Monk Hilarion
Sermon on Sunday of the Samaritan Woman & St Hilarion Troitsky
April 27 / May 10, 2026
Today, according to the Pentecostarion, we celebrate the meeting of the Samaritan woman with Our Lord and God Jesus Christ at Jacob’s well. Also today, coincidentally or providentially, we celebrate the glorification of the Holy New Martyr of Russia, Saint Hilarion Troitsky. Of course, these two events, like any two events in the Church, are connected.
Saint Hilarion was born in 1886, and was zealous for learning from his earliest years. When he was only five years old, he took his three-year-old brother by the hand and left his native village for Moscow to go to school. When his little brother began to cry from fatigue, Saint Hilarion, at that time named Vladimir, said to him, “Well, then, remain uneducated.” Their parents realized in time that their children had disappeared, and quickly brought them home. Well, in due time, Vladimir was soon sent to theology school, and then to seminary. After completing the full seminary course, he entered the Moscow Theological Academy.
In 1913, at 27 years old, Vladimir received his master’s degree in theology for his fundamental work, An Overview of the History of the Dogma of the Church. The ROCOR priest who recently translated this work into English wrote that it “astounds by its author’s scholarly and theological maturity and profound knowledge of the works of the Holy Fathers and literature of the early Church,”1 and one of the academic reviewers of his thesis at the Moscow Theological Academy back in 20th century Russia said he would have gladly given the future Saint Hilarion a PhD for this work!
Shortly after submitting this great academic piece, he found that his heart burned to serve God as a monastic, and he was tonsured with the name Hilarion. He was soon ordained hieromonk, and a few years later, at 33 years old, he was consecrated bishop by Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. Bishop Hilarion courageously and faithfully served Saint Tikhon until the Patriarch’s death.
However, Saint Hilarion’s true sanctity and service to God became apparent only after all these things, when he was subjected to the horrors of Soviet prison. In 1923, then Archbishop Hilarion was sentenced to three years in Solovki concentration camp. The remainder of his short life was a nearly continuous suffering of imprisonment and exile. Nevertheless, he remained indefatigably full of good cheer. When he was assigned to work as a fisherman at Solovki, he quipped, “the Lord made fishermen into theologians, and now they’re making theologians into fishermen!” He genuinely considered every man his brother. He walked arm in arm with thieves and criminals, and he was direct, simple, and sincere with all. He was the sworn enemy of all hypocrisy and pretense, to the point that his seeming worldliness bordered on a sort of mild foolishness for Christ, hiding his holy internal spiritual life.
In 1929, in Leningrad prison, crawling with parasites and infected with typhus, the new martyr gave his soul into God’s hands.
So what does Saint Hilarion have to do with the Samaritan woman and her conversation with Our Savior at the well? Saint Hilarion was a bishop who lived a holy and pure life from his youth; the Samaritan woman, on the other hand, whom we now know as Saint Photini, was an exceedingly sinful woman until her encounter with Christ. Nevertheless, these two saints share quite a bit in common—and these very things they share in common are things that we can and must strive to imitate.
First, for both, their encounter with Christ started on the earthly plane, and ended on the spiritual. Saint Photini came seeking material water, and Christ called her to receive spiritual water. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she poured forth this spiritual water on her fellow countrymen, convincing many of them to believe in Christ. Saint Hilarion started his life serving the Church through his material gifts—a strong brain and academic education—but God called him to serve his neighbor on a deeper level, cheering and comforting all with supernatural love and patience amidst the horrors of Solovki prison.
Second, both Saint Photini and Saint Hilarion laid the traditions of their holy fathers and forefathers as the foundation of their search for salvation. As soon as Christ revealed His prophetic knowledge of Saint Photini’s life, the saint turned the conversation to the traditions of her forefathers, saying, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship” (Jn. 4:20). She recognized Christ at this point as someone from whom she could learn how to worship God, and she based her understanding of how to worship God on the traditions of her forefathers. Likewise, Saint Hilarion taught that there is no salvation outside the Church. For Saint Hilarion, the Church was not a vague, invisible concept; no, the Church was visible on this earth, with real boundaries. These boundaries were, and are, defined by the Rule of Faith—expressed at the Ecumenical Councils—the Tradition of the Holy Fathers, and the apostolic succession and God-given authority of the Bishops. Saint Hilarion refused to compromise the integrity of the Church on these matters, even when offered his freedom and elevation to Metropolitan. At the same time, he was willing to exercise a wise measure of condescension and patience to preserve Church unity as far as possible.
Finally, both Saint Photini and Saint Hilarion spoke with absolute candor, and no hypocrisy. When Saint Photini ran back to her home to tell her compatriots what and Whom she had just encountered, she did not say, “I met a Jewish teacher well-versed in Scripture, Whose teachings align with what was written by the prophets. Therefore, I conclude that He could be the Messiah.” No, she said, “I met a man” – “a man who laid bare my heart and revealed what I really am—an adulteress who has married five times and am currently living in continuous sin by cohabitating with someone to whom I am not married. What is more, rather than rejecting me for this and for being a foreigner, He instead called me to repentance and taught me to worship God in spirit and in truth. For these reasons, I believe He is the Messiah, come to save me and all of us.”
