died 1188
A monk of the Kiev Near Caves traditionally linked in Russian memory with a warrior figure, remembered as a wonderworker and ascetic.
Venerable Elias of Murom, Wonderworker of the Kiev Near Caves
Venerable Elias of Murom was a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery whose relics rest in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony. He came from the city of Murom and bore the monastic nickname "Shoemaker" or "Cobbler." Remembered as a wonderworker and ascetic, he is principally commemorated on December 19, with additional observances on the Second Sunday of Great Lent and on June 10, June 23, and September 28.
According to the tradition received in the sources, Elias died in 1188. His incorrupt relics are preserved at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, and he was glorified in 1643. A distinctive feature noted in his memory is that he reposed with the fingers of his right hand formed to make the Sign of the Cross — the first three fingers held together and the two outermost fingers folded onto the palm.
Popular legend identifies Elias with the famous warrior hero of the same name who is celebrated in Russian ballads and inspired Gliere's Symphony No. 3. The sources caution, however, that there is no strong basis for the validity of this identification, and the saint is venerated for his monastic sanctity rather than for any martial career.
The position of the saint's right hand, preserved on his relics, became significant during the controversy with the Old Ritualists in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Because his fingers were arranged in the manner accepted in the Orthodox Church — the first three fingers together with the two outermost folded onto the palm — this detail was cited as evidence in favor of the established positioning of the fingers for the Sign of the Cross.
In Russian popular memory Elias of Murom is linked with a warrior figure of the same name. By tradition he was also called Chobotok ("Boot" in Old Russian), a name said to derive from an incident in which he fought off enemies using only his boot. A 1988 archaeological examination of the relics reported that the skeleton showed signs of great height, spinal disease, and numerous wounds — details that some have taken as consistent with the legendary accounts, though the sources continue to hedge the warrior identification itself.