Holy prophet Elijah - life. Prophet of God Elijah Life of Elijah

He is taken to heaven alive. The Bible contains specific instructions under what circumstances he went to heaven: A chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and Elijah rushed into...

He is taken to heaven alive. The Bible contains specific instructions under what circumstances he went to heaven: A chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and Elijah rushed into heaven in a whirlwind.

Elijah the prophet. Everyone has heard this name, often used by our grandmothers. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates this holiday at the end of August, on the second day. Guys in blue vests always remember that their day coincides with the day of Elijah the Prophet. And since it is connected with water, the landing party bathes in all the reservoirs of the country.

The Prophet is one of the most famous Orthodox saints. He is mentioned in the Koran, in the Torah. Even Protestant sects consider Him a saint. Paganism also celebrates the presence of Elijah. He controls thunder, rain, stores the harvest, helps the earth maintain fertility. Historians consider the prophet to be a real person.

A popular sign on Elijah's Day is obligatory rain. At least small. In many countries, after Ilyin's Day, swimming is prohibited. This happened several thousand years ago, but today the custom has survived. Having gone to heaven in a chariot, a horseshoe fell from the horse’s hoof, cooling the water.

Those who bathe after celebrating the day of the prophet Elijah risk catching a cold and dying. Traditions called him a zealous Jew, condemning idolatry - he even entered into disputes with the king. The wife of ruler Ahab, Jezebel, established the pagan cult of the deity Baal. The Prophet stood up for the violated faith of the Jews.

But the king and queen did not abandon paganism. Then the Lord sent sweltering heat for disobedience. For several years it did not rain in the country. Elijah's righteous prayer ended the terrible drought. With a large gathering of the people of Israel, the Lord performed a miracle, hitting the sacrificial hearth with heavenly fire.

The Jews repented and praised God, and Elijah killed those who seduced the people. No authentic images of the saint have survived. Believers believe that he is the one who predicted the coming of the Mission. Malachi (the prophet) says: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.”

As the forerunner of Christ, he is characterized by miraculous works. The Lord's punishment went away for the sins of idolatry when Elijah stood up to pray. And the rain poured down. He was able to resurrect the widow's dead son.

The house never ran out of butter, and there was always flour. Christ will raise the dead, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty. The Gospel reports that on Tabor He spoke only with Moses and Elijah. Why did Christ speak only to them?

Moses received the tablets from God, Elijah was called by God. For what? The Bible is silent. One can only listen to John Chrysostom, who said: “One dead, and the other alive, appeared before Christ to show that He has power over the living and the dead. He is the Lord over heaven and earth."

The traditions of the Slavic peoples transferred to Elijah the functional responsibilities of the main god of the pagans - the thunderer Perun. Now the attributes of the prophet were flint, flint and crosshairs. The Slavs taught Elijah how to strike thunder and lightning. To be fair, let’s say that Elijah was revered in Rus' long before his baptism.

Equal to the Apostles Princess Olga, having been baptized in Constantinople, erected a temple to Elijah in the Pskov region. On Ilya’s day, bathing ends in the village. This tradition goes back many thousands of years. Farewell to summer in August makes the holiday fun and joyful.

In recent years, the paratroopers have quietly appropriated Saint Elijah for themselves. He really patronized warriors, perhaps veneration has something to do with this? The prophet values ​​fidelity and protects those devoted to God. He knows how to bring the lost to reason.

We are separated by millennia from the righteous. Elijah the prophet is close to everyone in his own way, but we ask Him for intercession. In Orthodox Russia, Elijah is loved by the people.

One of the greatest prophets and the first virgin of the Old Testament. He was born in Thesbia of Gilead in the tribe of Levi 900 years before the birth of Christ. When Elijah was born, his father Sovak had a vision of handsome men talking to the baby, swaddling him with fire and feeding him with a fiery flame. From a young age, he settled in the desert and lived in a strict feat of fasting and prayer.

Called to prophetic service during the reign of King Ahab, the idolater, who worshiped Baal (the sun) and forced the Jewish people to do the same. The Lord sent Elijah to Ahab and ordered him to predict that if he and his people did not turn to the true God, then his kingdom would suffer famine. Ahab did not listen to the prophet, and drought and great famine struck the country.

During the famine, Elijah lived for a year in the desert, where ravens brought him food, and for more than two years with a widow in the city of Sarepta. After three and a half years, Elijah returned to the kingdom of Israel and told the king and all the people that all the disasters of the Israelites were due to the fact that they had forgotten the true God and began to worship the idol Baal.

