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61-569: The castle is not named after St. Hilarion , active in Palestine and Cyprus in the 4th century. It was named after an obscure saint, who is traditionally held to have fled to Cyprus after the Arab conquest of the Holy Land and retired to the hilltop on which the castle was built for hermitage. An English traveller reported the preservation of his relics in the 14th century. It has been proposed that

122-689: A Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony , such as Anthony of Padua , by various epithets: Anthony of Egypt , Anthony the Abbot , Anthony of the Desert , Anthony the Anchorite , Anthony the Hermit , and Anthony of Thebes . For his importance among the Desert Fathers and to all later Christian monasticism , he

183-517: A biography of Hilarion as one of the three Lives of Joseph Knecht , making up his Nobel Prize–winning novel The Glass Bead Game (also known as Magister Ludi ). Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἀντώνιος Antṓnios ; Arabic : القديس أنطونيوس الكبير ; Latin : Antonius ; Coptic : Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ ; c.  12 January 251 – 17 January 356) was

244-427: A brave woman who sought a cure for her sterility. First, he resisted, but soon he prayed for her upon which she was healed. From then on, Hilarion spent his life surrounded by disciples and people in need of healing and exorcism . Jerome reports several episodes in which Hilarion heals people, drives out demons, foresees the future, performs miracles and speaks divinely inspired words of wisdom. In one instance, Hilarion

305-404: A bright light flashed, and the demons ran away. Anthony knew that the light must have come from God, and he asked God where he was before when the demons attacked him. God replied, "I was here but I would see and abide to see thy battle, and because thou hast mainly fought and well maintained thy battle, I shall make thy name to be spread through all the world." Anthony had been secretly buried on

366-411: A church to house the remains, but died before the church was even started. The building was finally erected in 1297 and became a centre of veneration and pilgrimage, known as Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye . Anthony is credited with assisting in a number of miraculous healings, primarily from ergotism , which became known as "St. Anthony's Fire". Two local noblemen credited his assistance in their recovery from

427-452: A day and sometimes fasted through two or four days. According to Athanasius , the devil fought Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women, which he overcame by the power of prayer, providing a theme for Christian art . After that, he moved to one of the tombs near his native village. There it was that the Life records those strange conflicts with demons in

488-551: A grave next to his cell. Accounts of Anthony enduring preternatural temptation during his sojourn in the Eastern Desert of Egypt inspired the often-repeated subject of the temptation of St. Anthony in Western art and literature. Anthony is said to have faced a series of preternatural temptations during his pilgrimage to the desert. The first to report on the temptation was his contemporary Athanasius of Alexandria . It

549-463: A height of 7 m and a pointed barrel vault . The upper floor is known for its carved windows, one of which is dubbed the Queen's Window. These are placed on the western wall, which has a scenic view of the northern coast of Cyprus, especially the plains of Lapithos . Two of the main characters in the 1958 historical novel, Exodus , by Leon Uris , spend a day walking around the castle ruins. Featured in

610-906: A large community with many visitors. Hilarion remained in Gaza until three years after the death of Anthony (around 356), upon which he went to the place where Anthony had died in Egypt in order to escape the crowds that visited him. While he was there, the pagan Julian became emperor of the East in the winter of 361/362 and the city authority of Gaza attempted to arrest Hilarion who then had to flee. Jerome's and Sozomen's account differs slightly as Jerome writes that Hilarion escaped arrest in Egypt and lived there until Julian's death before travelling to Sicily, Hilarion went according to Sozomen directly to Sicily. From there, he went soon to Epidauros in Dalmatia where he

671-459: A monastery built in his name preceded the castle, which was built around it. However, this view is not supported by any substantial evidence. Starting in the 11th century, the Byzantines began fortification. Saint Hilarion, together with the castles of Buffavento and Kantara , formed the defense of the island against Arab raids against the coast. Some sections were further upgraded under

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732-470: A pile of gold coins that was also a temptation from the devil. Anthony cast the gold into a fire, and gold coins immediately disappeared just like the silver one. After these two events, he had a vision where the whole world was covered with snares and traps. Anthony prayed saying, "Oh good Lord, who may escape from these snares?” He was responded to by a voice that said, "Humility shall escape them without more." Being an ascetic, Anthony went out to live in

793-408: A primordial landscape, has an absolute connection to the divine truth, which is always in harmony with that of Athanasius as the biographer. A continuation of the genre of secular Greek biography , it became his most widely read work. Sometime before 374 it was translated into Latin by Evagrius of Antioch . The Latin translation helped the Life become one of the best-known works of literature in

