Legend of Hilaria

The Legend of Hilaria is a Coptic romance, possibly a Christian version of the pagan Tale of Bentresh.

It tells the tale of Hilaria, daughter of the Roman emperor Zeno, who disguised herself as a man to become a monk and later heals her sister of an ailment.

There is also a short translation from the Coptic that is known from a single manuscript copied in Garshuni (that is, Arabic in Syriac script).

A longer Garshuni version translated from the Syriac is known from at least five manuscripts, in one of which it is titled History of the Emperor Zeno.

Parallels exist between Hilaria and figures known from Greek hagiography, such as Eugenia Pelagia, Euphrosyne and Apolinaria.

[3] At eighteen years of age, disguising herself as a cavalryman[13] and without her father's permission, she travels to Alexandria in Egypt, from where she is led first to the monastery of Saint Mina and then to the desert of Scetis by a deacon named Theodore.

[15] Nine years later, her seriously ill sister Theopiste is sent by Zeno to the stratelates of Alexandria,[16] who brings her to Scetis to be healed or exorcised of a demon.

[3] After a week,[15] Theopiste returns to Constantinople and reveals the monk's unusual behaviour to her father, Zeno is scandalized.

In the short Arabic version, Pambo meets her in Alexandria, the role of Theodore is nixed and Hilaria confirms her identity to her parents by showing them distinguishing marks on her body.

The Syriac version contains a formulaic exordium on the value of hearing of the great deeds of the saints, the unworthiness of the author and his refusal to be silent.

After the monks realize she is related to Zeno, she leaves the monastery to live in isolation in a grotto, to avoid becoming conceited.

[17] Despite her purely legendary origins, Hilaria was later recognized as a saint in the liturgical calendar of the eastern churches.

[12] The Legend is a monophysite work, which explains its positive portrayal of Zeno, who issued the pro-monophysite Henoticon in 482.