Saint Hilarion, Bishop of Meglen

Life

Born of distinguished and devout parents. His childless mother long prayed to God to give her a child, and in answer to her prayer the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to her and comforted her with the words: "Do not grieve, you shall bear a son, and he shall turn many to the light of truth." When Hilarion was three years old, from his mouth was heard unceasingly the hymn: "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth!" Well educated, he was tonsured a monk at the age of eighteen and founded a monastery with the rule of Saint Pachomius. In the year 1134, Eustathius, Archbishop of Trnovo, ordained him Bishop of Meglen. Saint Hilarion waged a great struggle nearly his entire life against the Bogomils and Armenian heretics. But through his spiritual learning and incomparable holiness, he put them all to shame and led many of them to Orthodoxy. He reposed peacefully and departed to the Kingdom of his Lord in the year 1164.