Hilarion Alfeyev was born on July 24, 1966, in Moscow. From 1972 to 1982 he studied violin, piano, and composition at the Moscow Gnessins School and from 1983 to 1986 at the Moscow State Conservatory. In January 1987 he entered the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he was tonsured as a monk on June 19, ordained a deacon on June 21 and ordained a priest on August 19 of the same year. Until 1991 he served as a parish priest in Lithuania, including two years as dean of Annunciation Cathedral in Kaunas.