(Illarion; Hilarion Smerdis). A Greek (Cypriot) Adept known for having dictated or inspired the writing of the classic Light on the Path. He is said to have become an Adept in 1886 (CW XI:316). He also collaborated with Helena P. BLAVATSKY in the writing of stories.

Blavatsky first met him in the physical body in 1860 in Bombay as he was traveling from Egypt to Tibet (CW VI:291-2). He, together with another Adept, Atreya, traveled to New York and Boston in 1875, on the way to California and Japan. On another trip to Tibet by the Adept, Blavatsky (also Henry S. OLCOTT) met him again in Bombay on Feb. 19, 1881. His letters to Olcott have been preserved, which have since been published in the Letters of the Masters of the Wisdom.

According to Charles W. LEADBEATER (The Masters and the Path, TPH Madras, 1953, p. 273), the Master Hilarion stands at the head of the Fifth Ray and is noted for his quality of scientific accuracy and was the inspirer of Mabel Collins’ novel The Idyll of the White Lotus.

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