Life of Hilarion by Jerome
Life of Hilarion by Jerome
INTRODUCTION
Jerome was not put off by the hostile reception he felt had greeted the publication of his Life of Paul. In 391, when he was settled at Bethlehem after the difficult years at Rome spent as Pope Damasus’ secretary and the spiritual adviser of a group of aristocratic women, Jerome returned to the biographical genre. His Life of Hilarion was to be the longest biography he wrote. Jerome was apparently motivated by a desire to record Hilarion’s outstanding deeds, to supplement the encomium of the Palestinian monk already written by Epiphanius1 of Salamis in Cyprus who had known Hilarion personally. Now that Jerome was living at Bethlehem in Palestine he had no doubt heard much about Hilarion whose body had been brought back to his monastery near Gaza after his death in Cyprus2 in 371. It has also been suggested that the Life of Hilarion reflects Jerome’s own experiences,3 and it may be that Jerome found Hilarion an attractive figure because of the similarities he saw in the ideals they held and the problems they faced.
The Life of Hilarion gives an account of Hilarion’s life from his birth near Gaza in Palestine to his death in Cyprus, following him in his travels around the Mediterranean area. Hilarion models himself on Antony – and dresses in a tunic given to him by Antony4 – but settles near his native village. Like Antony he is attacked by demons during his twenty-two years of solitude; like Antony he becomes famous against his will and is forced to perform miracles, particularly miracles of healing when the sick seek him out. These miracles are described in chapters 13-23. Chapters 24-30 tell of the growth in the number of monasteries springing up around him, to the point where Hilarion finds he must get away from it all and go in search of solitude once more. He sets off for Egypt, where, on the anniversary of Antony’s death, he visits the Inner Mountain (30-31). But even in the vast deserts of Egypt he cannot find solitude, for his reputation continues to attract determined visitors. From Egypt he travels by camel to Libya (34) and then by ship to Sicily (35-6) in search of peace and quiet. Unfortunately for him, he cannot stop performing miracles and so a crowd soon gathers there, too. Crossing to the coast of Dalmatia, Hilarion remains hidden for a few days on a country estate, but when he finds that a serpent is eating up the human and animal population of the area he has to intervene and cremate the monster on a pyre (39). This is immediately followed by a miracle involving a tidal wave (40) and the reputation Hilarion gains as a result forces him to move on to Cyprus where he spends his last years.
In its fullness and many of its details the Life of Hilarion is more similar to Athanasius’ Life of Antony than either the Life of Paul or the Life of Malchus : like Antony, Hilarion gives away his property when he is orphaned as a teenager, struggles with demons, moves on in search of solitude and bequeaths his few belongings to his closest disciple. It differs, however, from all three in the way it focuses on the miracles performed by Hilarion. One might even say that it is in fact the first example of a saint’s life in which the miracles provide the narrative material, and it was along similar lines that so many later hagiographies, including the Life of Martin and the Life of Benedict, were to run.
1 As I set out to write the life of the blessed Hilarion, I call upon the Holy Spirit who dwelt in him, that he who bestowed virtues on that man might grant to me the speech to describe them, so that his deeds might be equalled by my words. For as Sallust says, the achievements of successful men are rated according to the talents with which they are praised by those authors who are able to praise them.1 When Alexander the Great of Macedon (whom Daniel refers to as the ram or leopard or goat of goats),2 reached Achilles’ tomb, he said, ‘Happy are you, young man, for you will have the benefit of a great spokesman of your achievement,’3 referring of course to Homer. But I have to describe the life of a man so outstanding that if Homer were alive, he would envy me my subject or prove unequal to it. For although the holy Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, who spent a great deal of time with Hilarion, composed a eulogy of him in a short letter which many people have read, yet it is one thing to praise a dead man using the conventions of the genre, another to give an account of the dead man’s personal virtues. That is why, in taking up the work begun by Epiphanius I do him a service rather than any harm and I disregard what the critics say of it, for those who earlier found fault with my life of Paul will now perhaps also find fault with my life of Hilarion. If they criticize Paul for his solitude, they will criticize Hilarion for his sociability, believing that because Paul always remained out of sight he did not exist and because Hilarion was seen by many he should be regarded as of no importance. Their ancestors, the Pharisees, did exactly the same in the past: they did not approve of John’s fasting in the desert, nor of the Lord and Saviour eating and drinking among the crowds. But I shall put my hand to my intended task and pass by the dogs of Scylla with my ears blocked.
Life of Hilarion
2 Hilarion was born in the village of Thabatha4 which is situated about five miles south of Gaza, a city in Palestine. Since his parents were given to idol worship, he was, so to speak, a rose flowering among thorns. They sent him to Alexandria where he was entrusted to a teacher of grammar and where he gave evidence of great talent and character, so far as his age allowed. In a short time, he endeared himself to all and developed into a practised speaker, and what was even more impressive than this was the fact that because of his faith in the Lord Jesus he took no pleasure in the madness of the circus or in the blood of the arena or in the excesses of the theatre: instead, all his desire lay in the communion of the Church.
3 When he came to hear of the famous name of Antony which was talked about by all the people of Egypt, he was fired with a desire to see him and so he set off for the desert. As soon as he saw him, he changed the garment he had been wearing and remained with Antony for about two months, studying the routine of his life and the austerity of his behaviour.5 Hilarion was amazed by how frequently he prayed, how humble he was in welcoming the brothers, how severe he was in rebuke, how keen to encourage! No weakness ever caused him to break his rule of continence or give up his coarse diet. Later Hilarion could no longer put up with the crowds of people who came running to Antony on account of all kinds of illnesses or demonic attacks. Considering it unreasonable to have to endure in the desert the crowds of the cities and that he must rather begin as Antony had begun – for Antony, like a hero, was winning victories while he himself had not yet started on his military career – he returned to his home accompanied by a few monks. As his parents were now dead, he shared out their property between his brothers and the poor, keeping nothing at all for himself for he feared the example, or punishment, of Ananias and Sapphira, as narrated in the Acts of the Apostles.6 He particularly remembered the words of the Lord, who said, Any one who fails to renounce everything that he has cannot be my disciple.7 At the time he was fifteen years old. And so, naked but armed with Christ, he went into the desert which lies to the left if you are travelling along the coast towards Egypt, seven miles from Majuma, the port of Gaza.8 Although these were places full of bloodthirsty brigands and his neighbours and friends warned him of the risks involved, he despised death so as to escape death.
