FEAST OF THE HOLY AND GLORIOUS PROPHET ELIAS.
Saint Elijah, one who saw God, a
miracle-worker and a zealot for faith in God, was born of the tribe
of Aaron from the town Tishba for which he was called the Tishbite.
When St. Elijah was born, his father Savah saw an angel of God
hovering around the child, wrapping the child in fire and giving him
a flame to eat. That was a foreshadowing of Elijah's fiery character
and his God-given fiery power. He spent his entire youth in godly
thoughts and prayers withdrawing frequently into the wilderness to
contemplate and to pray in solitude. At that time the Jewish kingdom
was divided into two unequal parts: the kingdom of Judah consisting
of only two tribes, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin with their
capital in Jerusalem and the kingdom of Israel consisting of the
remaining ten tribes with their capital in Samaria. The first kingdom
was governed by the descendants of Solomon and the second kingdom was
governed by the descendants of Jeroboam, the servants of Solomon. The
greatest confrontation that the prophet Elijah had was with the
Israelite King Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel. For they, Ahab and
Jezebel, worshipped idols and were turning the people away from
serving the One and Living God. Before this, however, Jezebel, a
Syrian, persuaded her husband to erect a temple to the Syrian god
Baal and ordered many priests to the service of this false god.
Through great miracles Elijah displayed the power and authority of
God: he closed up the heavens, so that there was not any rain for
three years and six months; he lowered a fire from heaven and burned
the sacrifice to his God which the pagan priests of Baal were unable
to do; he brought down rain from heaven by his prayer; miraculously
multiplied flour and oil in the home of the widow in Zerepath, and
resurrected her son; he prophesied to Ahab that the dogs will lick up
his blood and to Jezebel that the dogs will consume her flesh, all of
which happened as well as many other miracles did he perform and
prophesy. On Mount Horeb, he spoke with God and heard the voice of
God in the calm of a gentle breeze. Before his death he took Elisha
and designated him as his successor in the prophetic calling; by his
mantle he divided the waters of the Jordan river; finally he was
taken up into the heavens in a fiery chariot by flaming horses. He
appeared on Mount Tabor to our Lord Jesus Christ together with Moses.
Before the end of the world St. Elijah will appear again to put an
end to the power of the anti-Christ (Revelation, Chapter 11).
Respectably Taken From the:
"The Prologue of Ohrid"
by St. Nikolai of Zica, Serbia(Velimirovic)
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