Reflection
Saint Hilary of Poitiers.
REFLECTIONS: 12th January 2022
Starting with an apology: this is not, as such, a Bible Study. It's too late to do a study on Christmas. Or even Epiphany, but I'm sure you know all about that already. Instead, I open my Church Diary and discover that the 13th of January is the day to remember and celebrate the life of Saint Hilary of Poitiers. Born early in the 4th century AD, just 50 kilometres or so from where I live, Hilary grew up in a well-to-do family of pagan idolaters. How he came to think first about the Christian Faith is not known but think he did. He was an intelligent man who studied a great deal and came to the conclusion that polytheism (belief in many gods) was an absurd idea. Through study of the Old Testament, he began to understand that there can only be one God and that He must be eternal, unchangeable, all-powerful, the First Cause and author/creator of all things. He was impressed by God's revelation to Moses that "I am Who I am". When he turned to the writings of St John in the New Testament, he learned and became convinced that Jesus is (not was!) the Son of God, 'co-eternal, of one substance with the Father', as the Nicaean Creed puts it. It took years to translate this head knowledge into personal faith, but he was eventually 'converted' and baptised as a Christian.
Only three years later he was held in such high esteem by the Christian Church in Poitiers, that his appointment as Bishop became inevitable, despite his own reticence. He had long been recognised as a gentle man, full of courtesy and friendliness to all. However, there came a time when he felt this approach was not working. Some Church leaders had taken up the Arian teaching that Jesus was not equal with God but subordinate. Such a belief contradicted the Doctrine of the Trinity. Hilary took a firm stand against such heresy. The Papacy, with the Bishop of Rome as its head, was not firmly established, so it was the Roman Emperor who ordered all Bishops of the Church to adhere to the doctrine of Arius. Hilary could not and would not do this. He believed, through study and faith, in a Triune God. As a result he went into exile, but, true to his nature, he worried nothing about hardship, danger or enemies. His thoughts were fixed solely on God.
Later, he was involved with Martin of Tours in founding the Abbey of Ligugé, just outside Poitiers. Hilary's feast day has long marked the beginning of term for British Law Courts and some universities, perhaps because of his wisdom and learning, perhaps for his determination to stand up for the truth of the Gospel.
Here are two prayers, for the feast day of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, merged together:
Everlasting God, whose servant Hilary steadfastly confessed your Son Jesus Christ to be both human and divine: grant us his gentle courtesy to bring to all the message of redemption; help us to lay aside all foolishness and to live and walk in the way of insight, that we may come, with Hilary, to the eternal feast of heaven. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. AMEN