Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity), Archbishop of Verei

Life path of Hilarion Troitsky

The secular name of the saint is Vladimir Alekseevich Troitsky. He was born into the family of a rural priest on September 13, 1886. The homeland of the saint is Tula province, the village of Lipitsy (modern Serpukhov district of the Moscow region). In addition to Vladimir, the parents raised four more children - two brothers and two sisters.

The Trinity family came from a hereditary line of clergy. The life of this family was distinguished by strict adherence to Orthodox customs. Vladimir’s mother died early, and his aunt, who worked as a teacher at the local parish school, helped raise all five children.

The boy strove for spirituality from early childhood and attended all services in the church. At the age of 5, he already spoke the Church Slavonic language and independently read sacred texts.

Already at the beginning of his life, Vladimir identified his main goals, which were devoted service to the church and the acquisition of scientific knowledge. The saint always maintained that science makes sense only when it serves the benefit of religion.

Having matured, Vladimir first entered the theological school, then the theological seminary of the city of Tula. In 1910 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy, where he was noted for his high academic performance, received a candidate of theology degree, and received several honorary prizes.

Since 1911, Vladimir Troitsky was engaged in teaching activities at the academy. A year later, he successfully defended his dissertation, received a master's degree in theology, and then became an assistant professor.

In March 1913, Troitsky decided to take monastic vows and was given the monastic name Hilarion. In the same year he became an inspector of the Moscow Theological Academy, and in 1917 - the rector of this educational institution.

Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity), Archbishop of Verei

Saint Hilarion, in the world Vladimir Troitsky, was born on September 13, 1886 in the family of a rural priest. He was five children when he, taking his three-year-old brother by the hand, went with him from his native village to Moscow to study. When they caught up, the future archbishop seriously responded to his parent’s reproaches: “Dad, don’t be upset! What about Lomonosov? After all, he went on foot to Moscow - and I also decided to go to study!

In 1910, Vladimir Troitsky brilliantly graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy; he is left at the academy for scientific work and teaching. Very soon among teachers and students he gained universal love, respect and fame as an academic “pillar”. Later, he was even the first candidate for the post of rector, but he was still not elected, due to his complete lack of practicality in life. Students enthusiastically listened to the lectures of the young professor: “He could not calmly narrate, but had to burn, ignite his listeners, argue, polemicize, prove and refute...
and with this cheerfulness he infected, encouraged and strengthened those around him.”
In 1913 Lavra, he took monastic vows with the name Hilarion in the monastery of the Paraclete of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He had no doubt about his monastic calling. Due to his natural purity, Vladimir Troitsky was already “an earthly angel and a heavenly man”; in monasticism, he sought for himself only the most favorable conditions for serving God - he looked for that narrow way of life that does not leave even a small loophole for sin. In the same year, Hilarion Troitsky was elevated to the rank of archimandrite, appointed inspector of the Moscow Theological Academy and confirmed with the rank of professor of the Moscow Theological Academy. Father Hilarion is 27 years old.

Comprehensively educated, an excellent church preacher, he was a favorite of the people. After the revolution, he had to participate in the famous debates at the Polytechnic Museum. The saint contrasted the “religious hypnosis” of the renovationist “metropolitan” Alexander Vvedensky and the atheism of A. Lunacharsky with unshakable confidence in the highest Truth. People felt in their hearts the deep rightness of the saint and gave him a standing ovation.

As a member of the Local Council of 1917-1918, Hilarion (Troitsky) spoke at the Council with inspiration in defense of the patriarchate: “... There is a “waiting wall” in Jerusalem. Jews come to her and cry, shedding tears for lost national freedom and former national glory. In Moscow, in the Assumption Cathedral, there is also a Russian Western Wall - an empty patriarchal place. For two hundred years, Orthodox Russian people have been coming here and crying bitter tears about the church freedom destroyed by Peter and about the former church glory. What a grief it will be if this Russian wailing wall of ours remains forever! It won't happen! Moscow is called the heart of Russia. But where does the Russian heart beat in Moscow? On the exchange? In shopping arcades? It is fought, of course, in the Kremlin. But where in the Kremlin? In the Armory Court? Or in the soldiers' barracks? No, in the Assumption Cathedral. There, at the front right pillar, the Russian Orthodox heart should beat. The sacrilegious hand of the wicked Peter brought the Russian High Hierarch from his centuries-old place in the Assumption Cathedral. The Local Council of the Russian Church with the power given to it by God will again establish the Moscow Patriarch in his rightful inalienable place. And when His Holiness the Patriarch goes to his historical sacred place in the Assumption Cathedral to the ringing of Moscow bells, there will be great joy on earth and in heaven...”

By the time Father Hilarion participated in the Council, his fame and authority had already gone beyond the academy. During the Council, “he, the only non-bishop, was named in behind-the-scenes conversations among the desirable candidates for the patriarchal throne.” However, by the will of God, Hieromartyr Hilarion had the opportunity, during the most difficult time for the Church, to become the main assistant and associate of Patriarch Tikhon. His Holiness brings him closer to him, elevates him to the rank of archimandrite and makes him his secretary. Behind this position, respectable in other times, was in fact the role of a person always under enemy attack. In all contacts with the Soviet government, St. Hilarion shielded the Patriarch with himself. His Holiness's cell attendant Yakov Polozov died at the hands of a hired killer turned against the Patriarch. The fate of Hieromartyr Hilarion turned out to be similar: he became a victim of the revenge of Tuchkov (the head of the anti-religious secret department of the OGPU, who was called the executioner of the Russian Church) on the Patriarch.

In May 1920, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon consecrated Archimandrite Hilarion as Bishop of Verei. Saint Hilarion entered the episcopal path with full awareness of what awaited him, with a readiness for martyrdom. In July 1923, St. Hilarion expelled the Renovationists from the Sretensky Monastery. At the same time, he performs an unprecedented holy act: anew, with a great rite, he consecrates the throne and the cathedral of the Sretensky Monastery. Thus, the saint annexes the monastery to the Church, showing that the sin and wickedness of apostasy from the Church require special purification. Word of this immediately spread not only throughout Moscow, but throughout Russia. Renewalists in entire parishes and communities repented and returned to the Church. The saint developed a rite of repentance and himself accepted the confession of hundreds of Renovationists - priests and laity. Patriarch Tikhon appoints Bishop Hilarion as rector of the Sretensky Monastery, which he remained until his last arrest and sending to the Solovetsky camp. Archbishop Hilarion embarked on the Way of the Cross, which ended with his blessed death.

And in conclusion, Bishop Hilarion remained an internally free man. He looked at everything with spiritual eyes. This made it possible not to notice the hardships, to forgive the criminals who stole his things - if they asked him for something, he gave, without hesitation, everything he had. He was not interested in his things. Therefore, out of mercy, someone had to keep an eye on his suitcase, and such a person was always there. He tried to lift the spirits of his fellow prisoners with jokes, but these jokes were an expression of his great courage. When Lenin died, prisoners were required to honor his death with a minute of silence. Everyone lined up for the ceremony, the Bishop lay on his bunk. Despite the requests and demands, he did not get up, noting: “Think, fathers, what is happening in hell now: Lenin himself appeared there, what a triumph for the demons!”

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The bishop liked to talk about the work of bishops and priests as net makers and fishermen by translating the words of the stichera for Trinity Day: “Everything is given by the Holy Spirit: formerly fishermen were theologians of display, but now, on the contrary, theologians are fishermen of display.”

Thus his spirit came to terms with his new position.

The Bishop’s attitude towards those around him was amazing. His love and interest in every person was simply amazing. The general, the officer, the student and the professor found him, despite the fact that there were many bishops and there were older and no less educated ones. He was known and respected by the punks, criminals, and the underworld of thieves and bandits. Whether at work in fits and starts, or in his free time, he could be seen walking arm in arm with some “specimen” from this environment. This was not condescension towards the younger brother and the deceased, no. The Lord spoke to everyone as an equal and ennobled them with his presence and attention. There was nothing ostentatious in the respect with which he treated even representatives of the “bottom”: he knew how to see the image of God in any person, and people responded to him with respect and love.

According to Boris Shiryaev (author of the book “The Unquenchable Lamp”): “The jailers themselves could not resist the power emanating from the always calm, silent Bishop Hilarion: in conversation with him they never allowed themselves obscene jokes, so common in Solovki, where not only the security officers, but also the majority of criminals considered it some kind of necessity to mock “opium” either angrily or with rude good nature. Often the guards, as if by chance, called him lord. Usually - the official term is “prisoner”. Nickname “opium”, priest or comrade - never, no one.”

The authority of the saint was extremely high, and, thanks in particular to him, the Solovetsky camp in the 20s became a kind of spiritual center, near which many found salvation.

They tried to persuade Vladyka to join the new renovationist schism - Grigorievism; they offered him freedom for treason: “Moscow loves you, Moscow is waiting for you.” Archbishop Hilarion remained adamant. The agent was surprised at his courage and said: “It’s nice to talk to an intelligent person.” And then he added: “How long have you been serving on Solovki?” Three years?! Three years for Hilarion?! So few?". A year later, the saint was given a new three-year term. The authorities had no intention of releasing him; By adding more and more sentences to him, they hoped to rot him in prison. In 1929, the bishop was again sentenced to three years, this time to settlement in Central Asia, in the city of Alma-Ata. They took him there in stages - from one transit prison to another. On the way, the saint contracted typhus. Without his belongings (he was robbed on the way), in nothing but rags, infested with insects, in a fever, he was brought to Leningrad and placed in prison. A day later, with a temperature of 41°, exhausted, he moved on foot to the Dr. Haas hospital. It was no longer possible to help the sufferer. In those days, the bishop wrote: “I am seriously ill with typhus, I am lying in a prison hospital, I must have become infected on the road; On Saturday, December 28, my fate (illness crisis) is decided, I’m unlikely to survive it.” At the hospital they told him that he needed to be shaved, to which the Eminence replied: “Now do with me what you want.” Soon delirium began, turning into agony. In delirium, the holy martyr said: “Now I am completely free!” The doctor who was present at his death witnessed how the saint thanked God, rejoicing at his close meeting with Him. The Bishop went to the Lord with the words: “How good! Now we are far from...” With these words, the confessor of Christ died. This was December 15/28, 1929.

