His life, as detailed in the Bible, appears to be a continuous miracle. Ascetic feats unimaginable for an ordinary person, dozens of miracles performed - evidence of an unshakable, ardent faith that does not tolerate a shadow of doubt. Finally, instead of the usual death for all people, Elijah the Prophet ascends alive to Paradise on a chariot of fire. All this is about the great prophet, whose name is consonant with his life, because it is translated from Hebrew as “My God is the Lord.”
Saint Elijah the Prophet, icon with life in 26 hallmarks
What the Bible Says
His name appears on the pages of 1 Kings only in its 17th chapter. The first 16 in a few words contain the story of the brilliance, greatness, and then the spiritual fall of the chosen people:
- the death of the greatest - and humblest - of the kings of Israel, David, the man of prayer, the psalmist;
- the reign of the wise Solomon, the construction of the temple, the prosperity of Judea, glorious throughout the world at that time, when, it seemed, nothing could shake the people of God;
- strife among the Jews after the death of Solomon, the division of the kingdom, and then the most terrible thing, the trampling of faith in the True God, who gave Israel earthly prosperity and many spiritual gifts.
Briefly, very sparingly, as if the very mention of this causes pain to the writer, the Bible tells about successive kings, who increasingly instilled a pagan idol service that was once completely unthinkable for Jews, about weak attempts to turn away from the disastrous path, and then - new falls. When, it seems, there is no hope left for the people, the Lord Himself comes to the rescue, raising up a representative of His will, a prophet.
Apostate Tsar
Just before St. Elijah, by the will of God, began a ministry that was hardly imaginable among Israel. King Ahab, who married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the rich, influential city of Sedan, Jezebel, built a temple to the one whom the faithful Israelis revered as a demon - the Phoenician god Baal.
However, the tsar himself did not completely renounce the faith. Modern theologians point out: his children retained Jewish names - Hunting, which means “Yahweh holds”, Joram (“Yahweh is high”). The marriage with Jezebel itself was more political: after all, the king so needed an alliance with Sidon in the then difficult political situation. Ahab can be called a religiously indifferent ruler rather than an ardent pagan.
However, he did not prevent his wife from giving orders for the execution of the most active opponents of the royal apostasy - the prophets of God, of whom, as the Bible tells, only no more than a hundred were saved from execution, through the efforts of the courtier - also a prophet - Obadiah. Supporters of the true faith were politically inconvenient and interfered with the good of the kingdom - of course, as the politician Ahab understood it. The will of God turned out to be different.
Miracles
One day a complete stranger came to the king. Tall, already elderly, with a face darkened by a tan, he, without even bothering to greet the sovereign, said firmly:
“As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand! in these years there will be neither dew nor rain, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1).
The Bible did not preserve the king's answer. Perhaps because he simply was not there: the confused Ahab could only remain silent. Elijah was not even driven out of the palace - having come according to the word of God, he also left, going to the Horath River to await the will of the Lord for the future. At the same time, the land of Israel was struck by a terrible drought that lasted for three whole years.
This was the first of many miracles performed by the saint - or, more precisely, by God Himself through Elijah, who, apparently, had long become His chosen vessel, although the Bible says nothing about his ascetic path.
The following three years of God’s wrath, which were extremely difficult for the Jews, were the time when the spiritual gifts of the prophet manifested themselves with particular force:
- obedient to the word of the Creator, he spent some time on Horath, where a raven miraculously brought him bread;
- when the water dried up from the heat, Elijah, also at the voice of God, went to the Phoenician city of Zarephath; a widow dying of hunger shared her last food with him, knowing that she and her son would soon die; a woman’s mercy attracts God’s grace: throughout the drought, the widow’s oil and flour, through the prayer of the prophet, do not dry out;
- when the widow's son died of illness, St. Elijah boldly turned to God with a request to resurrect the deceased, and the Lord listened to His servant.
“The Lord is God!” - competition with the pagans
But the most remarkable of the miracles of St. Elijah became the conversion to faith of all the people who had apostatized from God. After three years, again submissive to the will of God, the saint went to meet Ahab, whereas earlier he had shied away from the king who was looking for him. Having announced to him that the wrath of the Lord had befallen the Jews for the wickedness of the ruler, the prophet demanded a contest with the pagan priests on Mount Carmel.
Two altars were erected here, but, according to the prophet, they did not light a fire, so that the truth of faith in Baal or Yahweh would be confirmed by the descent of fire from heaven. For a long time, his priests appealed to Baal to no avail. Finally, exhausted, they fell silent. Then Elijah ordered a lot of water to be poured onto his altar, so that the ditch around it was also filled. Through the saint’s prayer, “the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and consumed the water that was in the ditch.” (1 Kings 18:38). The conversion of the people was instantaneous and sincere: crying and exclamations were heard from everywhere: “The Lord is God! The Lord is God!