My brothers and sisters, in these simple, yet often difficult ways, we are called to imitate Saint Photini and Saint Hilarion. We are all called to offer our material talents to God, serving the Church and our neighbor, but at the same time to strive and seek God’s help in offering ourselves in a fuller and deeper way to God and our neighbor by living virtuously, with love, purity, and humility. We are all called to center our lives around the Church and do all things in accordance with the Tradition of the Church. We are called to set aside our own ideas in favor of the understanding of the Church Fathers. We are called to defend the truth of the Church without compromise or faintheartedness, while at the same time showing patience and condescension as far as conscience allows to those who are wavering. And we are all called to live sincerely, simply, and honestly, without hypocrisy, or pretense, or haughtiness; never considering ourselves better than our neighbor, no matter who or what our neighbor might seem to be.
So let us pray to Saint Photini and Saint Hilarion, that they would help and pray for us to imitate them in these ways, so that when we die, we would join them in the Heavenly Kingdom, worshipping God together with them in spirit and in truth, for all eternity, Amen.
- Troitsky, On The Dogma of the Church: An Historical Overview of the Sources of Ecclesiology, 22. ↩︎
The following brief life and prayer combines excerpts from Sermon for the Feast of St. Hilarion Troitsky (2014) delivered at Holy Cross Monastery in WV; The Life of Holy Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop of Verey published online at pravoslavie.ru; and the introduction “About the Author” in Saint Hilarion’s On the Dogma of the Church, translated by Fr Nathan Williams and published by Uncut Mountain Press, 2022.
Saint Hilarion was born Vladimir Alexeyevich Troitsky on September 13, 1886 to a priest’s family in the village of Lipitsa, in the Tula Province of Russia. He was zealous for learning from an early age, eventually becoming an excellent student at the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1913, he earned his Master’s Degree in theology for his fundamental work, An Overview of the History of the Dogma of the Church. Written at age 26, this work astounds by its author’s scholarly and theological maturity and profound knowledge of the works of the Holy Fathers and literature of the early Church.
At age 27, his heart burning with a desire to serve God as a monastic, Vladimir Troitsky was tonsured with the name Hilarion. He was soon ordained hieromonk, and at age 33 was consecrated bishop by Patriarch Saint Tikhon, whom he zealously and faithfully served until the Patriarch’s death. Yet it was Saint Hilarion’s time in prison—in the dreaded Solovki gulag—where we truly see Hilarion the saint.
He was first imprisoned in 1919, while still an Archimandrite, but this term lasted only three months. In 1923 he was sentenced to three years in prison. He was first taken to the prison camp in Kem, and then to Solovki. Living in Solovki, then Archbishop Hilarion preserved all those good qualities of soul that he had gained through his ascetic labors, both before and during his monastic life and as a priest and hierarch. Those who lived with him during those years were witnesses to his total monastic non-acquisitiveness, deep simplicity, true humility, and childlike meekness. He simply gave away everything he had when asked.
Regarding Church politics, he based his opinions and answers on Orthodox canons and ecclesiastical practice, on which he was an expert. When disagreements had penetrated into the midst of the exiled bishops on Solovki, Archbishop Hilarion was a true peacemaker among them. He was able to unify them on the basis of Orthodox principles. Suffering subsequent releases, transfers, and terms of prison and exile, Saint Hilarion died of typhus in Leningrad prison on December 15/28, 1929.
Prayer to Saint Hilarion
O Hilarion, hieromartyr and hierarch of Christ, glory and boast of the Church of Russia! You gave God the first-fruits of your time and talents; You rejoiced in afflictions and infirmities; You acted the same as everybody, with the most ordinary, simple, not holy appearance; You hid your inner activity with a mask of worldliness, being a sworn enemy of hypocrisy and all manner of “pious appearance”—thus you were absolutely conscious and direct. You loved every person, were attentive to each one, sociable, walking arm-in-arm with thieves, bandits, students, professors, and bishops. You were always cheerful, even living in the horrors of Solovki concentration camp, which you viewed as a school for the virtues—non-acquisitiveness, meekness, humility, temperance, patience, and love of labor. You looked at everything with spiritual eyes, so that everything profited your soul. You voraciously read Patristic literature, keeping thick booklets of notes, and you opposed schisms and brought peace to the Church by a wise measure of condescension and patience.
Teach us and pray for us to imitate you! That we may use our talents to serve the Church; that we may love our neighbor and our brother; that we may love God with all our heart, mind, and strength; that we may acquire, as much as possible, the purity, selflessness, and nobility that adorned and shined from your heart. That we may see God’s hand in everything that comes our way. That we may lay a good foundation of prayer and fasting, and learn true obedience and selfless love!
Saint Hilarion, help us to make a new beginning, with firm resolve and manliness of heart, asking God’s help to put to death the old man and put on Christ, Who is Our Life; not relying on our own efforts or virtues, but, like you, choosing the one thing needful and truly loving God above all. With boldness, let us not be afraid to confess Christ and the truth of the Church in the face of rampant apostasy.
St Hilarion, pray that God send His grace to purify our hearts and strengthen us to endure our trials. Pray that we be prepared to lay down our very lives for the Church of God, following your example.
O Holy New Hieromartyr of Christ, Hilarion, pray to God for us! Amen.