854-516: A scroll which reads: "The tools of a monk are steadfastness, humility, and love according to God." Upon Hilarion's death, Epiphanius announced his death in a laudatory letter which served as primary source for both Jerome and Sozomenus who wrote subsequent hagiographies about Hilarion. Jerome wrote his Life of Hilarion in Latin around 390 in the monastery of Paula in Bethlehem. Jerome's work

915-471: Is invoked against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases. In the past, many such afflictions, including ergotism , erysipelas , and shingles , were referred to as Saint Anthony's fire . Most of what is known about Anthony comes from the Life of Anthony . Written in Greek c.  360 by Athanasius of Alexandria , it depicts Anthony as an illiterate and holy man who, through his existence in

976-638: Is also known as the Father of All Monks . His feast day is celebrated on 17 January among the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches and on Tobi  22 in the Coptic calendar . The biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of Alexandria helped to spread the concept of Christian monasticism , particularly in Western Europe via its Latin translations. He is often erroneously considered

1037-542: Is also mentioned twice in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers . Johann Gottfried Herder wrote the poem "The Paradise in the desert" about the teacher-disciple relation between Anthony and Hilarion in 1797. This motive was also taken up by Gustave Flaubert in his The Temptation of Saint Anthony and changed in such as Hilarion attempts to tempt Anthony away from his faith by creating doubt. Hermann Hesse adapted

1098-853: Is possible these events, like the paintings, are full of rich metaphor or in the case of the animals of the desert, perhaps a vision or dream. Emphasis on these stories, however, did not really begin until the Middle Ages when the psychology of the individual became of greater interest. Some of the stories included in Anthony's biography are perpetuated now mostly in paintings, where they give an opportunity for artists to depict their more lurid or bizarre interpretations. Many artists, including Martin Schongauer , Hieronymus Bosch , Joos van Craesbeeck, Dorothea Tanning , Max Ernst , Leonora Carrington and Salvador Dalí , have depicted these incidents from

1159-516: Is said to have spoken to those of a spiritual disposition, leaving the task of addressing the more worldly visitors to Macarius. Macarius later founded a monastic community in the Scetic desert. The fame of Anthony spread and reached Emperor Constantine , who wrote to him requesting his prayers. The brethren were pleased with the Emperor's letter, but Anthony was not overawed and wrote back exhorting

1220-653: The Sayings of the Desert Fathers . Anthony probably spoke only his native language, Coptic , but his sayings were spread in a Greek translation. He himself dictated letters in Coptic, seven of which are extant. Anthony was born in Koma in Lower Egypt to wealthy landowner parents. When he was about 20 years old, his parents died and left him with the care of his unmarried sister. Shortly thereafter, he decided to follow

1281-468: The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria in the 1st century AD as long established in the harsh environment of Lake Mareotis and in other less accessible regions. Philo opined that "this class of persons may be met with in many places, for both Greece and barbarian countries want to enjoy whatever is perfectly good." Christian ascetics such as Thecla had likewise retreated to isolated locations at

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1342-419: The Life . In 338, he left the desert temporarily to visit Alexandria to help refute the teachings of Arius . When Anthony sensed his death approaching, he commanded his disciples to give his staff to Macarius of Egypt , and to give one sheepskin cloak to Athanasius of Alexandria and the other sheepskin cloak to Serapion of Thmuis , his disciple. Anthony was interred, according to his instructions, in

1403-570: The Lusignan dynasty , whose kings may have used it as a summer residence. During the rule of Lusignans, the castle was the focus of a four-year struggle between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Regent John d' Ibelin for control of Cyprus. Much of the castle was dismantled by the Venetians in the 15th century to reduce the cost of garrisons . The castle has three divisions or wards. The lower and middle wards served economic purposes, while

1464-717: The Middle Ages , Anthony, along with Quirinus of Neuss , Cornelius and Hubertus , was venerated as one of the Four Holy Marshals ( Vier Marschälle Gottes ) in the Rhineland . Anthony is remembered in the Anglican Communion with a Lesser Festival on 17 January. Though Anthony himself did not organize or create a monastery, a community grew around him based on his example of living an ascetic and isolated life. Athanasius' biography helped propagate Anthony's ideals. Athanasius writes, "For monks,

1525-427: The hermit Anthony and set off to study with him. After two months of learning the ascetic life from Anthony, Hilarion started to feel that the many visitors who came to Anthony for healing or exorcism were too much to bear and he decided to set off in the wilderness of Palestine to live alone as a hermit. Hilaron returned to Gaza where he found his parents dead and subsequently gave away his goods to his brothers and

