Elias Iorest

Holy Hierarch and Confessor Elias Iorest was Metropolitan of Transylvania from 1640 to 1643 and suffered imprisonment for defending the Orthodox faith against Calvinist pressure. He was a monk at Putna and died there on 12 March 1678.

In 1643 Prince George Rákóczi demanded that he spread a Calvinist catechism among the Romanians. The saint refused and was thrown into prison, where he endured many dishonours, beatings and insults; he was held nine months and released, according to some sources, in exchange for a thousand thalers. He then withdrew to Putna Monastery and was buried outside the great church, on the eastern side.

The Romanian Orthodox Church canonized him in 1955, together with Saint Sava Brancovici. He is commemorated on 24 April (new style), alongside Simion Ștefan and Sava Brancovici, the metropolitans of Transylvania.