Elias and companions

Who is Elias and companions?

Elias and four companions, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Samuel were Egyptian martyrs who visited Christians condemned for life to slave work in the mines of Roman Cilicia, during Maximinus' persecution, to comfort them. In 309, on their return to Egypt, they were stopped at the gates of Caesarea, Palestine, and questioned. Upon confessing the reason for their journey, they were arrested and brought before the provincial governor Firmilian, who interrogated them further. Accused of being Christians, they were all tortured and then beheaded. St. Pamphilus was also caught up in the martyrdom, sharing Elias’ fate. When Porphyry, a servant of Pamphilus, demanded that the bodies be buried, he was tortured and then burned to death when it was found that he was a Christian. St. Seleucus witnessed his death and applauded his constancy in the face of this terrible death; whereupon he was arrested by the soldiers involved in the execution, brought before the governor, and was beheaded at Firmilian's order. The historian Eusebius was in Caesarea, and gave a vivid account of their martyrdom by torture and beheading.

St. Elias and companions' feast day is on February 16.