Metropolitan Seraphim Chichagov (now a holy martyr), who then occupied the Leningrad See, obtained permission to take the body for burial and bury the saint in accordance with his rank. The hospital was supplied with white bishop's vestments and a white miter. The deceased was dressed and transported to the church of the Leningrad Novodevichy Convent. The Lord has changed terribly. In the coffin lay a pitiful, all shaved, gray-haired old man. One of the relatives of the deceased, who saw him in the coffin, fainted: he was so different from the former Hilarion. Saint Hilarion of the Trinity was 43 years old. Thus, this hero passed away into eternity in spirit and body, a man of a wonderful soul, endowed by the Lord with outstanding theological gifts, who laid down his life for the Church. His death was the greatest loss for the Russian Orthodox Church.

From the sayings of St. Hilarion (Trinity)

“ The Russian conscience has its own ideal, which is significantly different from the European idol of progress.”

“ What are we, Russians, destroyers or saviors of European culture? I think that our discord, our contradiction with Europe lies deeper than the observable surface of current events; the contradiction concerns the ideological foundations of the very understanding of life.”

“ The New Testament does not know progress in the European sense of moving forward on the same plane. The New Testament speaks of the transformation of nature and the resulting movement not forward, but upward, towards heaven, towards God.”

“ have
a somewhat skeptical attitude towards Western European progress.
It is clear and understandable to him that for the lentil stew of cultural life, the European irrevocably sold the rights of the Divine Birthright. The German sold his soul to the devil, but the Russian gave it away, and this is the undoubted superiority of the Russian, because he can also escape the devil, but the German has nothing to redeem himself with.” “ Christians are all God-bearers and temple-bearers, Christ-bearers, holy-bearers. Thus, everywhere there is this idea of ​​a new man, not progressive, but new; everywhere the ideal of internal transformation, and not external progress.”

“ Russian philosophy is a religious philosophy. Europeans are involuntarily amazed that our literature invariably lives by religious interests. Our great artist of words begins with “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” and ends with “Reflections on the Divine Liturgy.”

“ The merry songs of the earth, enthusiastic hymns to progress cannot replace the beautiful sounds of heaven for the Russian soul; she knows and understands that the heavenly song is not composed of the roar of machines and the crackling of guns; and the hundred notes of this song are not in the engineers’ drawings and estimates.”

Eternal memory to you,

blessed Saint Hilarion!

Spiritual activity during the revolution

Fully aware that after the revolution the situation in the country was not in favor of the representatives of the Russian Church, Hilarion continued to engage in spiritual activities. During these difficult years, he participated in the movement aimed at reviving the patriarchate, and in 1917–1918. was a delegate to the Local Council, at which he made a detailed report on the highest church government. He also became the secretary of Patriarch Tikhon, continued to lecture at the Moscow Theological Academy, and participated in public debates with atheists.

The active spiritual activity of Hilarion Troitsky caused strong dissatisfaction among representatives of the Soviet government. In this regard, the persecution of the clergyman inevitably began, which ultimately led to his death.

In 1919, Hilarion was in Butyrka prison for 3 months, in 1922 he was sent into exile to Arkhangelsk, from which he returned 12 months later. During this period, Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Rus' declared him Archbishop of Verei. In 1920, Hilarion was entrusted with the leadership of the Sretensky Monastery. In the same year, he suffered from typhus with heart complications, which subsequently constantly reminded of themselves.

Archbishop Hilarion Troitsky Vladimir Alekseevich

Religious figure. Theologian. Preacher. Spiritual writer. Bishop of the Russian Church. Archbishop of Vereisky. Holy Russian Orthodox Church. Canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church both in Russia and abroad. He died in one of the prison camps.

Vladimir Troitsky was born on September 25, 1886 in the village of Lipitsy, Moscow region. He grew up in the family of a priest. He learned the Church Slavonic language early, and at the age of five he was already reading the hours and the Six Psalms in church. He studied at the Tula Theological School and the Tula Theological Seminary. Then he entered the Moscow Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1910 with a candidate of theology degree for his essay “The History of the Dogma of the Church.” During his studies, he was awarded the Moscow Metropolitan Macarius Prize for the best semester essay and the Metropolitan Joseph Prize of Moscow for the best candidate's work.

Since August 1911, Troitsky taught the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament at the academy. In December 1912, he defended his dissertation for a master's degree in theology on the topic “Essays on the History of the Dogma of the Church,” which was awarded the Makariev Prize. In January 1913 he was confirmed as an assistant professor.

Vladimir Troitsky was tonsured a monk on March 28, 1913 with the name Hilarion. From April 11 he was a hierodeacon, and on June 2 he became a hieromonk. He received the monastic rank of archimandrite on July 5. In December, he took up the position of extraordinary professor of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament at the Moscow Academy. From May to September 1917 he served as rector of the academy.

Hilarion's main theological works are devoted to the doctrine of the Church. The concept of the church proposed by the saint is based on the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the holy fathers, and he experienced the patristic ideas from the inside. He believed that the West had fallen away from the Church, that there had been no Church in the West since 1054, and falling away from the Church meant falling away from Christ - the head of the Church - and from Christianity in general. The only holy, catholic and apostolic church is the Orthodox Church, outside of which the sacraments are invalid. He was a convinced Slavophile and anti-Western.

Hilarion was an active supporter of the revival of the Patriarchate. At the Local Council he participated as a rapporteur for the department on higher church governance. He took part in the debate, made explanations as the department's rapporteur on the highest church government, and earned gratitude on behalf of the Council. He made a powerful speech in defense of the idea of ​​restoring the patriarchate. It was based on his conviction that “the patriarchate is the fundamental law of the supreme government of each local church.” The archimandrite's speech played a significant role in the Council's decision to restore the patriarchate.

After the election of Patriarch Tikhon, Archimandrite Hilarion became his secretary and chief consultant on theological issues. At the same time, he continued to serve as vice-rector of the academy.

In the spring of 1919, he was imprisoned for three months in Butyrka prison. In 1920, he was officially relieved of his post as vice-rector.

Since April 1920, Hilarion was appointed rector of the Sretensky Monastery, and on May 25 he was consecrated Bishop of Vereisky, vicar of the Moscow diocese. The ordination was led by Patriarch Tikhon. Despite the numerous assignments that he had to carry out as an assistant to the patriarch, the bishop often served in the churches of Vereisky district.

Bishop Hilarion was arrested on March 22, 1922, and in June he was exiled to Arkhangelsk for a year. In 1923, upon returning from exile, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.

Hilarion negotiated on behalf of the church with representatives of the state, seeking a softening of its policy towards religion. When the mass return of renovationists to the church began, it was thanks to the saint that church life in Moscow was established in the shortest possible time. He developed the rite of repentance and himself accepted the confession of hundreds of renovationists - priests and laity. Participated in public debates with atheists.

The active activities of the ruler caused discontent among the Bolsheviks. In the fall of 1923, he was arrested and sentenced to three years in the camps. Brought to the transit point on Popov Island on January 1, 1924, and in June sent to the Solovetsky special purpose camp. On the shores of the White Sea Bay he worked as a net maker and fisherman. He was a forester, living in the Varvarinskaya chapel. He lived as a watchman in the Filippovskaya Hermitage.

In the camp the saint was not left with vigor and spiritual joy. While on Solovki, Hilarion retained in himself all those good qualities of the soul that he acquired through exploits both before becoming a monk, and in monasticism, and in the priesthood. Those who were with him at that time witnessed his complete monastic non-covetousness, deep simplicity, genuine humility, and childish meekness. He simply gave everything he had, whatever was asked of him.

In 1925, Hilarion was temporarily transferred to a Yaroslavl prison, where the authorities convinced him, in exchange for freedom, to join one of the church movements loyal to the Bolsheviks - Gregorianism - but to no avail. Moreover, the bishop informed other prisoners about this proposal. For “disclosing” this information, he was sentenced to a new three-year prison term and sent back to Solovki.

The archbishop was one of the authors of the “Memoir of the Solovetsky Bishops,” which expressed the will of a group of imprisoned bishops. The “Note” was intended to develop the basis for the coexistence of the Church and the state in conditions where their spiritual principles are opposite, continuing the line of church policy led by Patriarch Tikhon.

The compilers of the “Note” announced the systematic persecution of the Church in the Soviet Union and exposed the lies of renovationism. They called for the consistent implementation of the law on the separation of Church and state; it was, in essence, about the desire of the Church to act without the tutelage of government officials.

Hilarion reacted negatively to the “Declaration” of the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius, but consistently defended the need to maintain prayerful and canonical unity with him.

In the fall of 1929, Hilarion was again convicted and sentenced to three years of exile in Central Asia. Sent by stage - from one transit prison to another. On the way, he contracted typhus, which broke out among the prisoners. Without his belongings, in nothing but rags, infested with insects, in a fever, he was brought to St. Petersburg and placed in prison. A day later, the sick bishop was sent to the hospital.

Archbishop Hilarion died on December 28, 1929 at the age of forty-three. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg.

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on April 8, 1998 approved the report of the Chairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna and decided to refer the issue of canonization of Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky) to the next Council of Bishops for decision.

In the Sretensky Monastery on May 10, 1999, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II glorified Hilarion as a locally revered saint.

Vladyka Hilarion was canonized as the holy new martyrs and confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in August 2000 for church-wide veneration.

The glorification of Hieromartyr Hilarion continued outside Russia. In Germany, on January 14, 2006, a group of believers gathered to serve a liturgy in honor of the Hieromartyr Hilarion. From this group a real parish was formed, which, by decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on August 21, 2007, was included in the Berlin-German diocese.