4 Everyone would have been amazed at his courage, they would have been amazed at his youth, were it not for the fact that in his heart there burned a flame and sparks of faith shone in his eyes. His cheeks were smooth, his body delicate and thin and unable to bear any hardship: it could be hurt by the slightest cold or heat. And so, dressed only in sackcloth and an overgarment of skins which the blessed Antony had given him as he set out, together with a rough peasant’s cloak, he found pleasure in the vast and terrible desert between the sea and the marshland, eating only fifteen dried figs a day after sunset. As the area was notorious for brigands, he never used to stay in the same place. What was the devil to do? Where should he turn? He who had previously boasted, saying, I will climb up to heaven and place my throne above the stars of the sky and I will make myself like the most High,9 saw himself conquered and trodden underfoot by a boy whose age would not yet allow him to sin.
5 So the devil tickled his senses and, as is his wont, kindled the flames of desire in Hilarion’s adolescent body. The young disciple of Christ was forced to think about things which he knew nothing about and to watch things of which he had no experience filing past in his thoughts. Angry with himself he beat his chest with his fists as if he could drive out the thoughts by beating with his hands, saying, ‘I will stop your kicking, you ass. I will feed you not on wheat but on chaff. I will make you weak with hunger and thirst; I will weigh you down with a heavy load. Through heat and cold I will strive to ensure that you think of food rather than of sexual gratification.’ And so he would sustain his weakened existence by feeding it every three or four days with the juice of herbs and a few dried figs, praying frequently and singing psalms, and digging the soil with his hoe, so that the pain of fasting might be increased by the pain of work. At the same time he would weave baskets out of reeds, imitating the rigorous existence of the Egyptian monks and the words of the Apostle, who said, He who does not work will not eat.10 This way of life caused him to grow very thin: his body became so emaciated that it hardly clung to the bones.
6 One night he started to hear babies crying, sheep bleating, cattle lowing, women weeping, as well as lions roaring and the din of an army, in short, many different terrifying sounds. He was driven back by terror at this noise rather than by anything he could see. He realized that the demons were mocking him and so he fell down on his knees and made the sign of Christ’s cross on his forehead. Armed in this way he fought more bravely as he lay there, but he half-wanted to see what he was terrified to hear and so he carefully looked around him in every direction. All of a sudden, in the moonlight, he saw a chariot with neighing horses rushing over him, but when he called upon Jesus, the earth immediately opened wide and the whole procession was swallowed up. Then he said, He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea,11 and Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will be glorified in the name of our God.12
7 Numerous were the temptations put before him and night and day the demons attacked him in every way: if I were to relate them all, I would exceed the limits of this book. Often naked women would appear to him as he lay resting, often the most splendid banquets would appear to him when he was hungry! Sometimes a howling wolf and a snarling fox leapt over him as he prayed, and when he sang the psalms a gladiatorial show appeared before him: one gladiator, mortally wounded, seemed to collapse at his feet and ask for burial!
8 At one time he was praying, his eyes fixed on the ground, and as often happens with human nature, his mind wandered from his prayer and he began to think about something else. Then a rider jumped on to his back, kicking Hilarion’s sides and whipping his neck. ‘Hey you,’ he said, ‘why are you falling asleep?’ and cackling over him, he asked Hilarion whether he was growing tired and wanted some barley to eat.
9 From his sixteenth to his twentieth year he sheltered from the rain and sun in the little hut he had woven together out of reed and sedge. Afterwards he built a small cell which remains to this day, five feet high, in other words, less than his own height but slightly wider than his body demanded, so that you might have taken it to be his tomb rather than his home.
10 He cut his hair once a year on Easter Day and right up to his death he would sleep on the bare earth or on a mat of rushes. He never washed the sackcloth once he had put it on, saying that it was unnecessary to expect cleanliness in a hair shirt. He never changed his tunic unless the previous one had been torn to shreds. He also knew the Holy Scriptures by heart and after his prayers and psalms he would recite the Scriptures as if God were there with him. It would take too long to give a detailed account of the successive stages of his ascent, so I will summarize them briefly, at the same time presenting his life to the reader’s eyes, and then I shall return to the sequence of the narrative.
11 From the time he was twenty-one until he was twenty-seven, for three years he ate half a pint of lentils soaked in cold water and for the other three years he ate dry bread with salt and water. Then from the time he was twenty-seven until he was thirty, he lived on wild herbs and the uncooked roots of certain shrubs. From the time he was thirty-one until he was thirty-five his food consisted of six ounces of barley bread and lightly cooked vegetables without any oil. But when he sensed that his eyes were clouding over and that his whole body had contracted impetigo and some kind of rough skin disease, he added oil to the food I mentioned, and until the sixty-third year of his life he continued at this level of abstinence, tasting neither fruit nor beans nor anything else. Then when he realized that he was physically worn out and thought that death was close at hand, from the time he was sixty-four until his eightieth year he abstained from bread. He was fired by an incredible spiritual ardour, so that at the time of life when others are usually leading a more relaxed existence, it was as if he was entering the Lord’s service as a novice. He would make himself a little soup out of flour and chopped vegetables, so that together the food and drink weighed no more than five ounces. Such was his dietary routine and never did he break his fast before sunset, not even on holy days or when he was seriously ill. But now it is time to return to the proper sequence of events.
12 While he was still living in his little hut, at the age of eighteen, robbers came to find him in the night, either because they believed he had something which they could steal or because they felt offended that a boy, living on his own, was not afraid of their attacks. So from evening until sunrise they ran back and forth between the sea and the marshy ground but were unable to find the place where he was resting anywhere. Then when they discovered the boy in broad daylight, they said jokingly, ‘What would you do, if robbers were to come to you?’ To this he answered, ‘A naked man does not fear robbers.’ Then they said, ‘But you might be killed!’ ‘I might,’ he said, ‘I might, and that is why I am not afraid of robbers, for I am ready to die.’ Admiring his firmness and his faith, they then confessed how they had wandered about in the night and how their eyes had been blinded, promising that from now on they would lead reformed lives.
13 He had already spent twenty-two years in solitude and was known to everyone solely by his reputation, and was talked about throughout the cities of Palestine, when a woman from Eleutheropolis was the first to dare to intrude upon Hilarion, seeing that her husband despised her for being barren (for in fifteen years of marriage she had produced no child). To his great surprise she immediately threw herself at his feet. ‘Forgive my boldness,’ she said. ‘Forgive the necessity that impels me. Why do you avert your eyes? Why do you try to ignore my requests? Do not look upon me as a woman but as a wretched creature. This sex gave birth to the Saviour. Those who are well have no need of a doctor, but those who are ill.’13 At last Hilarion stood still and looked upon a woman for the first time for a long while. He asked her why she had come and why she was crying. When she told him, he raised his eyes to heaven and commanded her to have faith. As she departed, he followed her in tears and one year later he saw her with a son.
