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<\/a><\/p>\nThe Church Fathers say that God has never listened more closely to a human being than He did in the time of the prophet Elijah. Depicted in icons most often either at the entrance to his cave (which can still be visited today in the region of Hozeva), accompanied by the raven sent to feed him, or in the chariot of fire with which he was taken up to heaven, with Elisha as his witness and successor, Saint Elijah the Tishbite, the Great Prophet, is the Old Testament figure most beloved and familiar to the Christian consciousness everywhere and, at the same time, the only prophet who, though he wrote not a single page, is marked in red on the Orthodox calendar.<\/p>\n
While some literary critics perceive Saint Elijah as a solitary and adventurous man, a dissident and misfit, brave and persevering, a defender of the poor and marginalized, a rebuker of human passions, and one grieved by the weakness and ignorance of the people, many biblical exegetes view this prophet as a great witness to the revealed truth in times of apostasy, persecuted throughout his life because of the wiles of that age, harsh toward himself and others, a great miracle-worker, and the prototype of Christian monks and hermits. Above all these qualities, Elijah the Tishbite spoke with God, saw Him on Mount Horeb, and felt the fragrance of grace and the gentle breath of His presence throughout his life. At the cost of his life, he bore witness to the true God and received eternal life. Who is Saint Elijah truly?<\/p>\n
A Life Shaped by Divine Providence<\/p>\n
A native of Tishbe in Gilead, east of the Jordan River, his entire ministry was intertwined with the life and history of the Israelite community in the Northern Kingdom, which had long had its capital in Samaria. Elijah lived in the first half of the 9th century B.C., being a contemporary of one of Israel\u2019s bloodiest kings, King Ahab. The prophet\u2019s ministry is described in 3 and 4 Kings (chapter 1) and contains no information whatsoever about his personal life. Christian tradition, as found in the Lives of the Saints, presents a series of details about the prophet\u2019s life\u2014details that cannot be found in the sacred text. It speaks of Elijah\u2019s father, Sovac; of the vision he had at the moment of his son\u2019s birth; and of the prophet\u2019s dedication to God from early childhood. This reveals the reverence that Christians have held from the very beginning for this Old Testament prophet, portraying his life and youth in the image of Saint John the Baptist.<\/p>\n
However, the biblical text provides no information whatsoever about the birth, childhood, and youth of the prophet Elijah, nor does it mention any members of his family. He appears suddenly in the first verse of chapter 17 of 3 Kings. The manner of his appearance can be compared to that of Melchizedek, the king of Salem, in the biblical account of the patriarch Abraham (Genesis 14). He is the prophet raised up by God to uphold the true faith during the reign of Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. For the inspired author of the biblical text, the prophet\u2019s life up to that point was not important; what mattered were only those moments that serve to highlight Elijah\u2019s ministry and proclamation of God.<\/p>\n
The prophet\u2019s very name is linked to this ministry and mission he carries out within the Israelite community. Elijah is, according to the biblical text, a theophoric name. In Hebrew, Elijahu means \u201cThe Lord is the true God\u201d or \u201cYahweh is God.\u201d Thus, the name the prophet bears is in itself a confession of faith. Finding himself in the midst of an idolatrous people who denied the very reason for their existence through their faith in the god Baal, Elijah felt the need to set his kinsmen on the right path in a specific way. The voice of his conscience, his strong faith, and his unquenchable zeal made Elijah that tireless servant of God. They transform him from an ordinary man into a miracle-worker in the sight of the people. Driven by zeal and faith, Elijah went before Ahab to foretell the coming drought. Through faith and love for God, the prophet Elijah had the power to shut up the heavens for three years and six months. \u201cAnd the prophet Elijah arose like fire, and his word burned like a torch,\u201d Jesus Sirach (48:1) describes this zealous work of Elijah. Scripture does not attribute extraordinary or special powers to the prophet Elijah, but always relates him to God, to his relationship with the divine: \u201cElijah was a man, with weaknesses like ours, but he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit\u201d (James 5:17\u201318).<\/p>\n
