Venerable Hilarion the New the Abbot of Pelecete

Hilarion became a monk in his youth, spent many years as a recluse, and was later ordained priest and made abbot of the monastery of Pelecete near the Hellespont. His Life credits him with many wonders, such as driving pests from the fields, stopping hail and filling fishermen's empty nets.

Sources disagree on when he lived: some place him under Leo V the Armenian (813–820), others, more likely in St Dimitry's view, under Leo III and Constantine V. On Holy Thursday Constantine's general Michael Lachanodrakon burst into the monastery during the liturgy, burned it, and took forty-two monks to the region of Ephesus, where they were killed. Hilarion, as abbot, is thought to have died among them, c. 754.