The Ascended Master Hilarion embodies the qualities of healing and wholeness, music and science, and one-pointed vision (the action of the third-eye). His retreat is in the etheric octave above Crete, Greece. At his retreat, Hilarion prepares us to receive the gift of healing. Hilarion was incarnated as the Apostle Paul and as Saint Hillarion.

Hilarion is perhaps best known for his work through Maurice B. Cooke, author/channel of some 25 books dictated by the Ascended Master. Hilarion is said to be one of the Chohans, senior members of the Spiritual Hierarchy of this planet dedicated to the peaceful evolution of the human family. This Master works on the 5th Ray, the Green Ray of Truth.

The Apostle Paul

Paul of Tarsus (b. c. 10, d. c. 65), the Apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13, Galatians 2:8) was, together with Simon Peter, the most notable of Early Christian missionaries. Unlike the Twelve Apostles, Paul did not know Jesus in life; he came to faith through a vision of the resurrected Jesus (1 Cor 15:8-9). As he wrote, he "received it [the Gospel] by revelation from Jesus Christ" (Gal 1:11-12); according to Acts, his conversion was on the Road to Damascus.

Paul was the second most prolific contributor to the New Testament, after Luke the Evangelist. Fourteen letters are attributed to him, with varying degrees of confidence. The undisputed Pauline epistles contain the earliest systematic account of Christian doctrine, and provide information on the life of the infant Church. They are arguably the oldest part of the New Testament. Paul also appears in the pages of the Acts of the Apostles, attributed to Luke the Evangelist, so that it is possible to compare the account of his life in the Acts with his own account in his various letters. His letters are largely written to churches which he had founded or visited; he was a great traveller, visiting Cyprus, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), mainland Greece, Crete, and Rome bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, first to Jews and then to Gentiles. His letters are full of expositions of what Christians should believe and how they should live. What he does not tell his correspondents (or the modern reader) is much about the life and teachings of Jesus— his most explicit references are to the Last Supper (1 Cor 11:17-34) and the crucifixion and resurrection (1 Cor 15). His references to Jesus' teaching are likewise sparse: that against divorce (1 Cor 7:10-16), the commandment to love one another (Romans 13:8-10, Gal 5:14), and the commandment against idolatry;[1] raising the question, still disputed, as to how consistent his account of the faith is with that of the four canonical Gospels, Acts, and the Epistle of James. Nevertheless, he provides the first written account of the relationship of the Christian to the Risen Christ - what it is to be a Christian - and of Christian spirituality.

Paul's influence on Christian thinking has, arguably, been more significant than any other single New Testament author. His influence on the main strands of Christian thought have been massive, from St. Augustine of Hippo to the controversies between Gottschalk and Hincmar of Reims, between Thomism and Molinism, Martin Luther, Calvin and the Arminians, Jansenism and the Jesuit theologians and even to the German church of the twentieth century through the writings of the scholar Karl Barth, whose commentary on the Letter to the Romans had a political as well theological impact.

Early Life

Paul was born in Tarsus in Cilicia in what is now Turkey, with the name Saul, "an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day" (Phil.3:5). Acts records that Paul was a Roman citizen—a privilege he used a number of times in his defence, appealing convictions in Judea to Rome (Acts 22:25 and 27–29). According to Acts 22:3, he studied in Jerusalem under the Rabbi Gamaliel, well known in Paul's time. He supported himself during his travels and while preaching — a fact he alludes to a number of times (e.g., 1 Cor 9:13–15); according to Acts 18:3, he worked as a tentmaker.

He first appears in the pages of the New Testament as a witness to the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:57-8:3). He was, as he described himself, a persistent persecutor of the Church (1 Cor 15:9, Gal 1:13) (almost all of whose members were Jewish or Jewish proselytes), until his experience on the Road to Damascus which resulted in his conversion. According to Acts, after a bolt of light from the skies brighter than the sun, he heard the voice of Jesus saying to him in Aramaic: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:5 RSV). He fell to the ground and found himself blinded, a condition which was not relieved until he had been taken to Damascus where Ananias laid hands on him, cured him, and baptised him. There are three versions of the story told in Acts: the first is a description of the event (9:1-19a); the second is Paul's account of the event in Aramaic before the crowd in Jerusalem (22:1-22); the third is Paul's account before King Agrippa II (26:1-24). His own account, in his letter to the Galatians (1:11-24), is more circumspect, emphasising his independence from the apostles in Jerusalem but not describing his conversion in any detail.

