died 518
Patriarch of Jerusalem who, refusing to sign the emperor Anastasius's Monophysite formula, was deposed and exiled to Aila on the Red Sea, where he reposed; a defender of the Council of Chalcedon and associate of St. John the Silent.
Our Father among the Saints Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Confessor
Saint Elias of Jerusalem (Elias I) was Patriarch of Jerusalem from 494 until his deposition in 516, remembered as a defender of the Council of Chalcedon during the Monophysite controversies of the reign of the emperor Anastasius I. Refusing to sign the emperor's non-Chalcedonian formula, he was deposed and exiled to Aila on the Red Sea, where he reposed in 518.
An Arab by birth, Elias received his monastic formation in Egypt before founding a laura near Jericho and rising to the patriarchal throne of Jerusalem. He was closely associated with the monastic life of the Palestinian desert, including Saint Sabas and Saint John the Silent. He is distinct from the Prophet Elias (Elijah).
Elias was an Arab by birth who received his monastic education in a monastery in Egypt. Around 457 he was driven out of Egypt by the Monophysite Patriarch Timothy II. Coming to Palestine, he founded a laura in the region of Jericho and was ordained priest by Patriarch Anastasius of Jerusalem.
Elias succeeded Patriarch Sallustius in 494 and served as Patriarch of Jerusalem until his deposition in 516. In the disputes over the Council of Chalcedon he acknowledged Euphemius of Constantinople as a communicant but rejected Euphemius's successor Macedonius II.
His patriarchate coincided with the reign of the emperor Anastasius I (491–518), a convinced supporter of non-Chalcedonian Christianity. Anastasius had pledged at his accession not to repudiate Chalcedon, but around 512 adopted a more aggressive policy, deposing Chalcedonian church leaders and replacing them with Monophysites.
Around 509 the Monophysite bishop Xenaias pressured Elias to accept the Monophysite formula, and the emperor ordered him to convene a synod condemning Chalcedon. Elias refused and instead submitted an orthodox profession of faith, though it was intercepted and altered by Monophysite followers.
At the Synod of Sidon in 512, Elias, together with Flavian II of Antioch, persuaded the assembly neither to condemn the Council of Chalcedon nor to depose them. He subsequently refused communion with Flavian's successor, Severus of Antioch.
Count Olympus later presented Elias with an ultimatum: accept the Monophysite formula or face deposition. Elias refused both demands and was deposed by the emperor Anastasius I in 516. He was exiled to Aila, near Aqaba on the Red Sea, where he died in exile in 518. He was succeeded as Patriarch of Jerusalem by John III.
The same year Elias died, the emperor Anastasius also died, and the Chalcedonian position was fully restored under his successor Justin I. Anastasius is remembered as the last non-Chalcedonian ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
Elias was connected with the flourishing monastic life of the Palestinian desert. The life of Saint John the Silent records that when Abbot Sabas brought John to the patriarch for ordination to the priesthood, John requested a private audience and disclosed that he had already been consecrated a bishop but had fled his see for the desert on account of his sins. The patriarch, surprised by the revelation, told Sabas that he wished to be excused from ordaining John.
Elias is commemorated on July 20 in the Eastern Orthodox Church, together with Flavian II of Antioch, and on July 4 in the Roman Martyrology. He is recognized as a saint in both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
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