ILARIONE. - The second metropolitan of Kiev whose history can be documented (1051-54). He was not Greek but Slav. At the invitation of Grand Duke Yaroslav I the Wise (1019-54), he was elected by the "Russian" bishops and then consecrated metropolitan by the imprinting of the relics of St. Clement upon his head. No confirmation was sought from the Byzantine patriarch.
A fine sermon by him, "On the Law and Grace," survives, in which the conversion of Russia is described as an event in its own right and not dependent on Byzantium. No expression against Rome is found in II.
BIBL.: W. Philipp, Ansätze zum geschichtlichen und politischen Denken im Kiever Russland, Breslau 1940, passim; A. M. Ammann, Storia della Chiesa russa e dei paesi limitrofi, Turin 1948, V. index. Alberto M. Ammann