To prove the error of the Israelites, Elijah proposed to make two altars - one to Baal and the other to God, and said: “Let us offer sacrifices, and if fire from heaven comes down on the altar of Baal, then he is the true God, and if not, then an idol” ( see 3 Kings 18, 21-24). First they made an altar to Baal, piled up wood, slaughtered a bull, and the priests of Baal began to pray to their idol: “Baal, Baal, send us fire from heaven.” But there was no answer, and fire did not descend from heaven on Baal’s altar.

In the evening, Elijah made his altar, laid out the wood, watered it first with water, and began to pray to God. And suddenly fire fell from the sky and consumed not only the wood and the sacrifice, but also the water and stones of the altar. When the people saw this miracle, they glorified the true God and believed in Him again.

For his fiery zeal for the Glory of God, the prophet Elijah was taken to heaven alive in a fiery chariot. The prophet Elisha witnessed this wonderful ascent. Then, at the Transfiguration of the Lord, he appeared together with the prophet Moses and appeared before Jesus Christ, talking with him on Mount Tabor. According to the tradition of the Holy Church, the prophet Elijah will be the Forerunner of the Terrible Second Coming of Christ to earth and will suffer bodily death during the sermon.

They pray to the Prophet Elijah for rain during a drought.

August 2 is “Day of the Airborne Forces”. Warriors in blue berets celebrate their holiday widely, and those of them who profess themselves Orthodox remember, not without pride, that on the same day the Church remembers the prophet Elijah. Therefore, recently the prophet Elijah is increasingly called the patron saint of airborne troops.

There is nothing wrong with such calendar symbolism, especially since many of the prophet’s miracles were warlike in the Old Testament. At the same time, it is important not to forget the main thing: the prophet Elijah is the patron saint of the faithful of the Lord, for he himself was faithful to Him in spite of all circumstances, he is also a mentor to the lost, for with his miracles he enlightened the lost people, he is also an example of a chaste life, for he lived in purity, without being married...

It is close to everyone in their own way. Therefore, the prophet Elijah, from whom we are separated by millennia, is one of the most beloved saints among the people.

Prophet of God Elijah

Brief life of the holy Prophet of God Elijah.

N There are few such saints in whose lives the destinies of the Old and New Testaments are so closely intertwined, as in the prophet Elijah. Born nine centuries before the coming of Christ the Savior into the world, the prophet Elijah saw the glory of His Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (Matthew 17:3; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30). The holy prophet was the first in the Old Testament to perform the miracle of resurrecting the dead (1 Kings 17:20-23), and he himself was taken alive to Heaven, thereby prefiguring the coming Resurrection of Christ and the general destruction of the dominion of death. His ardent call to repentance and menacing denunciations were addressed to his contemporaries, his compatriots, mired in wickedness and idolatry. The inhabitants of the Earth will hear the same accusations and call to repentance before the Second Coming of Christ, when many, having deviated from true faith and piety, will live in the darkness of errors and vices. Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament Church, the holy prophet Elijah is revered for his indestructible firmness of faith, the impeccable severity of his virgin life, and his fiery zeal for the glory of God. He is often compared to “the greatest of those born of women,” the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, about whom it is said that he came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17).

The holy prophet Elijah was born in the 10th century BC in Thesbia of Gilead and came from the tribe of Levi. According to legend, his father Sovakh, at the birth of his son, saw how bright angels talked with the baby, swaddled him with fire and fed him with a fiery flame. From a young age, Saint Elijah retired to the deserted Mount Carmel, where he grew and strengthened spiritually, spending his life in strict fasting, prayer and contemplation of God.

After the death of King Solomon, the state was divided into two kingdoms - the Kingdom of Judah with its capital in Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Israel with its capital in Samaria. And if in Judea the former piety was preserved to some extent, then the kingdom of Israel very quickly deviated from the faith of its fathers to serving the pagan gods. Impiety especially increased under King Ahab, whose wife Jezebel, being a pagan, vigorously propagated the cult of the idol of Baal.

The holy prophet Elijah, zealous for the glory of the True God, entered public service as a formidable and bold denouncer of the sharply increased idolatry and moral depravity. He announced to the king that, as punishment for the iniquities of the Israelites, there would be neither rain nor dew for a long time, and this disaster would end only through the prayer of the prophet (1 Kings 17:1). Ahab did not listen to the prophetic voice and did not repent. Then the terrible sentence of Saint Elijah was carried out - for three and a half years the people of Israel suffered from heat, drought and famine. The prophet himself, at the command of God, took refuge from the wrath of his fellow tribesmen and the persecution of Ahab in a secluded place near the stream Horath, where every morning and every evening ravens brought him food - bread and meat. According to the explanation of St. John Chrysostom, the Lord commanded the ravens to take care of the prophet’s food in order to teach him to be more merciful and lenient. “Look, Elijah,” says the saint, as if on behalf of God Himself, “at their (the ravens’) love for mankind; those who do not have love for their own chicks serve you as if they were hospitable... Imitate the change of the ravens, and be lenient towards the Jews.”

