Elias, Bishop of Jerusalem

Elias, bishop Of Jerusalem

(1) A.D. 494-513. He was an Arab by birth, and received his education in one of the Nitrian monasteries; but being expelled by Timothy AElurus in A.D. 457, he took refuge with St. Euthymius. He afterwards resided in a cell at Jericho. He was a strict ascetic, and took an active part in the Athanasian controversy, in consequence of which he was finally banished to AEla, on the Red Sea.

(2) Cir. A.D. 760-797. He was for a time deposed on the charge of image- worship, brought by Theodorus, an ambitious monk, in 763. He was represented at the second General Council at Nice, in 787, by John, a priest, and Thomas, a prior of the convent of St. Arsena, near Babylon, in Egypt, who also represented the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch.

(3) Died about 907. In 881 he sent a letter to Charlemagne; likewise, also, to the prelates, princes, and nobles of Gaul. A Latin translation of the letter (it is not probable that the original was in this language) may be found in the Spicilegium of D'Achery (Paris, 1723, volume 3).