1586-522: The 1999 novel “Race of Scorpions” by Dorothy Dunnett. The Castle of Saint Hilarion appears in the 2009 action-adventure video game Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines , the 2015 novel "The Lost Treasure of the Templars" by James Becker, and Death in Cyprus by M. M. Kaye . The castle is also featured in the 2016 crypto-thriller The Apocalypse Fire by Dominic Selwood . St. Hilarion Hilarion

1647-682: The Christian world, a status it would hold through the Middle Ages . Translated into several languages, it became something of a "best seller" in its day and played an important role in the spreading of the ascetic ideal in Eastern and Western Christianity. It later served as an inspiration to Christian monastics in both the East and the West, and helped to spread the concept of Christian monasticism, particularly in Western Europe via its Latin translations. Many stories are also told about Anthony in

1708-439: The Emperor and his sons not to esteem this world but remember the next. The stories of the meeting of Anthony and Paul of Thebes , the raven who brought them bread, Anthony being sent to fetch the cloak given him by "Athanasius the bishop" to bury Paul's body in, and Paul's death before he returned, are among the familiar legends of the Life . However, belief in the existence of Paul seems to have existed quite independently of

1769-551: The Great (291–371) was an anchorite who spent most of his life in the desert according to the example of Anthony the Great (c. 251–356). While Anthony is considered to have established Christian monasticism in the Egyptian Desert , Hilarion is considered by his biographer Jerome to be the founder of Palestinian monasticism (see also Chariton the Confessor ) and venerated as a saint exemplifying monastic virtues by

1830-726: The Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church. Hilarion was born around 291 to pagan parents in Tabatha, a village five miles north of Gaza. Hilarion was at least bilingual, speaking both Greek as well as Aramaic which was common around Gaza. His pagan parents sent him in his youth to study with a grammarian in Alexandria , where he gave, according to Jerome, a remarkable proof of his ability and character and became an accomplished speaker. While in Alexandria, he heard of

1891-615: The area, spending the first years as the disciple of another local hermit . There are various legends that he worked as a swineherd during this period. According to the Temptation of Saint Anthony (1878) by Félicien Rops : Anthony is sometimes considered the first monk, and the first to initiate solitary desertification, but there were others before him. There were already ascetic hermits (the Therapeutae ), and loosely organized cenobitic communities were described by

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1952-474: The city of Alexandria for worshipping monsters instead of God while beasts like the satyr spoke about Christ. Another time Anthony was travelling and found a plate of silver coins in his path. Since he was in the middle of the desert, where it didn't make any sense for anyone to be there, he declared that the silver was a temptation from the devil. Immediately after Anthony's declaration, the silver vanished. Soon, after walking some more in that desert, he found

2013-515: The desert to find his "better", Paul. On his way there, he ran into two creatures in the forms of a centaur and a satyr . Although chroniclers sometimes postulated that they might have been living beings, Western theology considers them to have been demons . While traveling through the desert, Anthony first found the centaur, a "creature of mingled shape, half horse half-man", whom he asked about directions. The creature tried to speak in an unintelligible language, but ultimately pointed with his hand

2074-480: The desert whom the Gentiles, deluded by various forms of error, worship under the names of Fauns , Satyrs , and Incubi . I am sent to represent my tribe. We pray you in our behalf to entreat the favor of your Lord and ours, who, we have learnt, came once to save the world, and 'whose sound has gone forth into all the earth.'" Upon hearing this, Anthony was overjoyed and rejoiced over the glory of Christ. He condemned

2135-611: The disease. They then founded the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony in honor of him, who specialized in nursing the victims of skin diseases. He is venerated especially by the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit for his close association with St. Paul of Thebes , after whom they take their name. In the Life of St. Paul the First Hermit , by St. Jerome, it is recorded that it was St. Anthony that found St. Paul towards

2196-472: The end of his life and without whom it is doubtful he would be known. Veneration of Anthony in the East is more restrained. There are comparatively few icons and paintings of him. He is, however, regarded as the "first master of the desert and the pinnacle of holy monks", and there are monastic communities of the Maronite, Chaldean, and Orthodox churches which state that they follow his monastic rule. During

2257-504: The first Christian monk, but as his biography and other sources make clear, there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was, however, among the first known to go into the wilderness (about AD 270), which seems to have contributed to his renown. Accounts of Anthony enduring supernatural temptation during his sojourn in the Eastern Desert of Egypt inspired the depiction of his temptations in visual art and literature. Anthony