About a year later, when the stream of Horath dried up, the Lord sent the prophet Elijah to the small Phoenician city of Zarephath of Sidon to a poor widow who, along with her family, was in dire need. The Prophet Elijah, wanting to test the faith and virtue of the widow, ordered her to bake bread for him from the last remnants of flour and butter. The widow fulfilled the command, and her selflessness did not go unrewarded: according to the word of the prophet, flour and oil in this house were miraculously constantly replenished throughout the famine and drought. Soon the Lord sent a new test of the widow’s faith: her son died. In inconsolable grief, she decided that the holiness of the prophet Elijah, incompatible with her sinful life, became the cause of the boy’s death. Instead of answering, the holy prophet took her dead son in his arms and, after three times intense prayer, resurrected him (1 Kings 17, 17-24).

After three years of drought, the Lord sent Saint Elijah to Ahab to announce the end of the disaster. At the same time, the prophet ordered the king to conduct a “test of faith.” All the inhabitants of Israel and all the priests of Baal gathered on Mount Carmel. When two altars were built, Saint Elijah invited the priests of Baal to pray to their gods for fire to descend from heaven onto the sacrifice. The priests prayed all day, but there was no fire. Then the holy prophet Elijah ordered to pour a large amount of water on the altar he had prepared, so that it filled the entire ditch around the altar. Then he turned with fervent prayer to the True God and immediately fire came down from heaven and burned the sacrifice and even the stone altar and the water around it. Seeing this, the people fell to the ground in fear and exclaimed: “Truly the Lord is God!” (3 Kings 18, 39). The prophet Elijah ordered the capture of the priests of Baal and killed them at the stream of Kissova. Through the saint’s prayer, the sky opened and it began to rain.

Despite the prophet’s ardent zeal and the abundance of God’s grace that strengthened him, he was not alien to natural human weakness, especially manifested in the Old Testament, before the coming of the Savior. The Prophet Elijah, after a miracle on Mount Carmel, expected Israel to turn to God, but it happened differently. Jezebel's hardened heart burned with anger and she threatened to kill the prophet for exterminating the priests of Baal. The weak-willed Ahab, who repented of the terrible sign, took the side of his wife, and the prophet Elijah had to flee to the south of Judea, to Bathsheba. All his efforts to eradicate wickedness seemed helpless to him, and in great sadness he went into the desert and there he cried out to God: “Enough already, Lord, take my soul, for I am no better than my fathers” (3 Kings 19:4). The Lord consoled the saint with a vision of an Angel, who strengthened him with food and commanded him to go on a long journey. The prophet Elijah walked for 40 days and 40 nights and, having reached Mount Horeb, settled in a cave. Here the Lord, with a special vision, again called him to be more merciful. In sensory images - a storm, an earthquake and fire - the meaning of his prophetic ministry was revealed to him. To contrast with these visions, the Lord appeared to him in the breath of a quiet wind, making it clear that the hearts of sinners are softened and turned to repentance more by the action of God’s mercy, and the formidable manifestations of God’s power are more likely to lead to horror and despair. In the same vision, the Lord revealed to the prophet that he was not the only one who worshiped the True God: there were still seven thousand people in Israel who did not bow the knee to Baal. At the command of God, the prophet Elijah again went to Israel to consecrate Elisha to the prophetic ministry.

The holy prophet Elijah came to the court of the Israeli kings twice more. The first time was to expose Ahab for the illegal murder of Naboth and the appropriation of his vineyard (1 Kings 21). Hearing the prophet’s reproof, Ahab repented and humbled himself, and for this God softened His anger. The second time - to expose the new king Ahaziah, the son of Ahab and Jezebel, for the fact that in his illness he turned not to the True God, but to the Ekron idol. The holy prophet predicted to Ahaziah the fatal outcome of his illness for such unbelief, and soon the prophet’s word came true (2 Kings, 1).

For his fiery spiritual zeal for the glory of God, the prophet Elijah was taken alive to Heaven in a chariot of fire. His disciple Elisha witnessed this ascent and, together with the mantle of Saint Elijah that fell from the chariot, received a prophetic gift twice as great as that of the prophet Elijah.