The alleged house of St. Ananias in Damascus.In trying to reconstruct the events of Paul's life, it is necessary to compare Acts and the letters. Different views are held as to the reliability of the former, whose usefulness is strongly disputed by scholars such as Hans Conzelmann. Even allowing for omissions in St. Paul's own account, which is found particularly in Galatians, it is difficult to reconcile his account with that in Acts (as is shown below), or to ascertain exactly when the letters were written. Acts makes no reference to his letter writing and it never quotes any of his letters. Omissions, of course, present less of a problem than apparent contradictions. The general line taken is to prefer Paul's own account, from his undisputed letters, to that of Acts.

It is possible to argue that the historicity of Acts may be discerned from within the book itself by the so-called "we" passages. In Acts 16:11, the descriptions of events suddenly change from "he" and "they" to "we", as if the narrator Luke himself had joined them; these "we" sections include the trip to Philippi and the conversion of Lydia. Thereafter, the narrator appears to be present with Paul as he sails from Philippi to Troas to Jerusalem and again on the journey to Rome.

Mission

Following his stay in Damascus after his conversion, where he was baptised, Paul says that he first went to Arabia, and then came back to Damascus (Gal 1:17). According to Acts, his preaching in the local synagogues got him into trouble there, and he was forced to escape, being let down over the wall in a basket (Acts 9:23). He describes in Galatians, how three years after his conversion, he went to Jerusalem, where he met James, and stayed with Simon Peter for fifteen days (Gal 1:13–24). According to Acts, he apparently attempted to join the disciples and was accepted only owing to the intercession of Barnabas – they were all understandably afraid of him as one who had been a persecutor of the Church (Acts 9:26-27). Again, according to Acts, he got into trouble for disputing with "Hellenists" (Greek speaking Jews and Gentile "God-fearers") and so he was sent back to Tarsus.

We do not know exactly what happened in the fourteen years that elapsed before he went again to Jerusalem. At the end of this time, Barnabas went to find Saul and brought him back to Antioch (Acts 11:26). As he had been the object of suspicion by the Christians at Jerusalem, it is impossible to deduce how he might have been received when he returned to Tarsus and if he stayed without incident.

When a famine occurred in Judaea, around 45-46,[2] help was sent by the hands of Barnabas and Saul; Saul then returned to Antioch. According to Acts, Antioch had become an alternative centre for Christians, following the dispersion after the death of Stephen. In Antioch, the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.

Writings/Authorship

Of the fourteen letters attributed to St. Paul, one, Hebrews, was disputed from an early date and is generally not thought to have been written by him. As for the rest, there is little or no dispute about the authorship of Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon.

The authenticity of Colossians has been questioned on the grounds that it contains an otherwise unparalleled description (amongst his writings) of Jesus as 'the image of the invisible God', a Christology found elsewhere only in St. John's gospel. Nowhere is there a richer and more exalted estimate of the position of Christ than here. On the other hand, the personal notes in the letter connect it the Philemon, unquestionably the work of Paul. More problematic is Ephesians, a very similar letter to Colossians, but which reads more like a manifesto than a letter. It is almost entirely lacking in personal reminiscences. Its style is unique; it lacks the emphasis on the cross to be found in other Pauline writings, reference to the Second Coming is missing, and Christian marriage is exalted in a way which contrasts with the grudging reference in 1 Cor 7:8-9. Finally it exalts the Church in a way suggestive of a second generation of Christians, 'built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets' now past.[6] The defenders of its Pauline authorship argue that it was intended to be read by a number of different churches and that it marks the final stage of the development of St. Paul's thinking.

The Pastoral Epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus have likewise been put in question as Pauline works only in modern times. Three main reasons are advanced: first, their difference in vocabulary, style and theology from St. Paul's acknowledged writings; secondly, the difficulty in fitting them into St Paul's biography as we have it.[7]. They, like Colossians and Ephesians, were written from prison but suppose St. Paul's release and travel thereafter. Finally, the concerns expressed are very much the practical ones as to how a church should function. They are more about maintenance than about mission.

Two further epistles attributed by some to Paul (since some of the prior epistles mention them) have been lost: Epistle to the Alexandrians (lost), of which nothing is known letter apart from a brief mention in the Muratorian fragment that claims it was a forgery; the Epistle to the Macedonians which is lost.