14 This marked the beginning of the miracles which became famous on account of another greater miracle. Aristaenete, the wife of Elpidius who was later made Praetorian Prefect, a woman well known among her own people and even more renowned among Christians, was returning with her husband and three children from a visit to the blessed Antony. She stopped for a while at Gaza on account of her children’s illness, for the three of them caught a semi-tertian fever there, either as a result of the noisome air or, as later became clear, to glorify Hilarion, the servant of God. The doctors despaired of them all and their mother was running back and forth between the bodies of her three children as if they were already dead. She lay sobbing, not knowing which of them to mourn first. When she heard that there was a monk living in the desert near by, she forgot the formalities expected of a grand lady – she could only think of the fact that she was a mother – and set out accompanied by her young maids and eunuchs: her husband was only with difficulty able to persuade her to make her journey seated on an ass. When she reached Hilarion, she said, ‘I pray you, in the name of Jesus, our most merciful God; I implore you by His cross and His blood to give me back my three sons. May the name of our Lord and Saviour be glorified in the city of the Gentiles! May His servant enter Gaza and may the idol Marnas14 fall to the ground.’ When Hilarion refused, saying that he would never leave his cell and that he was not in the habit of going even into the village, let alone into the city, she threw herself on the ground, shouting over and over again, ‘Hilarion, Christ’s servant, give me back my children. May those whom Antony kept safe in Egypt be saved by you in Syria.’ Everyone there was weeping and Hilarion himself wept as he refused her request. What more is there to say? The woman did not go away until he had promised that he would enter Gaza after dark. When he arrived there he made the sign of the cross on each child’s bed and on their burning limbs, calling on the name of Jesus. What miraculous power! Sweat broke out on each of the boys as if from three fountains of water. In that same hour they took food and recognized their distraught mother, and thanking God, they kissed the holy man’s hands. When this incident became known the news of it spread far and wide, people came flocking to him eagerly from Syria and Egypt, and as a result many came to believe in Christ and adopted the monastic way of life. For at that time there were as yet no monasteries in Palestine nor had anyone in Syria previously known a monk before St Hilarion. He was the founder and teacher of this way of life and this discipline in that province. The Lord Jesus had the elderly Antony in Egypt and in Palestine he had the youthful Hilarion.
15 Facidia was a small village near Rhinocorura,15 a city of Egypt. A woman who had been blind for ten years was brought from this village to the blessed Hilarion and presented to him by the brothers (for there were now many monks with him). When she told him that she had spent all her money on doctors, he answered, ‘If you had given to the poor what you have wasted on doctors, Jesus, the true doctor, would have cured you.’ But when she cried out and begged for mercy, he spat on her eyes and at once the same miracle of healing occurred as when the Saviour did this.16
16 A charioteer from Gaza was struck in his chariot by a demon and was so completely paralysed that he was unable to move his hand or turn his neck. So he was brought to Hilarion on a bed, able only to move his tongue to entreat help. He was told that he could not be healed until he believed in Jesus and promised to give up his previous profession. He believed, he promised, he was healed, and the healing of his soul caused him more joy than that of his body.
17 There was also a young man of great strength called Marsitas, who came from the Jerusalem area. He was so proud of his own strength that he carried fifteen bushels of corn for a long time and over a long distance and considered it his highest achievement that he could beat the asses at carrying heavy loads. This man, possessed by a particularly wicked demon, did not leave chains or leg-irons or the bolts of doors intact; he had bitten off many people’s noses and ears; he had broken some people’s feet, other people’s legs. Everyone was so terrified of him that he was dragged to the monastery like the most ferocious bull, loaded down with chains and ropes on all sides. When the brothers saw him they were very frightened (for he was extraordinarily large) and went to tell their father about him. Hilarion, seated as he was, ordered them to bring the man to him and to untie him. When he had been released, Hilarion said to him, ‘Bow your head and come here.’ The man trembled and bent his neck, not daring to look Hilarion in the face. All his fierceness had vanished and he now began to lick the feet of Hilarion as he sat there. When the demon which possessed the young man had been cursed and tormented, on the seventh day it departed.
18 But I must also relate how Orion, a very wealthy man of the first rank from Aila, a city on the shores of the Red Sea, who was possessed by a legion of demons, was brought to Hilarion. His hands, neck, back and feet were weighted down with iron, and his wild eyes gave evidence of his ferocity and madness. As the holy man walked along with the brothers, giving an interpretation of some passage of Scripture, Orion broke free from the grasp of those who held him. Taking hold of Hilarion from behind he lifted him high in the air. Everyone started to scream for they were afraid he might break those limbs which had become so thin as a result of fasting. But the holy man smiled at them and said, ‘Quiet! Let go of this wrestler of mine.’ And then reaching back over his shoulders, he touched Orion’s head, took hold of his hair and pulled him round in front of him. Next, holding both the man’s hands tight, he trod on both his feet, muttering at the same time, ‘Here is torture for you, you crowd of demons, here is torture for you.’ When Orion screamed as his head touched the ground, his neck bent back, Hilarion said, ‘O Lord Jesus, release this poor man, release this captive. As you have the power to overcome one, so you can overcome many.’ I shall now tell you something very strange: from the mouth of this one man different voices were heard, sounding like the confused babble of a crowd. In this way Orion was cured and not long afterwards he came to the monastery with his wife and children, bringing numerous gifts as thanks. But the saint said to him, ‘Have you not read what happened to Giezi17 and to Simon?18 Giezi accepted payment with the intention of selling the grace of the Holy Spirit, while Simon offered payment with the intention of buying it.’ When Orion, in tears, said, ‘Take them and give them to the poor,’ Hilarion answered, ‘You are better placed to distribute your own things for you walk through the cities and you know the poor. Why should I, who have abandoned what was mine, be keen to get hold of what belongs to someone else? Many people use the poor as a pretext for their greed; but compassion knows no cunning. No one spends his money better than the person who keeps nothing for himself.’ Then he said to the unhappy man lying in the dust, ‘Do not be sad, my son. What I do for my own good, I do also for yours. For if I were to accept these things, I would offend God and the legion of demons would return to you.’
19 Who could pass over in silence what happened to a man from Majuma, the port of Gaza? While he was quarrying building stone on the sea-shore not far from Hilarion’s monastery, he became totally paralysed. His workmates carried him to the saint and he was immediately cured and was able to return to his work. I ought to explain that the shore stretching from Palestine to Egypt, which is by nature soft, becomes rough because the sand hardens into rock and the gravel gradually solidifies, losing the feel of gravel though not the appearance.