According to Church tradition, the prophet Elijah, together with the forefather Enoch, who was also taken alive to Heaven (Genesis 5:24), will be the Forerunner of the Second Coming of Christ to Earth. For three and a half years, Saints Enoch and Elijah will preach repentance and perform many miracles. With their preaching they will convert people to the true faith. They will be given the power, as during the earthly life of the prophet Elijah, to “shut the heavens so that it does not rain in the days of their prophecy” (Rev. 11:6). After three and a half years of their preaching, the Antichrist will fight with them and kill them, but by the power of God they will be resurrected after three and a half days.

Iconographic tradition often depicts the holy prophet Elijah ascending to Heaven on a fiery chariot.

The Russian Orthodox people have always treated the memory of the holy prophet Elijah with reverence. He was revered by the Slavs back in the pre-Christian era of our national history. The first temple in Kyiv, even under Prince Igor (before the Baptism of Rus), was dedicated to the holy prophet Elijah; in the chronicle of St. Nestor this temple is called cathedral, that is, the main one. In Constantinople, where there were many Varangian-Russians in the service of the Greek emperors until the 10th century, a church was also built in the name of the prophet Elijah, which was intended for baptized Russian people, as is known from the agreement between the Kievites and the Greeks in 944.

After the Baptism of Rus' in 988, Elias churches began to be erected in large numbers throughout the country. Since ancient times, the believing Russian people have revered the holy prophet Elijah as the patron saint of the harvest, and therefore with special zeal and love they turn to the saint of God on the day of his memory with a prayer for the blessing of the new harvest. The depth of veneration for the holiday of the Prophet Elijah is evidenced by handwritten church calendars (calendars), in which this holiday is called “the holy ascension of the prophet Elijah” or “the fiery ascension of the holy prophet Elijah.” Usually on the day of the holiday, processions of the cross and blessing of water are held in the places where the Elias churches are located.

The following is known from Russian history about the history of the establishment of one of these religious processions. In 1664, Moscow and its environs suffered a terrible drought, which lasted from May 15 to July 20 (old style). The authenticity of this event is confirmed by historical evidence.

The disaster that occurred prompted Muscovites to fervent nationwide prayer, and the residents of Moscow decided to especially honor that saint, on whose memorial day the drought would end and the rain would fall. On July 20, heavy rain began, the earth came to life and many people thanked God for his mercy. Seeing in this event the providence of God and the bold prayers of the holy prophet Elijah, it was decided to carry out a procession from the Assumption Cathedral to the church of the prophet Elijah on Voronkovo ​​Field. When establishing this religious procession, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich said: “Just as the prophet Elijah once sent down rain on the fields of the kingdom of Israel, just as now that prophet has irrigated the parched fields of the Russian state.”

Editor's response

On August 2, the Orthodox Church celebrates Remembrance Day holy prophet Elijah. He is revered not only in Christianity and Judaism, but also in the later Protestant churches and Islam, and traces of his image are also present in paganism.

Life of the Prophet Elijah

Prophet Elijah (translated from Hebrew as “My God”) was born in Thesbia of Gilead in the tribe of Levi 900 years before the birth of Christ. According to legend, when Elijah was born, his father had a mysterious vision: “ noble men welcomed the baby, swaddled him with fire and fed him with a fiery flame».

From an early age, Elijah devoted himself to God, lived in the desert, spent time in fasting and prayer. His prophetic ministry came during the reign of King Ahab whose wife Jezebel convinced to accept paganism.

Therefore, the worship of the pagan god Baal was cultivated in the country. According to legend, to admonish the king and the Israeli people corrupted by him, the prophet Elijah struck the land with a three-year drought. After some time, through the prayer of the prophet Elijah, the Lord sent abundant rain to the earth, and the drought ended.

The Prophet Elijah is also mentioned in the New Testament: during the Transfiguration of the Lord, he and the Prophet Moses arrived at Mount Tabor to talk with Jesus Christ.

The prophet Elijah performed many miracles. One day he went to Zarephath of Sidon to visit a poor widow who did not spare the last handful of flour and oil, so the flour and oil have not been exhausted in the widow’s house since then. Then the prophet Elijah performed another miracle: he revived the recently deceased son of a widow.

Both in Judaism and Christianity it is believed that Elijah was taken to Heaven alive: “suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared, and separated them both, and Elijah rushed into Heaven in a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2:11). According to the Bible, before him only Enoch, who lived before the Flood (Gen. 5:24). However, in Orthodox theology there is an opinion that Enoch and Elijah were ascended not to heaven, but to some hidden place, in which they await the day of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Deuterocanonical book, Book of Wisdom of Jesus, son Sirakhova, describes this event as follows: “Elijah was hidden by a whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with his spirit” (Sirach 48:12). According to it, Elijah left his outer clothing (“mantle”) for the prophet Elisha, throwing it off the fiery chariot.

