Elias the Hermit of Egypt
Our Venerable Father Elias the Hermit of Egypt
Venerable · d. 4th century, in the Egyptian desert
Commemorated 8 January — Commemoration; kept within the afterfeast of the Theophany
Elias the Hermit was an Egyptian ascetic of the fourth century who spent seventy-five years in solitary struggle in a cave on a desolate mountain, and reposed in extreme old age at about a hundred and ten years. He belongs to the company of the great anchorites of the Egyptian desert, and is commemorated on January 8, within the afterfeast of the Theophany.
Little is transmitted of Elias beyond the bare and eloquent measure of his asceticism. An Egyptian by birth, he took up the monastic life and withdrew to a cave on a barren mountain in the Egyptian desert, where he persevered in solitude, fasting, and prayer for seventy-five years. He reposed in peace in the fourth century, having reached, the tradition says, the age of about one hundred and ten. His name is preserved in the synaxaria among the desert fathers commemorated on this day; the record is honestly short, a single life measured out in decades of hidden struggle. He is not to be confused with the Prophet Elias (Elijah) the Tishbite, nor with the several later ascetics of the same name.
Feast and commemoration
Elias is commemorated on January 8 (church date; Old Calendar civil January 21), within the afterfeast of the Theophany, among the venerable fathers of the day. His office is that of a desert ascetic, sung under the hymns of the afterfeast of the Baptism.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 1
Thou wast shown to be a citizen of the wilderness, an angel in the body, and a wonderworker, O our God-bearing Father Elias; by fasting, vigil, and prayer thou didst receive heavenly gifts, and thou healest the sick and the souls of those who run to thee in faith. Glory to him that gave thee strength; glory to him that crowned thee; glory to him that worketh healings for all through thee.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Elias is depicted as an aged desert hermit in monastic habit, long-bearded and gaunt, in the type of the Egyptian anchorite. No storable public-domain image identified with certainty as this Elias was found at the time of writing; the entry notes a wanted icon.