20 There was also the case of Italicus, a Christian citizen of the same town, who kept horses to race in the Circus against those of one of the two magistrates of Gaza, a man who worshipped the idol Marnas. This custom has in fact continued in the Roman towns since the time of Romulus: in commemoration of the successful rape of the Sabine women, the charioteers race the seven laps round the circuit in honour of Consus, being the god of counsel.19 Victory consists in exhausting the rival’s horses. Since Italicus’ rival had a magician who would use demonic spells to slow Italicus’ horses down and make his own horses run faster on the track, Italicus went to the blessed Hilarion and begged him, not so much to harm his rival but rather to protect Italicus himself. The venerable old man considered it foolish to waste prayer on trivialities of this kind, so he smiled and said, ‘Why do you not rather give the money you would get from the sale of the horses to the poor for the salvation of your soul?’ The man answered that he was a public official and he did this not so much from choice but from compulsion: a Christian could not use magic arts but should seek help instead from a servant of Christ, especially against the people of Gaza who were enemies of God and who would revile the Church of Christ more than himself.20 At the request of the brothers who were present, Hilarion ordered that the earthenware cup from which he usually drank should be filled with water and given to the man. Italicus took it and sprinkled the stable, the horses and their charioteers, as well as the chariot and the bars of the starting stalls. The people were terribly excited about what would happen, for the rival had laughed at what Italicus had done and told everyone about it, while Italicus’ supporters were jubilant, confident of victory. And so, when the starting signal is given, Italicus’ horses fly forth while the other horses stand still, unable to move. The wheels grow hot beneath the chariot of Italicus’ horses while the others can hardly see their backs as they fly past. The noise from the crowd becomes deafening – in fact even the pagans were shouting, ‘Marnas has been beaten by Christ!’ Then Italicus’ furious opponents demanded that Hilarion, as the Christian magician, should be handed over for punishment. And so their decisive victory, at that race and at many later ones, was the cause of many believing in Christ.
21 A young man from the same port of Gaza was dying of love for a virgin of God who lived next door. Frequent touching, jokes, nods, whistles, and other things of this kind which usually lead to the loss of virginity, had brought him no success so he went all the way to Memphis:21 he intended to confess his lovesick state and return to the virgin armed with magic devices. After a year spent learning from the priests of Aesculapius, not how to cure souls but how to destroy them, he came back confident of the violation he had already anticipated in his imagination. Beneath the threshold of the girl’s house he buried some magic spells and strange figures engraved on sheets of bronze from Cyprus. At once the virgin started to rave, and casting off the veil from her head, she tore her hair, gnashed her teeth and called out the young man’s name. The power of her love had turned to madness. So she was taken by her parents to Hilarion’s monastery and handed over to the old man. At once the demon began to scream and shout out, ‘I was the victim of violence! I was abducted against my will! How expertly I used to delude the people of Memphis with my dreams! What tortures, what torments I suffer! You force me to depart but I am tied up, imprisoned beneath the threshold. I cannot depart unless the young man who is holding me lets me go.’ Then the old man said, ‘Your strength must indeed be great, if you are held down by a string and a metal plate! Tell me, how did you dare to enter a girl dedicated to God?’ ‘I wanted to protect her virginity.’ ‘You wanted to protect it, you who betray chastity? Why did you not rather enter the one who sent you?’ ‘Why should I enter someone who was possessed by my colleague, the demon of passion?’ The saint refused to give the order to look for the young man or the magic charms until he had exorcized the virgin for he did not want it to look as if the demon had departed once it was released from the spells or that he himself had taken the demon’s words seriously. For he firmly declared that demons are deceitful and cunning at pretence. Instead, once he had cured the virgin he scolded her, asking why she had behaved in such a way as to allow the demon to enter her.
22 It was not only through Palestine and the neighbouring cities of Egypt and Syria that Hilarion’s fame spread, but also throughout the distant provinces. For Constantius, one of the emperor’s assistants, whose red hair and pale skin made it obvious which province he came from (for his people, who are powerful even though they do not extend over a wide area, live between the Saxons and the Alemanni, in an area known to historians as Germany and now known as France), had for a long time – in fact from his infancy – been possessed by a demon which at night drove him to scream, to groan and gnash his teeth. He secretly applied to the emperor for a travel permit, openly telling him his reasons. Having also been given a letter for the governor of Palestine, he travelled to Gaza with great honour and a large retinue. When he asked the local authorities where Hilarion lived, the people of Gaza were much afraid: thinking that he had been sent by the emperor, they led him to the monastery, so that they might prove their respect for such a distinguished person and in the hope that if any of the wrongs they had done Hilarion in the past had offended him, their offence might be erased by their present dutifulness. At the time the old man was walking along the soft sands, humming to himself some passage or other from the psalms. Seeing a great crowd coming towards him, he stopped. Responding to all their greetings, he blessed them with a movement of his hand. One hour later he asked the others to go away but the visitor to stay, along with his servants and the officials accompanying him, for he understood from the man’s eyes and his face the reason why he had come. On being questioned by the servant of God the man at once stood on tiptoe, so that his feet hardly touched the ground; roaring loudly he answered in the Syriac language in which he had been questioned. Coming from the mouth of a barbarian who knew only French and Latin you would have heard words of perfect Syriac: neither the accent nor the breathing nor any idiom of the speech of Palestine was missing. Then the demon confessed by what means it had entered into the man. And so that the man’s interpreters, who knew only Greek and Latin, might understand, Hilarion also questioned it in Greek. When the demon gave the same answer using the same words, giving as his excuse the many occasions on which magic spells had been laid upon him and the power of magic devices, Hilarion said, ‘I do not care how you entered but I order you to depart in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ As soon as the man had been cured, with the naïvety typical of a peasant he offered Hilarion ten pounds of gold but he was given barley bread by Hilarion and was told that those who live on this kind of bread consider gold to be worth no more than mud.
23 It is not enough to mention only humans: every day brute animals that had gone wild were also brought to him. One of these was a Bactrian camel of enormous size which had already trampled many people to death. Restrained by very thick ropes, it was brought to Hilarion by thirty or more men making a great noise. Its eyes were bloodshot, it foamed at the mouth, its rolling tongue was swollen, and above every other source of terror there resounded its loud roar. The old man ordered it to be untied. At once those who had brought the animal and those who were with the old man all ran away, without exception. Hilarion went up to it by himself and said in Syriac, ‘You do not frighten me, devil, with your huge body. You are exactly the same in a fox as in a camel.’ While he was speaking he stood with outstretched hand. The beast came up to him, raging wildly and looking as if it was going to eat him, but immediately it knelt down, bending its head right to the ground to the amazement of all those present, suddenly displaying as much gentleness as it had previously shown ferocity. But the old man explained to them that in order to harm people the devil also enters into animals; he is inflamed with such great hatred of men that he is very keen to destroy not only them, but also their possessions. As an example of this he gave the fact that before the devil was allowed to tempt the blessed Job, he destroyed all Job’s property. Hilarion said that no one ought to be disturbed by the fact that at the Lord’s command, two thousand pigs were destroyed by demons,22 since those who had seen them would otherwise have been unable to believe that such a great number of demons had departed from one man if a large number of pigs had not at the same time fallen headlong to their deaths, proving that they were driven by many demons.
