Hilarion the Great

This Saint was born at Tabatha, near Gaza in Palestine, of pagan
parents. Sent as a young man to Alexandria to be educated, he learned the
Christian Faith and was baptized. While in Egypt he heard the fame of Saint
Anthony the Great, and upon meeting that truly great man, the Father of
monks, Saint Hilarion determined to devote himself also to the ascetical
life. He returned to Gaza, when, he gave himself over to extreme
fasting and unceasing prayer. Because of the miracles which he soon began
to work, he found himself compelled by his growing renown to leave
Gaza, to escape from the throngs of people coming to ask his prayers.
In his journeys he visited Egypt, and came again with longing to the
place where Saint Anthony had lived; but he was not able to remain in
any one place for long, since despite all his attempts to conceal
himself, the light of the grace that was in him could not be hid. After
passing through Egypt and Libya, and sailing to Sicily, he came at last
to Cyprus, where he ended the course of his life at the age of
eighty, in the year 372.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
With the rivers of your tears, you have made the barren desert
fertile. Through sighs of sorrow from deep within you, your labors have
borne fruit a hundred-fold. By your miracles you have become a light,
shining upon the world. O Hilarion, our Holy Father, pray to Christ our
God, to save our souls.

Kontakion in the Third Tone
As we gather on this day, we sing thy praise and acclaim thee as a
never-setting light of the bright spiritual Daystar. Those whom ignorance
benighted, thou didst illumine with thy beams; and thou dost raise unto the
divine heights, O Hilarion, our Father, all them that cry out: Height
of ascetics, Rejoice!