November 3 / October 21

1. The Venerable Hilarion the Great, of Gaza (371)

Like a rose growing among thorns, this great saint was born of pagan parents in the village of Tabatha near Gaza in Palestine. His parents sent him to study in Alexandria, where the gifted youngster quickly assimilated both secular learning and spiritual wisdom. Coming to know the Lord Christ, he was baptized and desired to dedicate himself completely to the service of the Lord. With this desire in his heart, Hilarion visited St. Anthony in the desert and became his disciple. Then he returned to his homeland and lived a life of asceticism near Maiuma, at Gaza. Demons tried to terrify him in various ways, but by prayer to God and the sign of the Cross he always overcame them and drove them away. Many lovers of the spiritual life gathered around him. Hilarion became for Palestine what St. Anthony was for Egypt. A divine teacher, a strict ascetic and a wonderful miracle-worker, Hilarion was revered not only by Chris- tians but also by pagans. However, fearing the praise of men and tearfully lamenting, “Woe is me, I have received my reward on earth!” he fled from place to place, to hide from men and remain alone with his soul and with God. Thus, he traveled and lived in Egypt, Sicily, Dalmatia and finally in Cyprus, where his life of great labor came to an end in about the year 371, at the age of eighty. The miracle-working relics of St. Hilarion were translated to Palestine by his disciple Hesychius, and were placed in the monastery founded by him.

2.  Saint Hilarion, Bishop of Meglin, Bulgaria (1164)

He was born of eminent and devout parents. His childless mother had long prayed to God that He grant her a child, and in accordance with her prayer, the Most-holy Theotokos appeared to her and comforted her with the words: “Do not grieve, you will give birth to a son and he will turn many to the light of truth.” When Hilarion was three years old, the hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth!” was constantly on his lips. He was well-educated, was tonsured a monk at age eighteen, and founded a monastery based on the Rule of St. Pachomius. In 1134, he was consecrated Bishop of Meglin by Eustathius, Archbishop of Trnovo. St. Hilarion led a great, nearly lifelong struggle against the Bogomils and the Armenian heretics. However, by his spiritual learning and unequaled sanctity, he put them all to shame, and drew many of them to Orthodoxy. He reposed peacefully and took up his abode in the Kingdom of His Lord in the year 1164. Today we celebrate the translation of his relics (1206).

3. The Venerable Philotheus of Neapolis and Mt. Athos (14th c.)

He was born in Crysopolis in Macedonia. The Turks took him from his mother, a widow, and threw him and one of his brothers into prison. The Most-holy Theotokos miraculously saved them from prison and brought them to a monastery at Neapolis in Asia Minor. Later, their mother found both of her sons as monks, and she herself was tonsured a nun. Philotheus went to Mount Athos, where he lived a life of asceticism in the Monastery of Dionysiou, and later in the desert. He was a wondrous ascetic and a great conqueror of demonic powers. He reposed peacefully at the age of eighty-four. He willed that he not be buried, but that his body be thrown into the forest for the birds and wild beasts. Later, a fisherman saw a great light in the forest on a cold night and went to warm himself, thinking it was a fire. However, the light was not from a fire, but was emanating from the wonderworking relics of St. Philotheus.

• Hieromartyr Socrates, priest, and Martyr Theodote, of Ancyra (ca. 230).
• Martyrs Dasius, Gaius, and Zoticus, at Nicomedia (303).
• Ursula and her companions, martyrs at Cologne (beg. of 4th c.).
• Wendolinus (Wendel) of Trier (cа. 617).
• Fintan Munnu of Teachmunnu (Ireland) (635).
• The 63 Martyrs of Jerusalem: Pegasus, Neophytus, Acacius, Dorotheus, Stephen, Dometius, Herman, Dionysius, Epiphanius, Stratonicus, Leontius, Emmanuel, Theophilus, Elias, John, Samuel, Eulampius, Alexius, Photius, Eutrepius, Methodius, Chariton, Theophylactus, Anastasius, Andronicus, Symeon, Theoktistus, Romanus, Paul, Agathonicus, Minas, Athanasius, Jacob, Nicephorus, Porphyrius, Timothy, Irenarchus, Auxentius, Joseph, Gregory, Callinicus, Aaron, Cyriacus, Theodosius, Eustathius, Isaac, Alexander, Eleutherius, Adrian, Christophor, An- Antiochus, Isidore, Parthenius, Sergius, Euplus, Ignatius, Theophanes, Cyril, Zacha- riah, and Anthimus (724).
• Malathgeny of Cluain-Edneach (Ireland) (767).
• Hilarion, metropolitan of Kiev (ca. 1055).
• Translation of the relics of Christodulus the Wonderworker, of Patmos (1093).
• Theophilus and James, monks of Konevits, founders of Dormition Monastery at Omutch (Pskov) (ca. 1412).
• Hilarion, founder of Pskovoezersk Monastery (Gdov) (1476).
• Bessarion, hieromonk (1745), and Sophronius of Ciorara, monk (ca. 1765), confessors, and St. Oprea of Salistie (18th c.), martyred by the Latins in Romania.
• New Martyr John of Monemvasia, at Larissa (1773).
• Hiero-confessors John of Gales, and Moses, priests, of Sibiel (Transylvania) (18th ).
• New Hieromartyrs Paulinus, archbishop of Mogilev, and Arcadius, bishop of Ekaterinburg, and with them Anatole and Nicander, priests, and New Martyr Cyprian (1937).
• New Hieromartyr Alexis, bishop of Voronezh (1930).
• New Hieromartyr Damian, archbishop of Kursk (1937).
• New Hieromartyrs Neophytus, archimandrite, of Moscow, and Sophronius, hieromonk, of Lozeva (Tver) (1937).
• New Hieromartyrs Constantine, Sergius, Basil, Theodore, Vladimir, Nicholas, John, Basil, Alexander, Demetrius, and Alexis, priests, and Sergius and John, deacons, all of the Tver diocese (1937).

HYMN OF PRAISE

The Venerable Hilarion the Great

Holy Hilarion, like a brilliant comet,
Fleeing from men, traveled half the world.
But such a star hides in vain:
Its own light reveals it to the world.
Hilarion wished to escape earthly glory,
But from glory the saint could not flee.
Where God did not proclaim him, the demons did,
Being terrified by the saint, who cast them out.
Wherever he settled, Hilarion the Wonderful
Worked miracles and healed the sick,
Conquered his weakness and passions.
A conqueror of the world, he subdued the demons.
He hid in caves, yet was proclaimed by all.
He shunned all, but was glorified by all.
The Lord glorifies His glorifiers,
And crowns victorious runners with wreaths.
When the race of earthly life passes,
The wreaths of everlasting life are given.
The aged Hilarion, ever young in spirit,
Now takes delight in the Lord face to face.
Even now his prayers wage war for us,
That in His compassion the Lord would have mercy on us.

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