The Power of Faith<\/p>\n
Following God\u2019s command, Elijah withdrew to the Kerith Brook, where he quenched his thirst with water from the brook, and his food was brought to him by ravens\u2014\u201cbread and meat in the morning, bread and meat in the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
When even the stream had dried up, the prophet Elijah went to Zarephath of Sidon, where he stayed in the home of a widow. When her son died, Elijah raised him from the dead, not by his own power, but by the power he had received from God, whose servant he was. That Elijah did this through the power of God is evident from his very words: \u201cO Lord my God, let this child\u2019s life return to him!\u201d (1 Kings 17:21).<\/p>\n
Three years later, Elijah appeared before Ahab and challenged the priests and prophets of Baal to a \u201ccontest\u201d: both they and he were to offer a sacrifice to Baal and to God, respectively, and \u201cthe God who answers by fire\u2014He is God\u201d (1 Kings 18:24). The priests of Baal cried out in vain and raised their voices to heaven, for they received no answer. When Elijah prayed, \u201cfire came down from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it consumed all the water that was in the trench\u201d (1 Kings 18:38). This episode serves to contrast the true God with the powerless idols, which are figments of ignorance and unbelief. After the people came to know that the Lord is the one and only true God, the Lord sent rain upon the land. The killing of the priests of Baal that followed Elijah\u2019s sacrifice did not please Ahab and Jezebel; rather, it aroused their wrath, so that Elijah was forced to take refuge on Mount Horeb.<\/p>\n
Before concluding his prophetic ministry, Elijah chose Elisha as his disciple. Together they crossed the Jordan, and Elisha went on to witness Elijah\u2019s ascension into heaven. In the time of the Savior\u2014that is, eight centuries later\u2014Elijah\u2019s fame was so great among the Jews that, on several occasions, John the Baptist, as well as Jesus Himself, was suspected of being a reincarnation of the ancient prophet. At the Transfiguration of the Lord, which took place on Mount Tabor, the Gospel tells us (Matthew 17:3\u20134; Mark 9:4\u20135; Luke 9:30 and 33) that Moses and Elijah appeared on Christ\u2019s right and left, according to the testimony of the three disciples who were with Him (Peter, James, and John). According to an ancient tradition, grounded in Holy Scripture (Matthew 17:10\u201311), Elijah will return at the end of time as a witness and herald of the Parousia\u2014that is, as a forerunner of the Lord\u2019s Second Coming. The Byzantine emperors were the ones who established the date of his feast as July 20. In the fifth century, Emperor Zeno consecrated a church in Petrion to Saint Elijah the Tishbite, and later, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus described, in his book on liturgical ceremonies, the special celebration on the feast day of Saint Elijah.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s Discretion<\/p>\n
Although Elijah was perceived during his lifetime as a zealot, through his spiritual understanding he transcended the constraints of the Old Law. Elijah\u2019s vision of God on Mount Horeb, described in 3 Kings chapter 19, echoes the theophanic elements of the giving of the Law to Moses on that same mountain. While the Law of Moses emphasizes the visual and the auditory\u2014fire, thunder, and an earthquake, that is, powerful manifestations\u2014Elijah transcends this realm of the cataphatic and comes to see God in stillness, in a gentle breeze. This is the call to stillness that the monk\u2014or any Christian\u2014finds in the breeze of the Holy Spirit\u2019s grace, alive and active in every Liturgy. Discretion is the way in which the Lord is present in the world and in our lives. He is the Companion Whose presence we cannot perceive through a desire for the sensational or the spectacular. Often, God allows Himself to be ignored, precisely because His love for the world is not a despotic love that imposes itself, but one that offers itself, that gives of itself without coercion. He does not appear on a billboard, nor does He stomp before us. God sometimes reveals Himself to wise people who know how to perceive His mysterious footsteps. God\u2019s presence is not seen in miracles or apparitions that cause amazement, panic, and spectacle, but in the natural flow of daily life, beautified by good thoughts and deeds. Our neighbor is the one through whom God measures our love.<\/p>\n
