Hilarion, Catholicos of Kartli

Saint Hilarion, Catholicos of Kartli (Mtskheta) (mid-⁠ninth century), was abbot of the Tskarostavi Monastery in Klarjeti before ascending the throne of the catholicos, and a fellow-⁠ascetic of Venerable Gregory of Khandzta. He is venerated as a saint in the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers and Mothers of Klarjeti of the Orthodox Church of Georgia, canonized in October 2002 (by other data in 2003); he is commemorated on 5 October (old calendar).

The Life of Venerable Gregory, written by George Merchule in 951, which contains important news of the history of Georgia and its Church of the eighth to tenth centuries, says that Hilarion had been, before becoming catholicos, abbot of the Tskarostavi monastery in the Klarjeti desert. His name appears also in the list of catholicoi in the Georgian chronicle "Mokcevay Kartlisay," between the catholicoi Gabriel II (the 830s-850s) and Arsenius I the Great (860-887). The Synod of the Church of Georgia numbered him among the saints on 18 August 2003, according to the Orthodox Encyclopedia.