Commemoration Day: January 13 (Gallican, Greek, Romanian, OCA)
Biography
According to the testimony of St. Jerome, he was born in Poitiers (Aquitaine) in the second decade of the 4th century. Coming from a noble family, he received a classical education and devoted the early years of his life to the study of philosophy. The desire to grasp the meaning of life led him to turn to the New Testament. According to tradition, at the moment when he was reading the prologue of the Gospel of John, which sets out the teaching on the divine Word, the Logos, a heavenly light descended upon him, which moved him to baptism.
Around 350 Hilary was elected bishop of his native city, although by that time he was already married and had a daughter, Abra. Hilary did not take part in the councils of Arles (353) and Milan (355), which confirmed the deposition of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, but actively organized the opposition of the Gallic bishops to Saturninus, the Arianizing bishop of Arles, for which he was exiled by Constantius to Asia Minor as a political troublemaker.
During his exile (356—359) Hilary wrote his principal theological work, the treatise "On the Trinity" (De Trinitate), devoted to proving the divinity of the Son. Interestingly, in another important work, "On the Councils" (De synodis), Hilary relates that only just before his exile did he first become acquainted with the Nicene Creed. The treatise "On the Trinity" expresses the idea that the difference between orthodox and heretical doctrine may sometimes turn out to be a different understanding of terms rather than a real disagreement.
The breadth of his views is shown by the success Hilary achieved in establishing contacts with various religious parties in the East. At the same time Hilary condemned as "sacrilege" the declaration of the extreme Arians who adopted the so-called 2nd Sirmian formula (357), according to which the Son is "unlike" the Father. At the council of Seleucia (359) he welcomed the victory of the moderate party led by bishop Basil of Ancyra and approved the adoption of the Antiochene Creed, which could become a guarantee of the orthodoxy of the Eastern Church.
At the beginning of 360 Hilary asked the emperor for permission to meet Saturninus of Arles in a public debate and to take part in the new council of Constantinople ("To Constantius Augustus", second book), but both requests were refused, after which he came out with an open denunciation of Constantius ("Against Constantius Augustus"). Nevertheless, in 361 Hilary was allowed to return to Gaul, where he resumed his struggle against Saturninus, as a result of which the latter was condemned again at the council of Paris (361).
From that moment Arianism lost its position in Gaul, and Hilary tried to persuade the emperor Julian to exile the Arian Auxentius, bishop of Milan, but the pagan emperor, who was tolerant of the Arians, refused to do so. Hilary died, probably, on January 13, 367.
Hilary of Poitiers is mentioned in the acts of the Fifth Ecumenical Council among the holy fathers and teachers of the Church whose Orthodox teaching is accepted by the Church as a standard.