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Elias the New of Sicily

A new Joseph the All-comely, Saint Elias was initiated into the Divine Council through dreams and visions. As such, he was able to accurately foretell future events, including his being taken as a slave to North Africa. There he was bought by a wealthy Christian merchant whose household was blessed due to the presence of the Saint. The Devil attempted to bring about his downfall by stoking lustful thoughts in his Master’s wife who continually tried to seduce him by her charms. When he firmly resisted all her advances, she was enraged and, like Potiphar’s wife, accused him of defiling her to her husband. Subjected to ill treatment, he endured patiently until the day the woman was caught in adultery. The truth of her character having been revealed, he was set free from slavery as a recompense. In another vision he was granted the grace of healing, and he traveled throughout Africa, Palestine, and the Mediterranean revealing the judgment of God and delivering people from illness. The Lord also granted him the grace to cast out demons, and he freed four men under torment by our invisible foes when he was forced to take refuge in Patras while on a journey to Rome. When asked how best to conquer our enemy, his advice was the same whether he was speaking to the lowest peasant or an Imperial General – sanctify the soul and deliverance will follow. By his answer he reinforced the reality that, except for a particular purpose of God, our physical condition often reflects our spiritual condition.

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