At these cries of the people, Elijah personally killed each of the false prophets of Baal, and there were four hundred and fifty of them.
And after a short time the long-awaited downpour began.
Cave on Mount Horeb
It seemed that true faith had triumphed, but Ahab, although repentant, remained a politician, or perhaps just a weak man who could not resist the zealous pagan, his own wife. Enraged by the murder of the Baal priests, she directly threatened Elijah with death.
The unarmed prophet was not a warrior or a hero, but only an instrument of the Lord. Fearing for his life, he went into the desert, asking, as the Bible says, for death from the Lord. During this sorrow, the Lord did not abandon His servant: the Angel strengthened him, commanding him to go to Mount Horeb. Here, in the cave, the spiritual growth of the ascetic apparently ended. The Bible testifies to him in few words - it is only clear that Elijah was worthy of Communion with God, for the Lord said to him:
“... go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, and behold, the Lord will pass by, and a great and strong wind will tear apart the mountains and break the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord will not be in the wind; after the wind there is an earthquake, but the Lord is not in the earthquake; after the earthquake there is fire, but the Lord is not in the fire; after the fire there is a still breath, and the Lord is there” (1 Kings 19:11-12).
At the same time, Elijah was given the last commands of God during his earthly life, among which was the anointing to serve as a prophet “in place of himself,” and preparation for the exodus from the world.
Prophet of God Elijah (+VIDEO)
July 20 / August 2 The Church honors the prophet Elijah. Archpriest Andrei Tkachev talks about how the events of Old Testament history relate to our time, why Elijah is a New Testament prophet, and the spiritual lessons of the prophet of God.
Dear lovers of God! Today we will talk about the greatest man in the history of the world, one of the most significant figures of the Old and New Testaments - the prophet of God Elijah.
Many people believe that there is no need to know the Old Testament. This is a huge mistake!
I’ll start with the fact that in our Eastern Christian tradition of Orthodoxy, in particular in Russian Orthodoxy - I don’t really know how it is with the Georgians and Serbs, but it seems to me that they, just like us, have no tradition, unfortunately, to dedicate temples of God to the holy characters of the Old Testament. For example, I don’t know of a single parish in our country in honor of Moses, not a single parish in honor of Isaiah, not a single parish in honor of Jeremiah, which, in general, is found in the Western tradition. We have a certain lacuna here, a gap for some reason... If, for example, there were a feast of the prophet Jeremiah, solemnly celebrated annually at the coming of the prophet Jeremiah, we would read his book, we would preach about him, we would know more about him, we would loved him more. The same would have happened with Isaiah, and with Moses, and with the other prophets of the Old Testament. And this would fill our ignorance of the Old Testament. And this ignorance is amazing. Very many of us not only do not know, but believe that there is no need to know the Old Testament. This is a huge mistake!
The exception is the prophet Elijah. There are Ilyinsky churches in Rus' - and there are many of them. And one of the most important churches is the one on the current Kiev Podol: it fulfilled a historical mission, the adoption of Christianity by Russia is associated with it, Russians were baptized here.
There is a strong belief that Elijah should intervene in the most significant historical events
Elijah is known to us and loved by us. At the same time, he is extremely famous and loved by Jews. Suffice it to say that to this day Jews, when they circumcise their boys - on the eighth day of male infants - specially place an empty chair for Elijah to see if Elijah will come to anoint this man and indicate his chosenness. Remember that when the Lord cried out on the cross: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” - “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”, the Jews began to say to each other: “He is calling Elijah. Let's see if Elijah will come to save Him." As we see, there is a firm conviction that Elijah must intervene in the most significant historical events, in everything that concerns the final destinies of the world. And the soul of this person is so broad and ardent that it contains the problems of the most important - the utmost importance - phenomena. And he has the power to influence the events of world history.
Prophet of God Elijah
His life passed against the backdrop of the most difficult trials for God’s people and the deepest falling away from truth and truth. In general, the lives of saints take place against the backdrop - just as in a theater an actor plays against a backdrop or some kind of scenery. And the setting for a saint is often absolute wickedness. For Abraham, Sodom is such a setting, an eerie backdrop. Abraham acts against the backdrop of Sodom, where his nephew has gone; Abraham fights with the princes of Sodom; Abraham receives three angels going to Sodom to test him and find out whether everything is happening there as heard in heaven, because the cry of Sodom rises to heaven. Abraham and Sodom are related by contrast. Every holy person lives against the backdrop of terrible ugliness. It's the same with Elijah.
