Venerable Hilarion the Schemamonk of the Kiev Caves

Life and Ascetic Labors

Saint Hilarion lived as a monk of the Kiev Caves during the eleventh century, where he was a disciple and co-ascetic of Saint Theodosius (commemorated May 3). Imitating the example of his teacher, he prayed to God with tears day and night while keeping a strict fast.

His contemporaries knew him as a chronicler who toiled over the copying of books in the cell of Saint Theodosius. According to the account preserved of him, he carried out this work while his teacher chanted the Psalms and spun wool. The principal source for the individual monks of the monastery in this period is the Kiev-Pechersk Patericon.

Commemoration

Saint Hilarion the Schemamonk is commemorated on October 21, a day on which the calendar also honors Saint Hilarion the Great and several other saints named Hilarion. He is additionally commemorated on August 28 with the Synaxis of the Fathers of the Kiev Caves, and on the Second Sunday of Great Lent.