Paul and Jesus

As already stated, little can be deduced about the earthly life of Jesus from St. Paul's letters. He mentions specifically only the Last Supper (1 Cor. 11:23ff), his death by crucifixion (1 Cor :2:2; Phil. 2:8), and his resurrection (Phil. 2:9) . Instead, Paul concentrates on the nature of the Christian's relationship with Christ and, in particular, on Christ's saving work. In St. Mark's gospel, Jesus is recorded as saying that he was to 'give up his life as a ransom for many'. St. Paul's account of his idea of a saving act is more fully articulated in various places in his letters, most notably in his letter to the Romans.

What Christ has achieved for those who believe in him is variously described: as sinners under the law, they are "justified by his grace as a gift"; they are "redeemed" by Jesus who was put forward by God as expiation; they are "reconciled" by his death. The gift (grace) is to be received in faith. (Rom 3:24f; Rom 5: 9). These three images have been the subject of detailed examination.

Justification derives from the law courts. Those who are justified are acquitted of an offence. Since the sinner is guilty, he or she can only be acquitted by someone else, Jesus, standing in for them, which has led many Christians to believe in the teaching known as the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. The sinner is, in St. Paul's words "justified by faith" (Rom. 5:1), that is, by adhering to Christ, the sinner becomes at one with Christ in his death and resurrection (hence the word atonement). Acquittal, however, is achieved not on the grounds that Christ was innocent (though he was) and that we share his innocence but on the grounds of his sacrifice (crucifixion), i.e. his innocent undergoing of punishment on behalf of sinners who should have suffered divine retribution for their sins. They deserved to be punished and he took their punishment. They are justified by his death, and now "so much more we are saved by him from divine retribution" (Rom. 5: 9).

For an understanding of the meaning of faith as that which justifies, St. Paul turns to Abraham, who trusted God's promise that he would be father of many nations. Abraham preceded the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Thus law cannot save us; faith does. Abraham could not, of course, have faith in the living Christ but, in Paul's view, "the gospel was preached to him beforehand" (Gal. 3:8); this is in line with Paul's belief in the pre-existence of Christ (cf. Phil 2:5-11).[8]

Redemption has a different origin, that of the freeing of slaves; it is similar in character as a transaction to the paying of a ransom, (mentioned in St. Mark) though the circumstances are different. Money was paid in order to set free a slave, one who was in the ownership of another. Here the price was the costly act of Christ's death. On the other hand, no price was paid to anyone – St. Paul does not suggest, for instance, that the price be paid to the devil – though this has been suggested by learned writers, ancient and modern, such as Origen and St. Augustine, as a reversal of the Fall by which the devil gained power over humankind.

A third expression, reconciliation, is about the making of friends which is, of course, a costly exercise where one has failed or harmed another . The making of peace (Col. 1:20) (Rom 5:9) is another variant of the same theme. Elsewhere (Eph. 2:14) he writes of Christ breaking down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, which the law constituted.

As to how a person appropriates this gift, St. Paul writes of a mystical union with Christ through baptism: "we who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death" (Rom. 6:4). He writes also of our being "in Christ Jesus" and alternately, of "Christ in you, the hope of glory". Thus, the objection that one person cannot be punished on behalf of another is met with the idea of the identification of the Christian with Christ through baptism.

These expressions, some of which are to be found in the course of the same exposition, have been interpreted by some scholars, such as the mediaeval teacher Peter Abelard and, much more recently, Hastings Rashdall ,[9] as metaphors for the effects of Christ's death upon those who followed him. This is known as the "subjective theory of the atonement". On this view, rather than writing a systematic theology, Paul is trying to express something inexpressible. According to Ian Markham, on the other hand, the letter to the Romans is "muddled".

But others, ancient and modern, Protestant and Catholic, have sought to elaborate from his writing objective theories of the Atonement on which they have, however, disagreed. The doctrine of justification by faith alone was the major source of the division of western Christianity known as the Protestant Reformation which took place in the sixteenth century. Justification by faith was set against salvation by works of the law in this case, the acquiring of indulgences from the Church and even such good works as the corporal works of mercy. The result of the dispute, which undermined the system of endowed prayers and the doctrine of purgatory, contributed to the creation of Protestant churches in Western Europe, set against the Roman Catholic Church. Solifidianism (sola fides), the name often given to these views, is associated with the works of Martin Luther (1483-1546) and his followers. With this view went the notion of Christ's substitutionary atonement for human sin.

The various doctrines of the atonement have been associated with such theologians as Anselm, Calvin, and more recently Gustaf Aulen; none found their way into the Creeds. The substitutionary theory (above), in particular, has fiercely divided Christendom, some pronouncing it essential and others repugnant. + The various doctrines of the atonement have been associated with such theologians as Anselm, Calvin, and more recently Gustav Aulen; none found their way into the Creeds. The substitutionary theory (above), in particular, has fiercely divided Christendom, some pronouncing it essential and others repugnant.