Elijah lives against the backdrop of Ahab and Jezebel. Ahab, the Israeli king, openly introduced the cult of Baal into his country, planted sacred groves, erected images and idols, and from the table of Jezebel, his wife, hundreds of prophets and priests of Baal and Ashtoreth were fed, whose so-called divine services were accompanied by ritual fornication, bloodshed and everything that in our country cannot be combined with the concept of worship. At this time, the name of God is forgotten. At this time, people en masse fall into idolatry. And idolatry is not just throwing a seed on the altar in front of an image. Idolatry is necessarily fornication and debauchery. These are holidays that consist of musical processions, some satanic antipodes of religious processions. This is incest, this is unnatural male and female prostitution, this is sacrifices, including children’s, this is such a whirlwind of lawlessness in which a person loses the image not only of God, but also of man, and forgets everything sacred. People plunge into the mystical depths of depravity. Debauchery is mysticism, idolatry is spiritual fornication. Spiritual fornication leads to physical fornication in various satanic forms. And at this time, when the name of God is forgotten, the chosen ones barely pronounce it, and even then in a whisper and secretly, Elijah comes - comes straight to Ahab.
Elijah, whose name means “My God is the Lord,” and takes on this mission to affirm that there is no other God but the Lord
The name Elijah is made up of two words: Elijah and Yahweh. "Eliya" is God, and "Yahweh" is the Lord. That is, the name means “My God is the Lord.” This name says: there is no other God except Yahweh. And Elijah takes on this mission - to assert that there is no other God but Yahweh. And anyone who calls Elijah by name is essentially calling on the name of the Living God.
Elijah comes to Ahab and threatens him with drought and famine on earth, saying: “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand.” Ahab was afraid of Elijah, always perceived him as an enemy, because the presence of the saint burned and tormented him.
Elijah mirrors the prophet John the Baptist: in the same spirit, John will later come. They dressed similarly: in hair shirts, girded with a leather belt. They did not eat regular food, led an ascetic lifestyle and were virgins. Both of them denounced the kings: Elijah denounced Ahab, John denounced Herod. These kings took wicked wives: Herodias is an exact copy of Jezebel. Both of them pursued the prophets, only Jezebel did not catch up with Elijah, and Herodias shed the blood of John with her cunning and the prodigal dance of her daughter. As you can see, everything is extremely similar and mirrored - the old in the new, and the new in the old.
Elijah preaches famine and closes heaven with prayer for 3 years and 6 months. 3 years and 6 months is a very important period, and it is not in vain that this is emphasized, because this is the time of the reign of the Antichrist. The Apocalypse reveals to us the ultimate wickedness of the world, calculating lawlessness in precisely this period: 3.5 years there will be something terrible and difficult to bear on earth, as it was in the days of Elijah and Ahab.
Prophet of God Elijah
Let us note that the Apostle John in the Council Epistle says: Elijah was a man like us. But he prayed, and the sky did not rain for 3 years and 6 months. And then he prayed again - and the sky gave rain. So he is still an unusual person, distinguished by extreme zeal for the Lord, who can see wickedness and prays to the Living God.
During a drought, Elijah is nourished by a widow in Zarephath of Sidon - a certain Phoenician. The Lord Jesus Christ remembers this in His first sermon - in the Nazareth synagogue: He says that there were many widows in Israel, but Elijah was not sent to any of them, only to the widow in Zarephath of Sidon (see: Luke 4 : 25). This made the Jews terribly angry because it reminded them: God has mercy on the pagans too. And they wanted to throw Christ off the mountain on which Nazareth was founded, but it was not yet time for Christ to suffer, and it was not necessary for Him to suffer.
So, Elijah lives with a widow in Zarephath of Sidon, and, by the blessing of God, the oil in her vessel and a small amount of flour do not disappear from her, which feeds her, her son and the man of God. And before the stream Horath, near which Elijah lived in a deserted place, dried up, a raven feeds the man of God, bringing him bread and meat. A very important point: the raven is a carnivorous bird, it eats meat. But according to the command of the Lord, she feeds the man of God, bringing him bread and meat. Animals feed Elijah, a woman feeds Elijah, and her food does not become scarce... Even the angels feed Elijah. Before going to Mount Horeb to talk with God, Elijah tasted the wonderful food brought by the angel - cakes and drink. He passed through this strong food for 40 days without stopping.
