Who is the prophet Elijah and why do Orthodox Christians revere him?

People have always been interested in the spiritual side of life. Since ancient times, the realization has come that everything cannot be so meaningless. It was precisely in search of the essence that humanity came, in part, to religion, philosophy and atheism. If the latter categories are more aimed at understanding the role of a person, then the first is at relationships with a higher principle.

How can one understand God if no one has seen him? That's what prophets are for. These are soothsayers or mediators who are able to hear and convey the will of the Lord to ordinary people.

Prophets in different religions

Soothsayer, interpreter, “speaker forward.” These synonyms show how people understood the term "prophet". This is the definition of the word, but not its deep meaning. Such people are known in all religions of the Near and Middle East. In some faiths there was only one such person (Zoroastrianism - Zatarushtra), in others there were many. But Islam most precisely defines the task of the prophets.

The Koran says that such people are sent to Earth to return humanity to monotheism.

Next we will talk about traditional religions and the role assigned to the concept of “prophet” in them. The analysis of their activities will be carried out gradually.

Brief Analysis

Before reading this analysis, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the poem The Prophet.

History of creation - the work was created in 1826, on the Mikhailovskoye estate after the poet learned about the execution of his Decembrist friends.

The theme of the poem is the origin and purpose of the poet.

Composition - According to its meaning, the poem can be divided into two parts: a story about how a seraphim turned a man into a poet-prophet, an angel’s appeal to his creation. The work is not divided into stanzas.

Genre: ode.

Metaphors - “we are tormented by spiritual thirst”, “I heard the trembling of the sky”, “he came to my lips and tore out my sinful tongue”, “he pushed a coal blazing with fire into my open chest”, “burn the hearts of people with a verb”.

Epithets – “six-winged seraph”, “mountain flight”, “valley vine”, “sinful tongue”, “idle and wicked” language.

Eliyahu (Elijah)

One of the most famous prophets of Israel, who lived in the ninth century BC. He was born and raised in the town of Thisva. Translated from Hebrew, his name means “my God.” In the Russian-language tradition, this name is read “Ilya” (Ilia).

As a champion of the true faith, Elijah opposed King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, who decided to return the cult of Baal and Ashtoreth to Israel.

In the process of fighting the rulers, he showed several miracles. For example, the rains stopped for a while, and then, at his word, it began to rain. He caused hunger and brought down fire from heaven to earth. It is also believed that he was fed by birds and angels. For his merits, Elijah was taken alive into heaven. It is precisely this example of virtue and defense of the faith that illustrates what a “prophet” is.

He is revered not only in Christianity. In Judaism they believe that he should anoint the Messiah; in Islam, Elijah is known as Ilyas.

Even in Orthodoxy, he is famous for his fiery chariot, the only attribute that is repeated in all religions.

Notes

1. [www.krotov.info/library/bible/comm3/maliye.html Article From the “Bibliological Dictionary” by priest Alexander Men]
2. Aizenstadt Sh.
   [www.bookland.ru/book1948060.htm Prophets. Their era and social teaching] = The Prophets. Their Times and Social Ideas / Translation by T. I. Gvozdyukevich, edited by N. Golubev. General edition by K. Burmistrova. - M.: Parallels, 2004. - P. 248. - (Monuments of socio-historical life). — 1000 copies. — ISBN 5-98370-014-6.
3. [www.portal-slovo.ru/theology/44610.php Hieromonk Dionysius (Shlenov). Gethsemane prayer in the light of the Christology of St. Maximus the Confessor.]
4. [cyberleninka.ru/article/n/hristologicheskaya-polemika-prpepodobnogo-maksima-ispovednika-i-vyhod-islama-na-stsenu-mirovoy-istoriiG.I. Benevich CHRISTOLOGICAL POLEMICA St. MAXIM OF THE CONFESSOR AND THE ENTRY OF ISLAM ON THE STAGE OF WORLD HISTORY.//State, religion, church in Russia and abroad. Issue No. 3 / 2010]

Joshua

If you thoroughly study the sources regarding the term “prophet”, the analysis will give unexpected results. Such people were not always peaceful, and often, judging by the Bible, very warlike.