Further, because salvation could not be achieved by merit, Paul lays some stress on the notion of its being a free gift, a matter of Grace. Whereas grace is most often associated specifically with the Holy Spirit, in St. Paul's writing, grace is received through Jesus (Rom.1:5), from God through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Rom.3:24), and especially in 2 Cor.13:14. On the other hand, the Spirit he describes as the Spirit of Christ (see below). The notion of free gift, not the subject of entitlement, has been associated with belief in predestination and, more controversially, double predestination: that God has chosen whom He wills to have mercy on and those whose will He has hardened (Rom. 9:18f.).

Paul's concern with what Christ had done, as described above, was matched by his desire to says also who he was (and is). In his letter to the Romans, he describes Jesus as the "Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead"; in the letter to the Colossians, he is much more explicit, describing Jesus as "the image of the invisible God", (Col.1:15) as rich and exalted picture of Jesus as can be found anywhere in the New Testament (which is one reason why some doubt its authenticity). On the other hand, in the undisputed Pauline letter to the Philippians, he describes Jesus as "in the form of God" who "did not count equality with God as thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross…"

Holy Spirit

Paul places much emphasis on the importance of the Spirit in the Christian life. He contrasts the spiritual and those thoughts and actions which are animal (of the flesh). The difficulty comes in determining how this affects action. The gift of the spirit was much associated in Gentile mind with the gift of ecstatic speech speaking in tongues and is connected in Acts with becoming a Christian, even before baptism. In considering the manifestations of the spirit, he is cautious. Thus, when discussing the gift of tongues in his first letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 14), as against the unintelligible words of ecstasy, he commends, by contrast, intelligibility and order: ecstasy may illuminate the practitioner; coherent speech will enlighten the hearer. Everything should be done decently and in order.

Secondly, the gift of the Spirit appears to have been interpreted by the Corinthians as a freedom from all constraints, and in particular the law. Paul, on the contrary, argues that not all things permissible are good; eating meats that have been offered to pagan idols, frequenting pagan temples, orgiastic feasting; none of these things build up the Christian community, and may offend the weaker members. On the contrary, the Spirit was a uniting force, manifesting itself through the common purpose expressed in the exercise of their different gifts (1 Cor. 12) He compares the Christian community to a human body, with its different limbs and organs, and the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ, whose body we are. The gifts range from administration to teaching, encouragement to healing, prophecy to the working of miracles. Its fruits are the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Gal.5:22). Love is the best way of all (1 Cor. 13)

Further, the new life is the life of the Spirit, as against the life of the flesh, which Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, so that one becomes a son of God. God is our Father and we are fellow heirs of Christ (Rom.8:14).

Resurrection

Paul appears to develop his ideas in response to the particular congregation to whom he is writing. The idea of the resurrection of the body was foreign to the Greek (i.e. Corinthian) mind; rather the soul would ascend apart from the body. The Jewish conception, on the other hand, was of the exaltation of the body which was assumed into heaven. Neither fits easily into the descriptions of the risen Christ walking about as described in the gospels. The Corinthians appeared to believe, from what Paul writes, that Jesus had avoided death (,[13], but that his followers would not. He wants to make clear to them that Jesus died but overcame death and that unless he did so we could not hope to be raised from the dead; because he did so, we can (1 Cor. 15:12ff.). However, the resurrected body is a glorified body and thus will not decay.

Paul has a very corporate idea of the resurrection hope of the Christian community. The hope given to all who belong to Christ, includes those who have already died but who have been baptised vicariously by the baptism of others on their behalf – so that they may be included among the saved(1 Cor. 15:29); (whether or not St. Paul approved of the practice he was apparently prepared to use as part of his argument in favour of the resurrection of the dead).

The World to come

Paul's teaching about the end of the world is expressed most clearly in his letters to the Christians at Thessalonica. Heavily persecuted, it appears that they had written asking him first about those who had died already, and, secondly, when they should expect the end. Paul regarded the age as passing and, in such difficult times, he therefore discouraged marriage. He assures them that the dead will rise first and be followed by those left alive (1 Thess. 4:16ff.). This suggests an imminence of the end but he is unspecific about times and seasons, and encourages his hearers to expect a delay. The form of the end will be a battle between Jesus and the man of lawlessness (2 Thess.2:3ff.RSV) whose conclusion is the triumph of Christ.

