Elias of Jerusalem
Patriarch of Jerusalem
Feast: 4 July (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was one of two Catholic bishops, with Flavian of Antioch, who resisted Emperor Anastasius I's attempt to overturn the Council of Chalcedon and impose Monophysitism.
Offered the choice of signing a Monophysite formula or being deposed, he refused and was banished to Aila on the Red Sea in 513; his monks stayed faithful to him to the end. He died in 518.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A patriarch who chose exile rather than betray the faith of Chalcedon.
Connected on this site
- Anastasius I Saint“Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem, was one of two Catholic bishops, with Flavian of Antioch, who resisted Emperor Anastasius I's attempt to overturn the Council of Chalcedon and impose Monophysitism.” — this site's research
- Flavian II of Antioch Saint“At the Synod of Sidon (512) he successfully defended, together with Flavian II of Antioch, the dyophysite Christological doctrine proclaimed by the Council of Chalcedon.” — Wikipedia
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Elias of Jerusalem
- Wikidata Q3298649 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Elias I of Jerusalem (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.