24 I would run out of time if I were to relate all the miracles Hilarion performed. For the Lord raised him to such great glory that even blessed Antony, hearing of his way of life, wrote to him and received his letters gladly. And if ever exhausted visitors came to Antony from the regions of Syria, he would say to them, ‘Why did you want to put yourselves to the trouble of such a long journey when you have my son Hilarion near you?’ As a result, then, of Hilarion’s example, there sprang up countless monasteries throughout the whole of Palestine and all the monks flocked to him. When he noticed this, he praised the Lord’s grace and encouraged each of them in their spiritual progress, telling them that the attractions of this world pass away, and that the true life is that which is earned by means of sufferings in the present life.
25 Wishing, however, to set them an example both of humility and of service, he used to make a tour of the monks’ cells on certain appointed days before the grape harvest. When the brothers learned of this, they would all come together to meet him, and accompanied by this distinguished leader of theirs they would go from one monastery to another, carrying their own provisions because sometimes up to two thousand men were gathered together. But as time passed, each estate was glad to offer food to the neighbouring monks in order to welcome the holy men. An indication of Hilarion’s determination not to neglect any brother, however humble, however poor, is provided by the following episode. On his way to the desert of Cades to visit one of his disciples, he arrived at Elusa together with a great number of monks. It happened to be the day on which the whole population of that town had gathered in the temple of Venus for the annual celebrations. (They worshipped her on account of Lucifer, to whose cult the Saracen people are devoted. But in fact the town itself is to a large extent semi-barbarous on account of its situation.) When they heard that the holy man Hilarion was passing through (for he had often cured many Saracens possessed by demons), crowds of them went out to meet him together with their wives and children. They bowed their heads and shouted, ‘Barech,’ a Syriac word meaning ‘bless’. Hilarion received them in a friendly and humble manner, and entreated them to worship God rather than stones. At the same time he wept profusely, looking up to heaven and promising that if they believed in Christ, he would come and visit them often. How wonderful is the Lord’s grace! They would not allow him to depart until he had marked out the foundations of the future church and until their priest, garlanded23 as he was, had been marked by the sign of Christ.
26 Another year, when he was about to set off to visit the monasteries, he was making a list of those with whom he would stay and those whom he should visit in passing. The monks were aware that one of the brothers was rather stingy and they wished to cure him of this fault of his, so they asked Hilarion to go and stay with him. Hilarion said, ‘Why do you wish to cause yourselves hardship and your brother annoyance?’ When the stingy brother heard this, he blushed with shame, and with everyone’s support, he managed, not without difficulty, to persuade the unwilling Hilarion to put his cell, too, on the list of stopping places. When they came to him ten days later, guards had been posted in the vineyard through which the monks were to pass to frighten away anyone who came close, by throwing stones and lumps of earth or by whirling their slings. So they all set off in the morning without eating any grapes, while the old man smiled and pretended not to know what had happened.
27 They were then welcomed by another monk whose name was Sabas (for it is right that we should mention the name of the generous monk, but not the name of the mean one). As it was Sunday, he invited them all into the vineyard so that before dinner-time they should relieve the exhaustion caused by the journey by eating some grapes. But the holy man said, ‘Cursed is he who seeks the nourishment of the body before that of the spirit. Let us pray, let us sing psalms, let us perform our duty to the Lord and then we will hasten to the vineyard.’ When the divine service was over, Hilarion, standing on higher ground, blessed the vineyard and sent his flock out to feed. Those eating numbered no fewer than three thousand but although the vineyard had been estimated to contain one hundred flagons before they touched it, twenty days later it produced three hundred. Moreover, the stingy brother gathered a much smaller harvest than usual and even what he did obtain turned to vinegar. However, his distress came too late. The old man had previously predicted this to many brothers. He particularly detested those monks whose lack of faith made them hoard things for future use and who were concerned with wealth or clothing or any of those things which pass away with this world.
28 Finally, because Hilarion found that one of the brothers who lived about five miles away from him was excessively careful and anxious in tending his little garden and had saved a little money, he had driven him from his sight. The brother wanted to be reconciled with the old man and so he came often to the brothers, especially to Hesychius, of whom Hilarion was very fond. One day, then, he brought with him a basket of green peas, just as they were in their pods. Hesychius placed the basket on the table in the evening, but the old man cried out, saying that he could not bear the smell, and asked where it came from. When Hesychius answered that a brother had brought the monks the first fruits of his little garden, Hilarion said, ‘Do you not notice this foul smell and the stink of greed in these peas? Throw them to the cattle, throw them to the brute animals, and see whether they will eat them.’ When Hesychius put them in the manger as he had been told, the cattle were terrified and mooed more loudly than usual; they broke the ropes tethering them and stampeded off in all directions. For the old man had a spiritual gift which enabled him, from the smell of bodies or clothes or other things anyone had touched, to recognize which demon or vice was holding that person in its grip.
29 In the sixty-third year of his life, when he observed how large the monastery had grown and how many monks were living with him, as well as the crowds of people who brought to him those suffering from many different illnesses and possessed by unclean spirits, with the result that the whole desert around him was filled with all kinds of people, he would weep every day, remembering his former way of life with a feeling of unbelievable nostalgia. When the brothers asked him why he was feeling so dejected, he said, ‘I have returned once more to the world and received my reward in this life. Look how the people of Palestine and the neighbouring province consider me to be of some importance, and under the pretext of a monastery for the direction of the brothers, I possess worthless stuff.’ But he was kept there by the brothers, especially by Hesychius who was devoted to the old man, venerating and loving him in an extraordinary way. When he had lived for two years in this state of dejection, that woman Aristaenete (whom I mentioned earlier – the wife of the Prefect at that time, though without any of the Prefect’s ostentation) came to Hilarion, intending to go on to visit Antony, too. Hilarion, in tears, said to her, ‘I would come too, if only I were not held prisoner in this monastery and if there were any point in going. But today it is two days since the whole world was bereaved of such a father.’ She believed what he said and decided not to continue her journey. A few days later a messenger arrived bringing news of Antony’s death.
