Elpidius (correspondent of Nilus of Ancyra)

Elpidius is known only as a correspondent of Nilus of Ancyra (d. c. 430), and the letters under his name in fact address two different men: most are written to Elpidius the Monk, while one (642) rebukes Elpidius the Goldsmith. The monk is the principal figure: Nilus first instructs him on purity of conscience, then guides him through a protracted spiritual crisis in which, after long years of solitary life in the wilderness, he is so overwhelmed by demonic dread that he can no longer bear his cell. Nilus advises him to take in a devout companion to chant and keep vigil with him, reassures him that the holy angel will rout the 'demon of cowardice,' and finally rejoices that after eight months the spirit has departed and Elpidius again dwells alone in his cell with confidence. He is thus an ascetic under Nilus's direction in the early-5th-century Ancyra (Galatia) milieu, otherwise unattested apart from these letters.