Joshua, the son of Nab, originally called Hosea, received his name from Moses. They emerged from Egyptian slavery together, and soon he was already commanding a detachment of Jews. Subsequently, Joshua becomes the direct successor of Moses and leads the expansion of the Israelites into the Holy Land.

First of all, with the help of angels, he levels Jericho to the ground. This city was famous for its impenetrable walls, but thanks to a certain ritual they turned to dust.

During his conquests, he wipes out the population of the captured cities. He subjugated the entire land from Gaza to Gibeon to the people of Israel and called for them to worship only the Lord, and not different gods, as in Egypt.

Thus, we have understood a little about the concept of a prophet - who he is, what such figures did, judging by the Christian and Jewish traditions. Now let's see what Muslims think about this.

The meaning of the word Prophet according to the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary:

Prophet is a biblical term for special messengers of God's will - in both the Old and New Testaments. Hebrew name for the prophet Navi

means “a herald who announces someone’s will,” and translated.
Greek προφήτης - one who speaks on behalf of someone, in this case God. In a further meaning, a prophet is a person who foresees (through special revelations from above) and predicts the future. The patriarchs were at the same time prophets or heralds of the will of God, and Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses and other old righteous people are clearly called such. Over time, prophecy becomes the exclusive affiliation or even the position of a special class of people who constitute a kind of society, or the so-called “hosts”. Prophecy in this sense has received special development since the time of the prophet and judge Samuel, who gave a coherent organization to the prophetic hosts, or schools, making them a source of moral and educational influence on the people. These hosts were communities that consisted of teachers, or fathers, and students, had everything in common, lived in the strictest religious and moral discipline and performed solemn processions, accompanying them with singing and music. From these communities or schools came unyielding guardians and zealots of the covenant, fearless denouncers of idolatry - seasoned men who were not afraid to speak the truth to the face of kings and therefore, although for the most part they ended their lives with martyrdom, however, at times they enjoyed enormous influence and respect, forcing even the proud kings resort to them for advice on difficult days. Since the time of Samuel, prophets have been in continuous succession throughout almost the entire Old Testament history. but prophecy as a social force reached its highest development during the time of the famous prophets Elijah
and
Elisha
, when their hosts or schools numbered hundreds of devoted students and when their teachers or heads had a huge influence not only on the social life of their people, but also far beyond the borders of their country ( for example Elisha, Jonah, etc.).
In the prophetic schools, correct religious and moral education was carried out, which included such educational subjects as singing, music, writing, arithmetic, etc. Subsequently, prophets-writers emerged from these schools, who left behind a rich literature, amazing with the power and beauty of enthusiastic words. Prophetic books were compiled from prophetic literature -
four of which belong to the great prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and twelve minor prophets - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (see .).
I. Christ placed them next to the law of Moses. “The Law and the Prophets” has become a typical expression to denote the entire essence of the Old Testament. With the advent of the New Testament era, prophecy lost its original meaning, and although there is news of several prophets, these are already faint echoes of past greatness. Among the 27 books of the New Testament canon, only one has a prophetic character - the Apocalypse, or the Revelation of John. Literature.
Knobel, "Der Prophetismus der Hebrä.er" (1837).
Kö. ster, "D. Prophet d. A.u. N. Test.” (1838). Tholuck, "D. Propheten und ihre Weissagungen" (2nd ed., 1860). Ewald, "D. Prophet d. A. Bundes" (2nd ed., 1867). Robertson Smith, "The prophets of Israel" (1882). A. Lopukhin, “Biblical history in the light of the latest research and discoveries” (St. Petersburg, 1892-95). A.L.

Types of prophets in Islam

This religion, in the texts of the sacred books and commentaries on them, pays special attention to the prophets. Twenty-eight of them are mentioned. According to the Koran, this category of people is distinguished by the presence of five qualities at the same time.

Firstly, they are always honest, even if something threatens their life.