30 Let others marvel at the miracles he performed; let them marvel at his incredible abstinence, his knowledge and his humility. Nothing in him astounds me so much as his ability to despise acclaim and honour. Bishops and priests, flocks of clerics and monks used to throng to him, as did large numbers of Christian women (a great temptation), as well as crowds of common people from every direction, from cities and from the countryside. Even powerful men and high officials came to receive bread and oil blessed by him. But Hilarion thought of nothing except solitude, so much so that one day he decided to go away. Having got hold of an ass (for he was so emaciated by fasting that he could hardly walk), he tried to set off quickly on his journey. However, when word got round it was as if some disaster had occurred and all business had been shut down: more than ten thousand people of various ages, both men and women, gathered to stop him leaving. But Hilarion was unmoved by their entreaties and striking the sand with his stick, he said, ‘I will not make our Lord a liar. I cannot see the churches overturned, the altars of Christ trampled underfoot, the blood of my sons.’ Everyone there understood that some secret had been revealed to him which he did not want to make known, but they still kept a watch on him to prevent him setting off. He therefore resolved – and he called them all in a loud voice to witness – that he would not accept any food or drink until they let him go. After seven days of fasting he was at last released. Saying farewell to large numbers of people, he arrived at Betilium accompanied by a huge crowd. There he persuaded the crowds to return, choosing forty of the hermits who had supplies for the journey and who could travel while fasting. On the fifth day he reached Pelusium24 and after he had visited the brothers in the neighbouring desert and those who lived in a place called Lychnios, he continued for a further three days until he arrived at the fort of Theubanum to visit Dracontius, bishop and confessor, who was living in exile there. Dracontius derived unbelievable consolation from the presence of such a distinguished man. Three days later after a difficult journey Hilarion reached Babylon to visit the bishop Philo, who was also a confessor. (For the Emperor Constantius, a supporter of the Arian heresy, had deported both of them to that area.) Departing from there after three days Hilarion came to the town of Aphroditon where he met the deacon Baisanes (who, because of the scarcity of water in the desert, used to hire out camels to take those who were on their way to visit Antony). There Hilarion revealed to the brothers that the anniversary of Antony’s death was at hand and that he ought, in Antony’s honour, to mark it by keeping watch for a night in the place where Antony had died. And so after travelling for three days through the vast and terrifying desert, they came at last to a very high mountain and found there two monks, Isaac and Pelusianus, Isaac having been Antony’s interpreter.
31 Since the opportunity presents itself and we have reached this point, it seems right to give a brief description of the place where the great Antony lived. There is a tall and rocky mountain, about a mile in circumference, that produces water at its foot, some of which is absorbed by the sand while some flows down to the lower area, gradually forming a stream. Above this stream grow innumerable palm trees which make the place very pleasant and comfortable. Here you might have seen the old man Hilarion rushing from one place to another with the blessed Antony’s disciples. ‘Here,’ they said, ‘he used to sing psalms; here he used to pray. Here he would work and here he would rest when he was tired. He planted these vines and bushes himself. This little garden he made with his own hands. He worked very hard to construct this pond to irrigate his garden. This is the hoe he used for many years to dig the ground.’ Hilarion lay on Antony’s bed and kissed it as if it were still warm. In area Antony’s cell was just large enough for a sleeping man to stretch out in. Moreover, when they climbed to the top of the mountain, going with great difficulty along a spiral path, they were shown two cells of the same size in which Antony used to stay when he wished to escape the crowds of visitors and the company of his disciples. These cells were in fact hewn into the living rock, with only the doors added. Afterwards they came to a little garden: ‘You see this orchard,’ said Isaac, ‘planted with fruit trees and green vegetables. About three years ago it was devastated by a herd of wild asses. Antony commanded one of the asses, the leader of the herd, to stand still while he beat its sides with his stick. “Why are you eating what you did not sow?” he demanded. From then on the animals never touched the fruit trees or the vegetables, only the water which they often used to come and drink.’25 Then the old man Hilarion asked them to show him the site of Antony’s tomb. As they led him away on his own, it is not known whether they showed it to him or not. They say that the reason why it was kept secret in accordance with Antony’s order was to prevent Pergamius, the wealthiest man in those parts, from moving the saint’s body to his estate and building a martyr’s shrine for it.26
32 Then Hilarion returned to Aphroditon and lived in the neighbouring desert, retaining only two brothers with him. He practised such a degree of abstinence and silence that according to him only then did he really begin to serve Christ. The skies had not opened for three years, causing those regions to become parched: people said that even the elements were mourning the death of Antony. The inhabitants of that place also got to hear of Hilarion’s reputation: men and women, pale-faced and with bodies emaciated with hunger, earnestly entreated this servant of Christ, as the blessed Antony’s successor, to bring rain. When he saw them he was terribly upset. Raising his eyes to heaven and lifting both hands on high, he instantly obtained what they desired. However, as soon as it had been watered by the rains, that parched and sandy region unexpectedly produced such an enormous number of serpents and poisonous animals that if the many people who were bitten had not rushed to Hilarion they would have died immediately. Once all the farmers and shepherds had applied to their wounds the oil blessed by Hilarion, they recovered completely.
33 Seeing that there, too, he was accorded extraordinary honour, he went to Alexandria, intending from there to cross the desert to the more remote Oasis.27 And because he had never stayed in the cities since he had begun to be a hermit, he stayed with some monks whom he knew well in Bruchium, outside Alexandria. They welcomed the old man with great joy, but as night drew near they suddenly heard his disciples saddling the ass and Hilarion preparing to depart. So they threw themselves at his feet and begged him not to do this: prostrated before the threshold they protested that they would sooner die than lose such an important guest. He answered them, ‘I am in a hurry to leave because I do not want to cause you any trouble. You will no doubt learn from later events that my sudden departure was not without good cause.’ The next day people from Gaza and the Prefect’s lictors entered the monastery (for they knew that Hilarion had arrived there the previous day). When they were unable to find him they said to each other, ‘Surely what we heard must be true? He is a magician and has knowledge of the future.’ For after Hilarion’s departure from Palestine and the destruction of his monastery, when Julian had succeeded as emperor, the city of Gaza had sent a petition to the emperor asking that both Hilarion and Hesychius be put to death: consequently a decree had gone out throughout the world that the two of them were wanted.