Works of Archbishop Hilarion

Essays on the history of the dogma of the Church. - M., 1997. Creations of the Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky). - In 3 volumes - M., 2004. - The anniversary edition includes almost all of his works known to date. The first volume included his entire dissertation “Essays on the History of the Dogma of the Church”; the second and third volumes are devoted to theological and church-journalistic works, respectively. Hilarion Troitsky. Transformation of the soul / Answer. ed. O. A. Platonov. - M.: Institute of Rus. civilizations, 2012. - 480 p. History of the Shroud. — 1912 On the church use of the Easter enneakedekateirida of Anatoly of Laodicea. — 1916 Repentance in the Church and repentance in Catholicism. — 1913 A. S. Khomyakov and ancient church polemicists. // Faith and reason. - 1911. - No. 18. Repentance in the Church and repentance in Catholicism. - M.: Printing house of A.I. Snegireva, 1913. Speech about. Inspector of the Academy Archimandrite Hilarion before the thanksgiving service on the occasion of the renovation of the academic temple. // Theological Bulletin: magazine. — 1913, December. — P. 613-616. The Incarnation and the Church // MCV. - 1914. - No. 51-52. — P. 1011-1016. Progress and transformation // Theological Bulletin. - 1914, October - November. — P. 218-232. About life in the Church and about church life (Concerning the letter of His Grace Bishop Andrei to the pastors of the Ufa diocese) // Christian. - 1915, April. There is no Christianity without the Church - M.: Orthodox conversation, 1991. Religion and politics // Christian. — Sergiev Posad. - 1907. - No. 2, 3, 8. Lenten and fasting. A page from the history of church discipline // Readings in the Society of Lovers of Spiritual Enlightenment. - 1914. - No. 3. Christianity and socialism. On modern topics. // Christian. — Sergiev Posad. - 1910. - No. 1-4. Leo Tolstoy and the Resurrection of Christ // Moscow Church Gazette. - 1913. - No. 18. The persecuted Church and the ruling Church. To celebrate the 1600th anniversary of the Edict of Milan. // Moscow Church Gazette. - 1913. - No. 37. Holy Scripture and the Church. - M.: Printing house of A. I. Snegireva, 1914

Memory of Archbishop Hilarion

Commemoration in the Russian Orthodox Church takes place on December 28
24.11.2020

Stay in Solovki

In the fall of 1923, Troitsky was arrested again and sentenced to three years in prison. Saint Hilarion was sent to the Solovetsky special purpose camp, where he alternately worked as a forester, watchman and fisherman. Here the saint did not lose his fortitude, constantly prayed and gratefully accepted all the trials sent to him.

Despite difficult living conditions, Hilarion Troitsky managed to preserve the bright qualities of his soul. He showed mercy and attention to others, and saw the divine principle in every person. Thanks to his sincerity, simplicity and genuine good nature, the archbishop became the most popular person in the camp, earning deep respect from not only other prisoners, but also the jailers themselves.

In 1925, Hilarion was transferred to Yaroslavl prison. Here he had a chance to be released if he accepted the conditions of the current government. The saint was offered to join Gregorianism, a church movement to which the Bolsheviks were most loyal and planned to use it to create a split among the Russian clergy. After Hilarion’s categorical refusal to change his religious views, he was given a new sentence of 3 years and again sent to Solovki.

December 27, 2021

On December 28, 1929, in the Petrograd prison hospital, a prominent scientist-theologian, inspired preacher, martyr for the faith of Christ, Archbishop Hilarion (Troitsky) of Vereya, died of typhus. His entire life was completely devoted to serving God and His Church.

Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) of Leningrad and Gdov obtained permission from the authorities to bury St. Hilarion in accordance with his rank, and organized the funeral service and burial. Bishop Seraphim dressed the body of Archbishop Hilarion in his bishop's vestments, and placed his miter on its head, as if foreseeing that he himself was not destined for burial according to the church rite.

Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), in the world Vladimir Alekseevich Troitsky, was born on September 13, 1886 in the village of Lipitsy, Kashira district, Tula province, into the family of a priest. In 1906, after graduating from the Tula Theological School and the Tula Seminary, he entered the Moscow Theological Academy (MDA). In 1910 he graduated from the academy with a candidate's degree in theology and was left here as a professor's fellow. From that time on, the teaching activity of the Hieromartyr Hilarion began within the walls of Moscow theological schools. In 1912, he defended his master's thesis on the topic: “Essays on the history of the dogma of the Church,” and on March 28, 1913, he was tonsured as a monk. On April 11 of the same year he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on June 2 - to the rank of hieromonk. On July 5, 1913, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and in the same year became an extraordinary professor at the Moscow Academy of Sciences in the Department of New Testament. One after another, his theological and dogmatic works appear, in which he describes the ideal of the Church as a community of people living by the grace-filled power of the Holy Spirit. These views influenced the further development of Orthodox teaching about the Church.

Priest Alexey Troitsky with children, Vladimir on the far left, future Saint Hilarion

The cycle of events of 1917 captured the Moscow Theological Academy. Already on March 13, the rector, Bishop Theodore, was removed; the temporary performance of the duties of the rector was entrusted to the inspector of the Academy, Archimandrite Hilarion (Troitsky), who at the Local Council of 1917-1918 was the initiator of the restoration of the patriarchate, and after that - the right hand of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow.

With the coming of the Bolsheviks to power, a period of severe persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church began. In March 1919, Archimandrite Hilarion was arrested. He spent three months in custody in Butyrka prison. On May 25, 1920, in the church of the Trinity Patriarchal Metochion, Archimandrite Hilarion (Troitsky) was consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon as Bishop of Vereisky, vicar of the Moscow diocese.

Archimandrite Hilarion (Troitsky)

During the first year of his episcopal service in the parishes of the Moscow diocese, Bishop Hilarion served 142 liturgies, more than 142 all-night vigils and delivered 330 sermons, and this despite the fact that that year he was ill with typhus for two months. This illness affected the heart and seriously undermined the bishop's health.

In September 1921, Bishop Hilarion was subjected to short-term arrest. This was due to the fact that he obtained from the director of the Tretyakov Gallery and one of the leaders of the Main Museum of the People's Commissariat for Education I.Ya. Grabar gave permission to take the miraculous image to the Sretensky Monastery on the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (August 26/September 8), but this was followed by the arrest of the saint. A trial took place, but again no crime was found. However, even after this, the saint was under the close attention of the Cheka. On November 26, 1921, the commissioner of the Secret Department of the Moscow Cheka, Mikhail Shmelev, compiled a list of persons included in the Holy Synod and the Moscow Diocesan Administration who were to be arrested. This list included Bishop Hilarion.

Saint Hilarion, prison photo

On March 22, 1922, Bishop Hilarion was arrested at the apartment where he lived (Sretenka St., 9, apt. 1), and before being sent into exile in the Arkhangelsk region, he was kept in the GPU Internal Prison on Lubyanka. Less than two years had passed since his consecration when he found himself in exile in Arkhangelsk. For a whole year, Bishop Hilarion was away from church life.

Bishop Hilarion arrived in Moscow on July 5, 1923 and immediately went to the Donskoy Monastery to see Patriarch Tikhon. Upon his return from exile, Bishop Hilarion was elevated to the rank of archbishop by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. From now on until his last arrest in November 1923, Bishop Hilarion was the Patriarch’s closest assistant, a short but extremely eventful period began in the life of St. Hilarion.

On Solovki, far left is St. Hilarion

In the summer of 1923, Saint Hilarion arrived at the Sretensky Monastery and expelled the renovationists from it. At the same time, he performed an unprecedented holy act: anew, with a great rite, he consecrated the throne and the cathedral of the Sretensky Monastery. By this he showed that the sin and wickedness of apostasy from the Church require special purification. Word of this immediately spread not only throughout Moscow, but throughout Russia. Renewalists in entire parishes and communities repented and returned to the Church.

Neither the leaders of renovationism nor their patrons, the security officers, could forgive St. Hilarion for their defeat. On the night of November 15-16, 1923, Vladyka was again arrested and sentenced to three years in a concentration camp. He was taken by stage to Solovki, where he became a net maker and fisherman.

In the middle of the summer of 1925, Archbishop Hilarion was sent from the Solovetsky camp to the Yaroslavl prison. In prison they tried to persuade him to join the new schism of the Russian Church, planned by the OGPU - Grigorievshchina (the schism existed until the early 1940s). An OGPU agent came to Archbishop Hilarion and began to persuade him to join the schism. Archbishop Hilarion decisively rejected this proposal, and three more years were added to his term, the basis for which was the “disclosure” by the saint among the prisoners of the contents of a conversation with an agent in prison.

Saint Hilarion, far left, in the Solovetsky camp

In the spring of 1926, Archbishop Hilarion was returned to Solovki, where he took part in the drafting of the “Solovetsky Message” (an appeal to the government of the USSR by Orthodox bishops from the Solovetsky Islands), which determined the position of the Orthodox Church in new historical conditions. In December 1929, Archbishop Hilarion was sent to settle in Central Asia, in Alma-Ata, for a period of three years. During this stage, the bishop fell ill with typhus and died in a prison hospital in Leningrad on December 28, 1929. Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) obtained permission from the authorities to bury St. Hilarion in accordance with his rank. When his closest relatives and friends saw his body, they hardly recognized the saint: in the coffin lay an emaciated old man with a shaved head... The holy martyr was 43 years old.

Saint Hilarion (Trinity) was buried in Leningrad at the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent near the Moscow Gate; in the 1990s, his grave was a place of veneration. In 1999, the relics of Bishop Hilarion were found and transferred to Moscow, to the Sretensky Monastery. That same year, on May 10, Saint Hilarion was glorified among the locally revered saints of Moscow. At the Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000, he was numbered among the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Рokrov.pro

December 28, 2016

Death and canonization

After some period, it was decided to transport the archbishop to Kazakhstan. During the trip, Hilarion was robbed, he was left completely without things, in only rags. Having poor health, the righteous man became infected with typhus from other prisoners, and he was sent to one of the Leningrad hospitals. Being exhausted by long-term hardships, Hilarion was unable to cope with his illness and at the age of 43 he gave his soul to the Lord. This happened on December 28, 1929. Before his death, the saint was given communion by Hieromonk Nikander.

Shortly before his death, Hilarion Troitsky fell into unconsciousness. He rejoiced at his imminent release from torment and constantly repeated the same phrase. The doctor who was with him witnessed how the bishop repeated: “Now I am completely free...”.

Contrary to Soviet rules, which prohibited the extradition of deceased prisoners, Metropolitan Seraphim of Leningrad managed to obtain the body of the archbishop and organize his burial. Hilarion was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent in complete silence, since funeral speeches were strictly prohibited.

The relics of the saint were found in July 1998. First, the remains of Hilarion of the Trinity were taken to the Kazan Church of the Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg, then to the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, where they remain to this day. A year after these events, the righteous man was declared a locally revered saint, and in 2000, by the decision of the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was officially canonized.

Orthodox Life

– Father Demetrius, you have been studying the church ministry of the Hieromartyr Hilarion. Please tell us about the main stages of the life of the saint.

– Hello, Dmitry, hello, our dear viewers!

Saint Hilarion was born in 1886 into the family of a clergyman. His father was a priest. His brothers became: one a bishop, the other a priest. And from childhood, the future saint had a church upbringing.

He said that Christianity is a religion of joy, love of God. And he taught this to the students of the academy

He entered the Moscow Theological Academy, and everyone noted that over the many years of the existence of the Moscow Theological Academy, he was the best student upon admission and the best graduate, he showed such bright abilities already as a student. Moreover, his abilities were very versatile: he showed himself both as a theologian, writing a number of dogmatic works, and as a historian of the Church, and was an extraordinary professor in the department of the New Testament. So Hieromartyr Hilarion dedicated his life until 1913—the year of his tonsure and acceptance of the priesthood—to science. At the same time, he was an amazingly joyful, amazingly spiritual person. He always said that Christianity is a religion of love, a religion of joy, love of God. And he taught this to students as an inspector of the theological academy - many remembered this.

