Prophet Elijah, in Russian Ilya, or Eliyahu - under this name he appears in the Old Testament - is considered one of the most revered ancient saints. Including in Russia.
The history of his life and work is set forth in the Third and Fourth Books of Kings (1 Kings 17-20 and 4 Kings 1-3). Elijah was a formidable denouncer of idolatry and wickedness. His name appears not only in Judaism, but in Christianity and Islam.
He was born in Thezvia of Gilead in the tribe of Leviin 900 years before the birth of Christ. According to legend, when Elijah was born, his father had a mysterious vision: handsome men greeted the baby, swaddled him with fire and fed him with a fiery flame.
A zealot of faith and piety, from an early age he devoted himself to the One God, spending time in fasting and prayer. Elijah's prophetic ministry fell on the reign of the wicked king of Israel, Ahab.
His wife Jezebel, a Phoenician pagan, persuaded her husband to accept the cults of Baal and Astarte, habitual to her, with sacrifices. The people departed from the true faith of their ancestors in the One God, and the prophets of Israel were persecuted and killed.
To admonish the king and the Israelite people corrupted by him, the prophet Elijah struck the earth with a three-year drought, "closing the heavens by prayer." This "educational" measure was accompanied by many deaths among people suffering from unbearable heat and hunger.
The Old Testament tells that the Lord, by His mercy, seeing human torment, was ready to spare the suffering and send rain to the earth, but did not want to break the words of the prophet Elijah, for whom it was important to turn the hearts of the Israelites to repentance and return them to true worship.
According to the word of God, he went to Zarepta of Sidon to the poor widow. For the fact that she did not regret the last handful of flour and oil, according to the prayer of the prophet Elijah, these most valuable products have not been depleted since then in her house.
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Here, the prophet Elijah performs another miracle: he, compassionate with the grief of the widow, revived her son, who suddenly fell ill and died. In the third year of the drought, the prophet Elijah returned to King Ahab and promised by the power of his faith to give the lost the long-awaited rain, and with it prosperity.
In return, he demanded a competition between the priests of Baal and himself to find out whose god was true. Queen Jezebel set up against the prophet about five hundred priests of the pagan god in rich clothes. Compared to them, Elijah in rags, with a gnarled staff, barefoot and matted hair, looked doomed to defeat.
The competition was held on Mount Carmel (Carmel - Hebrew). The prophet Elijah proposed to build two altars: one from the priests of Baal, the other from him. "On which of them fire from heaven will fall, that will be an indication of whose God is true," said Elijah, "and everyone will have to worship Him, and those who do not acknowledge Him will be put to death."
The priests of Baal danced and prayed and stabbed themselves with knives all day, but nothing happened. Towards evening, the holy prophet erected his altar of 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, laid the sacrifice on firewood, ordered to dig a ditch around and commanded to pour water. When the moat was full, the prophet turned to God with fervent prayer and petition that the Lord would send down fire from heaven to admonish the erring and hardened Israeli people and turn their hearts to Himself.
Fire fell from heaven and kindled the sacrifice of the prophet Elijah. The people cried out: "Truly the Lord is One God and there is no other God besides Him!" Then, in order to administer justice, as the prophet understood him, he executed all the defeated priests. Then, through his prayer, the Lord sent a heavy rain to the earth, and the drought ended.
Ascension to Heaven
Ahab could only come to terms with what had happened, but the queen did not forgive the execution of the pagan priests and wanted to kill Elijah. However, thanks to the providence given by the Lord to the prophet, he never became a victim of her wiles. However, the persecution and persecution of his supporters began again.
And then Elijah decided to go into the desert. By the direction of God, he hid in a cave by the stream Choraf, where ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening. This stern and unyielding zealot of the true faith fell into despair for the first time: it seemed to him that he alone was faithful to the true God, which was not left for no one on earth to whom he could pass in order to preserve the faith of the fathers.
