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Bp. Hilarion enjoyed great authority among the clergy and his fellow [[bishop]]s and had gained great respect for his mind and steadfastness in the Faith. But, before two years had passed since his consecration, Bp. Hilarion was sent into exile in Archangelsk. After a year he returned to Petrograd and became Patr. Tikhon's closest like minded advisor along with Abp. Seraphim (Alexandrov). Patr. Tikhon raised Bp. Hilarion to the rank of [[archbishop]] upon his return from exile. With this appointment Abp. Hilarion's activities broadened. He engaged in discussions with Yevgeny Alexandrovich Tuchkov, the plenipotentiary for Church affairs of the GPU, on the need for a ordered life in the Russian Orthodox Church on the basis of canonical law and labored to restore the ecclesiastical organization, without success.
Abp. Hilarion became a thorn in the side of the renovationists. On [[July 5]], 1923, he threw the renovationists out of the [[Sretensky Monastery]] as they tried to serve an All-night Vigil for the [[feast day|feast]] of the Vladimir [[Icon]] of the [[Theotokos|Mother of God]], and then after re-consecrating the [[cathedral]], returned the [[monastery]] to the Church. Abp. Hilariion had heated debates in Moscow with the Living Church [[priest]] [[Alexander Ivanovich Vvedensky |Alexander Vvedensky]] during which he exposed Vvedensky's cunning and lies. Recognizing Abp. Hilarion's influence, the renovationists exerted their influence with the Bolshevik government to have Abp. Hilarion sent to exile. In December 1923, Abp. Hilarion was sentenced to three years in prison and was sent to the Solovki prison camp (formerly the [[Solovetsky Monastery]]) on the White Sea.
At Solovki Abp. Hilarion preserved all the good qualities of the soul that he had gained through his ascetic labors, both before and during his [[monasticism|monastic]] life and as a priest and hierarch. One eyewitness related when a group of six clergy, of bishops and priests including Abp. Hilarion, were laboring as net-makers and fisherman, Abp. Hilarion paraphrased the hymns of [[Pentecost]], remarking "Formerly, the fishermen became theologians. Now the theologians have become fishermen."