In 1913, he became a hieromonk and immediately a few months later was ordained to the high rank of archimandrite, for some time he served as rector of the academy, was a professor in the department of the New Testament and an inspector until the moment when the revolution broke out and when the academy began to gradually fade away. It was closed already in 1921. Until the last days of the existence of the academy in Sergiev Posad, he continued to serve, and even when classes were moved to Moscow, he carried on work at the academy as long as his strength and capabilities allowed.

– What was his service like as the abbot of the Sretensky Monastery?

– Saint Hilarion was the rector of the Sretensky Monastery – at that time the monastery was not stauropegial – and he received this obedience from Patriarch Tikhon simultaneously with his episcopal consecration in 1920. The monastery, located in the center of Moscow, was already partially closed: the administrative premises of the monastery were seized by the Soviet authorities, and the brethren were significantly thinned out. In these difficult conditions, Bishop Hilarion led the monastery and became an example for the brethren. As one of the Moscow everyday life writers Okunev, who attended a service in the Sretensky Monastery in the summer of 1920, recalls, Saint Hilarion, in only a cassock, without episcopal vestments, sang in the choir and read the canon of the all-night vigil. Moreover, everyone who was present was amazed by the sincerity of his prayer. He truly was an example of prayer and a man who knew and loved worship well.

As abbot of the monastery, he cared a lot about the brethren and interceded with the authorities to preserve the monastery. And in 1923, immediately after his release from exile in the Arkhangelsk region, he re-consecrated the main cathedral of the monastery, because from 1922 to 1923 the services of the Renovationists took place here, led by Bishop Antonin (Granovsky), who was banned from serving. The Renovationists, as you know, distorted the divine service, moved the altar to the center of the church, changed the order of services and the Liturgy. For Saint Hilarion, all this was bad, after which it was necessary to consecrate the temple again with a great rite, which he did on July 5, 1923.

– Hieromartyr Hilarion was the closest assistant to Patriarch Tikhon.

– Indeed, Saint Hilarion was the right hand of Patriarch Tikhon during a certain period of his ministry, because for Saint Tikhon it was very important to have reliable, proven assistants. Such was Saint Hilarion. Particularly valuable for Patriarch Tikhon was his service as the de facto head of the Moscow diocese. In 1921-1922, Saint Hilarion, as Archbishop of Vereya, led the life of Moscow parishes, received clergy, traveled a lot, as he himself writes: “there are ends and many miles.” He visited regional cities, especially in 1922, until his arrest - on March 22, 1922, he was arrested, was imprisoned in Moscow for some time, then sent into exile in the Arkhangelsk region, where he remained until the end of June 1923.

He achieved that in a short period - two summer months of 1923 - the renovationists were expelled from almost all churches, and actually lost Moscow

Having been freed and immediately heading here to the Sretensky Monastery - this is a short period, only four months - he became the leader of the fight against renovationism in Moscow. Moreover, the role of Saint Hilarion was not easy. For the authorities, he had to be an example of loyalty. What he said to the authorities, what he wrote, expressed his loyalty to them. For some time they perceived him as a person they could trust and negotiate with. And therefore, using this opportunity, Saint Hilarion ensured that in a short period - two summer months of 1923 - the renovationists were expelled and actually lost Moscow. Before Patriarch Tikhon's release from prison, they owned the majority of churches in Moscow. In two months they literally lost all Moscow parishes, because the people and the ordinary priests themselves did not want to see them. Saint Hilarion held receptions every day, made tours of churches every day, and performed divine services. Moreover, he never emphasized his role, he was always in the shadow of the patriarch and did such, I would say, “dirty” work. He was truly a humble man. He considered himself a person who carries out such difficult obedience on a daily basis. And while receiving the clergy, convincing the clergy to move to the Patriarchal Church, taking on such a role, he knew that he was doomed for this.

He was the man who did all the hard work. And this work led him to Solovki itself, and then to his early death. But Saint Hilarion did this deliberately. He understood that he had to do this. And the authorities, having come to their senses in November 1923, now perceived him as an enemy, and not as a person who could be trusted, but could no longer do anything: the Patriarchal Church had triumphed. And then all the anger, all the hatred of the authorities, and above all the GPU, fell upon Saint Hilarion. When he was arrested in November 1923, he was no longer treated on ceremony. They took revenge on him for being so active. But the authorities could not have imagined that he would be so active and behave in a completely different way than those who then followed church life and who fought against the Church expected from him. Therefore, his service is very important for us precisely as sacrificial service. He understood that he had a very short period of freedom and used every day for the good of the Church, defending Patriarch Tikhon. Although his admirers - and then there was a right wing - accused him of being pro-Soviet, of negotiating with the authorities. But he was not like that, he took on the function of a bridge between the Patriarchal Church and the authorities, he negotiated with Tuchkov - he understood that this was a necessary service. And thanks to this, he achieved a lot, but that is why he suffered.

– Father Dimitri, what else would you like to say on the day of remembrance of the Hieromartyr Hilarion?

– Today is a kind of anniversary - 85 years since the martyrdom, the confessional death of the saint.

In those harsh conditions, he strengthened even the bishops - his brethren in Solovki - with hope, confidence, and courage

Being on Solovki from 1923 to 1929, he had the opportunity to gain freedom; he was offered this opportunity in 1925, when the Gregorian schism was formed, already against St. Peter. They created a group of bishops, which was supposed to be led by the GPU and at the same time in opposition to St. Peter. Hieromartyr Hilarion did not agree and was again sent to Solovki. As he joked then: “The Lord is omnipotent, He was able to make apostles and theologians out of fishermen, and now He makes fishermen out of theologians again,” because the obedience that the priests bore on Solovki consisted, among other things, in the fact that they weaved and repaired nets for catching fish. And on Solovki, Saint Hilarion also showed an example of amazing humility and joy. In those harsh conditions, he strengthened even the bishops - his brothers - with hope, his confidence, his courage.

He predicted his death. “On December 28, my fate will be decided, and I will not survive this crisis,” he wrote to Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) in his last letter. His body was too weak, and he felt his death approaching. He had the opportunity, unlike other Solovki residents, to die the way Christians should die: he took communion, he confessed, he was conscious and, calling on the name of God, he died on December 15 according to the old style - December 28 according to the new style - in 1929 . Moreover, when his body was delivered to Leningrad and Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) saw him, he did not recognize him, because during his life Saint Hilarion was a very handsome man: tall, light-haired, stately - and the Metropolitan saw the relics of the elder: he was shaved, he was very thin, he was a man who suffered, suffered greatly, but endured everything.

The saint reposed with joy in Christ, with love for God. This is an example for us - life and service.

Dmitry Dementyev talked with priest Dimitry Safonov

Theological works

Hilarion Troitsky left behind a large number of literary works, among which the most famous are:

• "Letters about the West";
• “Embodiment and Humility”;
• “Holy Scripture, Church and Science”;
• “Repentance in the Church and repentance in Catholicism”;
• "Bethlehem and Golgotha";
• “There is no Christianity without the Church.”

The ruler’s creativity is filled with “high wisdom”, harmoniously combined with “simplicity”. In his works, he invariably affirms the idea of ​​​​the need to fight heresy, resist Western trends and protect Russian Orthodox traditions. He also tirelessly reminds us that without the church there is no salvation for Christians. Hilarion considered it a kind of “organism, a mystical Body, the members of which are united by a common grace-filled life and Love.”

HILARION

Since his studies at the Moscow Academy of Sciences, I.'s area of ​​scientific interests has been ecclesiology. This area of ​​Russian theology was poorly developed, which is why the appearance of the magist. dis. “Essays on the History of the Dogma of the Church” was perceived in the academic community as an outstanding event. Reviewers gave it rave reviews. Prof. S.S. Glagolev wrote: “Books such as the book of Mr. Troitsky do not often appear in Rus'. Their appearance is a celebration of theological science” (Journal of meetings of the Council of the MDA for 1912 // BV. 1913. No. 7-8. P. 584). In a review by Prof. M.D. Muretov said that I. is worthy not only of a master’s degree, but also of a doctorate (Ibid., p. 602).

I. The Being of the Church. “The Church, as its foundation,” wrote I., “has the incarnate Son of God, the God-Man Christ.” Only through the incarnate Son of God do people receive true life (Essays from the history of the dogma of the Church. 1997. P. 4). “The life of the Church is supernatural life. To enter the Church, you need to be born again, born of water and the Spirit, you need to be born of the Spirit (John 3. 5-6)” (Ibid. p. 5). I. pointed out that, according to the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself, “the Church is a supernatural, grace-filled union of people reborn by the God-man into a union of love” (Ibid. p. 6). I. cites the sayings of St. fathers about the Church as a new life for humanity, as a special people (εἰς λαὸν περιούσιον - Clem. Rom. Ep. I ad Cor. 64), about a new race (καινὸν γένος - Diogn. 1), a new people; in symbolic form, the idea of ​​the Church as a new creation is expressed in the “Pastor” of Hermas (Herm. Pastor. III 9. 1-2) (Ibid. pp. 92-101).

Defining so. the essence of the Church, I. emphasized its unity as its main property (Ibid. P. 7; There is no Christianity without the Church // Creations. T. 2. P. 200). The most capacious text of St. Scripture, which speaks of unity, he considered the words from the high priestly prayer of the Savior: “... that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You...” (John 17.21). In the Church of Christ the unity in love of all humanity will be realized. The One Church, according to I., from the first times was “not some intelligible object of faith, but a very real fact” (Essays from the history of the dogma of the Church. 1997. P. 60). The unity of the Church is expressed in the unity of faith. I. turns to the teachings of St. Cyprian of Carthage on faith, which calls the common faith of Christians the universal faith. The unity of faith according to Tradition comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ. Anyone who does not adhere to the unity of the Church does not maintain a single faith, “therefore heresy is not only separation from the Church, but there is always a distortion of the faith...” (Ibid., p. 384). In the ancient Church, the unity of the Church was not limited to the unity of faith, but was also manifested in the living unity between members of the Church, in the unity of universal love. The expression of church-wide love was prayer, as well as charity. The body of external unity of the Universal Church is the episcopate (Ibid. pp. 387-394). I. categorically denied the efforts of the Catholic. scientists seeking to prove, citing St. fathers, in particular on St. Cyprian, that for the external unity of the Church there is a need for a person who unites all the bishops, and such a person is the Bishop of Rome. St. Cyprian, wrote I., “denies anyone’s primacy in the Church and speaks of the equality of all bishops among themselves” (Ibid. pp. 397-398).