Finding no more strength in himself for the prophetic ministry, in despair he cries out to the Almighty: “Enough already, Lord; take my soul. But consolation came from above: on Mount Harib, this great prophet was rewarded with the contemplation of God. The Lord said that there were still people on earth who had never worshiped idols, and pointed Elijah to Elisha, whom He had chosen as a prophet after Elijah.
So Elisha became a disciple of the prophet, who remained with him until his ascension into heaven on a chariot of fire. Once Elijah was walking along the road with his disciple and discussed the benefits of monotheism and the dangers of pagan polytheism. The disciple listened attentively, listening to every word. Suddenly the prophet stopped and told Elisha that his time had come and that the Lord would take him to heaven as a reward for his faith and God's hard work.
At that moment, a sparkling cloud suddenly appeared above them, which turned into something like a chariot of fire. The Prophet Elijah gave his disciple his cloak - and immediately the chariot of fire carried him into heaven. And Elisha took the cloak, struck the water with it, and the water parted, and Elisha understood that the spiritual heritage of the prophet Elijah passed to him.
Both in Judaism and in Christianity, it is believed that Elijah was taken to Heaven alive: “suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared … and Elijah rushed in a whirlwind to Heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). However, in Orthodox theology there is an opinion that Elijah was not ascended to heaven, but to some secret place, in which he expects the day of the Apocalypse.
Prophet Elijah reappears in the New Testament: during the Transfiguration of the Lord, he and Moses appeared on Mount Tabor to converse with Jesus. It is believed that the thunderer will appear on Earth again when the hour of heavenly judgment comes: he will be the forerunner of the second coming of Christ.
Veneration in Russia
The Holy Prophet Elijah, who preached in ancient times in distant Palestine, has always been perceived by the Orthodox Russian people as one of the saints closest to our fatherland. In the Slavic folk tradition, he is the lord of thunder, heavenly fire, rain, the patron saint of harvest and fertility. The saint rides across the sky in a fiery (stone) chariot, sometimes punishing people for grievous sins.
According to Ukrainian beliefs, the sun is a wheel from the chariot of Elijah the Prophet, the Milky Way is the road along which the prophet rides in a chariot drawn by fiery (white, winged) horses, which is why thunder occurs. In winter, Ilya rides a sleigh, so thunder and thunder do not happen.
Elijah was one of the first saints of God who began to be worshiped. In his name, even under Prince Askold, at the beginning of the 9th century, a cathedral church was erected in Kiev. And the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga erected a church in the name of the prophet of God Elijah in the north of Russia, in the village of Vybuty.
Religious processions have been and are being performed in the "Ilyinsky" churches, especially in drought. Ilyin's day, which is celebrated on August 2, was considered the border of the seasons, while among the southern Slavs it was called the middle of summer, and in Russia - a turn to winter. After him, rains were expected, and it was forbidden to swim, so as not to drown or get sick.
On this day, it was possible to start enjoying the fruits of the new harvest, they also prayed for a rich harvest for the next year, and the girls - about getting married. The life of the prophet Elijah teaches what the true believers were like, called to a special service, to a special mission - to proclaim God to people.
The prophets were persecuted, and today the words of Christ are heard in the Gospel reading: “The prophet has no honor in his own country,” that is, where the saint preaches, he is often not understood. At different periods of human history, God sent prophets so that people would hear the word of truth from them, so that they would witness the presence of God and the power of God by miracles.
And the Lord mysteriously backed them up with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, remembering the Old Testament prophets, believers remember not some specific people who lived in antiquity and were famous for their great deeds, but saints whose spiritual heritage continues to live in the church today.
Remembering them and praying to them, believers hope, at least to a small extent, to be imbued with the spirit that the saints lived with, and to receive at least a particle of the grace of God that was given to them not for their own sake, but in order to help them carry the difficult mission of testifying about God before people.
That cross, under the weight of which a person sometimes bends, not finding the strength to carry it. Sometimes he says: Lord, this is impossible, this cross is too heavy for me. And then the grace of God comes in the "breeze of a quiet wind," and its refreshing and strengthening breath gives new strength.
Vadim MERKULOV / Secret Power 22,2013