But first he humbled the priests of Baal and did something wonderful for our minds: he showed them who the Lord is, challenging the priests to a spiritual duel. This was very common between saints, when saints meet with sorcerers, demon ministers or worshipers of the devil - not those who play at this, but real servants of dark forces, possessing strength, energy, demonic insight, evil power over life. When the saints encounter them, spiritual warfare occurs. Elijah fought with the priests of Baal. He told them to bring fire down on the victim if they could, if their god could do it. And until sunset they stabbed themselves with knives, jumped around the altar and prayed: “Hear us, Baal, hear us, Baal.” And Elijah proved who the real God is. At his word they laid the sacrifice on the stone altar, dug it in with a ditch, poured out water... Elijah said: “Double it.” They poured more water onto the altar. "Triple it." Tripled the water poured. And at the time when the evening sacrifice is offered in the temple, which is very important - because this is the time of God’s action: times of worship are times of special action of God... so, at the time when the evening sacrifice is offered in the temple, Elijah cried out to God, and God heard him: fire came down on the sacrifice and consumed the sacrifice, the stones, the water, and everything around.
The knife in the hand of Elijah over the priests of Baal is the work of God: God not only has mercy, but also punishes
And then Elijah slaughtered the priests of Baal. And let not the Christian conscience be troubled by this. The point here is not even the difference in morals during the times of the Old and New Testaments, but something else: before Elijah there were several hundred real servants of Satan, hardly capable of repentance, who became like lambs, having lost their strength, and he carried out divine retribution with his own hand. There are such episodes in history. It is not for us to repeat them, because we do not have Elijah’s power, but we must also know that God is God – a punisher and an avenger, and not just a merciful God. The flood is the work of God, the burning of Sodom is the work of God, the knife in the hand of Elijah over the priests of Baal is also the work of God. It's scary, it's strange, but it's the truth. And having accomplished this great feat, Elijah became exhausted.
Always, even with maximum wickedness, secret god-pleasers remain among the people of God
Great people also become exhausted. And people who have accomplished great things are afraid of small things. Elijah, who was not afraid of the priests of Baal and who brought down fire from heaven to earth, enclosing the sky, was afraid of Jezebel. He asked God to take his soul. This is also an interesting, striking feature. The great often ask for death. Jeremiah asked for death. Job asked for death. Elijah also asked for death. He said: “Take my soul, Lord. Your altar has been destroyed, your prophets have been killed...” “I can’t do it anymore,” is the meaning of his words to the Lord. To which the Lord answered him with extremely important words for us: “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who did not bow the knee to Baal and whose lips did not kiss him.” Why are these words important? And by what they say: always, even with the maximum thickening of wickedness, among the people of God, in the Church of God, certain secret saints of God are preserved, whose identity we do not know. They may not advertise their faith, but they keep it and confess it in their prayers, they shun evil and do good, they cut themselves off from the environment of lawbreakers. This needs to be remembered. We do not know by sight all the righteous. It seems to us that sin has filled everything. Not everything was filled. Even in the time of Ahab there were righteous people who remained faithful to the God of their fathers, the Living God, who demands holiness, not sin. Elijah was comforted by this.
I already remembered that Elijah walked to the Mount of God Horeb, without stopping, fortified by the food he had eaten from an angel, for 40 days. This tells us about our death. Before death, we will also need to eat and drink - to taste the Body of Christ and His Blood, so that then we can walk for 40 days, without stopping, to the Throne of God and on the 40th day we will meet the Lord. And this time the Church of God will pray for us, for our strange, amazing, one-of-a-kind journey.
When Elijah stood on the mountain (just as Moses once stood on Sinai, and the Lord walked in front of him, and he covered himself with his hand, exclaiming: “The Lord God is merciful and merciful!”, And Moses saw “the back of God,” that is, not the Glory Him, and a certain reflection of Glory), he felt the presence of the Lord. There was a shaking of stones, but there was no God in it; there was a terrible wind, destroying everything in front of it, but the Lord was not in it; there was a hurricane, a storm, but the Lord was not in it... And then a quiet, cool breeze blew, so calming, and the Lord was in it. This cool breath is akin to that cool, noisy dew that covered the youths in the cave of Babylon.
Soon Elijah was taken to heaven. He is one of those who have not died, who have not yet tasted death. This happened before the eyes of the prophet Elisha, his disciple, the son of Saphat. Elijah threw him his outer garment - a mantle (veil), along with which he transferred his strength and authority, even multiplied, to Elisha with a physical sign. And the fiery horses and fiery chariot carried the saint into heaven in a whirlwind. He has not seen death.
Enoch, the eighth from Adam, did not see death. Elijah, the prophet of God, did not see death. Enoch lived before the flood, Elijah lived during the time of the Law. Subsequently, he saw death, but the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death. And the Mother of God survived death, but was exalted by Her Son and God. Perhaps the same thing happened with John the Theologian, because he is not in the tomb, and his fate is not known to us.