St. preached about the one visible Church. apostles. The concept of “Church” for I. is inseparable from the concept of “community”, i.e. visible society (There is no Christianity without the Church // Creations. T. 2. P. 212). I. was criticized by a Protestant. the doctrine of the “invisible church” (Essays from the history of the dogma of the Church. 1997. P. 15, 233-234).

The characteristic feature of the Church is its holiness. In the first times of Christianity, the concept of “holiness,” I. emphasizes, was closely connected with the life of the Church. The ascetic character of the ancient Christian worldview is already visible in the “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”; the ascetic ideal of life preached in the so-called. Second message sschmch. Clement of Rome, corresponds to the idea of ​​the holiness of the Church. However, the holiness of the Church does not lie in the relative holiness of its members; “In the Church people only strive for holiness; she guides their penitential deeds in case of their falls; she, by the judgment of the bishop, cleanses them from sins with the power given by the Lord to St. to the apostles and after them, successively preserved in the hierarchy... it alone gives strength for moral improvement” (Ibid. p. 445).

Sschmch. Hilarion (Troitsky). Ser. 20s XX century (Solovetsky camp) Sschmch. Hilarion (Troitsky). Ser. 20s XX century (Solovetsky camp)

The Church is the guardian of the truth, because it has the Holy Spirit. Scripture and its “correct interpretation” (Ibid. p. 130). The Church has always had the consciousness of an inextricable connection with the apostolic teaching; the apostolic Tradition acted as a criterion of truth. The doctrine of the Church as the guardian of truth is inextricably linked with the hierarchical structure of the Church. “In each individual Church, an unbroken series of successive bishops can be promoted to apostles. The bishop’s job is to protect the true teaching from distortion... Successive episcopate, therefore, is a sign of the true Church, and without hierarchy there is no Church” (Ibid. p. 187). According to I., by the 3rd century. the doctrine of the succession of bishops was so assimilated by the church consciousness that St. Cyprian, for example, does not need to talk about this in detail (Ibid. p. 413). While defending the doctrine of apostolic succession, I. was criticized by Protestants. view, according to which teaching belonged only to charismatic persons - evangelists, apostles, prophets - their activities were church-wide, and at the beginning of each community there were elders, from whom bishops and deacons emerged (Ibid. p. 188). Church history, I. pointed out, “can provide a lot of evidence for the apostolic origin of the bishopric in the Christian Church” (Ibid. p. 195). The apostles not only established a bishopric and appointed bishops, but also entrusted them with teaching along with administration (Ibid. p. 210).

In the Church, “the unity of man with Christ always and unchangeably continues” (There is no Christianity without the Church // Creations. Vol. 2. P. 204) through the sacraments, primarily the communion of the Body and Blood of the Savior. “The sacrament of communion unites people with God and thereby unites them with each other” (Ibid. p. 205).

In the economy of human salvation, the restoration of the original unity of people with God and with each other was the first goal of the Savior (Trinity of Godhead and unity of humanity // Ibid. p. 85). The beginning of the re-creation of such unity was laid by Christ in His incarnation, therefore for I. the incarnation is the foundation of the Church (Bethlehem and Golgotha ​​// Ibid. p. 285). Based on this, I. interpreted the words of the Savior addressed to the apostle. Peter: “...and I say to you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church” (Matthew 16:18). I. called the stone not the apostle himself, but his confession of Jesus Christ as God. Developing the interpretation of this passage, he drew attention to the word “confession”, often used in relation to the words of St. Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). "What does it mean? How can you create anything based on the theoretical confession of some truth?” (The Incarnation and the Church // Creations. Vol. 3. P. 344). The Church, in I.’s understanding, cannot be based on the sum of knowledge, even revealed by God, since the Church is the “new life of humanity,” moreover, it is the “new humanity” itself (Ibid.). The new life of human nature became possible only in Christ thanks to the perception of humanity by God’s Word, therefore “Christ is the stone on which the Church was created” (Ibid.). Thus, for I. the confession of Peter is, first of all, the confession of the Incarnation, because only the God-man can be the foundation of the Church as a theanthropic organism. “The confession of Peter can be called the foundation of the Church in its objective meaning, in its content, because it confessed the fact of the incarnation of God” (Ibid.). At the same time, I. emphasized that not the idea of ​​the Incarnation, but the fact itself lies at the foundation of the Church, since the Church is “a continuation of the Incarnation” (Ibid.) or “a direct consequence of the Incarnation” (Cornerstone of the Church // Ibid. Vol. 2. P. 271).

I., like Christ, called the Holy Spirit the source of the Church: “The Church... is not only “one Body,” but “one Spirit”” (There is no Christianity without the Church // Ibid. p. 206). The unity of the Spirit for I. is also an “organic” unity. The Holy Spirit permeates the entire Church Body and gives all believers various gifts with which everyone can serve the common cause of salvation and through this “makes new life possible for humanity” (Ibid. p. 207). The Spirit of God unites everyone into one Body by “infusing love into the heart, which in the natural state of man cannot be the basis of his life and his relationships with other people” (Ibid.).

II. Boundaries of the Church. I. saw the biblical basis for the doctrine of the boundaries of the Church in the book. Acts of St. the apostles in the words: “None of the strangers dared to pester them” (Acts 5.13; Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christianity // Works. T. 3. P. 507). Recognizing the existence of not only a church organization, but also the mystical Body of Christ, I. believed that this Body does not extend beyond the Orthodox Church. Churches. In his doctrine of the boundaries of the Church, I. adhered to the position of sschmch. Cyprian of Carthage. In a dispute with Sschmch. Stephen I, Pope of Rome, on the re-baptism of heretics. Cyprian proposed to baptize all those who converted from heresy, regardless of how they were baptized, being out of communion with the Orthodox (see: Cypr. Carth. Ep. 70, 71). The Church is a single Body, which has life only as an integral organism. Any kind of separation from this organism means spiritual death for the separated one. “If the connection with the Body of the Church is severed, then the individual, having become isolated and withdrawn in his selfishness, will be deprived of the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit living in the Church” (There is no Christianity without the Church // Creations. Vol. 2. P. 209). I. considered the Gospel examples of the unity of members in the body and branches with the tree to be the most clear illustration of the Gospel teaching about the boundaries of the Church. “The soul does not revive a member cut off from the body, just as the vital juices of a tree do not transfer to a severed branch” (Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christianity // Ibid. Vol. 3. P. 500). Following, “a severed member dies and decays,” and “a severed branch dries up” (Ibid.). This rule applies to both individuals and entire communities of Christians. To paraphrase the words sschmch. Cyprian of Carthage, I. wrote: “To isolate oneself, to withdraw into oneself, is for an individual or even for a Local Church what is for a ray to be separated from the sun, for a stream from a source, for a branch from a trunk” (There is no Christianity without the Church / / Ibid. T. 2. P. 210). In accordance with this position, I. called the division of the Churches in 1054 separation, the falling away of the Roman Patriarchate from the Catholic Church. He resolutely rejected Protestants. branch theory. Unity is impossible where there is no unity of communion of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, since it constitutes “the focus of the mystical life of the Church” and the “mysterious center of church unity” (Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christianity // Ibid. Vol. 3. P. 506).

I. did not agree with the opinion of St. Philaret (Drozdov) that, along with the “purely true” Church, there can also be a “not purely true” Church, in which apostolic succession and some sacraments are preserved. I. believed that any “not purely true” Church is false (Ibid. p. 507). He also did not agree with the aphoristic statement of Metropolitan. Kyiv Plato (Gorodetsky) that the barriers between the Churches do not reach heaven. In determining the boundaries of the Church, I. adhered to the position of extreme acrivism. He denied the reality of k.-l. sacraments outside the Orthodox Church Churches. The church practice of accepting non-Orthodox people through confirmation or through repentance without rebaptism, which indirectly testifies to the recognition of the validity of some sacraments among non-Orthodox people, I. accepted only as a manifestation of church oikonomia. Like an archbishop. Anthony (Khrapovitsky), he was a consistent supporter of the “economy” theory and developed the ideas of A. S. Khomyakov, in whose opinion the sacraments were committed outside the Orthodox Church. The Church can be replenished through reconciliation with the Church; Moreover, “in the very fact or rite of reconciliation there is in essence (virtualiter) a repetition of the previous sacraments” (Khomyakov A.S. Letters to V. Palmer // Works of A.S. Khomyakov. M., 1886. T. 2. C 369). This theory was criticized by Patriarch Sergius (Stragorodsky), Archbishop. Seraphim (Sobolev), Archpriest. Georgy Florovsky and others, who repeatedly pointed out its internal inconsistency. “If we, together with strict churchmen, say that there are no Sacraments outside the Church, then... the economy will be completely incomprehensible: how can a person, essentially unbaptized... be considered a member of the Church and admitted to its Sacraments, up to and including Holy Communion? And can these Sacraments bear any fruit for the unregenerate spiritually? After all, this is almost the same as giving food to a dead person,” wrote Patriarch Sergius (Sergius, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. The attitude of the Church of Christ to the societies that separated from it // ZhMP. 1994. No. 5. P. 83-84). Developing his thought, Patriarch Sergius concluded that, having adopted such a view, it is possible, according to economy, to accept into the Church, for example, Muslims or Jews (Ibid. p. 86). Prot. G. Florovsky called the position of supporters of the “economy” theory dangerous and reckless (Florovsky G., prot. On the boundaries of the Church // ZhMP. 1989. No. 5. P. 72).

However, I. understood the manifestation of church economy in relation to non-Orthodox people differently than Khomyakov. In the actions of the Church, he did not see any concession or relaxation to those converting from heresy or schism. Interpreting the 1st canonical letter of St. Basil the Great to St. Amphilochia, bishop. Iconium, dedicated to the acceptance of heretics into the Church, I. said that “for the sake of the benefit of the Church, for the sake of facilitating joining the Church, it is possible not to repeat the rite of baptism over those converting, if it was correctly performed outside the Church,” but not because this rite had the force of a sacrament, “but in the hope that the gift of grace will be received in the very unity with the Body of the Church” (Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christianity // Creations. Vol. 3. P. 521). According to I., the very fact of reunification with the Church has a mysteriously grace-filled meaning for the convert, which allows the Church not to repeat the rituals performed on him. So, noting that the dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Anglicans. The Church had not yet brought the expected fruits, but at the same time he believed that “according to the 79th canon of the Council of Carthage ... the entire Anglican hierarchy can be immediately accepted into its existing rank without any scientific research and controversy” (Ibid. p. 540). The basis for making such a decision may be the obvious “benefit of the souls of the brothers” (Ibid.).

