16/05/2026
The loving memory of our dearest Vladyka and spiritual father HILARION, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
☦️May his memory be eternal!
HOW TO REACT WHEN SOMEONE RUINS YOUR WORK: A MONK'S STORY
Today, May 16, marks four years since the repose of Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York. He led the Russian Church Abroad from 2008 to 2022.
The following memory, shared by Archimandrite Roman (Krasovsky), offers a glimpse of his character:
“This happened in the 1980s, when Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville had just received its first computers for typesetting. They were the earliest models, without even an auto-save function.
One day, Vladyka Hilarion—then a hieromonk—spent five or six hours typing the text of a book. A young man, perhaps a seminarian, sat down beside him, pointed to a button, and asked, ‘What does this one do?’ Without waiting for a reply, he pressed it. The computer shut down, and Vladyka lost his entire day’s work.
For a long moment, he just looked at the blank screen. Then he sighed, crossed himself, picked up the first page again, and started over—without a word.
To me, witnessing this, it was a profound lesson in humility.
I never saw Vladyka rebuke anyone. If he needed to correct something, he spoke with utmost calm—and even that was rare. He was consistently steady in his dealings with others. For a monk, that is essential: to remain even-tempered in both sorrow and joy. He carried a quiet joyfulness within him, and from him I learned that steadiness and joy.”
Eternal memory to Metropolitan Hilarion 🙏🏻