And two people who have not seen death will again come to earth to preach the Gospel, to preach Christ’s Kingdom of God, the true Messiah, during the reign of the vile Antichrist, when the people will be massively insane and will be deceived in numbers of millions. People all over the world will love evil, love lies, and evade the truth. Then Elijah and Enoch will come from where they are now to preach the Gospel of Truth. And then they will be killed, that is, they will have to taste death.
Elijah is a New Testament saint, also because he so badly wanted to see the Glory of God and the truth, to wait for the Messiah, that he and Moses were given such mercy: on Mount Tabor, where Christ was transfigured before the disciples, two interlocutors came to Him from another world - Moses rose from the underworld with his soul and Elijah came from secret, unknown places, appeared before Jesus Christ in the body to talk with Him about His exodus, which He was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. So on Tabor the heavenly, the earthly and the underworld gathered with Christ: the heavenly - Elijah, the earthly - the apostles, from the underworld - Moses. And every knee bowed in the name of Christ, as it is said, “Every knee shall bow,” confirming and confessing that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
So Moses on Mount Sinai, and Elijah on Mount Horeb saw the Glory of God, and then with their own eyes they saw the incarnate truth that they felt during their visions and manifestations of God.
Elijah is the mighty defender of all those who are offended, the mentor and patron of all those who love the Holy Scriptures, the helper of all zealots for the truth, the leader of all monastics. Catholics even have an order of Carmelites, which associates its name with Mount Carmel, mentioned in the Holy Scriptures in connection with the exploits and labors of the Prophet Elijah, with the cave where he lived for some time, praying and asceticism. We do not have such “pointed” worship, such connections with Elijah, but he is revered, of course, by preachers, monastics and everyone whose soul hurts from the fact that truth is trampled underfoot and wickedness triumphs.
Elijah helps those who fly through the air, and those who take up arms for a just cause, and those who take up the Scriptures in their hands, like weapons for a just cause.
Elijah is a helper, Elijah is strong, Elijah is great, Elijah protects us and helps us to this day. By the way, we have something that the West does not have: on the day of the prophet Elijah, we celebrate the Day of the Airborne Forces. On August 2, 1930, our soldiers made their first parachute landing - back then they were still jumping from the wings. And since then, these heavenly infantry have been the glory of our Armed Forces, and we think with love how brave and strong these guys are, not afraid to fight against superior enemy forces. So Elijah helps here too: those flying through the air, and those who take up arms for a just cause, and those who take up the Scriptures in their hands, like weapons for a just cause, and everyone who feels the spirit of the Antichrist and hates him, who wants the Spirit of God and calls Him for your soul.
The life of Elijah is recounted in the 1st Book of Kings. Saint John Chrysostom said and asserted that everyone who wants to live in virginal purity and prayer, that is, monastically, should follow the example of the prophet of God Elijah and John the Baptist. This is how the troparions often sing: “Imitating the Baptist and the Thesbite, you, O holy One, were rich in spirit.” This is how Onuphrius the Great is sung about many other saints. And we will, to the best of our ability, imitate, but we will start with reading. Let's read from the 3rd Book of Kings about the prophet Elijah, learn about him. On Memorial Day, let us go to the temple of God to listen to the proverbs, defend the service and call on the name of the living - not dead - prophet to help us on our earthly journey.
See you.
Disciple Elisha
The calling of Shaphat's son Elisha was simple and quick. The Bible tells how Elijah, knowing in spirit where to look for a disciple whom he had never seen before, finds the young man in the field where he was plowing with oxen, and “throws his mantle on him” (the wool cloak that covered the saint). The grace of God that was upon Elijah touched the heart of the future disciple. Without any doubt, he leaves his home, his family, and leaves with Elijah (1 Kings 19:20-21).
This is similar to the calling of the disciples by Christ Himself, as the Gospels tell us about, however, with one difference. St. Luke writes that the Lord forbids one young man who wanted to follow Him to say goodbye to his family, saying that “no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
But Elijah answers Elisha’s same request differently: “Go and come back, for what have I done to you?” (1 Kings 19:20). Here is the exact knowledge: Elisha will return, for so said the Lord. There is also a purely human understanding of how important his relatives are to Elisha. Even though Elijah left his home, probably his family, long ago, he is not a celestial being, but, in the words of the Apostle James, “a man is not servile to us” (James 5:17), knowing human weaknesses and, of course, not being harmed by them. free.
Latest prophecies
The earthly ministry of the saint of God was coming to an end. The last years of his life were a time of prayerful solitude. But, foreseeing in spirit the wickedness of Ahab and his family, the prophet several times convicted them of their iniquities:
- they predicted the death of Ahab after he and Jezebel unrighteously took away Naboth’s vineyard, falsely accusing him of being a blasphemer, a traitor; only the repentance of the weak-willed, but still believing sovereign slightly softened the wrath of God;
- Elijah accused Ahab's heir, Ahaziah, of apostasy; having inherited not only the kingdom, but also the spiritual infirmities of his father, this king, having become seriously ill, tried to turn to the long-rejected Baal, for which he was punished by death.