III. Church in modern times. The problem of the incorrect understanding of the Church by his contemporaries greatly worried I.: “... it is hardly possible to point out another member of the Creed, which would be so little perceived by the heart of a person reading the Creed through the lips, like the ninth, where the truth of the Church is expressed” (There is no Christianity without the Church / / Ibid. T. 2. P. 192). I. considered the statements of some contemporaries about the lack of life in the Church and the need for its “revival” to be meaningless. According to his conviction, life in the Church cannot freeze or dry up; it can only be ignored by people with weak faith, churchless people. The life of the Holy Spirit in the Church is not noticeable to a spiritual person, much less a carnal one (Ibid. p. 233). In I.’s opinion, we need to talk not about the lack of life in the Church, but about the lack of church self-awareness of Christians. He wrote: “In the souls of many of our contemporaries, reverence for Christianity and disdain for the Church somehow coexist”; “At least almost everyone is not embarrassed to call themselves Christians, but they don’t even want to hear about the Church and are ashamed to reveal their churchliness in any way” (Ibid., p. 197). I. saw the reason why the majority of Russian people still call themselves Christians in the preserved high authority of Christianity, which “only a few... the most “advanced”... renegades” openly oppose (Ibid.). I. resolutely rejected the possibility of non-confessional Christianity. “Now they are attacking the Church with bitterness and denying the very idea of ​​the Church, hypocritically hiding behind loud and stereotyped, beautiful, boring phrases about “personal freedom”, about the “individual refraction” of Christianity, about the religion of freedom and spirit” (Ibid. p. 230) . In I.’s understanding, only the Church “gives life and fulfillment to the Christian doctrine” (Ibid. p. 210); without the Church, Christianity is just one of the teachings, nothing more.

I. emphasized the importance of faith in the Church, trust and loyalty to it. According to him, if a person professes the Church, it means that he voluntarily agrees to the fulfillment of all the “laws”, “by which the Church achieves the goal of its existence and by which it, as a society living on earth, is governed” (Ibid. p. 192); Therefore, faith in the Church in its essence cannot but be active. “To recognize the Church means not dreaming only about Christ, but living like a Christian, following the path of love and self-denial” (Ibid.). Those who limit themselves to only a rational recognition of faith in God, but do not live according to the Gospel, one way or another reject the dogma of the Church. I. believed that this concerns primarily Catholics and Protestants (Ibid. p. 193). He held them largely responsible for the de-churching of Christianity. I. agreed with Khomyakov that app. creeds are “heresies against the dogma of the essence of the Church.” “The truth of the Church was greatly distorted in the West after Rome fell away from the Church, and the Kingdom of God there began to resemble the kingdom of the earth,” wrote I. (Ibid.). Catholic Misconception He saw the Church in the fact that it proclaimed the guardian of the truth of one person - the Bishop of Rome, and not the fullness of the Church. Protestantism, in turn, being a logical continuation and development of Catholicism, declared not one person, but all believers, the owner of the truth, so that every believer “was made an infallible pope.” I. ironized: “Protestantism put the papal tiara on every German professor and, with its countless number of popes, completely destroyed the idea of ​​the Church, replaced faith with the reason of the individual and replaced salvation in the Church with the dreamy confidence in the salvation of all through Christ without the Church” (Ibid.). Following of this, “Protestantism openly proclaimed this greatest lie: you can be a Christian without recognizing any Church” (Ibid. p. 194).

Cancer sschmch. Hilarion (Troitsky) (Sretensky Monastery in Moscow)

Cancer sschmch. Hilarion (Troitsky) (Sretensky Monastery in Moscow)

In the process of de-churching, according to I., a share of responsibility also lies with representatives of the Church, who must bring clarity to the understanding of its essence. “When Christianity appeared in the world precisely as the Church, then this world itself clearly understood and involuntarily recognized that the Church and Christianity are one and the same thing” (Ibid. p. 199).

IV. Attitude to ecumenism. I.'s views on interchrist. The dialogue is most fully reflected in Art. “There is no Christianity without the Church” (1915), also in a letter to Robert Gardiner. The commission, created after the Edinburgh Conference of 1910, became the head of the active ecumenical movement “Faith and Church Order” and since 1914 has been in dialogue with the Russian. theologians archbishop. Anthony (Khrapovitsky), N.N. Glubokovsky, S.V. Troitsky, V.I. Ekzemplyarsky, N.M. Lodyzhensky and others. The letter to I. Gardiner is a response to this dialogue and reveals the attitude of the Orthodox Church. Churches to the heterodox. I.'s position on the issue of the participation of the Russian Church in the ecumenical movement is closest to the position of Archbishop. Anthony (Khrapovitsky), presented by him in correspondence with Gardiner in 1915-1916. Having received an invitation to the ecumenical conference, Archbishop. Anthony stated that he was outside the Orthodox Church. There is no grace for the Church, and even a correctly confessed faith cannot save a person, since salvation is granted to a person only in the Church. The position of “strict Orthodoxy” was also supported by I., considering it the only general church position (Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christianity // Creations. T. 3. pp. 496-497).

I. was wary of the ecumenical movement, because he saw in it the danger of creating a de-churched Christianity. The non-confessional association of Christians, according to I., “is something stillborn” (There is no Christianity without the Church // Ibid. T. 2. P. 227). There can be no spiritual life in such a union. “Only for someone who wanders in a country far from not only holy Orthodoxy, but also from any faith, only for that person can a barely living life in unity on some kind of “federal principles” seem like a new revelation, a joy for an empty soul” ( Ibid., p. 228). For I., the true unification of believers in Christ is possible only by returning to the fold of the Orthodox Church. Churches. In his opinion, those who desire unity need to “freely surrender into full obedience to the Orthodox Church and cleave to the fullness of church life, to the life of the Body of Christ” (Ibid.). At the same time, I. agreed with the opinion of prof. P. Ya. Svetlova, who believed that in understanding essentially important dogmatic issues, everyone is Christ. the confessions are united, and the disagreements between them are exaggerated (Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christianity // Ibid. Vol. 3. P. 499). Church unity, according to I., is based not on the unity of doctrine, but on the unity of grace-filled life (There is no Christianity without the Church // Ibid. T. 2. P. 228), while in the area of ​​doctrine “wide freedom of theological opinions is provided,” edges “does not violate the unity of the Church” (Unity of the Church and the World Conference of Christianity // Ibid. Vol. 3. P. 499).

What do people pray to Hilarion of the Trinity for?

The martyr supports believers who are experiencing various difficulties in life. Prayers before his image help:

• heal from diseases (eye, cancer and others);
• to escape from injustice, persecution, slander;
• gain true faith and humility;
• restore lost love of life.

On the icons the saint appears as a tall, cheerful man with lush brown hair, a strong physique, an open face with regular features, and a calm, clear look. In the first paintings he was depicted in full growth. Later, a half-length version of the icon appeared, in which the righteous man holds a scroll with writing in his hand.

Hieromartyr Hilarion of the Trinity is venerated four times during the year - April 27 (May 10), June 4 (17), August 20 (September 2), December 15 (28). It is on these days that prayers to the saint, made sincerely and with deep faith, acquire the greatest power.

Hieromartyr Hilarion (Trinity). Life and testimony for church glorification

December 28 is the day of remembrance of the heavenly patron of the Sretensky Monastery, Hieromartyr Hilarion. On this day, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the monastery, which will begin at 9:30 am. On the eve of the holiday, we are publishing the biography of the Hieromartyr Hilarion, written by Metropolitan John (Snychev).

Life of the Hieromartyr Hilarion (mp3, 16.5 MB 38 min.) >>

One of the prominent figures of the Russian Church in the 20s was Archbishop Hilarion of Vereya, an outstanding theologian and a most talented person. His whole life was a burning passion for the Church of Christ, right up to his martyrdom for her.

His works are distinguished by a strictly ecclesiastical direction, a tireless struggle against scholasticism and specific Latinism, which has influenced our theology since the time of Metropolitan Peter Mogila.

His ideal is the churchliness of theological school and theological science.

His constant reminder: outside the Church there is no salvation, outside the Church there are no sacraments.

Archbishop Hilarion (in the world Vladimir Alekseevich Troitsky) was born on September 13, 1886 in the family of a priest from the village. Lipitsa, Kashira district, Tula province.

From early childhood, the desire to learn awoke in him. As a five-year-old boy, he took his three-year-old brother by the hand and went with him from his native village to Moscow to study. And when the brother began to cry from fatigue, Vladimir told him: “Well, remain unlearned.” The parents realized it in time, noticing the disappearance of the children, and quickly returned them to the shelter of their home. Vladimir was soon sent to the Theological School, and then to the Theological Seminary. After completing a full seminary course, he entered the Moscow Theological Academy and graduated brilliantly in 1910 with a candidate of theology degree. He is left at the academy as a professorial fellow.

It should be noted that Vladimir studied excellently in all schools, from the Theological School to the Theological Academy. He always had excellent grades in all subjects.

In 1913, Vladimir received a master's degree in theology for his fundamental work “Essays on the History of the Dogma of the Church.”

His heart burns with an ardent desire to serve God in the monastic rite. On March 28, in the monastery of the Paraclete of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, he took monastic vows with the name Hilarion (in honor of the Venerable Martyr Hilarion the New, commemorated on March 28), and approximately two months later, on June 2, he was ordained hieromonk. On July 5 of the same year, Father Hilarion was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

On May 30, 1913, Hieromonk Hilarion was appointed inspector of the Moscow Theological Academy. In December 1913, Archimandrite Hilarion was confirmed as an extraordinary professor of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament.

Archimandrite Hilarion gains great authority both as a teacher of students at the Theological School, and as a professor-theologian, and as a famous church preacher.

One after another, his theological and dogmatic works are published, enriching church science. His sermons ring from church pulpits like a bell, calling God's people to faith and moral renewal.

