Fr Matthew Reese

“So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost”.’”
—Luke 15:3-6

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the Feast of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers who died this day in 367 AD. Hilary is one of the great Doctors of the Church, who served during a period of immense controversy over the nature of the Trinity and the person of Christ.

Hilary, along with Athanasius—to whom we attribute the creed, Quicumque Vult (BCP 864)—was one of the principal defenders of orthodoxy against Arianism, the notion that Jesus was created by God, and was thus a “creature,” rather than a co-eternal part of the Godhead.

In the end, Hilary and Athanasius prevailed, and we have inherited the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity that they once espoused. 

The readings appointed for Hilary’s feast echo these themes: orthodoxy vs. heresy; divinity vs. creatureliness. If you really want to delve into the doctrine of the Trinity, don’t worry, it will take your entire lifetime—you can at least make a start of it during the Catechism class in Lent! But I would like to focus on another theme brought out in the Gospel appointed for today—one of Jesus’s parables about the good shepherd.

Hilary served in a contentious, even dangerous, political moment. His insistence on the nature of the Trinity got him banished for a period of years, it brought him into conflict with imperial authority, it surely nearly cost him his life. And yet, Hilary continually sought out debate, sought to persuade, sought to convert. 

Like all human beings, Hilary was conflicted, fallible, occasionally given to polemics and invectives. But he is surely to be commended for his dogged willingness to engage, to enter the fray, and to stand up for the Christian faith as he honestly saw it.

Our controversies in the Church are of a different nature today. (Though bits of Arianism are still with us). But it seems to me that the Gospel is clear about our moral duty to our Christian siblings, even those with whom we disagree. Even if there are ninety-nine with us, we seek the one who is lost.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Matthew