Venerable Confessor Hilarion the New, Abbot of Dalmatou

Venerable Hilarion was born around 775, probably in Cappadocia. At age 20 he took monastic vows at the Hesychius Monastery near Constantinople; he later moved to the Dalmatou Monastery, where he received the great schema as a disciple of St. Gregory the Decapolite; he was ordained priest and then became abbot of the Dalmatou community, later archimandrite (exarch) over the Constantinople monasteries.

During the second iconoclast persecution under Emperor Leo V the Armenian (from 813/815), he refused to renounce icon veneration and openly denounced the emperor's heresy; he was repeatedly imprisoned and starved. The persecution resumed under Emperor Theophilus (r. 829-842): the venerable one was beaten and exiled to the island of Aphousia. After Theophilus's death, Empress Theodora restored icon veneration and recalled the confessors from exile; Hilarion returned to the Dalmatou community, headed it for about 3 more years, and died peacefully on June 6, 845.

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION ON CATEGORY AND DATE: the confessor was not executed — for confessing icon veneration he endured imprisonment, beatings, and exile, but died a natural death after the restoration of Orthodoxy; his official title is "venerable confessor." The original commemoration date of "June 11" finds no confirmation in any source — it has been corrected to the accurate date of June 6/19.