The next feature is loyalty and commitment to the concepts of honor. That is, they will not let their followers down.

A prophet is a person who is wiser and more understanding than others and surpasses them in everything.

Fourth principle. They convey the words of Allah despite difficulties such as disbelief, aggression and others.

The last quality. These messengers are always sinless both in actions and in thoughts.

So, we figured out what a prophet is in Islam. Let's now see into what categories Muslim theologians divide them.

Firstly, this is “nabi”, which is actually a direct translation of the word “prophet” into Arabic. These people meet the five qualities listed above, but do not receive Allah's message for everyone. Only guidelines in terms of personal actions. They convey to people in subsequent generations what the “rasul” received.

"Rasul-Allah" means "messenger of Allah." This category is revered more than the previous one, because through them covenants and laws are sent to earth. There are fourteen such individuals mentioned in the Qur'an.

The last category is “steadfast in spirit.” This includes both representatives of the “Nabi” and “Rasul”, who during their lifetime were subjected to very difficult tests of faith.

Means of expression

To create the image of a prophet, reveal the stated topic and realize the idea, the author uses means of expression. The biblical component is clearly evident in them. Metaphors predominate in the poem: “we are tormented by spiritual thirst,” “I heard the trembling of the sky,” “he came to my lips and tore out my sinful tongue,” “he pushed a coal, blazing with fire, into my open chest,” “burn the hearts of people with a verb.” Also in the text there are epithets - “six-winged seraph”, “mountain flight”, “valley vine”, “sinful tongue”, language “idle and crafty”, comparisons - “fingers light as a dream”, “the prophetic eyes opened like those of a frightened eagle,” “I lay like a corpse in the desert.”

The system of images determines the features of the lexical composition of the poems, so they contain a lot of church and Old Slavonic vocabulary: seraphim, right hand, voice, God, prophet, see, listen.

Idris

According to scholars of the Holy Scriptures, he is identified with the biblical prophet Enoch. He is a descendant of Adam and Eve's third son Seth. According to the Koran, he lived about 350 years, according to the Bible - 365.

It is believed that Idris passed on knowledge to people about the alphabet, astronomy, and taught how to make clothes. In addition, for his merits he was taken to heaven alive.

The hadith says that during his miraj, Muhammad met him in the fourth heaven. They say that he and Eliyahu will appear before the Second Coming.

Links

• Prophets // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.

• Balaam Bilyam

  Job Job

  Abraham Abraham

  Sarah Sarah

  Isaac Isaac

  Jacob Jacob

  Moses Moshe

  Aaron Aaron

  Miriam Miriam

  Joshua Joshua bin Nun

  Phinehas Pinchas

  Anna Hannah Samuel Shmuel David David Solomon Shlomo Gad Gad Nathan Nathan Ahijah the Shilohite Ahijah HaShiloni

  Jeremiah Yirmeyahu Isaiah Yeshayahu Daniil Daniel Minor prophets: Habakkuk Havakkuk Avdiy Ovadya Haggai Haggai Amos Amos Zechariah Zechariah Joel Yoel Jonah Jonah Malachi Malachi Micah Micah Nahum Nahum Hosea Hoshea Zephaniah Tsfania

  Elisha Elisha Oldama Hulda

  Faces of holiness in Orthodoxy

  Apostle | Unmercenary | Blessed | Blessed | Godfather | Great Martyr | Confessor | Martyr | Righteous | Forefather | Venerable Martyr | Reverend | Reverend Confessor | Prophet | Equal to the Apostles | Saint | Priest Confessor | Hieromartyr | Stylite | Passion-bearer | Miracle Worker | Holy Fool

Nuh

Probably the most famous prophet is Noah or Nuh in the Arabic tradition. Even the most notorious atheists are familiar with his name. Still, judging by the Holy Scriptures, it was he who built the ark and saved representatives of humanity, as well as a couple of each type of animal. That is, it turns out that we owe our existence to him. Let's see what Islam says about this.

