For his ardent zeal for the Glory of God, the prophet Elijah was taken to heaven alive in a fiery chariot.
Fire giving birth
According to the legend that has come down to us from Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus, 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.
Punishing fire
The Holy Prophet Elijah was a fiery zealot of faith and piety, from an early age he dedicated himself to the One God, lived in a hot desert, spent time in strict fasting, Divine thinking and prayer. His prophetic ministry fell on the reign of Israel's weakest king, Ahab. Jezebel, Ahab's wife, convinced her husband to accept the pagan religion.
The worship of the idol of Baal led the Israelites to complete moral corruption. Seeing the death of his people, the prophet Elijah began to denounce King Ahab of wickedness, urging him to repent and turn to the True God. The king did not listen to him.
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Then the prophet Elijah announced to him that, as a punishment for three years, there would be no rain or dew on the earth and the drought would stop only by his prayer. And indeed, through the prayer of the prophet, heaven was closed, drought and famine set in throughout the earth. The people suffered from unbearable heat and hunger. The Lord, by His mercy, seeing the suffering of people, was ready to spare everyone and send rain to the earth, but did not want to break the words of the Prophet Elijah, who was burning with the desire to turn the hearts of the Israelites to repentance and return them to true worship.
Saving fire
After three years of drought, the Merciful Lord sent a prophet to King Ahab. The Prophet Elijah ordered to gather all Israel and the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel. When the people gathered, the prophet Elijah proposed to build two altars: one from the priests of Baal, the other from the prophet Elijah to serve the True God. "On which of them fire will fall from heaven, that will be an indication of whose God is true," said the prophet Elijah, "and everyone will have to worship Him, and those who do not recognize Him will be put to death." The first to begin the sacrifice were the priests of Valla: they cried out to the idol from morning to evening, but in vain - the sky was silent.
Towards evening, the holy prophet Elijah erected his altar of 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, laid the sacrifice on wood, ordered a moat to be dug around the altar, and commanded to water the sacrifice and the wood with water.
When the moat was filled with water, the fiery prophet turned to God with fervent prayer and petition that the Lord would send down fire from heaven to admonish the erring and hardened Israelites and turn their hearts to Himself. At the prayer of the prophet, fire came down from heaven and burned the sacrifice, wood, stones and even water. The people fell to the ground, crying out: "Truly the Lord is One God and there is no other God besides Him!" Then the prophet Elijah killed all the priests of Baal and began to pray for the sending of rain. At his prayer, the sky opened and a heavy rain fell, watering the thirsty earth.
Fire resurrection
King Ahab realized his error and mourned for his sins, but his wife Jezebel threatened to kill the prophet of God. The prophet Elijah fled to the kingdom of Judah and, grieving over his impotence to eradicate idolatry, asked God for his death. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him, strengthened him with food and ordered him to go on a long journey. The prophet Elijah walked for forty days and nights, and when he reached Mount Horeb, he settled in a cave. Here, after a terrible storm, earthquake and fire, the Lord appeared “in a quiet wind” (1 Kings 19, 12) and revealed to the grieving prophet that thanks to him, seven thousand people were saved and began to worship the One God, and not Baal.
The Lord commanded the prophet Elijah to anoint (dedicate) Elisha to the prophetic ministry. The prophet Elisha witnessed the ascent of the prophet Elijah to heaven and received, along with his cloak, the gift of the prophetic spirit twice as much as the prophet Elijah had.
For his fiery zeal for the Glory of God, the prophet Elijah was taken to Heaven alive in a fiery chariot, which was surrounded on all sides by flames and harnessed by four winged horses.
Life-giving fire
We, in Russia, especially revered Elijah the Prophet. The first church built in Kiev under Prince Igor was in the name of the prophet Elijah. After Epiphany, Princess Olga built a temple to the prophet Elijah in her homeland, in the village of Vybuty. Russians in the "Ilyinsky" churches perform and performed religious processions, especially in drought, praying for rain, which is why we call him Ilya the Thunderer.