June: Day 6: Venerable Hilarion the New of Dalmatoi

June: Day 6:
Venerable Hilarion the New of Dalmatoi
 
(Do Our Lives Correspond to the Names We Bear?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko.

I. Venerable Hilarion of Dalmatoi, whose memory is celebrated today, was born in 775 and is called "the New" in contrast to Hilarion the Great, who labored before him (in the 4th century). At the age of twenty, he left his parents' home and retired to the Dalmatoi Monastery, where he spent ten years as a novice, working in the monastery garden. Despite this occupation, he did not abandon his monastic labors; "often reading the life of Hilarion the Great, he tried to imitate this ascetic in fasting and prayer." The abbot of the monastery ordained Hilarion to the priesthood, although he, in his humility, did not desire this rank. 

Hilarion's monastic exploits attracted the attention of all the brethren, so that when the abbot died, they decided to choose Hilarion in his place. The monk initially refused and only at the exhortation of the Patriarch of Constantinople Nikephoros accepted the abbacy and governed the monastery for eight years. When the iconoclastic heresy arose, Venerable Hilarion became a zealous defender of Orthodoxy and the veneration of holy icons. For this he endured much torture and was sentenced to exile on one of the islands of the Sea of Marmara, where he lived throughout the entire time the heresy prevailed. Empress Theodora, having restored the veneration of icons, also returned Venerable Hilarion from exile. He returned to the Dalmatoi Monastery and died in 845, at the age of 70.

II. Let us pay attention to this, brethren! The Venerable Hilarion the New, as you have heard, very often read the life of Venerable Hilarion the Great and tried to imitate this ascetic, whose name he bore, in fasting and prayer. But does our life correspond to the names that each of us bears? All of us, listeners, are called Christians; then each of us has our own name, given to us in holy baptism. Let us see whether our life corresponds to these high names and whether some of us bear these names in vain?

a) We are called Christians and therefore we must have the same mind that was in Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:5). But Jesus Christ had neither pride, nor covetousness, nor ill will in His heart. He humbled Himself to the point that He suffered the most shameful death on the cross for the salvation of us sinners. Being the Lord of heaven and earth, He had no refuge on earth. His love, even for His enemies, extended to the point that He prayed for them on the cross. Do we, listeners, have any semblance of these high virtues? To boast of ourselves, to boast of our actions, to despise people like ourselves - is it not human folly? To gather wealth both by right and by false means, to gather it unnecessarily with the insult of one's neighbor - is it characteristic of a Christian? Can one recognize a Christian in a person who harbors hostility and malice toward his neighbor? Do all such actions correspond to the name of a Christian? Let each person's conscience decide this question.

b) Besides the general name of Christian, each of us has a proper name. These names are taken either from the world of holy angels, or from people like us, who through truth and pious life have attained eternal blessedness. Why are these names given to us and to what do they oblige us? By calling us by the name of some angel or holy person at baptism, the Holy Church entrusts us to the supervision and guidance of the one whose name is given to us. The Saint chosen by the Church becomes a model and helper in our life and our intercessor before God; we are obliged to imitate him in our life. Now let us ask our conscience, how do we relate to the names of those Saints who are given to us at holy baptism? Do we try to imitate them in our life? Or not? Do we at least know the life of the Saint whose name we bear? Do we ask for their prayers, as the Holy Church commands, daily, or at least once a year? Do we honor the memory of our angel, for instance, by attending a divine service? ... Many of us spend considerable sums on treating relatives and friends on our name days, yet we lack the means to place a candle before the icon of the Saint whose name we bear. What can be expected of us with such a way of life?

III. Let this not be, listeners – let us try to imitate the life of that Saint whose name each of us received at holy baptism. Let each of us have a name and a life! For such a life the Lord will write the name of each of us in the Book of Life, and we will receive a place in the Church of the firstborn written in heaven. Amen.  

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.