Where did the prophet's ascension on a chariot of fire take place?
They knew about the coming taking of the saint from the world. There were many believers in Israel, many of whom were disciples of the prophets, and therefore were called “sons of the prophets.” By the Holy Spirit they foresaw the fate of the greatest of God's servants. Elisha also knew her. No matter how hard Elijah tried to hide the future event, the faithful disciple followed him relentlessly, internally grieving at the inevitable separation, but also ardently wanting to see this miracle. Scripture has preserved one of their last conversations, in which Elisha boldly asks for the “extra grace” of the Spirit through the prayers of his teacher. Faithful to God, St. Elijah does not promise anything on his own, but relies on the will of the Lord.
Ascension of Elijah the Prophet on a chariot of fire
According to the 2nd Book of Kings, the great prophet was taken from the world near Jericho after he and Elisha crossed the Jordan River, which was divided by the word of the saint, who struck the water with a mantle. The Prophet's Hill is still shown here. Elijah, from the top of which a fiery chariot carried him to heaven, as if in a whirlwind. So the saint did not see death, being taken to heaven with his body.
Alive in the sky
According to Holy Tradition, in the history of mankind there are only three people taken to heaven alive: the Apostle John, Enoch and Elijah.
Moreover, if different interpretations are possible about Enoch (in chapter 5 of the book of Genesis it is said vaguely about his departure from earthly life: “he was no more, because God took him”), and we know about John only from Tradition, then about the prophet Elijah it is specifically said in the Bible: “Suddenly there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and separated them both, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2:11).
Mention in the New Testament
Modern Orthodox theologians count 30 references to the life of the prophet, found both in the Evangelists and in the letters of the Apostles.
Christ more than once compares His preaching among the Jews with the efforts of St. Elijah to turn the people to God. For example, the Lord mentions that Elijah was not accepted by the Jews, but was sent to pagan Zarephath to a poor widow (Luke 4:25-26). Likewise, the Jews did not believe the Lord, but subsequently the preaching of Christianity will lead many pagans to faith.
The Jews themselves correlate some of the Savior’s acts with the miracles of the prophet. This is the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17). After this event, many openly speak of “a great prophet rising in Israel,” directly relating Jesus to Elijah. This vision was due to the fact that the return of the prophet to earth in the Jewish tradition was expected before the arrival of the promised Messiah.
The same tradition is continued by the New Testament authors, who already know that the appearance of the Messiah has happened:
- St. John the Baptist, already at the very beginning of the Gospel of Luke, is called a prophet having “the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17);
- together with the leader of Israel Moses, the prophet talks with the Lord on Tabor during the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3-5, Mark 9:2-7, Luke 9:30-31);
- According to many modern theologians, going back to the patristic tradition, the Revelation of St. can speak about Moses and Elijah. John the Theologian, which tells about two prophets of God sent to earth before the end of the world, although St. John does not directly name names.
Elijah - Christ's interlocutor
The Gospel testifies to the fact that Elijah is the greatest of the prophets by the fact that only he and Moses were honored with a conversation with Christ during His Transfiguration on Tabor.
There are different explanations why Christ chooses these two prophets for conversation.
Firstly, Elijah, like Moses, had the experience of direct communication with God: Moses received the law from God, and also communicated with the Almighty as closely as possible for a person - he saw “the back of God” (Ex., 33). Elijah stood face to face before God at His call, “hiding his face with his mantle” (1 Kings 19).
Saint John Chrysostom expresses a different opinion: “one who died and the other who has not yet experienced death” appeared before Christ in order to show that He “has power over life and death, rules over heaven and earth.”
Veneration in Christianity, Judaism and Islam
Traditionally, the Christian East was distinguished by its special love for the prophet. Here, from the first centuries of the Church, churches were built on places associated with the life of the righteous. These are Mount Carmel, Horeb, Tabor, where the prophet appeared at the time of the Transfiguration. And the Khoziva monastery preserves the saint’s cave, where he lived during the drought.
The people's veneration of the saint of God is also great, especially in the Slavic lands, where he was considered the ruler of nature and the heavenly elements. They prayed to the saint for rain and protection of the harvest.
Interesting fact
It is known that the oldest Christian church in Kyiv, built by Christians more than 40 years before the Baptism of Rus, in 945, was dedicated to the prophet. Elijah. And in small Macedonia at that time there were known up to 10 monastic monasteries in the name of the prophet.