Forerunner of Christian Asceticism<\/p>\n
Saint Elijah the Prophet and Enoch are the only cases that have broken the inexorable law of death. Saint Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire, as we see in the first two chapters of the Book of 4 Kings. From this perspective, he becomes, in patristic interpretation, the symbol of the lifting away from the material world. In this sense, Saint Maximus closely associates him with contemplation and says that, while Moses symbolizes the practical aspect, Saint Elijah is the image of contemplation, of being lifted away from the material world, and, from this perspective, he is a symbol of the monastics. In the fourth century, Saint Gregory of Nyssa and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus used him as an image of retreat into the wilderness and ascetic struggles.<\/p>\n
Elijah is a model for monks. This is also evident from the fact that Saint John the Baptist, a consummate ascetic, becomes, as the Savior Jesus Christ says, a new Elijah:<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if you are willing to accept it, he (John) is Elijah, the one who is to come\u201d (Matthew 11:14). However, one should not think that this refers to some reincarnation of Elijah in John. The biblical account draws the two together because of their ascetic lives; both are characterized by severity and determination (Luke 9:8), work with the same power (Luke 1:17), and adopt the same way of life (3 Kings 17:1 and Luke 3:2; 4 Kings 1:8 and Matthew 3:4).<\/p>\n
The Courage of Witness<\/p>\n
Elijah was one of the first great prophets of Israel, in the fullest sense of the word, for a prophet was not merely a seer of things to come, but also a rebuking voice in the name of the Most High, so that neither the people nor their leaders might stray from righteousness. It is good to have power, but it is even better not to need power, since it often corrupts and alienates. Yet Elijah knows that love for people is the most subtle power in the world. When the prophet complains to God that he is an old and feeble man and that he must speak to both the priests and the unfaithful people, God tells him that he is not the only righteous one, but that there are still 7,000 men among the people who have not bowed their knees to Baal. From this episode, we realize that when it seems to us that we are the only ones capable of doing good, God shows us that there are others like us, thereby giving us strength. When the people declare themselves to be God\u2019s righteous ones, leaders can (and indeed must) be rebuked for their deviations from faith and morality. Saint Elijah, for example, rebuked King Ahab for having built, at the urging of his pagan wife, Jezebel, a temple dedicated to the god Baal, thereby showing the people what true faith in the living God actually is. The spiritual portrait of this prophet has several fundamental traits: missionary zeal, total dedication, and uncompromising preaching. He does not negotiate with idols nor does he calculate his public image; rather, he testifies to the truth and exposes deception and imposture, calling things by their proper names. In fact, the drought is nothing other than unbelief\u2014a turning away from the Water of Life. The people want water, but they do not seek God, the One who gives meaning to our passage through this world. The solution is repentance\u2014that is, a return to the faith and to the way of life of this great prophet who, if we honor and imitate him to the best of our ability, \u201cbrings forth healing\u201d (Troparion of Saint Elijah), without our having to resort to all sorts of quacks, gurus, and followers of contemporary therapeutic sects who promise the naive and disoriented immediate healing of soul and body, just like the false priests of the god Baal of old.<\/p>\n
source:ziarullumina<\/p>\n
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The Church Fathers say that God has never listened more closely to a human being than He did in the time of the prophet Elijah. Depicted in icons most often either at the entrance to his cave (which can still be visited today in the region of Hozeva), accompanied by the raven sent to feed … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","post","publish","author-antonel","post-14933","format-image","category-biblioteca","post_format-post-format-image","has-format"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18258,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933\/revisions\/18258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sfioanevanghelistul.ca\/wordpress\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}