In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Today we commemorate the patron-saint of our monastery: Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop of Vereya. The main task of his life was to defend the Orthodox teaching of the Church. “There is no salvation without the Church,” these words, which we constantly repeat in the troparion to the saint, were the motto of all his activities, including his active academic work before the Russian Revolution. And after the events related to the coming to power of the atheists in our country, Vladyka Hilarion confirmed with his whole life the faithfulness to what he had previously preached as a professor. He remained faithful to the Church of Christ, he served it to the end and sealed his fidelity to the Church with his martyrdom.
Hieromartyr Hilarion demonstrated with his entire life that he truly loved the Church of Christ. And what does it mean to love the Church? After all, the Church is a very multifaceted concept. We understand that the Church is essentially the mystical Body of Christ, through which we come into direct contact with Christ and even become part of Him. But apart from this, the Church is a community of people who are united by faith in Jesus Christ; it is a certain order of worship, certain traditions of building churches, and certain traditions of a pious life. Which of these things did the holy Hieromartyr Hilarion love? And which of these should we come to love? In what aspect should we love the Church?
Suppose that a guy has fallen in love with a young lady, and we ask him: “Tell us about your sweetheart, please.” And he starts telling us that she is kind, modest, intelligent, and then adds that she is not very beautiful, rather ill-mannered and even slurps when she eats. And we will probably have doubts whether this guy really loves his girlfriend or not. After all, if he loves her, he will only speak about her virtues, and if she has some shortcomings, he will try to conceal and somehow smooth them over, in no case making a show of them.
The same applies to the love of the Church. And the holy Hieromartyr Hilarion came to love the Church of Christ in all its fullness, from its spiritual and mystical significance to some pious Church traditions.
Hieromonk Athanasius (Deryugin)
Why is it important? Because now, especially among young people, there is often this attitude towards the Church: “I like this, but I don’t like that; this is right in the Church, and that is wrong; this is good, but that is bad; this is necessary, but that is unnecessary.” Of course, no one is saying that the earthly Church can’t have any flaws or something wrong. True, the Church still strives for perfection. But if we really love the Church, then we will love everything in it, down to some of the most insignificant traditions (as they may seem to be). And we will try not to discuss the shortcomings that may exist, but rather to heal them somehow, first of all—through our prayer. And this is very important.
And in this regard, the holy Hieromartyr Hilarion shows us such an example of the fullness of precious love for the Church—love to the death. And we must learn from him. All of us, and especially those who have embarked on the path of full-fledged service to the Church, who are studying at a theological academy and want to become clergymen. Let us remember this testament of the holy Hieromartyr Hilarion. Amen.