Veneration of the Prophet Elijah in Rus'

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, Prince Askold A cathedral church was erected in Kyiv. Duchess Olga In the name of the prophet Elijah she built a church in the north of Rus'.

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.

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.

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.

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 on 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).

Sayings and signs of Ilyin's day:

• Ilya holds thunderstorms.
• Not swords against Elijah, he will burn the heaps with heavenly fire.
• Peter (June 29) - with a spikelet, Ilya - with a kolobok.
• From Ilya's day the night is long and the water is cold.
• Elijah the prophet rides horses across the sky, and from fast running one of the horses loses a horseshoe, which falls into the water, and the water immediately gets colder.
• Until Elijah, the priest will not beg for rain; after Ilya, the woman will catch up with her apron.
• A ram's head on the table for the prophet Elijah (Vologda province).
• On Elijah's Day, cattle are not driven out into the fields to pasture.
• After Ilya, mosquitoes stop biting.

Ahab - king of the kingdom of Israel in 873-852 BC. e., son and heir of Omri. The history of his reign is detailed in the Third Book of Kings.

Enoch is a descendant of Seth, son of Jared and father of Methuselah, the seventh patriarch starting from Adam. The fifth chapter of Genesis says that Enoch “walked with God” and lived 365 years, after which “he was no more, because God took him” (Gen. 5:22-24).

*** Baal is a deity in the Assyrian-Babylonian ethnoculture, revered in Phenicia, Canaan and Syria as the thunderer, the god of fertility, water, war, sky and sun. Baal created heaven and earth, stars, animals from primeval chaos, and from a mixture of earth with his blood he created man.

**** Prince Askold (died in 882) - Prince of Kiev (according to one version, he ruled jointly with Prince Dir).

Reference:

There is an Orthodox church in Moscow in honor of the prophet Elijah— Temple of Elijah the Everyday Prophet. It is located at 2nd Obydensky Lane, 6. The temple was built in 1702- 1706 on Ostozhye. The rector since November 2, 2012 is Archpriest Maxim Yurievich Shevtsov.

Elijah is one of the Old Testament prophets. The name of the prophet Elijah is translated as “My God is the Lord,” which expresses the main content of his ministry (cf. 3 Kings 18.36) - a zealous struggle for the worship of the one God and who demonstrated His power through his deeds.

Life of the Prophet Elijah

The Prophet Elijah is one of the most revered saints of the Old Testament. He was born in Thesbia of Gilead in the tribe of Levi 900 years before the birth of Christ. 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 welcomed the baby, swaddled him with fire and fed him with a fiery flame.

The Holy Prophet Elijah was truly an ardent zealot of faith and piety; from an early age he devoted himself to the One God, lived in the desert, spent time in fasting, prayer and piety. His prophetic ministry occurred during the reign of the most wicked Israeli king, Ahab. Jezebel, Ahab's wife, convinced her husband to accept the pagan religion.

The worship of Baal was cultivated in the country, the people fell away from the true faith of their ancestors in the One God, the prophets of Israel were persecuted and killed. To admonish the king and the Israeli people corrupted by him, the prophet Elijah struck the land with a three-year drought, “closing the heavens with prayer.” After this, in order to avoid the wrath of Jezebel, at the direction of God, he hid at the stream Horath, where ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening.

The people at that time suffered from unbearable heat and hunger. The Old Testament legend tells that the Lord, in His mercy, seeing the suffering of people, was ready to spare everyone and send rain to the earth, but did not want to violate the words of the prophet Elijah. It was important for the prophet to turn the hearts of the Israelites to repentance and return them to true worship of God.

Prophecies and miracles

Divine prophet, you, zealous for the Lord Almighty, have closed the heavens with prayer, saying: let rain and dew not fall on the earth except with the words of my mouth.

After some time the stream dried up. Prophet Elijah, according to the word of God, went to Zarephath of Sidon to visit a poor widow. Because she did not spare the last handful of flour and oil, through the prayer of the prophet Elijah, flour and oil have not been exhausted in the widow’s house since then. Here the prophet Elijah performs another miracle: he revived the widow’s suddenly ill and dead son, sympathizing with the woman’s grief.

In the third year of drought, the prophet Elijah returned to Ahab. The prophet Elijah proposed a contest with the priests of Baal to find out whose god was the true one. Having gathered the people on Mount Carmel, 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 falls from heaven, that will be an indication 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 priests of Baal danced, prayed and stabbed themselves with knives all day, but nothing happened. By evening, the holy prophet Elijah erected his altar of 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, laid the sacrifice on the firewood, ordered a ditch to be dug around the altar, and ordered to water the sacrifice and firewood with water. When the ditch was filled with water, the fiery prophet turned to God with a fervent prayer and petition, so that the Lord would send fire from heaven to admonish the erring and embittered Israeli people and turn their hearts to Himself. Fire fell from the sky and ignited the sacrifice of the prophet Elijah.

