Elias of Enna
| Saint Elias of Enna | |
|---|---|
 SS. Elias and Filarete | |
| Born | Enna |
| Died | Thessaloniki |
| Venerated in | Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy |
Saint Elias of Enna, aka Giovanni Rachites (ίωάννης ῥαχίτης ) (822/823 in Enna – August 17, 903 in Thessaloniki), venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Elias is also known as Saint Elias the Younger, or Junior, to distinguish him from the biblical prophet Elijah. He lived a very adventurous life during the ninth century and was the protagonist of repeated ups and downs.
Biography
The Arab invasion of Sicily Giovanni forced to abandon the town, which was conquered by the Saracens in 859, despite its validity as a military stronghold. The Arabs still managed to imprison Elias, who was so taken in Africa to be sold as a slave. After having managed to free, Elias decided to preach the Gospel, putting more times to risk his own life, and arrived in Palestine, he received the monastic habit from the Patriarch of Jerusalem. After three years in a monastery of Sinai, Brother Elias undertaken an adventurous travel series, going first to Alexandria in Egypt, and Persia, Antioch and again in the black continent. After 878 Syracuse also fell into Arab hands, Elias returned to the island, where he met his elderly mother in Palermo and Taormina met Daniel, his new disciple. Going north, Elias lived in Calabria, where he founded in the year 884, in the "Valley of Salt" and precisely on Mount Aulinas (now Mount Saint Elias the town of Palmi, that he in fact gets its name), a monastery in later named after him. The Arab invasions repair Elias did before in Greece, Patras, and then the mountains of Aspromonte, at Santa Caterina.
Elias where he went on a pilgrimage to Rome. The adventures, the wonders and the vast work of evangelization that Elias had done on three continents extended his fame to Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Philosopher said, invited him to stay. Elias, however, now seventy, though he had begun the journey to Constantinople, fell ill and died in Thessaloniki. The most faithful friend and companion, the monk Daniel, Elias bury him in the monastery of Monte Aulinas, at Palmi, founded by the saint.
Places of worship dedicated to the saint
in Italy is dedicated to the saint of Enna the following churches:
- Church of Saint Elias of Palmi;
- Orthodox Monastery of Saints Elias and Filaret of Seminara;
- Church of Saint Elias of Reggio Calabria.
Bibliography
- Giuseppe Rossi Taibbi, The Life of St. Elias the Younger, Institute for Byzantine Studies and Neoellenici Siciliano Of 1962
- A. Basile, the new monastery of St. Elias and St. Philaret at Seminara in ASCL XIV, 1945, n. 2;
- N. Ferrante, The Monastery of St. Elianovo and Philaretos Seminara in Historica XXXII (1979);
- Anonymous (Monaco), Life and Works Of Our Holy Father Elijah Young (Siculus) (ed. editorial and translation into modern Greek Monaco Hagiorite Cosma, Stefano Italian translation of the Island), Joseph Pontari Editore, Rome