2318-487: The gospel exhortation in Matthew 19 : 21, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven." Anthony gave away some of his family's lands to his neighbors, sold the remaining property, and donated the funds to the poor. He then left to live an ascetic life, placing his sister with a group of Christian virgins . For the next fifteen years, Anthony remained in

2379-472: The life of Anthony is a sufficient example of asceticism . His story influenced the conversion of Augustine of Hippo and John Chrysostom . Examples of purely Coptic literature are the works of Anthony and Pachomius , who spoke only Coptic, and the sermons and preaching of Shenouda the Archmandrite , who chose to write only in Coptic. The earliest original writings in the Coptic language were

2440-462: The life of Anthony; in prose, the tale was retold and embellished by Gustave Flaubert in The Temptation of Saint Anthony . Anthony was on a journey in the desert to find Paul of Thebes , who according to his dream was a better Hermit than he. Anthony had been under the impression that he was the first person to ever dwell in the desert; however, due to the dream, Anthony was called into

2501-484: The monastery that bears his name, Der Mar Antonios . Here he spent the last forty-five years of his life, in a seclusion, not so strict as Pispir, for he freely saw those who came to visit him, and he used to cross the desert to Pispir with considerable frequency. Amid the Diocletian Persecutions , around 311 Anthony went to Alexandria and was conspicuous visiting those who were imprisoned. Anthony

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2562-600: The mountaintop where he had chosen to live. His remains were reportedly discovered in 361 and transferred to Alexandria . Some time later, they were taken from Alexandria to Constantinople , so that they might escape the destruction being perpetrated by invading Saracens . In the eleventh century, the Byzantine emperor gave them to the French Count Jocelin. Jocelin had them transferred to La-Motte-Saint-Didier, later renamed. There, Jocelin undertook to build

2623-567: The outskirts of cities. Anthony is notable for having decided to surpass this tradition and headed out into the desert proper. He left for the alkaline Nitrian Desert (later the location of the noted monasteries of Nitria , Kellia , and Scetis ) on the edge of the Western Desert about 95 km (59 mi) west of Alexandria . He remained there for 13 years. Anthony maintained a very strict ascetic diet. He ate only bread, salt and water and never meat or wine. He ate at most only once

2684-525: The poor. Then, he established himself as a hermit in the desert inland from the coast road seven miles from Maiuma , the port of Gaza. Though he went on one occasion to Jerusalem to venerate the holy sites, he chose not to live in the Judaean Desert as he did not wish to appear to confine God within prescribed limits, believing he could be close to God anywhere. Around 308, he built a hut where he lived in solitude for 22 years and which survived into

2745-498: The shape of wild beasts, who inflicted blows upon him, and sometimes left him nearly dead. After fifteen years of this life, at the age of thirty-five, Anthony determined to withdraw from the habitations of men and retire in absolute solitude. He went into the desert to a mountain by the Nile called Pispir (now Der-el-Memun), opposite Arsinoë . There he lived strictly enclosed in an old abandoned Roman fort for some 20 years. Food

2806-515: The surprise of all, he appeared to be not emaciated, but healthy in mind and body. For five or six years he devoted himself to the instruction and organization of the great body of monks that had grown up around him; but then he once again withdrew into the inner desert that lay between the Nile and the Red Sea, near the shore of which he fixed his abode on a mountain ( Mount Colzim ) where still stands

2867-414: The time of Jerome. Hilarion wove baskets as he had learned in Egypt where this was a common monastic occupation. Here he also struggled against fleshly desires and Jerome said that the devil tempted Hilarion by igniting the "flames of lust" in the young man. Hilarion fought this sexual desire by mortifying his body with hunger, thirst and strenuous labour. After these 22 years, Hilarion was approached by

2928-454: The tombs away from the village. There were so many demons in the cave though, that Anthony's servant had to carry him out because they had beaten him to death. When the hermits were gathered to Anthony's corpse to mourn his death, Anthony was revived. He demanded that his servants take him back to that cave where the demons had beaten him. When he got there he called out to the demons, and they came back as wild beasts to rip him to shreds. Suddenly

2989-423: The two most outstanding in the circle around Hilarion. Epiphanius of Eleutheropolis became his disciple after returning from Egypt and would later go to Cyprus where he introduced monasticism and was elected bishop of Salamis around 367/368. With many more people seeking his guidance, he established a monastery during the reign of emperor Constantius (337–361) which, by the time he was sixty-three, consisted of