But in the West there is special veneration of St. Elijah (as well as the Old Testament saints in general) did not work out. The Catholic Church commemorates him along with other biblical prophets.
The veneration of the saint is preserved in Judaism, where he is considered the herald of the coming of the “Mashiach” (Messiah), and folk legends speak of the saint as the patron of the poor, the protector of the weak.
In Islam, the veneration of “Ilyas,” as he is called, obviously came from the Christian tradition. Modern theologians say that the very name “Ilyas” is an Arabic transcription of Greek, and the Koran names Elijah among the prophets along with “Isa” (Jesus), Zechariah.
Interesting fact
August 2 is a common holiday not only for Orthodox Christians, but also for Muslims and Jews: every year they, like Christians, come to Mount Carmel on this day to honor the prophet with prayer. Festive folk festivities are also held here.
Veneration of the Prophet Elijah in Rus'
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The Prophet Elijah was one of the first saints who began to be revered in Rus'. In his honor, at the beginning of the 9th century, under Prince Askold ****, a cathedral church was erected in Kiev. Princess Olga built a church in the north of Russia in the name of the prophet Elijah.
After Russia adopted Christianity, the image of Elijah the Prophet replaced the thunder god Perun, revered by the ancient Slavs. The idea that Elijah rides across the sky in a chariot, thunders and shoots lightning, chasing the serpent, is associated both with the image of Perun and with the fact that the prophet Elijah went to heaven alive in a fiery chariot.
Is Saint Elijah the patron saint of the Airborne Forces?
A specifically Russian tradition is the celebration for the Airborne Forces on August 2, “Ilya’s Day.” Of course, the understanding of Elijah as the commander of the heavenly elements is very ancient; it perfectly connects the saint with the “blue berets”. However, initially this holiday did not have religious overtones.
On August 2, 1930, during military exercises near Voronezh, a parachute landing was dropped from an airplane for the first time in history. Therefore, this day is considered the birthday of the Airborne Forces - coinciding with the memory of the prophet. Official documents do not say how “coincidental” this coincidence is.
It is only known for certain that in the early 1930s in the country of “victorious atheism” there were still many believers who knew well about the “Day of Elijah” and about the prophet himself. Were there such people among the military authorities who scheduled an experimental (and risky, like everything done for the first time!) landing for August 2, counting on the support of the saint? Quite possible. In any case, since the beginning of the 1990s when they stopped banning religion, the leadership of the Airborne Forces has always been present at prayer services for the prophet.
How they are depicted in icons
Iconography: Elijah the Prophet in the desert Dates: XVI century. Around 1552. Material: wood, tempera. Dimensions of the icon: height 75.5 cm, width 56 cm. In the center is the figure of a seated Elijah the Prophet. In the upper left corner there is a dark bird with an egg in its beak. A rare feature of iconography: Elijah the Prophet looks ahead and does not look back. Among the well-known monuments, a similar scheme is present in the 15th century icons from the Ilyinsky chapel of the village of Pyalma in Obonezhye (Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Karelia. Inv. No. I-363) and from the Bryagin collection by a Central Russian master (RM). Elijah the Prophet is depicted sitting on a large round stone between the gorges of yellow ocher hills, behind him is a dark crevice of a cave. At his feet is a blue stream of water. Inv. No. KMZ KP 02139. © Kostroma State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve
The saint is depicted on icons as a gray-haired old man. There is certainly a mantle, a coarse woolen cloak on his shoulders. There are different versions of the iconography of the saint:
- he can be depicted in a cave, where he carried out his labors and was honored with the appearance of God in the “breath of the quiet wind”;
- another subject of icons - St. Elijah on Cherith; in such images you can also see a raven bringing bread to the prophet;
- the saint is also often depicted as a preacher: he holds a scroll with the words of prophecy, to which he points with his finger;
- finally, another common plot beloved by many is the ascension of the prophet on a chariot of fire.
On Elijah’s Day it was strictly forbidden:
- to work - work on this day will not bring any results and may anger Elijah the prophet, who severely punished for disrespectful attitude towards his holiday. The worker on this day was stopped and punished by his fellow villagers: in the Kaluga province, for example, they unharnessed the horse from the cart on which he was going to carry hay, and the horse team was taken to a tavern and drank together;
- swim - because from this day all evil spirits return to the water (devils, mermaids, hair - from Midsummer's Day until now they were on land, where Elijah the Prophet shot them with lightning).
Name on the map: mountains, cape and spring
People's love for the prophet has long found expression not only in the churches dedicated to him: in addition to memorial places associated with the life of the saint, his name bears:
- two mountains, in Alaska and Crimea;
- the cape is also on the Crimean peninsula.