The delay in the coming of the end has been interpreted in different ways: on one view, St. Paul and the early Christians were simply mistaken; on another, that of Austin Farrer, his presentation of a single ending can be interpreted to accommodate the fact that endings occur all the time and that, subjectively, we all stand an instant from judgement. The delay is also accounted for by God's patience (2 Thess. 2:6).

As for the form of the end, the Catholic Encyclopedia presents two distinct ideas. First, universal judgement, with neither the good nor the wicked shall omitted (Rom 14:10–12), nor even the angels (1 Cor 6:3). Second, and more controversially, judgment will be according to faith and works, mentioned concerning sinners (2 Cor 11:15), the just (2 Tim 4:14), and men in general (Rom 2:6–9). This latter characterization has been the subject of controversy among Reformed theologians, notably N. T. Wright.

Social views

The conversion on the way to Damascus, by Caravaggio.Every letter of St. Paul includes pastoral advice which most often arises from the doctrines he has been propounding. They are not afterthoughts. Thus in his letter to the Romans, having reminded his readers that, like branches grafted onto the olive, they themselves, like the natural branches, the Jews, may be broken off if they fail to persist in faith. For that reason he appeals to them to offer themselves to God, and not to be conformed to the world. They must use their gifts as part of the body which they are. He invites them to be loving, patient, humble and peaceable, never seeking vengeance. Their standards are to be heavenly not earthy standards: he condemns impurity, lust, greed, anger, slander, filthy language, lying, and racial divisions. In the same passage, Paul extolled the virtues of compassion, kindness, patience, forgiveness, love, peace, and gratitude (Col 3:1–17; cf. Galatians 5:16-26) Even so they are to be obedient to the authorities, paying their taxes, on the grounds that the magistrate exercises power which can only come from God.

As noted above, the Corinthians were inclined to regard their freedom from law as a licence to do what they liked. Thus, his attitude towards sexual immorality, set against the mores of Greek-influenced society, is particularly direct: "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body" (1 Cor. 6:18). His attitude towards marriage, in writing to the Corinthians, is to advise his readers not to marry because of the "present distress" but marriage is better than immoral conduct: "it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion"; the alternative, adopted by Paul himself, is celibacy. As for those who are married, even to unbelievers, they should not seek to be parted. In Ephesians he appears to be more positive holding marriage up as a parable of the relationship between Christ and the Church (Eph 5:21–33). His attitude towards dietary rules manifests the same caution: all is permitted but some actions may seem to "weaker brethren" to be an implicit acceptance of the legitimacy of idol worship – such as eating food that had been used in pagan sacrifice.

He deals with many other questions on which he may have been asked for advice: their relationship with unbelievers; the duty of supporting other needy Christians, how to deal with church members who had fallen into temptation, the need for self-examination and humility, the conduct of family life, the importance of accepting the teaching authority of the leaders of the Church.

His teaching has been criticised as being conservative and even quietist. His view of the shortness of the time before the end is thought to have influenced his ethic. That what he says – for instance, about the appropriate attitude towards unbelievers – appears to vary may be the result of his responding to different questioners whose enquiries are unknown to us. Three particular issues, not all of them controversial at the time have assumed great contemporary importance. One is his attitude towards slaves, the second towards women and the third his attitude towards homosexual acts.

Alternative views

Most writing on St. Paul comes from the pen of Christians and thus, as Hyam Maccoby, the Talmudic scholar, has noted, tends to adopt a reverential tone towards his life and teaching. He is one of a number of authors who has argued that not only can we learn little of Christ's life and teaching from his letters but that Paul of Acts and Paul from his own writing are very different people. Some difficulties have been noted in the account of his life. Additionally, the speeches of Paul, as recorded in Acts, have been argued to show a different turn of mind. Paul of Acts is much more interested in factual history, less in theology; ideas such as justification by faith are absent (see Acts 13:16-41; 17:22-31) as are references to the Spirit. On the other hand, there is no references to John the Baptist in the letters, but Paul mentions him several times in Acts. (But See F.F. Bruce below)

