January 13th is the saint’s day for Hilary of
Poitiers (in western France), who was a 4th century bishop,
theologian and hymn-writer.
Hilary was a relatively late convert to Christianity, and
only reluctantly accepted the bishopric of Poitiers in 350. He fell foul of
Emperor Constantius in 356 due to the latter’s support of Arianism and Hilary’s
opposition to it.
Arianism is, at heart, the belief that Jesus was subservient
to God the Father and had not existed for all time, whereas the Trinitarians,
including Hilary, maintained that all three elements of God – Father, Son and
Holy Spirit – had existed as equals for all time. Despite the inherent oddity
of the latter view, it was the one that prevailed and which is maintained by
most Christian churches down to the present day.
Hilary’s punishment was to be exiled to Phrygia (in Asia
Minor) for four years. While there he argued the Trinitarian case so vehemently
that the Phrygians petitioned the Emperor to send him back to Poitiers, which
is what happened.
One thing that impressed Hilary about the Arians of Phrygia
was their use of hymns in their worship. He therefore introduced hymn-singing
in his own diocese and wrote a number of his own, although only three of these
have survived to the present day. One of them, a hymn to the Trinity, runs to
70 verses and presumably does not get sung very often!
© John Welford
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