And, of course, more than one miraculous spring was consecrated in the name of the saint.
"Saint Elijah" in Alaska
This is the name given to a whole group of mountain ranges in Alaska (5489 m above sea level). The mountain range received the name of St. Elijah thanks to Vitus Bering, a Russian traveler and discoverer of the strait between Eurasia and North America, who visited here in 1741. Apparently, the greatness of the mountains, their beauty, made him think about the feat of the prophet.
Mountain and cape with the name of the prophet in Crimea
On the Crimean peninsula, where the prophet, of course, never visited, there are two beautiful, romantic places associated with his name. On the mountain, called “Ilyas-Kaya” by the local Tatars, near the present village of Foros, back in the 14th century. stood the church of the prophet. Both monastics and lay people made pilgrimages here. Even then, newlyweds often came here. This tradition has survived to this day: Mount St. Elijah is dotted with the names of lovers asking for the patronage of the saint.
Ilyinsky lighthouse in Feodosia, Crimea.
One of the most beautiful places in Crimea is the Cape of St. Elijah. It is located in the east of the peninsula, near Feodosia. As a name for a mountain, the name of the cape is associated with an ancient Greek church, on the site of which since the beginning of the 19th century. there was a chapel, now destroyed. But the so-called Ilyinsky lighthouse with a height of more than 66 m has been preserved. It was opened on February 17, 1899. Not being a temple, this lighthouse is still a “votive” one, it was built by the grateful servant of God Evdokia Rukavishnikova to the prophet and the Lord: here her seriously ill person was healed of tuberculosis 19 -year-old son Nikolai.
Source of St. Elijah in the Krasnodar region
It is located in the Absheronsky district of the region near the village of Kyurinskaya. The source consists of two springs, one located above the other. At the upper one, pilgrims usually collect water; at the lower one, which is more abundant, they can wash themselves. Above the springs there is a chapel where prayer services are held, and on the occasion of the Prophet’s Feast a solemn service is held.
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And now the saint attracts the hearts of people to the Lord. Even though he is no longer on earth, a living, firm faith breathes in each of his words, carefully conveyed to us by Scripture, in the holy images of the prophet. “A desert dweller and a telesi Angel,” but at the same time a person similar to us, as St. calls him. Jacob. This is Elijah, leading believers to holiness by the example of his life.
Natalia Sazonova
Prayer
Prayer to the Prophet Elijah
O most praiseworthy and wonderful prophet of God Elijah, who shone upon the earth with your life like the angels, with your most ardent zeal for the Lord God Almighty, and also with glorious signs and wonders. out of God’s extreme goodwill towards you, you were naturally caught up in a chariot of fire with your flesh to heaven, who was worthy to converse with the Savior of the world who was transfigured on Tabor, and now remains unceasingly in the heavenly villages and stands before the Throne of the Heavenly King! Hear us, sinners and needless ones, at this hour standing before your holy icon and diligently resorting to your intercession. Pray for us to the Lover of Mankind, may He give us the spirit of repentance and contrition for our sins and, by His omnipotent grace, may He help us leave the paths of wickedness, and may He excel in every endeavor, may He strengthen us in the struggle with our passions and lusts, may he plant in our hearts the spirit of humility and meekness, the spirit of brotherly love and kindness, the spirit of patience and chastity, the spirit of zeal for the glory of God and good care for one’s own salvation and one’s neighbors. With your prayers, prophet, abolish the evil customs of the world, and especially the destructive and corrupting spirit of this age, infecting the Christian race with disrespect for the Divine Orthodox Faith, for the rules of the Holy Church. the church and the commandments of the Lord, disrespect for parents and those in power, and casting people into the abyss of wickedness , corruption and destruction. Turn away from us, most wonderfully prophesied, by your intercession the righteous wrath of God and deliver all the cities and villages of our fatherland from rainlessness and famine, from terrible storms and earthquakes, from deadly ulcers and diseases, from invasion enemies and internecine warfare. Strengthen with your prayers, most glorious, those who hold our power in the great and arduous labor of government, prosper them in all their good deeds and undertakings for the establishment of peace and truth in our country. Help the Christ-loving army in battles with our enemies. Ask, prophet of God, from the Lord for our shepherds holy zeal for God, heartfelt concern for the salvation of the flock, wisdom in teaching and government, piety and strength in temptation, ask the judges - impartiality and selflessness, righteousness and compassion for the offended, all superiors care for their subordinates, mercy and justice, and obedience to the subordinates and care for their obedience. Yes, having lived in peace and piety in this world, we will be worthy of the communion of eternal blessings in the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom honor and worship are due with His Beginning Father and the Most Holy by the Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
