Venerable Elias of Egypt

Life

Elias struggled ascetically near Antinopolis, the chief city of the Thebaid. He lived seventy years in the harsh and inaccessible rocks of the desert. He fed only on bread and dates, and in his youth he fasted for whole weeks at a time. He healed all afflictions and infirmities in people. He trembled all over from old age. He reposed in the one hundred and tenth year of his life and departed into the joy of his Lord. "Guard your mind from evil thoughts about your neighbors, knowing that demons introduce them with the purpose of drawing the mind away from seeing its own sins and from striving toward God."