Hilarion of Gaza

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Menologion of Basil II: Hilarion the Great

Hilarion of Gaza (* 291 in Tabatha near Gaza , Palestine , † October 21, 371 near Paphos , Cyprus ) was a Christian ascetic , hermit and saint . "Hilarion" is a Greek-Latin mixed word and means "the happy one". He is usually represented as a hermit monk. His feast day is October 21 in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches .

Life

The author of his biography, the Vita Hilarionis , was Eusebius Hieronymus around 390/392 .

baptism

Hilarion was born in Tabatha near Gaza (Palestine) in 291, a stronghold of the non-Christian minority in the Roman Empire. He was sent to Alexandria to study ancient philosophy , where he heard from the monk Antonius , was baptized and lived for a few months as his student in the Egyptian desert. At the age of 15 the young Hilarion went to the desert as a hermit and founded his first hermit community in Palestine. Through the strictest asceticism (among other things, he completely refrained from washing himself and only cut his hair at Easter), he acquired a rapidly growing fame as a man of God and miracle worker , which led to many visits from his admirers.

asceticism

Jerome describes his diet as follows: at the age of 20-23 years: a half-filled glass of lentils daily , moistened with cold water, at the age of 23-27 years: dry bread with salt and water, at the age of 27-30 years: wild herbs and wild herb roots, ages 31–35: six ounces of barley bread and cooked vegetables without oil. After that, he suffered from signs of malnutrition, his eyesight deteriorated, his body contracted, and he developed sores and scabies from not washing.

Temptations and miracles

Octave Tassaert : The Temptation of Saint Hilarion , ca.1857

Jerome reports that Hilarion found himself often tempted: “Temptations came upon him in great number, day and night he was disturbed by the most varied attacks of the evil spirits; if I wanted to list them all, the size of a book would have to be exceeded. How often did his imagination fool him when he was resting on the bed, naked women, how often when he was hungry, a sumptuous meal. "(Hieronymus, Vita Hilarionis , 7) One of the miracles reported by the 22-year-old Hilarion is that he prayed with a young woman from Eleutheropolis , whom her husband threatened to dismiss because she could not have children, whereupon the woman gave birth with a child nine months later.

Numerous wonders revolve around the racetrack and circus in Gaza, the fascination of which the saint could not completely escape. In Gaza, he is said to have freed bewitched racehorses from magic, after which they won the annual chariot race and many citizens converted to Christianity.

Stays in Sicily and Cyprus

Like his teacher Antonius, he fled from the crowds who adored him for his numerous miracles, at the age of 63 to the Egyptian desert, and later to Sicily , Dalmatia and Paphos in Cyprus . Here, too, he was persecuted by numerous sick people and admirers from all parts of the island, and he was considering returning to Egypt.

However, his student Hesychios found an undisturbed place for him in Cyprus. It was twelve miles from the sea in the inaccessible mountains. The way up was so steep that the old man sometimes had to crawl on hands and knees. The small valley described as an idyll was surrounded by forest on all sides, contained a small watercourse, a garden and numerous fruit trees. Nearby were the ruins of an ancient temple. According to Hieronymus, it was home to a huge horde of demons who screamed day and night. Hilarion was very fond of the place because of its seclusion and the immediate proximity of a place of activity and lived here for five years, fought against the demons according to Jerome and healed the paralyzed steward of the estate on which he lived.

Hilarion died there in October 371. His disciple Hesychios transferred the body to Hilarion's homeland, Palestine. During the course of the crusades , his relics came to Duravel in France.

Meaning and cult

Hilarion is considered to be the founder of anachoretic monasticism in Syria and Palestine . Like his teacher Antonius the Great , legend has it that he too had to endure numerous temptations and torments of demons. In the eastern Mediterranean, especially in Cyprus , where several churches are dedicated to him, a lively cult soon developed, later also in Italy and France. He is, along with St.  Spyridon , one of the most important saints of Cyprus. In the poem The Paradise in the Desert (1797) Johann Gottfried Herder takes up the student-teacher relationship between Hilarion and Antonius.

literature

swell

His biography Vita Hilarionis was written around 390/92 by Hieronymus (around 347–419 / 20).

  • Hieronymus: Vita S. Hilarionis , in: MPL XXIII, 29 ff. And newadvent.org (English)

Web links

Commons : Hilarion of Gaza  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Gottfried Herder : Paradise in the desert . ( Wikisource )
personal data
SURNAME Hilarion of Gaza
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ascetic, hermit and saint
DATE OF BIRTH 291
PLACE OF BIRTH near Gaza , Palestine
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 371
Place of death near Paphos , Cyprus