The people shouted: “Truly the Lord is One God and there is no other God besides Him!” Then, by order of the prophet Elijah, the priests were killed. Through the prayer of the prophet Elijah, the Lord sent abundant rain to the earth, and the drought ended.

Divine prophet, you, through prayer and mercy, again open the heavens, and richly grant rain to thirsty people.

However, despite the miracles and great signs that happened through the prayer of the prophet, Jezebel wanted to kill him because he put the priests of Baal to death. Persecution and persecution begin again. Ilya runs into the desert. This stern and unyielding zealot of the true faith fell into despair for the first time - it seemed to him that only he remained faithful to the true God, that there was no one left on earth to whom he could convey and preserve the faith of the fathers in the One God.

And on Mount Harib, this great prophet was honored, as far as is possible for a person, to contemplate God face to face. The Lord consoled him, saying that there were still people on earth who had never worshiped idols, and pointed Elijah to Elisha, whom He chose as a prophet after Elijah. Such a striking event in the life of the prophet Elijah showed him how merciful the Lord is, that He is not only a formidable punishing judge. Elisha became a disciple of the prophet Elijah and witnessed his ascent to heaven in a chariot of fire.

Ascension

Elijah was taken to Heaven alive: “Suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared, and separated them both, and Elijah rushed into Heaven in a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2:11). According to the Bible, before him, only Enoch, who lived before the Flood, was taken alive into heaven (Gen. 5:24).

The apocryphal Book of Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach, describes this event as follows: “Elijah was hidden by a whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with his spirit” (Sirach.48:12). According to it, Elijah left his outer clothing (“mantle”) for the prophet Elisha, throwing it off the fiery chariot.

Elijah the wonderful prophet, having enlightened his mind to the dawn, became all divine: and the king of the wicked, the unrighteous judgment is in vain indignant, and he also sends renunciation to the judgment of God: likewise the queen, as unmerciful and a lover of gold, was betrayed to the judgment of God. But through the prayers, Christ, of Your prophet Elijah, save us all, for You are merciful.

Prophet Elijah in the New Testament

The Prophet Elijah appears again in the New Testament: during the Transfiguration of the Lord, he, along with the Prophet Moses, appeared on Mount Tabor to talk with Jesus Christ. According to Church tradition, the prophet Elijah will appear on Earth again. He will be the forerunner of the second coming of Christ to earth and will accept physical death during the sermon.

Veneration of the Prophet Elijah in Rus'

The Prophet Elijah was one of the first saints of God who began to be revered in Rus'. In his name, even under Prince Askold, at the beginning of the 9th century, a cathedral church was erected in Kyiv. And the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga built a church in the name of the prophet of God Elijah in the north of Rus', in the village of Vybuty.

The holy prophet Elijah, who labored in ancient times in distant Palestine, has always been perceived by the Orthodox Russian people as one of the saints closest to our fatherland. Processions of the cross were and are still taking place in the Ilyinsky churches, especially during drought.

Elijah's day was considered the boundary of the seasons, while among the southern Slavs (for example, in Macedonia) this day was called midsummer, and in Russia - the turn to winter. After Ilyin's day, rain was expected and it was forbidden to swim (so as not to drown or get sick). On this day one could begin to enjoy the fruits of the new harvest. The holiday was associated in the ideas of the Slavs with the theme of marriage and the symbolism of fertility: they prayed for a rich harvest, and girls prayed for getting married.

What can we learn from the life of the prophet Elijah?

Today the Church celebrates the memory of the holy prophet of God Elijah. In the Third and Fourth Books of Kings we read about the great deeds of the prophet, about the miracles that he performed in front of the people of Israel. We read about how, in order to prove the existence of the true God, he calls four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and makes sacrifices to the Lord, and they make sacrifices to their gods; and the sacrifice of the prophet, through his prayer, is consumed by Divine fire, but the victims of false prophets are not touched by fire.

We read about how Elijah comes to the house of a poor widow and resurrects her son, about how the prophet flees from the wrath of the wicked queen Jezebel into the desert and, no longer finding the strength in himself for prophetic service, in despair calls out to God: “Enough already, Lord; take my soul." But God consoles him, not only sending him water and bread, but also mysteriously, in an extraordinary way, appearing to him “in the quiet breath of the wind.” Feeling this light breath, Elijah understands that the Lord appeared to him not in menacing natural phenomena - not in a storm, not in an earthquake, not in fire - but precisely in a light breath of spiritual wind. With this breath of the Holy Spirit, God consoles the prophet and gives him new strength.

