Elias I, Patriarch of Antioch

Elias I, Patriarch of Antioch

Elias (Elijah) was a Malkite, who after reading the writings of Severus of Antioch, embraced the Syrian Orthodox faith. He became a monk at the Outer Gubba Monastery. Because of his piety and learning, he was ordained  bishop of Apamea around 691. Later he was elevated to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch on the See of Antioch in 709. Elias was very scrupulous in attending personally to the affairs of his congregation. He died in 723 at eighty-two years of age. 

Of his writings that have come down to us is a lengthy letter which he wrote while still a bishop, in reply to Leo, the Malkite bishop of Harran, apologizing for forsaking the doctrine of the two natures. In this letter, divided into twelve chapters and covering forty pages, Elias refuted the questions raised by Leo and proved with evidence the soundness of his newly embraced doctrine. He also combined an apology and a disputation, citing as testimonies famous church fathers, such as Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose and Cyril. He also cited the Syriac Mor Simon d-beth Zayte; and the Melkite Bishop John of Damascus, George, bishop of Miyapharqin and Constantine of Harran. A complete copy of this letter is at the Vatican Library, with a table of contents containing the titles of chapters. Another version which is imperfect in the British Museum, written on vellum in the Estrangelo script. Of this version portions of chapter seven as well as the last four chapters survive. Also at the British Museum is an extract of the letter of Patriarch Elijah to the clergy of the village of Ruhin, in the province of Antioch. In writing it, he was assisted by Mor George, bishop of the diocese of Ruhin.

Sources: 

• Patriarch Ignatius Aphram I Barsoum (2003), The Scattered Pearls, A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, Translated and Edited by Matti Moosa, New Jersey