Saint Elias the Younger
Also known as
- Elias of Enna
- Elias of Salinas
- Elia…
- Elijah…
- Giovanni Rachites
Profile
Monk in the tradition of the Eastern Fathers. Escaping the persecutions of invading Muslim Saracens, Elias fled to Jerusalem where he received the monastic habit from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, taking the name Elias. He spent three years in a monastery in Sinai, then travelled to Alexandria, Egypt, to Persia, to Antioch, and finally back to Palestine. In 878, he moved to Calabria in Sicily in 859, and there spent an austere life devoted to prayer. In 884 he founded a monastery in the nearby Salinas area, and was well known as a spiritual teacher. He made a pilgrimage to Rome, Italy, and was on a pilgrimage to Constantinople when he died.
Born
- 903 in Thessalonica, Macedonia of natural causes
- buried in the Salinas monastery he had founded in Calabria, Italy
- the monastery was destroyed by earthquake in the 18th century
MLA Citation
- “Saint Elias the Younger“. CatholicSaints.Info. 3 February 2019. Web. 18 January 2021. <>