Elias the Egyptian

Holy Martyr Elias the Egyptian of Caesarea in Palestine is counted among the twelve martyrs who suffered at Caesarea in the time of the persecution begun by the emperor Diocletian, in the years 308 and 309. The others are the priest Pamphilus, the deacon Valens, and Paul, Porphyrius, Seleucus, Theodulus, Julian, Samuel, Daniel, Jeremiah and Isaiah.

Saint Pamphilus, born at Berytus (present-⁠day Beirut) and educated in Alexandria, was a priest at Caesarea. He laboured much at comparing and correcting the texts of the New Testament, which copyists had damaged, and he copied the corrected texts and sent them to those who wanted them, so that many pagans were turned to Christ. Through his care a rich library of spiritual books was gathered at Caesarea. Blessed Jerome greatly honoured him and counted himself happy to have some of his manuscripts. Pamphilus was helped by the deacon Valens of the church of Aelia, an old man well versed in Holy Scripture, and by Paul, who burned with love for Christ. All three were held for two years in prison by the governor Urban. Under his successor Firmilian, one hundred and thirty Christians from Egypt were condemned and sent to the gold mines of Cilicia. Five young brothers accompanied them to the place of exile, and on the way back they were seized at Caesarea and thrown into prison for confessing Christ.

The youths were brought to trial before Firmilian together with those imprisoned earlier. They gave the names of the Old Testament prophets, Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel and Daniel, and when asked about their homeland, they answered that they were citizens of Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem. Firmilian knew of no such city, for in place of Jerusalem, destroyed by Titus in the year 70, the emperor Hadrian had built a city then called Aelia Hadriana. He tormented them for a long time to learn where the unknown city lay and to bend them to apostasy. Having failed, he ordered them beheaded together with Pamphilus, Valens and Paul. Of Elias the page says only that he was among the five brothers.

Before this, Porphyrius, the eighteen-⁠year-⁠old servant of the priest Pamphilus, gentle and humble, had suffered. Hearing the sentence of the martyrs, he asked leave to bury their bodies after death, and for this he was killed and burned on a pyre. Seleucus, a devout Christian and former soldier, witnessed his suffering. He went to Pamphilus before the execution and told him how Porphyrius had ended, was seized by the soldiers and beheaded with the others. Theodulus, one of the governor's servants, an old man and a secret Christian, kissed the martyrs as they were led to death and asked them to pray for him. He was brought to Firmilian and crucified. Julian, a youth from Cappadocia, saw at Caesarea the saints' bodies lying unburied, knelt and kissed them; soldiers seized him and Firmilian condemned him to be burned.

The bodies of the twelve martyrs lay four days unburied, yet neither beasts nor birds touched them. Disturbed, the pagans allowed the Christians to take them and bury them. The Church commemorates the twelve martyrs on 1 March, in the new style.