3050-459: The upper ward housed the royal family. The lower ward had the stables and the living quarters for the men-at-arms . The Prince John tower sits on a cliff high above the lower castle. The upper ward was surrounded by a 1.4 metre-thick Byzantine wall, made of rough masonry. The entrance is through a pointed arch built by the Lusignans. This was protected by a semicircular tower to the east. Within

3111-421: The ward is a courtyard, with twin peaks being situated to either side of it. To the north-east is an extremely ruined kitchen. To the west are the royal apartments, dated by various sources to the 13th or 14th centuries. Although mostly ruined today, this was a structure in the northeast-southwest axis, with a length of 25 m and width of 6 m. It has a basement containing a cistern and two floors. The ground floor has

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3172-438: The way desired, and then ran away and vanished from sight. It was interpreted as a demon trying to terrify him, or alternately a creature engendered by the desert. Anthony found next the satyr, "a manikin with hooked snout, horned forehead, and extremities like goats's feet." This creature was peaceful and offered him fruits, and when Anthony asked who he was, the satyr replied, "I'm a mortal being and one of those inhabitants of

3233-505: Was able to heal the three children of Helpidius , who would later become praetorian prefect In Bethelea , Hilarion healed miraculously a certain Alaphion, which led to the conversion of the prominent family of the historian Sozomen. As there were no monasteries in Palestine or Syria at the time, people begun to flock to Hilarion for spiritual training . Sozomen, possibly due to his local sources, singles out Epiphanius and Hesyach as

3294-440: Was not so much to write a historical exact account but rather a hagiographic composition focusing on the life and deeds of Hilarion. Though Jerome's historical accuracy has been occasionally questioned, there can be no doubt that Hilarion was a historical figure and that Gaza became during his time a center of monasticism. Hilarion's life is mentioned in the third, fifth and sixth book of Sozomen's Ecclesiastical history , which

3355-481: Was not the first ascetic or hermit, but he may properly be called the "Father of Monasticism" in Christianity, as he organized his disciples into a community and later, following the spread of Athanasius's hagiography, was the inspiration for similar communities throughout Egypt and elsewhere. Macarius the Great was a disciple of Anthony. Visitors traveled great distances to see the celebrated holy man. Anthony

3416-402: Was ousted by those of Ursula and Dunstan 's ordination. Charlemagne is said to have brought the relics of Hilarion to Moissac Abbey from where they where transferred to the church of Duravel in 1065. Hilarion is the patron saint of Caulonia under the name Sant'Ilario. In iconography, is depicted as an old man with a brown, rush-like beard divided into three points and he holds sometimes

3477-667: Was perfectly preserved and smelled sweetly , and interred it in his own monastery at Maiuma. Sozomen reports that after Hilarion's body was interred at his monastery , the local population started to celebrate an annual festival at the place. His relics continued to be venerated and are also mentioned by the anonymous Piacenza Pilgrim around the year 570. Hilarion was venerated from early time in both East and West as an example of monastic holiness. Bede included him in his martyrology and he appeared frequently in Pre-Conquest English monastic calendars before his feast

3538-476: Was said to have stilled the sea during the tsunami of 21 July 365 by drawing three crosses in the sand. Immediately after that, he went to Cyprus. Hilarion was welcomed in Cyprus by his old disciple Epiphanius who encouraged him to stay. He initially settled near Paphos but later retired to a more remote place twelve miles away. Here, Hilarion died at the age of eighty and was buried. Ten months after Hilarion's death, his disciple Hesyach stole his body, which

3599-417: Was thrown to him over the wall. He was at times visited by pilgrims, whom he refused to see; but gradually a number of would-be disciples established themselves in caves and in huts around the mountain. Thus, a colony of ascetics was formed, who begged Anthony to come forth and be their guide in the spiritual life. Eventually, he yielded to their importunities and, about the year 305, emerged from his retreat. To

3660-467: Was translated into Greek by contemporary writer Sophronius upon whose translation Jerome looked favourably. Jerome was inspired by reading the Life of Anthony which also served as a literary model with regard to its content and ecclesiastic function of the text. There are two major themes Jerome focuses on, one being Hilarion's search for a life of solitary prayer and contemplation and the other being Hilarion's role as successor to Anthony. Jerome's goal

3721-421: Was written in the 440s. Whereas in the third book no new information to Jerome's Life of Hilarion is added and is in parts less detailed, Sozomen adds new information in the fifth book and sixth books, possibly thanks to his local sources and own family history. Sozomen's own origin and literary aims as a historian therefore result in a different historical sketch of Hilarion's life than that of Jerome. Hilarion

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