Hilarion (Tsurikov)

Hilarion (Tsurikov) was born on April 8, 1856, in the village of Krivopolany, Ostrozhsky Uyezd, Voronezh Governorate, into a peasant family. He took monastic vows and resided at the Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos. It is believed that Hilarion may be identical to one of the prominent figures of the Name-Glorifiers movement, Iriney Tsurikov, who presumably took the great schema with the name Hilarion. On July 3, 1913, he was deported to Russia aboard the steamship "Kherson" along with other Name-Glorifiers.

He served at the Pokrov Monastery in Moscow, where many Name-Glorifiers had gathered. The time and place of his ordination as a priest are unknown.

In 1924, he lived with Athonite monk John (Laba) at a farmstead in the Armavir district. On June 29, 1924, they were arrested for "acting against Soviet power and clinging to the old ways." The Special Council of the OGPU sentenced Hieromonk Hilarion to three years of exile in the Narym region. He served his sentence in the city of Obdorsk (now Salekhard). After their release, the monks settled in the mountains near Frunze (now Bishkek), where they lived on a beekeeping farm.

On February 2, 1930, they were arrested again for "anti-Soviet activities."

On June 9, 1930, the Special Council of the OGPU Collegium of Central Asia sentenced Hieromonk Hilarion to three years of exile in the city of Kzyl-Orda (now Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan). He also served time in the city of Guryev (now Atyrau, Kazakhstan).

After his release, he settled in the city of Aulie-Ata (renamed Mirzoyan from 1936-1938, now Taraz, Kazakhstan). His sisters, nuns Magdalina and Gavriila, and Venerable Martyr John joined him there. Hilarion and John secretly conducted church services and monastic tonsures, offering counsel to the local residents. Witnesses noted that he "defended Patriarch Tikhon" in his conversations, indirectly indicating his loyalty to the Patriarchal Church and his condemnation of the Renovationist schism.

On June 24, 1937, he was arrested along with Father John for "defeatist agitation," "participation in a counter-revolutionary organization," and as a "leader of a secret monastery," and was imprisoned in the city of Mirzoyan. He was tried along with Venerable Martyr John in the group case of Archbishop Alexey (Orlov) of Omsk. Hilarion did not plead guilty.

On August 26, 1937, the Special Troika of the NKVD for the South Kazakhstan Region sentenced him to death. He was buried in an unknown grave.

He was glorified by the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.