В безусловната строгост към самия себе си преподобни Висарион бил крайно снизходителен към другите. Веднъж, когато един паднал в съгрешение инок бил наказан да не стои заедно с братята в храма, св. Висарион излязъл от храма заедно с осъдения инок, като му казал: “И аз съм грешник”.
Убедително наставлявал монасите непрестанно да бодърстват против изкушенията, възбуждани от злия дух, като предупреждавал, че тия изкушения постигат човека внезапно, особено когато душата му се намира в мирно, спокойно и безгрижно състояние.
Подвизавайки се неуклонно в аскетически и духовен живот и достигнал високо духовно съвършенство, преподобни Висарион починал в дълбока старост в края на V век.
Saint Bessarion, Wonderworker of Egypt was an Egyptian. He was baptized while still in his youth, and he led a strict life, striving to preserve the grace given him during Baptism. Seeking to become more closely acquainted with the monastic life, he journeyed to the holy places. He was in Jerusalem, he visited St Gerasimus in the Jordanian wilderness, he viewed other desert monasteries, and assimilated all the rules of monastic life. Upon his return, he received monastic tonsure and became a disciple of St Isidore of Pelusium. St Bessarion took a vow of silence, and partook of food only once a week. Sometimes he remained without food or drink for forty days. Once, the saint stood motionless for forty days and forty nights without food or sleep, immersed in prayer.
St Bessarion received from God the gift of wonderworking. When his disciple was very thirsty, he sweetened bitter water. By his prayer the Lord sent rain upon the earth, and he could cross a river as if on dry land. With a single word he cast out devils, but he did this privately to avoid glory. His humility was so great that once, when a priest ordered someone from the skete to leave church for having fallen into sin, Bessarion also went with him saying, "I am a sinner, too." St Bessarion slept only while standing or sitting. A large portion of his life was spent under the open sky in prayerful solitude. He peacefully departed to the Lord in his old age.
Ή καταγωγή του ήταν από την Καππαδοκία και έζησε τον 9ο αιώνα μ.Χ. (γεννήθηκε περί το 775). Ή μητέρα του ονομαζόταν Θεοδοσία, ό δε πατέρας του Πέτρος, και ήταν προμηθευτής άρτου των ανακτόρων. Ευσεβείς γονείς καθώς ήταν, ανάλογα ανέθρεψαν και το γιο τους. Όταν ό Ιλαρίων ενηλικιώθηκε, με τη φλόγα της πίστης στην καρδιά του, πήγε στο μοναστήρι του Ξηρονησίου στην Κων/πολη. Εκεί αφοσιώθηκε στην μελέτη και την πνευματική άσκηση. Κατόπιν πήγε στη Μονή Δαλμάτων, όπου έγινε μεγαλόσχημος, και για μια δεκαετία πού πέρασε εκεί υπήρξε παράδειγμα ταπεινοφροσύνης και μεγαλοψυχίας. Μάλιστα, με κοινή ψήφο τον ανέδειξαν ηγούμενο της Μονής. Άλλα μεγάλη καταιγίδα ξέσπασε στην Εκκλησία με τους εικονομάχους, και ό Λέων ό Αρμένιος με τον Πατριάρχη Θεόδοτο το Μελισσηνό προσπάθησαν να κάμψουν το φρόνημα του Ίλαρίωνα. Άλλα αυτός, με χαρακτηριστικό θάρρος, στάθηκε στο ύψος του ορθοδόξου φρονήματος του. Τότε άρχισε ό διωγμός του Αγίου με περιορισμούς σε μοναστήρια, φυλακίσεις, ξυλοδαρμούς και εξορίες, όπου πέρασε οκτώ ολόκληρα χρόνια. Τελικά, σε όλες αυτές τις δοκιμασίες άντεξε, εμπνεόμενος από τα λόγια του θεοκίνητου Απ. Παύλου: Σύ ούν κακοπάθησον ως καλός στρατιώτης Ιησού Χριστού... εάν δε και αθλή τις, ου στεφανούται, εάν μη νομίμως άθληση. Σύ, λοιπόν, κακοπάθησε σαν καλός στρατιώτης του Ιησού Χρίστου. Έπειτα, όταν παίρνει κανείς μέρος σε αθλητικούς αγώνες, δε στεφανώνεται, αν δεν αγωνιστεί σύμφωνα με τους αθλητικούς κανόνες. Ό Ιλαρίων μετά τον θρίαμβο της 'Ορθοδοξίας, επανήλθε στη Μονή του. Έζησε άλλα τρία χρόνια και πέθανε ειρηνικά σε ηλικία 70 χρονών (το 845).
Saint Hilarion the New was born of pious parents, Peter and Theodosia, who raised him in the virtues and instructed him in Holy Scripture. At twelve years of age St Hilarion was tonsured as a monk at the Hesychius monastery near Constantinople, and from there he transferred to the Dalmatus monastery, where he received the Great Schema and became a disciple of St Gregory the Dekapolite. The monk deeply venerated his God-bearing patron St Hilarion the Great, and he strove to imitate his life, so he came to be called Hilarion the New. At the Dalmatus monastery, he was ordained presbyter. After the death of the igumen the brethren wanted to elect St Hilarion to this position, but learning of this, he secretly fled to Constantinople.
Then the monks of Dalmatus monastery sent a petition to Patriarch Nicephorus, asking that St Hilarion be assigned as igumen. The Patriarch summoned the saint and persuaded him to give his assent. St Hilarion submitted out of holy obedience. For eight years he peacefully guided the monastery, but in the year 813 the iconoclast Leo the Armenian (813-820) occupied the imperial throne. The saint refused to dishonor the holy icons, and he boldly accused the emperor of heresy, for which he endured many torments. They locked him up in prison for awhile, and vexed him with hunger and thirst.
The impious Patriarch Theodotus, who replaced the exiled Patriarch Nicephorus, caused the monk much suffering in demanding that he abandon Orthodoxy. The monks of the Dalmatus monastery went to the emperor and asked him to release the saint, promising to submit to the imperial will. After they returned to the monastery, however, St Hilarion and the monks continued to venerate the holy icons. The enraged emperor again threw the monk into prison. He gave the saint over to torture with all the means at his disposal, hoping to change his mind.
The wrath of God soon overtook the wicked emperor. He was cut down by his own soldiers in church at the very spot where he had once thrown down a holy icon. The new emperor Michael II (820-829) freed St Hilarion from his imprisonment, and the saint settled into a monastic cell. Upon the death of St Theodore the Studite, who also suffered for the holy icons, St Hilarion beheld holy angels taking the soul of St Theodore to Heaven.
Under the iconoclast emperor Theophilus (829-842), St Hilarion was again put under guard and beaten terribly, then they confined him on the island of Aphousia. After the death of Theophilus, the holy empress St Theodora (842-855) gave orders to recall the confessors from exile. St Hilarion returned to the Dalmatus monastery, again agreeing to be igumen. He departed peacefully in the year 845.
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