Finally, we see Elijah walking with his disciple the prophet Elisha, and Elisha learns that his teacher will be taken from him that day. Elijah says: “Ask what you can do before I am taken from you.” And Elisha answers: “Let the spirit that is in you be doubly on me.” Elijah said: “You are asking a difficult thing. If you see how I will be taken from you, then so be it for you.” Soon a fiery chariot appeared, and a whirlwind carried Elijah to heaven. This was a man who raised the dead during his lifetime, this was a prophet who did not see death, but was exalted by God into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The life of the prophet Elijah teaches us what true prophets were like, called by God for a special service, for a special mission - to proclaim to people about God. The prophets were persecuted, and we heard today in the Gospel reading the words of Christ: “A prophet has no honor in his own country” (John 4:44), that is, where he preaches, he is not understood. All prophets had enemies and ill-wishers, people who wished them death. Like all people, prophets had their weaknesses, and they were not always able to carry out the incredibly difficult mission that was entrusted to them - to testify about God to people who did not want to hear this testimony.

As we read about the lives of other prophets, we learn that when the Lord called them, some of them refused. One said that he was too young, the other - Jonah - completely fled from the Face of God, realizing that he did not have the strength to fulfill the mission entrusted to him by God. The prophet Elijah in despair asked God for death. But the prophets were always supported by the grace of God; in their ministry they came into direct contact with God, meeting Him in personal spiritual experience.

These meetings were different. Sometimes the Lord came in a light breath of wind, that is, in some kind of hidden spiritual consolation, as was the case with the prophet Elijah. But it also happened that not only the prophet, but also the entire people witnessed the appearance of God, when, for example, the same Elijah, with the help of fire, decided to show whether the Lord or Baal should be the God of Israel. At different periods of human history, God sent prophets to people so that people would hear the word of truth from them, so that they would testify with miracles to the presence of God and the power of God. And in all eras, prophets were weak people - just like you and me. Their prophetic mission far exceeded their natural human strength, and they, not relying on their own strength, sought help from God. They asked God for spiritual reinforcement in difficult moments, when they were abandoned by people, persecuted, when enemies sought their death. And the Lord mysteriously strengthened them with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

And we learn one more thing from the life of the prophet Elijah - that every prophet left behind spiritual descendants. The prophets were not people who, like the celebrities of this world, flash brightly and disappear. The prophets left disciples behind them, so the work they served did not die even after their death. When Elijah was carried into heaven by the chariot of God, Elisha took his mantle, that is, his cloak, and struck the water with it, and the water parted, and Elisha realized that the spiritual heritage of the prophet Elijah had passed to him. It often happened that students turned out to be higher than the teacher, because the spirit that was on one prophet passed on to another and acted through him with even greater force. So spiritual succession passed from one prophet to another, right up to the last of the prophets and the first of the apostles - John the Baptist. Then it passed from one apostle to another, then to bishops, to priests and to all the people of God, who also passed on this gracious testimony about God from generation to generation; it has reached us, and now we are its owners.

Therefore, when we remember the Old Testament prophets, we remember not some people who lived in ancient times and three thousand years ago became famous for their great deeds, but the saints, whose spiritual heritage continues to live on in our Church. Remembering them and praying to them, we hope to be at least to a small extent imbued with the spirit by which they lived, and to receive at least a particle of that grace of God, which was given to them not for their own sake, but in order to help them carry out the difficult mission of witnessing to God before people, that cross, under the weight of which we sometimes bend, not finding the strength to bear it.

Sometimes we say: Lord, this is impossible, this cross is too heavy for me. And then the grace of God comes in the “breath of a quiet wind,” and its refreshing and strengthening breath gives us new strength.

He is one of the revered saints of the Orthodox Church. This is God's saint who was ascended to heaven during his lifetime. I wondered what you could ask a saint for, and does Elijah the prophet respond to the requests of modern people? Previously, people were afraid of thunder and lightning, associating them with the wrath of Elijah the prophet. As a child, my grandmother forbade me to swim after the second of August and did not advise me to anger Ilya. In the article I will tell you about the life of the saint, his righteous service to God and the day of veneration of Elijah by the Orthodox Church. I will also tell you what they pray to the prophet for, what prayers he answers.

Elijah the prophet was born almost 1000 years before the birth of Christ in Thesbia of Gilead. Before the birth of little Elijah, his father had a strange dream: men of prayer came and fed the baby with fire, swaddling him in fiery swaddling clothes. When the boy grew up, he became an ardent servant of God and devoted his whole life to him. Elijah lived in the desert, constantly fasting and praying.

