Orthodox · 4th century
Venerable Hilarion the Great
Commemorated: November 3 (October 21, Old Style)
Life
Hilarion was born c. 291 at Tabatha near Gaza to pagan parents and became a Christian while studying in Alexandria. After visiting Antony in the Egyptian desert, he settled as a hermit near Maiuma on the coast of Gaza at about fifteen, and became the father of monastic life in Palestine. His Life was written by Jerome.
As crowds and disciples came to him, he fled again and again — to Egypt, Sicily, Dalmatia and finally Cyprus, where he died c. 371 at about eighty. Jerome tells that his disciple Hesychius secretly removed his body and brought it back to Maiuma.
Places
- Place of birth: Gaza City
- Place of death: Paphos
Retold briefly in our own words from: the Lives of the Saints by St Dimitry of Rostov (1902–1916); the Roman Martyrology (1916).
The commemorations of the day: Ponomar (ponomar.net), CC BY-SA 3.0.
Places and years: Wikidata (CC0), each saint matched by hand.