Muslims consider Noah to be a messenger who received instructions directly from Allah and passed them on to people. Judging by the Koran, Nuh, at the age of fifty, goes to the “infidels” to guide them on the true path. But all his attempts were unsuccessful. Even his son turned away and joined the pagans.

Then the prophet asks Allah to send troubles on the offenders, in response, the rains stop falling over the fields of the infidels. But it did not help. Then Nuh prays for the destruction of all infidels. An angel comes to him with the news that his request has been heard. It is necessary to plant date pits and begin to build the ark. When these trees bear fruit, there will be a great flood. Only those on the ship will be saved.

About 80 people and many different birds and animals survived the disaster. Nuh is often called the “second Adam.” The modern races are believed to have descended from his sons.

Elijah's day

After the adoption of Christianity, the day of remembrance of the Prophet Elijah became dedicated to the traditional folk holiday of the eastern and southern Slavs. The celebration was called Elijah's Day.

Elijah the prophet with his life and deesis. From the Church of Elijah the Prophet in the Vybuty churchyard, near Pskov. End of the 12th century. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Elijah's day was considered the boundary of the seasons, while among the southern Slavs (for example, in Macedonia) this day was called the middle of summer, and in Russia - the turn to winter. Rain was expected after Ilyin's day. On this day they began to enjoy the fruits of the new harvest. The Slavs associated the holiday with a wedding and the symbolism of fertility: they prayed for a rich harvest, and girls prayed for getting married.

Celebrating this holiday began the day before - on the Thursday before Elijah's Day, when ritual cookies were baked in some areas, or from Marina Lazoreva, when they stopped doing field work.

In addition, on the eve of Elijah's Day, they took precautions to protect their home, farm and crops from rain, hail or lightning.

On this day, prayer services were held in the field and in churches and chapels dedicated to Elijah the Prophet (often established by vow); in some places the peasants had fasted throughout the previous week; they fumigated the house and buildings with incense, took out of the house or hid all shiny, sparkling objects in order to protect themselves from the wrath of Elijah.

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In Rus', almost everywhere, an obligatory rite of Elijah’s day was a collective meal (“brotherhood”) with the slaughter of a ram or a bull purchased by pooling. In addition, beer or wort was brewed for Ilya's brotherhood. Such fraternities ended with youth festivities, games, round dances and songs. The organizers of Ilya's brotherhood, unlike other holidays, were men.

Elijah's Day was considered the calendar boundary of the seasons, when the first signs of autumn appeared in nature and the behavior of animals, birds and insects changed.

Ibrahim

In the Middle East, the most revered prophet is Abraham, or Ibrahim. He is called the ancestor of the Jews and Arabs. From his son Ismail came the Arabs, and from Isaac the Israelis.

Ibrahim is recognized as Rasul and the first person who began to preach monotheism. The verses of the Koran say that he was disappointed in the representatives of his people who worshiped idols, and began to call on them to change their faith. They wanted to burn Abraham for damaging the temple, but the angels carried him and his relative Lut to Palestine.

Here Ibrahim builds the Kaaba, from a barren wife, thanks to prayers, he has a son. He undergoes a test of faith when Allah asks him to sacrifice his child.

In principle, Muslims consider this prophet to be a Hanif. This word means that he was respectable and faithful, but did not preach Islam, since this religion did not yet exist.

Names

The names of 25 prophets are mentioned directly in the Quran. Six more prophets (Shis, Khidr, Yusha, Shamun, Hanzala and Ishmail) came down from collections of hadiths. The names of Luqman, Uzair and Dhu-l-Qarnain are not included in the list, since according to some sources they are not prophets, but righteous people.

Yusuf

According to the Scriptures, this man had a very beautiful appearance and the gift of correctly interpreting dreams. For these virtues, his older brothers hated him and threw him into a well so that the caravan workers would find him and sell him into slavery.

The father, Yakub, was told that his youngest son had been torn to pieces by a wolf. But the prophet Yusuf was able not only to survive, but also to succeed significantly. At first he became the favorite of all the capital's Egyptian women, but because of his refusal to share a bed with the pharaoh's wife, he ended up in prison. They released him from there only after he correctly interpreted the dream for Pharaoh and saved the Egyptian people from hunger.

