Hilarion

Hilarion of Gaza ( * 291 in Tabatha near Gaza, Palestine, † October 21 371 in Paphos, Cyprus) was a Christian ascetic, hermit and saint. " Hilarion " is a Greek- Latin mixed word and means " Happy ". Figuratively, he is usually depicted as a hermit monk. His feast day is October 21 ( Roman Catholic. , And Orthodox).

Life

Author of his biography " Vita Hilarionis " was around 390 /92 St. Jerome. Born in Gaza (Palestine), a stronghold of paganism, Hilarion was sent to the study of pagan philosophy to Alexandria, where he heard of the Saint Anthony, was baptized and lived for several months as his pupil in the Egyptian desert. 15 -year-old was the young Hilarion as a hermit in the desert and established a first hermit community in Palestine. By strictest asceticism (among other things he renounced it completely to wash and only cut his hair for Easter ), he gained a rapidly growing fame as a man of God and miracles, which led to many visits to his admirers.

Jerome gives his diet again as follows:

• Moistened daily half- filled glass lenses with cold water at the age of 20-23 years
• 23-27 years: dry bread with salt and water
• 27-30 years: wild herbs and roots of wild herbs
• 31-35 years: six ounces of barley bread and cooked vegetables without oil.

Then he suffered from symptoms of malnutrition, his vision faded, his body shrank and he got sores and scabies, because he did not wash.

One of the reported then 22 -year-old Hilarion miracle is that he. Carrying a young woman from Eleutheropolis that threatened to violate her husband because she could not have children, prayed together, and then the woman niederkam nine months later with a child He also suggested robber on the run and was able to free bewitched in Gaza racehorses of the spell, after which they won the annual chariot races and many citizens were converted to Christianity. Numerous miracles revolve around Racetrack and circus in Gaza, whose fascination with the Holy probably could not entirely escape.

Like his teacher Anthony he fled from the crowds who adored him because of his numerous miracles age of 63 in the Egyptian desert, and later to Sicily, Dalmatia and Paphos in Cyprus. Here, too, but he was pursued by many patients and admirers from all parts of the island, and he was considering returning to Egypt. However, his students Hesychius found a private place for him. He was twelve miles distant from the sea in the inaccessible mountains. The way was up so steep that the old man had partially crawl on hands and knees. The little valley was surrounded on all sides by forest, contained a small stream, a garden and numerous fruit trees. Nearby are the ruins of a temple in which dwelt a huge horde of demons who cried day and night were. Hilarion was very fond of the place, because of the remoteness and the immediate vicinity of a site of action and lived here five years, fought against the demons and healed the paralyzed administrator of the estate, on which he lived.

After his death, his disciple Hesychius transferred the corpse in Hilarion's home in Palestine. In the course of the Crusades his relics arrived in Duravel in France.

Significance and worship

Hilarion regarded as the founder of monasticism anchoritic in Syria and Palestine. Like his teacher, Antony the Great had it also, according to legend numerous temptations and torments of the demons survive. In the eastern Mediterranean, especially Cyprus, where he consecrated a number of churches, soon formed a lively cult, and later in Italy and France. He is, along with St. Spyridon, one of the most important saints of Cyprus. In the poem Paradise in the Desert ( 1797) Johann Gottfried Herder accesses the student-teacher ratio of Hilarion and St. Anthony.