A further charge by Maccoby is that the Gospels present Jesus as, essentially, a wandering rabbi (except for Jesus' own words) and that Paul elevates him to the status of Son of God and Messiah, claims which Jesus did not make himself. Geza Vermes, in his book Jesus the Jew advances precisely this argument. Christian scholars, even as long ago as Wilhelm Wrede (1859-1906), have made similar claims: that Jesus did not claim to be the Messiah and the references to the secrecy of his Messiahship lead to this conclusion. The cogency of these arguments depends on how far the four evangelists themselves are to be treated as creative theologians and what processes took place in the editing of the gospels as written. Some differences can be accounted for by the different demands of storytelling and letterwriting. Also, the tone of the gospels differs between themselves. Another important question is the issue of authority: who has the authority to teach? (At the beginning of St. Mark's gospel the expression "Son of God" is found but it is not in all ancient manuscripts; the view has been expressed that Jesus somehow became the Son of God at his baptism - a doctrine known as adoptionism. In St. John's Gospel, Jesus is called the divine 'Word' who existed before Abraham and Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am.") Differences in translation yield different intepretations. The arguments are dense and complex and cannot be rehearsed in detail here. Maccoby, on the other hand, argues that the Gospels and other later Christian documents were written to reflect Paul's views rather than the authentic life and teaching of Jesus.

Maccoby questions Paul's integrity as well:"Scholars", he says, "feel that, however objective their enquiry is supposed to be, ... never say anything to suggest that he may have bent the truth at times, though the evidence is strong enough in various parts of his life-story that he was not above deception when he felt it warranted by circumstances".

Saint Hillarion

Hilarion (291-371) was born in Thabatha, south of Gaza in Palestine of pagan parents. He successfully studied rhetorics with a Grammarian in Alexandria. It seems that he was concerted in Alexandria. After that he shunned the pleasures of his day, theatre, circus and arena and spent his time attending church. According to Jerome, he was a thin and delicate youth of fragile health.

Beginnings of Monastic Life

After hearing of Saint Anthony, whose name "was in the mouth of all the races of Egypt" (Jerome), at the age of fifteen, he went to live with him in the desert for two months. As Anthony's hermitage was busy with visitors seeking cures for diseases or demonic affliction, he went home together with some monks. At Thabatha, his parents having died in the meantime, he gave his inheritance to his brothers and the poor and left for the wilderness.

His Time at Majoma

Hilarius went to the area southwest of Majoma, the port of Gaza, that was limited by the sea at one side and marshland on the other. It was the abode of robbers. With him he took only a shirt of coarse linen, a cloak of skins given to him by St. Anthony and a coarse blanket. He led a nomadic life, subsisting only on dried figs, eaten after sunset.

After he was beset by carnal thoughts, he reduced his diet to the juice of herbs and less figs. Cold showers not being available, he took to praying, singing, the hoeing of the soil and the production of baskets made from rushes. Although he was quite starved, "so wasted that his bones scarcely held together" (Jerome) he still had visions of naked women, voluptuous meals, chariots and gladiatorial contests. Often he heard voices, of infants or of domestic animals, which he identified as demons.

He finally built a hut of reeds and sedges, in which he lived for four years. Afterwards, he constructed a tiny low ceilinged cell, "a tomb rather than a house", where he slept on a bed of rushes, recited the bible or sang hymns.

He never washed his clothes, changed them only when they fell apart and shaved his hair only once a year. He was once visited by robbers, but they left him alone when they learned that he did not fear death (and had nothing worth stealing, anyway), promising to mend their ways.

Jerome gives a detailed account of his diet:

from 20-23: half a pint of lentils moistened with cold water
23-27: dry bread with salt and water
27-30: wild herbs and roots
31-35: six ounces of barley bread, and boiled vegetables without oil
After that, he suffered from signs of malnutrition, his eye-sight grew poor, his body shrivelled and he developed dry mange and scabs, so he had to slightly modify his diet.

35-63: six ounces of barley bread, and boiled vegetables with oil
63-80: six ounces of water, boiled vegetables with oil and a broth made from flour and crushed herbs, taken after sunset
After he had lived in the wilderness for 22 years, he became quite famous in Palestine. Visitors started to come, begging for his help.

Miracles

His first miracle was when he cured a woman from Eleutheropolis who had been barren for 15 years. Later, he cured blindness, raised children from the dead, healed a paralysed charioteer, expelled demons. He even cured horses affected by evil magic and tamed a mad Bactrian Camel.

Monastery

In time, a monastery grew around his cell, which was so beset by visitors, especially females, that Hilarion fled.

After numerous adventures, always beset by enthusiastic visitors seeking his help, Hilarion died in Cyprus in 371 AD.

Sources:

His life has been written by Jerome in 390 AD at Bethlehem. According to Jerome, bishop Epiphanius of Salamis, had already described his virtues in a well known letter, which has not been preserved.

Source: wikipedia