Venerable Elias the Hermit of Egypt

Elias the Hermit, also called Elias of Egypt, was a fourth-century Egyptian ascetic numbered among the desert monastics of his era. According to the synaxarion, he became a monk and pursued the ascetic life for seventy-five years in a cave on a desolate mountain. He is commemorated on January 8.

The tradition relates that he attained a great age, living to one hundred and ten years. Beyond the duration of his ascetic labors and his longevity, the surviving accounts preserve little biographical detail, and the sources record no specific events or miracles from his life. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.