34 Departing, then, from Bruchium Hilarion crossed the pathless desert and entered the Oasis where he spent about a year. But because his fame had reached this far, too, so that now he could no longer find a hiding place anywhere in the east, where many people knew of him both by hearsay and in person, he thought of sailing to some remote islands, so that he whom the land had made famous might at any rate be concealed by the sea. At about this time Hadrian, a disciple of his, arrived from Palestine with the news that Julian had been killed and that the new emperor, Jovian,28 was a Christian: Hilarion ought to return to the remains of his monastery. When Hilarion heard this, he rejected the idea. Instead he hired a camel, crossed the great desert and reached the city of Paretonium, a city on the coast of Libya. There the unfortunate Hadrian, wishing to return to Palestine because he did not want to lose the renown which had hitherto been associated with his master’s name, reproached him strongly. At last, after secretly packing up the things the brothers had sent Hilarion, Hadrian set off without Hilarion’s knowledge. In this connection, as there is no other opportunity to tell it, I would only mention this (so as to inspire fear in those who fail to respect their masters): shortly afterwards this man caught leprosy and rotted away.
35 The old man, accompanied by a man from Gaza, boarded a ship bound for Sicily. He intended to pay the fare by selling a codex of the Gospels which he had written in his youth with his own hand. More or less half-way across the Adriatic, the son of the ship’s master was seized by a demon. He began to cry out, saying, ‘Hilarion, servant of God, why do you not allow us to be safe on the sea? Leave me be until I reach land, for I do not want to be cast out here and fall headlong into the deep.’ To which Hilarion replied, ‘Stay, if my God lets you stay. But if he casts you out, why should you blame me, I who am a sinful man and a beggar?’ He said this so that the sailors and the traders who were on the ship should not betray him when they reached land. Shortly afterwards the boy was exorcized when the father and the others present promised that they would not tell anyone Hilarion’s name.
36 As they approached Pachynus, a promontory in Sicily, Hilarion offered the ship’s master his copy of the Gospels to pay for his passage and that of the man from Gaza. But he did not want to accept it, especially when he saw that they possessed nothing apart from that codex and the clothes they were wearing, and in the end he swore that he would not take it. But the old man, passionately confident in the consciousness of his poverty, was all the happier for not having any worldly possessions and because he was considered a beggar by the inhabitants of that area.
37 Calculating, then, that traders coming from the east might reveal his identity, he fled inland, some twenty miles from the sea; and there, at a deserted farm, he would tie up bundles of wood each day and place them on his disciple’s back. He sold them in the neighbouring village and bought a little bread as sustenance for them both and for those who happened to visit them. But in accordance with the words of the Bible, A city set on a hill cannot be hidden,29 it happened that when a certain guard who was possessed by a demon was in Saint Peter’s Basilica30 in Rome, the unclean spirit within him cried out, ‘A few days ago Hilarion, the servant of Christ, arrived in Sicily but no one has recognized him and he thinks that he can remain hidden. I shall go and betray him.’ The man immediately boarded a ship in the harbour together with his young servants and sailed to Pachynus. The demon led the way and as soon as the man fell to the ground in front of the old man’s hut, he was immediately cured. This marked the beginning of Hilarion’s miracles in Sicily and as a result huge crowds of the sick but also of devout people were drawn to him; so much so that one of the most high-ranking men, suffering from dropsy, was cured on the very day that he came to Hilarion. When the man later offered Hilarion numerous gifts, he heard the words used by the Saviour to his disciples, You have freely received, freely give.31
38 While these things were happening in Sicily, Hilarion’s disciple Hesychius was looking all over the world for the old man, combing the coastal areas and penetrating into the deserts. He was confident of one thing only, namely that wherever Hilarion might be, he would not be able to remain hidden for long. Three years had now passed when at Methone he heard from a certain Jew who sold cheap trinkets to the people that a Christian prophet had appeared in Sicily, performing so many miracles and signs that he was thought to be one of the holy men of old. Hesychius questioned him about his clothes, his gait and his language and particularly about his age, but he was unable to find out anything, for his informant asserted that he only knew of the man by hearsay. Hesychius then set sail on the Adriatic and reached Pachynus after a prosperous voyage. He asked for news of the old man in a little village on the curved shore and as everyone gave him the same answer, he learned where Hilarion was and what he was doing. They were particularly amazed by the fact that after such impressive signs and miracles Hilarion had not accepted even a crumb of bread from anyone in that area. To cut a long story short, the holy man Hesychius threw himself down at his master’s feet and watered his feet with tears. Finally Hilarion raised him up and after two or three days of conversation, Hesychius was told by the man from Gaza that the old man was no longer able to live in those regions but wished to move to some barbarian peoples where his name and reputation would be unknown.
39 And so Hesychius took him to Epidaurus,32 a town in Dalmatia, where he stayed for a few days on a nearby country estate, but even there he was unable to remain hidden. For an extraordinarily large serpent (of the kind called a ‘boa’ in the local language, because they are so large that they often swallow whole cattle),33 was devastating the whole province far and wide, devouring not only cattle and flocks but also farmers and shepherds which it drew to itself with its powerful breath. Hilarion gave orders that a pyre should be built for it and after sending up a prayer to Christ, he called the serpent forth and commanded it to climb the pile of wood. He then set fire to the pyre. Then, while all the people watched, he burned the huge beast to ashes. After this he was deeply troubled as to what he should do and where he should turn and so he planned another escape; and ranging over distant countries in his thoughts, he grieved that although his tongue was silent about himself, his miracles would not keep quiet.
40 At that time, as a result of an earthquake that shook the whole world after the death of Julian, the seas burst their bounds. Ships were dumped on steep mountainsides and hung there, as if God was threatening a second flood or as if everything was reverting to ancient chaos. When the people of Epidaurus saw this, namely the churning waters and the huge masses of swirling waters dashing on to the shores, they feared that their town would be completely overwhelmed (as they had already seen happen elsewhere). They therefore went to see the old man, and placed him on the shore as if they were preparing for battle. As soon as he made the sign of the cross three times in the sand and held his hands up against the sea, amazing as it is to relate, the sea that had swelled up to an enormous height stopped in front of him; seething for a long time and apparently furious at this obstruction, it gradually subsided. To this day the people of Epidaurus and the neighbouring region talk of this and mothers tell their children about it so that the memory might be handed down to posterity. That which was said to the apostles, If you have faith, you will say to this mountain, move into the sea, and it will happen,34 can be fulfilled literally, if anyone has such faith as the Lord ordered the apostles to have. For what difference does it make whether the mountain moves down into the sea or the huge mountains of the waves that are fluid elsewhere suddenly grow solid and turn to rock in front of the old man’s feet?
