Fleeing the honors of the world
In ancient Palestine lived a man who wanted nothing more than to be forgotten by the world, yet whose spiritual struggles became known throughout Christendom.
In late July 2024, UNESCO added the ancient sandy hill of Tell Umm el-Amr, near Gaza, to its World Heritage List. Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of an ancient monastery here, complete with a crypt and mosaics. It was on this very spot, sixteen centuries ago, that the story began of a man who sought to hide himself from the entire world.
St. Hilarion the Great was born around 291 into a pagan family. His parents sent the gifted boy to Alexandria to study under a renowned grammarian. His education eventually brought him into contact with the Christian community.
When he heard about the great ascetic Anthony, the young Hilarion traveled into the Egyptian desert. He spent about two months with the abba, but crowds constantly surrounded the great elder, bringing the sick and seeking his advice. At just fifteen, Hilarion realized that the constant bustle interfered with the solitude he needed to stand before his Creator in prayer. With his teacher's blessing, he returned to his homeland.
By then, his parents had died. Paganism still held sway along the Palestinian coast. Near his native village lay the bustling seaport of Maiuma, while nearby stood the wealthy city of Gaza, home to an enormous temple dedicated to the god Marnas. The sanctuary attracted thousands of worshipers.
Hilarion distributed his inheritance to the poor and withdrew to a sandy stretch of coastline.
The desert greeted him with wind and scorching heat. Yet his greatest battle was taking place within his own soul. St. Jerome of Stridon, who wrote the saint's biography, described the young hermit's daily life. Hilarion built himself a tiny cell from clay and broken bricks. Although he stood five Roman feet tall, the cell was so low that, according to his biographer, it “resembled a tomb rather than a house.” There he slept on the ground, prayed, and sang psalms.
The ascetic's life in seclusion
The monk's diet was a meticulous exercise in self-denial. In his youth, his daily allowance consisted of a sextarius of lentils soaked in cold water. Later, he replaced the lentils with dry barley bread and salt, then with bitter wild herbs and raw roots. Only at the age of thirty-five, when hard labor and fasting had weakened his eyesight, did he add boiled vegetables with a tiny amount of oil to his daily six ounces of barley bread.
At night, he heard the cries of children, the murmuring of women, and the roars of wild beasts. But the monk overcame his fear through prayer.
Word of the young ascetic spread throughout Palestine. The sick and those seeking spiritual guidance began making their way to his tiny shelter. The Lord granted His servant the gifts of healing illnesses and casting out unclean spirits. Disciples began settling around his cell, and the Palestinian desert blossomed with spiritual life.
Victory over the Idol Marnas
The pagans of Gaza watched developments in the desert closely. The city was preparing for races at its hippodrome, with chariot racing as the festival's main attraction. A local duumvir, a devoted worshiper of Marnas, enlisted a sorcerer to cast spells that would paralyze the horses belonging to his rival, a Christian named Italicus.
Unable to overcome the sorcery, Italicus went into the desert to seek St. Hilarion's help. The ascetic avoided worldly spectacles and initially refused to involve himself in a contest for racing prizes. Eventually, however, the elder asked for the clay cup from which he drank, filled it with water, and blessed the Christian.
Italicus sprinkled the water over his stable, chariot, and horses. His team surged ahead of the competition. The stands erupted, and the pagans loudly proclaimed that Christ had defeated Marnas. The incident brought hundreds of townspeople to Christ.
Tears before ten thousand petitioners
By the time St. Hilarion reached old age, a large monastic brotherhood had gathered around him. Hundreds of pilgrims stayed at the monastery, and thousands came seeking his help. The ascetic who had fled the noise of the world once again found himself at the center of attention.
Looking at the crowds, St. Hilarion wept: “I have returned to the world again and received my reward during my lifetime.” The great elder feared that human admiration would deprive him of the spiritual fruits of his labors.
He decided to leave the monastery. When people learned that their beloved abba was departing, more than ten thousand gathered to stop him. They blocked the roads, wept, and begged him not to abandon Palestine. But the abba remained resolute.
Thus began a yearslong flight from worldly fame. The ascetic traveled to Egypt, visited the place where his teacher St. Anthony had lived, and then withdrew to an oasis. Yet even there, the sick managed to find him. So the abba and a companion set off for Sicily.
At Cape Pachynus, the elder had nothing with which to pay for his passage. St. Hilarion offered the ship's captain a handwritten copy of the Gospel that he had transcribed in his youth. Struck by the old man's holiness, the captain carried the travelers to shore free of charge.
In Sicily, the abba gathered and sold firewood, hoping to remain unnoticed. But a man from Rome who had been delivered from demonic possession revealed the elder's hiding place to the locals, and once again the sick began arriving in long lines.
The ascetic fled to Dalmatia, settling in Epidaurum. There, during a powerful earthquake, great waves surged toward the coastal city. The inhabitants brought the abba to the shore. The elder traced three crosses in the sand and stretched his hands toward heaven – and the raging waves stopped at the line he had drawn.
From Dalmatia, the elder sailed to Cyprus. After spending some time near Paphos, St. Hilarion withdrew deep into the mountains. Among the rocks, he discovered an abandoned pagan shrine with a small garden and a spring. The elder rejoiced, hoping the steep mountain paths would protect him from unwanted visitors.
His final journey to his heavenly home
The ascetic spent his final years on Cyprus. Sensing that death was approaching, the eighty-year-old elder summoned his few remaining disciples. His final words were filled with holy awe: “Go forth, my soul! Why do you hesitate? You have served Christ for nearly seventy years, and are you afraid of death?”
With this gentle question, the elder departed to the Lord.
His disciples buried him in the same mountain garden. Yet the struggle over his solitude did not end with his death. His faithful disciple Hesychius soon arrived on Cyprus. Pretending that he wished to settle at his teacher's monastery, he waited for a suitable moment, secretly exhumed the saint's body, and took it back to Palestine.
The relics returned to Maiuma, to the monastery the abba had founded in his youth. The local people welcomed his incorrupt remains.
St. Jerome of Stridon observed with gentle humor that a pious dispute had arisen between Cyprus and Palestine: the Cypriots believed they still possessed the saint's spirit, while the Palestinians rejoiced in having his bodily relics.
Decades later, the pagan Marneion temple burned down, and a Christian cathedral rose in its place. Time destroyed the pagan circuses, marble porticoes, and gilded idols. Yet the name of the man who fled earthly honors into the remote wilderness has been preserved in humanity's memory.
