived of hearing the Word of God.” In Iviron he was recognized by the archimandrite, whom Hilarion met in Moscow. The abbot of the Iversky Monastery kept him in the monastery for 3 days and begged him to stay with them, but the elder refused. The news about the royal confessor spread throughout Athos, and in Dionysiata he was greeted as an elder. Hegumen Stefan persuaded Hilarion to take on confession; the brethren did not allow him to do hard work. Then Elder Hilarion left the monastery and settled in the desert.
The Monk Hilarion played a special role in the events associated with the Greek national liberation uprising of 1821-1829, which also affected the Athonite monasteries. At the beginning of 1822, the ruler of Thessalonica, Abdul Robut Pasha, with a large army, settled in Krumitsa near the borders of the monastic republic and ordered that the abbots of the monasteries come to bow to him, otherwise he would destroy Athos. Knowing the cruelty of the Turks, the abbots did not dare to appear before the pasha. A plan was developed according to which volunteer monks would go to Krumitsa, ready to accept martyrdom, while other Athonites would leave the peninsula in the meantime and take away all the shrines and valuables. Hilarion Gruzin, priest, went from Dionysiatus to the pasha. Panteleimon and a certain monk. Seeing the name Hilarion Kanchaveli in the letter from Protat, the pasha asked which of the envoys was Georgian. It turned out that Pasha was born in Abkhazia in the family of a Georgian Orthodox priest, and as a child he was kidnapped and sold to the Turks and converted to Islam.
Pasha convinced Hilarion to leave Athos, offering him his home and his protection. The monk refused and accused the pasha of renouncing his faith and fatherland. A theological dispute arose, during which, thanks to the intercession of Hilarion, the pasha abandoned the original plan and left Athos.
When Saint Hilarion learned that, while suppressing the rebellion in the city of Njegos, the pasha had tortured many Christians, he begged Abbot Stephen to let him go to Thessalonica. The elder arrived in the city during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and attended a ceremonial reception of foreign guests. Pasha warmly received his fellow countryman, and for several days they continued the theological debate begun in Krumitsa about the possibility of the birth of the Lord by a Virgin. Hilarion stayed overnight in the house of Christian Spandoni. One night a miracle happened: a certain Turk, who wanted to kill the monk, raised a sword over him, but his hand became stiff.
On the 4th day of the dispute, the courtiers began to demand the execution of Hilarion Gruzin, and the pasha ordered his head to be cut off. Two bodyguards, compatriots of the pasha and the saint, took the elder into custody, took him out of the city and ordered him to go to Athos. Hilarion, however, returned to Thessalonica and for 6 months served the prisoners of the White Tower prison - the Athonite monks who participated in the Greek uprising, as well as the imprisoned Turks: he washed clothes, carried food and water, which he bought with alms collected from Christians. Admiring the elder’s tenacity and selflessness, the pasha ordered not to interfere with him. However, after the elder gave some food and water to 2 prisoners sentenced to death by starvation, which allowed one of them to live until the decision on release, the pasha again ordered Hilarion to be executed. The day before, the elder received a command from the Lord in a dream to leave the city. He found a man in his place, ready to help the prisoners, and went to Athos.