Elias of Thessalonica

Saint Elias of Thessalonica was archbishop of Thessalonica in the time of the preparations for the Fifth Ecumenical Council. On 6 January 553 he signed, together with Apollinarius of Alexandria and Domninus of Antioch, the letter that Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople, who had taken the initiative of convening the Council, sent to Pope Vigilius. The letter expressed the urgent need to preserve the unity of the Church.

For unknown reasons Elias did not take part in the work of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, which met the same year (5 May to 2 June 553). He was represented by his titular bishop of Heraclea in Macedonia, Benignus, who signed in the acts preserved in Latin translation as "acting in the place of the most holy archbishop Elias of the city of Thessalonica". The name of Archbishop Elias, as a participant, is also entered in the work of Patriarch Germanus I of Constantinople, On the Holy Councils. He is venerated at Thessalonica.