Hilarion

Hilarion (291–371) was an anchorite who spent most of his life in the desert according to the example of Anthony the Great.

Early life

The chief source of information regarding Hilarion is the biography written by St. Jerome. The life of Hilarion was written by Jerome in 390 at Bethlehem. Its object was to further the ascetic life to which he was devoted. It contains, amidst much that is legendary, some statements which attach it to genuine history, and is in any case a record of the state of the human mind in the 4th century.

Hilarion was born in Thabatha, south of Gaza in Syria Palaestina of pagan parents. He successfully studied rhetoric with a Grammarian in Alexandria. It seems that he was converted to Christianity in Alexandria. After that, he shunned the pleasures of his day—theatre, circus and arena—and spent his time attending church. According to St. Jerome, he was a thin and delicate youth of fragile health.

Beginnings of monastic Life

After hearing of Saint Anthony, whose name (according to St. Jerome), "was in the mouth of all the races of Egypt" Hilarion, at the age of fifteen, went to live with him in the desert for two months. As Anthony's hermitage was busy with visitors seeking cures for diseases or demonic affliction, Hilarion returned home along with some monks. At Thabatha, his parents having died in the meantime, he gave his inheritance to his brothers and the poor and left for the wilderness.

Hilarion (Rudnyk)

Ilarion (Rudnyk) of Edmonton is the diocesan or ruling bishop of the Western Eparchy of the autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.

Youth & Education

Ilarion was born as Roman Rudnyk on February 14, 1972, in L'vov, Ukraine. He undertook his primary, secondary, and seminary studies in Soviet Ukraine, finishing his studies at the Kiev Theological Seminary a year after Ukraine declared its independence from the USSR. At the recommendation of Archbishop Vsevolod (Maidansky) of Scopelus, and with the blessing of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Arhondonis) of Constantinople, Roman then moved to Greece to continue his theological studies at the theological faculty of the Aristotlean University in Thessalonica, from which he graduated in 1997.

Tonsure and ordination

On December 5, 1997, Roman was tonsured a monk with the name 'Ilarion' (Hilarion in English). The Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Tyroloe and Serention consequently ordained Ilarion to the deaconate (on December 21) and, three years later, to the priesthood. Hieromonk Ilarion continued to pursue his theological studies, completing a masters in canon law. In late 2002 Ilarion was assigned to a parish in Porto, Portugal, and on March 21, 2004, was elevated to the rank of archimandrite by the Holy Synod of the Constantinopolitan Orthodox Church.

Hilarion (Alfeyev)

Hilarion Alfeyev (born Grigoriy Valerievich Alfeyev; 24 July 1966) is a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. At present he is the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow. He is also a noted theologian, church historian and composer and has published books on dogmatic theology, patristics and church history as well as numerous compositions for choir and orchestra.

Biography

Grigoriy Valerievich Alfeyev was born on 24 July 1966 in Moscow. From 1972 to 1982 he studied violin, piano and composition at the Moscow Gnessins School and from 1983 to 1986 at the Moscow State Conservatoire. From 1984 to 1986 he served in the Soviet military.

In January 1987, after serving in the military, he became a monk (see below under Church activity). In 1989 graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and in 1991 from the Moscow Theological Academy with the degree of Master of Theology.

Hilarion (Prikhodko)

Archimandrite Ilarion (Russian: Иларио́н, 7 July [O.S. 24 June] 1924 – 29 May, 2008) was a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church. He mostly served in Novgorod Oblast in the small village of Bronnitsa. There, he became widely known as a spiritual father, and many faithful attributed powers of clairvoyance and healing to him. The Russian Church is currently considering him for canonization.

Biography

Fr. Ilarion was born as Ivan Fomich Prikhodko (Russian: Ива́н Фо́мич Прихо́дько) in the village of Alenovka in the Unechsky District, Bryansk Oblast. His parents Foma and Iuliana gave him and his two siblings a pious upbringing. The family worked the land until the Soviets dispossessed them in the drive to collectivize farming. The Germans took whatever was left after they occupied the territory during the Second World War. Young Ivan joined the army in 1943 and covertly practiced his faith. The horrors of war and a severe combat injury he suffered shook him to the core. In the hospital, after meeting two nuns of the Catacomb Church, he decided that he himself would become a monk. After the war, his mother blessed his new path; his father was deeply upset, but did not prevent Ivan from entering the monastery.