And when the question of restoring the patriarchate became acute, he, as a member of the Local Council of 1917-1918, spoke at the Council with inspiration in defense of the patriarchate. “Never,” said Archimandrite Hilarion, “the Russian Church was without a first hierarch. Our patriarchate was destroyed by Peter I. Who did it stop? Conciliarity of the Church? But wasn’t it during the time of the patriarchs that we had especially many Councils? No, it was not conciliarity or the Church that was hindered by the patriarchate. To whom? Here in front of me are two great friends, two beauties of the 17th century - Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. To quarrel between friends, the evil boyars whisper to the tsar: “...Because of the patriarch, you, sir, have become invisible.” And Nikon, when he left the Moscow throne, among other things, wrote: “...Let him, the sovereign, have more space without me.” This idea of ​​Nikon was embodied by Peter, destroying the patriarchate. “Let me, the sovereign, have more space without the patriarch”...

But the church consciousness, both in the 34th Apostolic Canon and at the Moscow Council of 1917, invariably says one thing: “... Bishops of every nation, including the Russian, should know the first of them and recognize him as the head.”

And I would like to appeal to all those who for some reason still consider it necessary to object to the patriarchate. Fathers and brothers! Do not disturb the joy of our like-mindedness! Why are you taking on a thankless task? Why are you saying hopeless speeches? After all, you are fighting against church consciousness. Be afraid lest you turn out to be fighters against God (See Acts 5:39)! We have already sinned, we sinned by not restoring the patriarchate two months ago, when we arrived in Moscow and met each other for the first time in the Great Assumption Cathedral. Wasn’t it painful for anyone then to see the empty patriarchal place to the point of tears?.. And when we venerated the holy relics of the wonderworkers of Moscow and the first thrones of Russia, didn’t we then hear their reproach for the fact that their primate cathedra had been widowed among us for two hundred years?”

After coming to power, the Bolsheviks immediately began persecuting the Church, and already in March 1919, Archimandrite Hilarion was arrested. The first prison sentence lasted three months.

On May 11/24, 1920, Archimandrite Hilarion was named, and the next day, May 12/25, he was consecrated Bishop of Verei, vicar of the Moscow diocese.

His contemporaries paint his portrait with light colors. He is young, cheerful, comprehensively educated, an excellent church preacher-speaker and singer, a brilliant polemicist, always natural, sincere, and open. Physically very strong, tall, with a wide chest, had lush brown hair, a clear, light face. He was the people's favorite. As a preacher and speaker, he was placed on a par with Lunacharsky and Alexander Vvedensky, and even above them. Bishop Hilarion enjoyed great authority among the clergy and his fellow bishops, who called him “great” for his intelligence and firmness in the faith.

His episcopal service was the way of the cross. Less than two years had passed since his consecration when he found himself in exile in Arkhangelsk. For a whole year, Bishop Hilarion was away from church life. He continued his activities upon returning from exile. His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon brought him closer to himself and, together with Archbishop Seraphim (Alexandrov), made him his closest adviser and like-minded person.

Immediately after returning from exile, the Patriarch elevated Bishop Hilarion to the rank of archbishop. His church activities are expanding. He is conducting serious negotiations with Tuchkov (the OGPU commissioner for church affairs) about the need to organize the life of the Russian Orthodox Church in the conditions of the Soviet state on the basis of canon law, is engaged in the restoration of church organization, and draws up a number of patriarchal messages.

For renovationists, he becomes a thunderstorm; in their eyes, he is inseparable from His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. On June 22/July 5, 1923, Bishop Hilarion holds an all-night vigil on the feast of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in the Sretensky Monastery, captured by the renovationists. The Bishop expels the renovationists and with a great rite, having re-consecrated the cathedral, annexes the monastery to the Church. The next day, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon serves at the monastery. The service lasts the whole day and ends only at six o'clock in the evening. Saint Tikhon appoints Bishop Hilarion as rector of the Sretensky Monastery. In his messages, the leader of renovationism, Metropolitan Antonin (Granovsky), with unspeakable anger, attacks both the Patriarch and Archbishop Hilarion, unceremoniously accusing them of counter-revolution. “Tikhon and Hilarion,” he wrote, “produced “graciously” asphyxiating gases against the revolution, and the revolution took up arms not only against Tikhon’s churchmen, but also against the entire church, as if against a crowd of conspirators. Hilarion goes around and sprinkles the churches after the renovationists. He enters these churches with impudence... Tikhon and Hilarion are defendants before the revolution, harassers of the Church of God, and in their apology they cannot present any good deeds” (“Izvestia”, September 23, 1923).

Archbishop Hilarion clearly understood the criminality of the Renovationists and led heated debates in Moscow with Alexander Vvedensky. The latter, as Archbishop Hilarion himself put it, during these debates he “pushed him to the wall” and exposed all his tricks and lies.

The Renovationist leaders felt that Archbishop Hilarion was interfering with them, and therefore made every effort to deprive him of his freedom.

In December 1923, Archbishop Hilarion was sentenced to three years in prison. He was taken by stage to the Kem camp, and then to Solovki.

When the archbishop saw the horror of the barracks environment and the camp food, he said: “We won’t get out of here alive.”

Archbishop Hilarion embarked on the Way of the Cross, which ended with his blessed death.

The Way of the Cross of Archbishop Hilarion is of very great interest to us, for it revealed all the greatness of the spirit of a martyr for Christ, and therefore let us dwell in more detail on this moment of his life.

While on Solovki, Archbishop Hilarion retained in himself all those good qualities of the soul that he acquired through exploits both before becoming a monk, and in monasticism, and in the priesthood. Those who were with him at that time witnessed his complete monastic non-covetousness, deep simplicity, genuine humility, and childish meekness. He simply gave everything he had to whatever was asked of him.

He was not interested in his things. Therefore, out of mercy, someone had to keep an eye on his suitcase. And he had such a novice on Solovki. Archbishop Hilarion could be insulted, but he never responded to this and could not even notice the attempt made. He was always cheerful, and even if he was preoccupied and worried, he quickly tried to cover it up with the same cheerfulness. He looked at everything with spiritual eyes, and everything served him for the benefit of the spirit.

“On the Filimonova fishing ground,” said an eyewitness, “seven versts from the Solovetsky Kremlin and the main camp, on the shore of a bay of the White Sea, Archbishop Hilarion and I and two other bishops and several priests (all prisoners) were net makers and fishermen. Archbishop Hilarion liked to talk about this work of ours by transcribing the words of the stichera for Trinity Day: “Everything is given by the Holy Spirit: formerly fishermen were theologians of display, but now, on the contrary, theologians are fishermen of display.” Thus his spirit came to terms with his new position.

His complacency extended to the Soviet government itself, and he could look at it with kindly eyes.

Once they brought a young hieromonk from Kazan to Solovki, who was given three years of exile for removing the orarion from a Renovationist deacon and not allowing him to serve with him. The archbishop approved of the hieromonk and joked about the different terms of imprisonment given to certain individuals, regardless of the severity of their “crimes.” “The barefoot Lord is curious,” said Archbishop Hilarion in the Easter words of John Chrysostom, “accepting the last as well as the first; He gives rest at the eleventh hour to him who has come, as he did from the first hour. And he accepts deeds, and kisses intentions, and honors deeds, and praises proposals.” These words sounded ironic, but they gave a feeling of peace and forced us to accept the test as if it were from the hand of God.

Vladyka Hilarion was very pleased with the idea that Solovki was a school of virtues - non-covetousness, meekness, humility, abstinence, patience, hard work. One day, an arriving party of clergy was robbed, and the fathers were greatly upset. One of the prisoners jokingly told them that this was how they were taught non-covetousness. The Bishop was delighted with this joke. One exile lost his boots two times in a row, and he walked around the camp in torn galoshes. Archbishop Hilarion, looking at him, became truly joyful, which instilled complacency in the prisoners. His love for every person, his attention and interest in everyone, his sociability were simply amazing. He was the most popular person in the camp, among all its layers. We do not say that the general, the officer, the student and the professor knew him, talked to him, found him or he them, despite the fact that there were many bishops and there were older and no less educated. He was known to the “punks”, criminals, the underworld of thieves and bandits precisely as a good, respected person whom one could not help but love. Whether at work in fits and starts, or in his free time, he could be seen walking arm in arm with some such “instance” from this environment. This was not condescension towards the younger brother and the deceased, no. The Bishop spoke to everyone as an equal, inquiring, for example, about each person’s “profession” and favorite activity. “Shpan” is very proud and sensitively proud. She cannot be shown disdain with impunity. And therefore the ruler’s manner was all-conquering. He, like a friend, ennobled them with his presence and attention. His observations in this environment, when he shared them, were of exceptional interest.

He is accessible to everyone, he is the same as everyone else, it is easy for everyone to be, meet and talk with him. The most ordinary, simple, unholy appearance - that’s what the ruler himself was. But behind this ordinary form of gaiety and worldliness one could gradually discern childlike purity, great spiritual experience, kindness and mercy, this sweet indifference to material goods, true faith, genuine piety, high moral perfection, not to mention mental, associated with strength and clarity of conviction. This type of ordinary sinfulness, foolishness, and the guise of secularism hid his inner work from people and saved him from hypocrisy and vanity. He was a sworn enemy of hypocrisy and every “form of piety,” completely conscious and direct. In the “Trinity Artel” (that was the name of Archbishop Hilarion’s working group), the clergy received a good education in Solovki. Everyone understood that it was not worth calling oneself a sinner or just having long pious conversations or showing the severity of one’s life. And even more so, think about yourself more than you really are.

The bishop questioned each visiting priest in detail about everything that preceded his imprisonment.

One day they brought an abbot to Solovki. The Archbishop asks him:

- Why were you arrested?

“Yes, I served prayer services at my home when the monastery was closed,” Father Abbot answers, “well, people gathered, and there were even healings...

- Oh, that’s how it is, there were even healings... How many Solovki did they give you?

- Three years.

- Well, this is not enough, more should be given for healings, the Soviet government overlooked...

It goes without saying that talking about healings through one’s prayers was more than immodest.

In the middle of the summer of 1925, Archbishop Hilarion was sent from Solovki to Yaroslavl prison. The situation here was different than on Solovki. In prison he enjoyed special benefits. He was allowed to receive books of spiritual content. Taking advantage of these benefits, Archbishop Hilarion reads a lot of patristic literature and makes extracts, from which many thick notebooks of patristic instructions are obtained. After prison censorship, he had the opportunity to transfer these notebooks to his friends for safekeeping. The saint secretly visited the prison warden, a kind man, and collected from him underground handwritten religious and Soviet literature and copies of all kinds of church administrative documents and correspondence of bishops.

