Elias

Holy Hierarch Elias I was archbishop of Crete, with his see at Gortyna, in the eighth century. Although the whole Church was in great turmoil because of the struggle over the icons, Crete remained faithful to the right faith. Because of its attitude of honouring the icons and its part in the revolt of the Helladic themes in 727, after the first edict of Leo III the Isaurian against the icons, a revolt that was crushed, Crete suffered in the eighth century at the hands of the thematic commander Theophanes Lardotyros.

At the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, in 787, Elias I took part with the bishops Epiphanius of Lampe, Theodore of Heracleopolis, Anastasius of Knossos, Meliton of Kydonia, Leo of Kissamos, Theodore of Sybritos, Leo of Phoenix, John of Arcadia, Epiphanius of Eleutherna, Photinus of Kantanos and Sissinius of Chersonesos, and with two abbots, Theognis of the Monastery of the Apostle Timothy and Peter of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian. The Cretan spoke ninth in order, as the acts preserve, indeed twice. Unlike at earlier councils, he is not recorded as metropolitan of Gortyna but as "the one of Crete". In his confession he said that he had never ceased to honour the holy icons. All signed the decisions of the council, the bishops and the two abbots, and only the bishops signed the dogmatic definition. He is commemorated on the Sunday between 11 and 17 October (new style), together with the other holy hierarchs of Gortyna.