Jan Bremmer: Jerome's Life of Hilarion

• Centre for Advanced Studies
• Open Talk

In his Life of Paul Jerome created a fictional hermit who trumped the Antony of Athanasius at every single stage.  In a brief compass, Jerome displays a superior literary polemical skill which can still amuse us. But to what extent did he continue this polemical approach in the third and last of his influential biographies, the Life of Hilarion (henceforth: VH)?  As this has not been investigated with any rigour, I will take a fresh look at the relationship between these two hermits, the more so as ‘remarkably little has been written on the VH’.  Naturally, given the size of the Life, we cannot discuss everything. That is why we will limit us to the first part until the death of Antony (VH 19.4-7), after which Hilarion leaves Palestine and starts to wander in the Eastern Mediterranean. Having discussed the dates of the VH and of Hilarion himself as well as having briefly surveyed the contents of the VH (§ 1), I will take a closer look at the reception of Athanasius’ Antony’s youth (§ 2), make some observations on Hilarion’s battle with demons (§ 3), discuss his linguistic competence and monastic organisation (§ 4), and conclude with some final considerations (§ 5).