At the same time, Archbishop Hilarion courageously endured a number of troubles. When he was in Yaroslavl prison, a Gregorian schism arose within the Russian Church. It was then that, as a popular bishop, an agent of the GPU came to him and began to persuade him to join the new schism. “Moscow loves you,” said a representative of the GPU, “Moscow is waiting for you.” Archbishop Hilarion remained adamant. He understood the GPU’s plan and courageously rejected the sweetness of freedom offered for treason. The agent was surprised at his courage and said: “It’s nice to talk to an intelligent person.” And then he added: “How long do you have a sentence on Solovki?” Three years?! Three years for Hilarion?! So few?" It is not surprising that after this three more years were added to Archbishop Hilarion. And it was added “for divulging state secrets,” that is, divulging his conversation with an agent in the Yaroslavl prison.

In the spring of 1926, Archbishop Hilarion was again returned to Solovki. His way of the cross continued. The Gregorians did not leave him alone. They did not lose hope that they would be able to win over such an authoritative hierarch as Archbishop Hilarion to their side and consolidate their positions with his transition.

At the beginning of June 1927, as soon as navigation on the White Sea began, Archbishop Hilarion was brought to Moscow for negotiations with Archbishop Gregory. The latter, in the presence of secular people, persistently begged Archbishop Hilarion to “pluck up courage” and head the Gregorian “higher church council,” which was increasingly losing importance. Archbishop Hilarion categorically refused, explaining that the work of the Supreme Church Council was unfair and lost, conceived by people ignorant of either church life or church canons, and that this work was doomed to failure. At the same time, Archbishop Hilarion fraternally exhorted Archbishop Gregory to abandon plans that were unnecessary and harmful to the Church.

Similar meetings were repeated several times. Vladyka Hilarion was begged and promised complete freedom of action and a white hood, but he firmly held to his convictions. There was a rumor that he once told his interlocutor: “Although I am an archpastor, I am a hot-tempered person, I beg you to leave, because I could lose power over myself.”

“I would rather rot in prison and not change my direction,” he once told Bishop Gervasius.

He maintained this position towards the Gregorians until the end of his life.

In troubled times, when, after the Renovationist schism, disagreements also penetrated among the exiled bishops on Solovki, Archbishop Hilarion appeared as a real peacemaker among them. He managed to unite them with each other on the basis of Orthodoxy. Archbishop Hilarion was among the bishops who developed an ecclesiastical declaration in 1926, defining the position of the Orthodox Church in new historical conditions. She played a huge role in the fight against the divisions that arose then.

In November 1927, some of the Solovetsky bishops began to hesitate in connection with the Josephite schism. Archbishop Hilarion managed to gather up to fifteen bishops in the cell of Archimandrite Theophan, where everyone unanimously decided to remain faithful to the Orthodox Church, headed by Metropolitan Sergius.

“No schism!” proclaimed Archbishop Hilarion. “No matter what they tell us, we will look at it as a provocation!”

On June 28, 1928, Bishop Hilarion wrote to his loved ones that he did not sympathize with all those who separated to the extreme and considered their cause to be unfounded, absurd and extremely harmful. He considered such separation to be an “ecclesiastical crime”, which, under the conditions of the current moment, was very serious. “I see absolutely nothing in the actions of Metropolitan Sergius and his Synod that would exceed the measure of leniency and patience,” he declares. And in a letter dated August 12, 1928, he develops his thought: “Trifles are written everywhere, whoever writes on the contrary. What kind of thing did they come up with? He is supposedly an apostate. And as they write, it’s like they’re crazy. They themselves fall into the pit and drag others along with them.” At the same time, he concludes that you cannot prove anything to Metropolitan Joseph, “even if you hit your forehead against the wall,” that he, as having committed the sin of secession out of malice, will remain with his views until the end of his life.

Archbishop Hilarion put in a lot of work in order to convince Bishop Victor (Ostrovidov) of Glazov, who was close to the Josephites. “God forbid you talk to him,” the bishop wrote in a letter dated June 28, 1928. “He doesn’t want to listen to anything and considers himself alone to be right.”

Despite this characterization, Archbishop Hilarion ensured that Bishop Victor not only realized that he was wrong, but also wrote to his flock, exhorting them to stop the division.

It is interesting to note that Archbishop Hilarion fearlessly reproached the GPU agent for the absurd alliance of power with the renovationists. And at the same time, he gave him the idea that it would not be better to enter into an alliance with the Orthodox Church and support it: this would allow the real and authoritative Church to recognize the power of the Soviets.

Although Archbishop Hilarion did not know everything about the church life of that time, nevertheless, he was not an indifferent spectator of certain church disorders and disasters that befell the Orthodox people. People turned to him for advice and asked what needed to be done in order to achieve pacification of the Church in the new conditions of political life. The question was very difficult. And Archbishop Hilarion gave a very deep and analyzed answer to it, based on Orthodox canons and church practice.

This is what he wrote to those who asked in his letter dated December 10, 1927:

“For the last two years or more I have not participated in church life; I have only fragmentary and, possibly, inaccurate information about it. Therefore, it is difficult for me to judge the particulars and details of this life, but I think the general line of church life and its shortcomings and its illnesses are known to me. The main drawback, which was felt even earlier, is the absence of Councils in our Church since 1917, i.e. at the very time when they were especially needed, since the Russian Church, not without the will of God, entered into completely new historical conditions, conditions unusual, significantly different from earlier conditions. Church practice, including the resolutions of the Council of 1917-1918, is not adapted to these new conditions, since it was formed in different historical conditions. The situation has become significantly more complicated since the death of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. The question of locum tenens, as far as I know, is also very confused, the church administration is in complete disorder. I don’t know if among our hierarchy and among conscious members of the Church in general there are such naive and short-sighted people who would have absurd illusions about the restoration and overthrow of Soviet power, etc., but I think that everyone who wants the good of the Church recognizes the need for a Russian Churches are being organized in new historical conditions. Therefore, a Council is needed, and first of all it is necessary to ask the state authorities for permission to convene a Council. But someone must convene the Council, make the necessary preparations for it, in a word, bring the Church to the Council. Therefore, we need now, before the Council, a church organ. I have a number of demands for the organization and activities of this body, which I think are common to everyone who wants church dispensation, and not disorder of the world and not new confusion. I will indicate some of these requirements.

1. A temporary church body should not be unauthorized at its inception, i.e. must have the consent of the Locum Tenens upon its commencement.

2. If possible, the temporary church body should include those who are entrusted by the Locum Tenens Metropolitan. Peter (Polyansky) or His Holiness the Patriarch.

3. The temporary church body must unite and not divide the episcopate; it is not a judge or punisher of those who disagree - that is what the Council will be.

4. The temporary church body should think of its task as modest and practical - the creation of a Council.

The last two points require special explanation. The disgusting ghost of the VCU of 1922 hovers over the hierarchy and church people. Church people became suspicious. The temporary church body should be afraid like hell of even the slightest resemblance of its activities to the criminal activities of the VCU. Otherwise, the result will only be new confusion. VCU began with lies and deception. Everything with us must be based on the truth. The VCU, a completely self-proclaimed body, declared itself the supreme arbiter of the destinies of the Russian Church, for which church laws and, in general, all Divine and human laws are not binding. Our church body is only temporary, with one specific task - to convene a Council. The VCU began persecuting everyone who did not obey it, that is, all decent people from the hierarchy and from other church leaders, and, threatening executions right and left, promising mercy to the obedient, the VCU caused complaints against the authorities, criticisms that were hardly desirable for itself authorities. This disgusting side of the criminal activities of the VCU and its successor, the so-called Synod, with its councils of 1923-1925, earned them worthy contempt, causing a lot of grief and suffering to innocent people, brought only evil and had as its consequence only that part of the hierarchy and irresponsible church people fell behind the Church and formed a schismatic society. There should be nothing of the kind, even the slightest hint, in the actions of a temporary church body. I especially emphasize this idea because this is where I see the greatest danger. Our church body must only convene a Council. Regarding this Council, the following requirements are mandatory.

5. The temporary church body should assemble, and not select, the Council, as was done in sad memory of the All-Russian Central Church in 1923. The council chosen will have no authority and will not bring peace, but only new confusion in the Church. There is hardly any need to increase the number of robber councils in history; Three are enough: Ephesus 449 and two Moscow 1923-1925. My first wish for the future Council itself is that it can prove its complete non-involvement and lack of solidarity with all sorts of politically unreliable trends, and dispel that fog of unscrupulous and foul slander that shrouds the Russian Church through the criminal efforts of evil figures (renewal). Only a real Council can be authoritative and be able to bring calm to church life and give peace to the tormented hearts of church people. I believe that at the Council there will be an understanding of the full importance of the responsible church moment, and it will organize church life in accordance with the new conditions.”

Only with the conciliarity of the Church, as Archbishop Hilarion thought and asserted, will church pacification occur and normal activity of the Russian Orthodox Church will be established in the new conditions of the Soviet state.

His way of the cross was coming to an end. In December 1929, Archbishop Hilarion was sent to settle in Central Asia, in the city of Alma-Ata, for a period of three years. He traveled in stages from one prison to another. On the way he was robbed, and he arrived in Leningrad in rags, infested with parasites, and already sick. From the Leningrad prison hospital, where he was placed, he wrote: “I am seriously ill with typhus, I am lying in the prison hospital, I probably became infected on the road; On Saturday, December 28, my fate (illness crisis) is decided, I’m unlikely to survive it.”

At the hospital they told him that he needed to be shaved, to which the Eminence replied: “Now do with me what you want.” In his delirium, he said: “Now I’m completely free, no one will take me.”

The Angel of Death was already standing at the head of the sufferer. A few minutes before his death, a doctor approached him and said that the crisis was over and that he could recover. Archbishop Hilarion whispered barely audibly: “How good! Now we are far from...” And with these words, the confessor of Christ died. It was December 15/28.

Metropolitan Seraphim Chichagov, who then occupied the Leningrad See, obtained permission to take the body for burial. White bishop's vestments and a white miter were delivered to the hospital. The deceased was dressed and transported to the church of the Leningrad Novodevichy Convent. The Lord has changed terribly. In the coffin lay a pitiful, all shaved, gray-haired old man. One of the relatives of the deceased, who saw him in the coffin, fainted. So he was unlike the former Hilarion.

He was buried in the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent, not far from the graves of the relatives of the Archbishop, and later Patriarch Alexy.

In addition to Metropolitan Seraphim and Archbishop Alexy, Bishop Ambrose (Libin) of Luga, Bishop Sergius (Zenkevich) of Lodeinopolsky and three other bishops took part in the burial.

Thus, this hero passed away into eternity in spirit and body, a man of a wonderful soul, endowed by the Lord with outstanding theological gifts, who laid down his life for the Church. His death was the greatest loss for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Eternal memory to you, blessed Saint Hilarion!