Elias 23 was a Stoudite monk, addressee of a letter from Theodoros 15 (Theodore the Stoudite), written between 821 and 826, in which his career as a monk is summarised; he became a monk voluntarily (αὐθαιρέτως: p. 642, line 5) and served obediently (ὑπετάγης εὐηκόως: p. 642, line 5), but then left the monastery (ἀπορρήξας τῆς θείας συναφείας: p. 642, lines 5-6); he returned to it, left a second time and then returned once more promising to be more reliable in future (ὑποσχόμενος τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς ἀσφάλειαν: p. 642, line 8); however when the monks who went into exile under the emperor Nikephoros 8 returned, Elias did not return with them (οὐ συνῆλθες τοῖς λοιποῖς, ἀλλ' ἔμεινας ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ δελεαζόμενος: p. 642, lines 9-10); he had still not yet returned to the monastery when Theodoros 15 wrote this letter to him, during the reign of the fourth emperor since Nikephoros 8 (i.e. Michael II (Michael 10)), urging him to return together with Silas 1 (another monk who had also left the monastery): Theod. Stud., Ep. 453, p. 642 (addressed Ἠλίᾳ τέκνῳ). The exile under Nikephoros 8 was presumably that in February 809, arising from the Moechian controversy; the monks returned after the death of Nikephoros 8 and Staurakios 2, in 811.

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