ST. HILARION, THE FIRST HERMIT OF PALESTINE (_c._ A.D. 290-371).
"The solitary life never found so many votaries in Europe as in Egypt and Palestine. Partly because of the comparative inclemency of the climate, and the proportionate need of more appliances to support life, and partly because of the more practical character of the West. As might be expected, for obvious reasons there have been fewer female hermits" (_Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_: Article HERMITS, 1875).
During the third century, Eremites (from ἐρῆμος, desert), or _Hermits_, retired entirely from the haunts of men, and buried themselves in the wildest and most inaccessible solitudes.
In Palestine, the hermit life was introduced by St. Hilarion, a disciple of St. Antony.
The first Palestinian convent was founded by St. Hilarion, A.D. 328. He was pre-eminently a teacher. Every novice was given a special occupation.
Hilarion was born at Thabatha, a village five miles to the south of Gaza, _c._ A.D. 290, of heathen parents, who sent him to Alexandria for education. There he showed proficiency in rhetoric. He became a Christian, and turning from the attractions of the circus and theatre, spent all his leisure in attending Church services.
The monastic retreat of St. Antony, the founder of Asceticism, attracted Hilarion, and he became his enthusiastic disciple for two months.
Next neighbours to the Church of Egypt, the early Christians of Gaza naturally imitated the asceticism of Antony, and avowed the orthodoxy of Athanasius. Hilarion found, however, that his mountain retreat was too much thronged with followers to suit his taste. At the age of fifteen years he therefore decided to become a hermit. He returned to Palestine, and finding his parents dead, he gave away all his goods, and went to live in a desert spot seven miles from the Christian city of Mayoumas.
The boy hermit was clad in a sackcloth shirt, which he never changed till it was worn out, a cloak of skins which Antony had given him, and a blanket, such as peasants wore.
His earliest diet was a daily fast until sunset, and then a supper of fifteen figs. His employment was basket-making, after the fashion of the Egyptian monks. His dwelling was so small as rather to resemble a tomb. He had resided in the desert twenty-two years when he first became celebrated for his miracles.