He was a zealous servant of God, as evidenced by his name - “My God is the Lord.” These were the times of the spiritual fall of the kingdom of Israel, when an idolater sat on the throne. The king's wife convinced him to believe in idols and forget the true God. Elijah closed the heavens with a prayer of faith and caused a drought for three years so that people would come to their senses and repent of their sins. People did not have enough bread, and Elijah called them to repentance.

To avoid the king's wrath, Elijah hid in the mountains near the Horab stream. The Bible says that ravens brought meat and bread to the prophet to support his spirit. The people suffered greatly from lack of food, and God was ready to have mercy on them. But seeing the stubbornness of his prophet, he did not dare to go against his will.

One day Saint Elijah came to the house of a poor woman, who did not spare the last handful of flour and olive oil for him - she baked flat cakes. This miracle is described in the Old Testament: since then, the poor woman’s house has never run out of oil and flour. The prophet also resurrected the suddenly deceased son of a widow, sympathizing with her grief.

Elijah and the idolaters

The prophet Elijah performed many miracles, but was still persecuted by the authorities for his preaching and exposing the sins of the rulers. Then the holy righteous man decided to arrange a competition with the priests of Baal, the idol of the Israelites. He suggested casting lots - on whose altar the heavenly fire would fall, that god was the right one.

All day long the priests performed ritual dances in front of Baal and stabbed themselves with knives. But fire did not fall from heaven in response to their calls. In the evening, Elijah built an altar of twelve stones (according to the number of tribes of Israel), and cried out in fervent prayer to the true God. He asked to send fire to the altar to admonish the lost. At this time, heavenly fire fell on the altar and ignited the sacrifice. After this, the people again believed in one god, and the priests of Baal were killed. God sent rains to the earth and the drought ended.

This miraculous event was witnessed by his disciple, to whom the prophet threw off his outer garment from the chariot. Elijah became the second saint of God, ascended alive into heaven, after the righteous Enoch.

Icons and prayers

The icon of Elijah the Prophet is very revered by Orthodox Christians. The Prophet Elijah is most often depicted either with a raven or on a heavenly chariot. There are other images, but these two appear all the time. What do believers ask God's saint for? Mainly about a good harvest and weather.

Requests also concern:

• strengthening faith in the heart;
• awareness of one's sinful nature;
• restoring peace in the family;
• protection from bodily infirmities and wounds;
• overcoming poverty and lack of money;
• marriages of girls;
• help in any matter.

In Rus', religious processions were always held in Ilyinsky churches if drought came to the land. This was a centuries-old tradition. People have always believed in the prophet's control of the weather, which was mentioned more than once in the Bible. Nowadays, August 2 is celebrated as Air Force and Airborne Forces Day, since Ilya is considered the patron saint of air forces and sailors.

Prayer to Saint Elijah:

When can you pray to Elijah? This is done at any time if the need arises, as well as on August 2 in the temple.

Day of Honor

On August 2, the Orthodox Church honors Elijah the prophet. It is believed that the saint strikes demons and people who disobey God with fiery lightning. This brought fear and horror to people, and from August 2, people were forbidden to swim in rivers and lakes. It is on this day that most often there are thunderstorms with heavy rains, and swimmers can simply die or drown.

In the old days in Rus', during a thunderstorm on August 2, the shutters on the windows were tightly closed, and a lamp was lit in the rooms. It was considered a great sin to run through puddles, sing songs and shoot a gun.

Instructions of the Prophets

What do the biblical prophets teach us? They show believers the right way to serve God, to live in purity and holiness. In biblical times, all prophets were persecuted, as Christ confirmed in the Gospel: “There is no prophet in his own country.” Persecution was caused by the word of truth and conviction of sins, because people did not want to hear the truth about themselves. But the prophets were always accompanied by the grace of God, which strengthened their spirit in opposition to sin.

The Lord specifically sends prophets to earth so that they testify to his power and authority. People often forget who their true father and creator is and start creating idols. This was the case during the time of the prophet Elijah, when the king of the Jews fell into idolatry. This was the case in the time of Jesus Christ, when the position of high priest was bought for money. The Baptist became the last prophet on earth, announcing the coming of the Savior of the world.

Jesus was the last messenger of heaven, he redeemed the human race from sins and gave all people on earth the opportunity to gain the kingdom of heaven. After Jesus Christ, God did not send prophets to earth as unnecessary. Now all Christians on earth are awaiting the second coming of Christ in order to see with their own eyes the glory of God on earth.