Subsequently, the prophet Yusuf becomes a government official, guardian of food and takes his relatives to him from hungry Palestine.

Prophecy of the books of TaNaKh [↑]

The books of the TaNaKh arose as a result of prophetic revelation: the appearance of each of them was preceded by a separate prophecy of a special level. For example, Chumash (Pentateuch) was written down by Moshe (Moses) under the influence of the highest level of prophecy.

The remaining books in the section of the Prophets (Nevi'im) are of a level that is lower than the level of prophecy in Chumash. And the books of the Scriptures - Ketuvim - were written down as a result of the descent on man of the “ruach ha-kodesh” (spirit of holiness) - the lowest level of prophecy (and, according to a number of opinions, a mystical experience, the level of which is lower than prophecy).

Muhammad

Without a doubt, the Prophet Muhammad is the most revered historical figure in the entire Arab world. He is considered a messenger, and after mentioning his name, devout Muslims always add “peace and blessings from Allah be upon him.” Judging by research data, this man lived only sixty-one years, but the legacy that has remained through the centuries still plays an important role.

Sharia (religious, moral and ethical norms), which the Prophet Muhammad brought to people, is considered the only true one in Islam. Arab scholars say that each messenger of God came to earth with a set of rules for his era, and so Mohammed was the last of a series of prophets. The next phenomenon will mark the beginning of the Day of Judgment.

Thus, in this article we figured out who the prophets are and got acquainted with some of them.

Good luck, dear readers!

Copyright

The book will go into the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2019, although it is already in the public domain in the European Union, Canada, Russia, South Africa and Australia

Gibran made a will that the rights to his works after his death would belong to his hometown of Bishari in Lebanon. In 1935, the Gibran National Committee (GNC) was created, located in the city of Bsharri, which runs the Gibran Museum. This non-profit organization has exclusive rights to Gibran's literary and artistic works. In 2009, the committee transferred exclusive rights to create a film based on the Prophet

The Prophet, LLC, located in the USA.

How to reach the prophetic level? [↑]

The Rambam in “The Laws of the Fundamentals of the Torah” (chapter 7 of Halachah 1) describes in detail what a person must be like in order to be worthy of prophecy.

First of all, he must be a great sage. His mind must always prevail over his evil nature and any bad motives, and logical analysis, even in the most difficult issues, must always come to the right conclusions.

These are not the only requirements. A “candidate” for prophet must be physically healthy so that his body and soul are in a state of harmony. After all, poor health negatively affects a person’s mood and perception, and this, in turn, will become an obstacle to his connection with the Almighty.

And finally, he must be rich. We are, of course, not talking about huge capitals—we need wealth, which is written about in Pirkei Avot (chapter 4 of Halachah 1): “Who is rich? He who is satisfied with his lot...”, that is, a prophet can only be one who is happy with what he has and does not grieve for what he does not have.

According to Rambam, if a person who has all the above-mentioned virtues begins to delve deeper into the study of the universe and the essence of the Creator and manages to correctly understand what he learns, and moves away from worldly affairs and the pursuit of fame, honor and material enrichment, and all his thoughts will always be directed to comprehend the wisdom of the Most High and the greatness of the Creator through the study of His creations, from the simplest to the highest angels - a prophetic gift will immediately descend on such a person! And after this, the person will instantly understand and feel that he is no longer who he was before, but is one step above all other people.

Prophecy among the peoples of the world [↑]

The Torah itself tells us the name of only one non-Jewish prophet - Bilam, who intended to curse the Jewish people after leaving Egypt, but was subsequently forced to bless them.

Our sages explain why the Most High, who entered into an alliance with the people of Israel, needed a non-Jewish prophet: he was needed so that the peoples of the world could not make a claim to the Most High that if they had a prophet like Moses, then they would also follow the path of truth and goodness. The nations of the world had no other prophets like Bilam.