41 The whole city was astounded and news of this extraordinary miracle spread as far as Salona. When the old man learned of this, he stole away by night in a little boat; after two days he found a cargo ship and went on to reach Cyprus. Between Malea and Cythera the pirates who had abandoned their fleet (propelled not by sails but by oars) on the shore, attacked them in two large vessels. As the waves beat them on all sides, all the oarsmen who were on the ship were terrified: they wept and rushed about and prepared the poles. As if it were not sufficient for one person to report it, they all crowded round to give the old man the news that pirates were coming. Hilarion looked at the pirates in the distance, smiled, and turning to the disciples, said, ‘You of little faith, why are you afraid?35 I suppose these are more numerous than Pharaoh’s army? And yet they were all drowned by the will of God.’ Even as he spoke the enemy ships were drawing very close, their prows foaming, now only a stone’s throw away. So Hilarion went and stood in the prow of the ship, and holding his hand up to them as they approached, he said, ‘No need to come any further.’ It is hard to believe but at once the ships withdrew and though the oars impelled them in the opposite direction, their attack moved back. The pirates, still unwilling to retreat, were amazed. Using all their physical strength they tried to reach the ship but were driven back to the shore much faster than they had come.
42 I shall leave out the rest in case I should seem to be filling the volume with miracles. I will only say this, that as he sailed through the Cyclades before a favourable wind, Hilarion heard on every side the voices of unclean spirits shouting from the cities and villages and running down to the shore. After entering Paphos, the city in Cyprus made famous by the poets’ songs, which has on several occasions been destroyed by earthquakes and whose ruins alone now provide evidence of what it once was, he lived in obscurity two miles outside the city, relieved that he could live in peace for a few days. However, before twenty days had passed, all those throughout the whole island who were possessed by unclean spirits began to cry out that Hilarion, the servant of Christ, had arrived and that they must hurry to him. This was what Salamis, Curium, Lapetha36 and the other cities proclaimed, while many declared that they knew Hilarion and that he was truly the servant of God but that they did not know where he was. Within thirty days or not much more, two hundred people, men as well as women, came flocking to him. When he saw them he was upset that they would not leave him in peace, and keen to get his own back in some way, he lashed them so forcefully with his prayers that some of them were cured immediately, others after two or three days and certainly all of them within one week.
43 He stayed there, then, for two years, always planning how he might escape. During this time he sent Hesychius to Palestine to convey his greetings to the brothers and to visit the ashes of his monastery, telling him to return in the spring. Hilarion wanted to sail to Egypt once more, to that area called Bucolia,37 because there were no Christians there but only a barbarian and savage tribe, but when Hesychius returned he persuaded Hilarion instead to climb to a more remote area on the island of Cyprus itself. After a long search Hesychius found a place twelve miles from the sea and led Hilarion into the remote and harsh mountains to a place which could hardly be reached even on hands and knees. On entering, Hilarion saw before him a remote and terrifying place. For although it was surrounded on all sides by trees and there was also water flowing down from the brow of the hill, a most delightful garden and many fruit trees (the fruit of which he never picked for his food), yet there were also near-by the ruins of a very ancient temple from which the sound of an enormous number of demons (as he himself related and his disciples still testify) could be heard night and day. You might have imagined that there was an army there! It pleased Hilarion greatly that he would have his adversaries near by, and so he remained there for five years.38 He was comforted by the fact that Hesychius often came to visit him during this time, at what was now the final period of his life, because no one – or only the occasional person – was able – or dared – to climb up to see him, owing to the fact that the place was in such a difficult and rugged location and on account of the large number of ghosts there (as rumour had it). But one day as he was leaving his garden Hilarion saw a man who was totally paralysed lying in front of his door. He asked Hesychius who this man was and how he had been carried there. The man replied that he was the agent of the estate to which the garden where they were belonged. Hilarion wept and held out his hand to the man lying there. ‘In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ he said, ‘I say to you, get up and walk.’ The speed of the miracle was astounding: the words were still on the speaker’s lips when the man’s limbs had grown strong enough for him to get up and stand. As soon as people heard about this, the needs of many other people overcame even the problems of the place’s situation and the fact that there was no path up to it, while all those in the surrounding villages were concerned with nothing so much as keeping watch to prevent Hilarion somehow slipping away. For a rumour concerning him had spread, to the effect that he was unable to stay in the same place for long. He did this not from a lack of stability or some kind of childish restlessness but because he wanted to avoid public acclaim and importunate requests. For he always longed for silence and a life in obscurity.
44 In the eightieth year of his life, then, while Hesychius was absent, Hilarion wrote him a short letter in his own hand, as a kind of will, leaving all his wealth to him (that is, his copy of the Gospels and the sackcloth tunic, hood and cloak), for his servant had died a few days earlier. Then there came from Paphos many devout men to visit the sick man, particularly because they had heard that he had stated that he was now about to pass to the Lord and that he would be freed from the shackles of the body. There came also a holy woman called Constantia whose daughter and son-in-law Hilarion had saved from death by anointing them with oil. Hilarion made them all swear that they would not preserve his body after his death even for a minute, but that they should immediately cover him with earth in the little garden there, dressed just as he was in his haircloth tunic and hood, with his rough cloak.
45 By now there was but little heat in his breast and there seemed nothing left in him of a living man apart from his mind, and yet he spoke with his eyes wide open, ‘Depart, my soul, depart. What are you afraid of? Why do you hesitate? You have served Christ for nearly seventy years and do you now fear death?’ With these words he breathed his last. He was buried in the ground at once, so that the news of his burial reached the city before news of his death.
46 As soon as the holy man Hesychius heard of this, he travelled to Cyprus. Pretending that he wanted to live in Hilarion’s little garden (for he did not want the inhabitants to be suspicious and keep watch over him), he managed after about ten months, at great risk to his life, to steal Hilarion’s body. Bringing it to Majuma, he buried it in the old monastery, after whole troops of monks and townspeople had accompanied the funeral procession. Hilarion’s tunic, hood and cloak were undamaged while his whole body remained perfect, as if he were still alive, giving off such a fragrance that you would think it had been anointed with perfumed oils.39
47 I feel it would be wrong, right at the end of this book, not to mention the devotion of that most holy woman, Constantia. On receiving the news that Hilarion’s dear body was now in Palestine, she died there and then, proving even by her death the genuine affection she had for the servant of God. For she had been in the habit of spending the nights awake at his tomb and conversing with him as if he were really there to help her in her prayers. To this very day you will find extraordinary rivalry between the people of Palestine and those of Cyprus, the former arguing that they possess Hilarion’s spirit, the latter his body. And yet in both places great miracles occur each day, though more so in the garden on Cyprus, perhaps because he loved that place more.