Thunder swept across the sky, and the old women crossed themselves, cautiously glancing at the clouds. “Ilya the Prophet rode in a chariot,” their whisper is heard. Older people remember such scenes. Who is this prophet shaking heaven and earth? Let's open the Bible and listen to what it tells us.
Israel in the darkness of paganism
900 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, the wicked king Jeroboam reigned in Israel. For reasons of self-interest, he retreated from the true God, fell into idolatry and carried along all the unhappy people. Since then, a galaxy of kings of Israel has worshiped idols. The inhabitants of the country suffered many troubles because of their wickedness. But the Lord, by his boundless mercy, did not leave the apostates, but tried to return them to the true path, sending them prophets and exposing paganism through their lips. Among them, the most ardent fighter for true faith was the prophet Elijah of God.
The birth of a new prophet
The Bible tells us that he was born in eastern Palestine, in the city of Fesvit. At the time of the birth, his father, the priest, had a vision: he saw some husbands swaddling a baby with fire and putting a flame in his mouth. This was a prediction that in his mature years the words of his sermons would be like fire, and he would mercilessly burn out wickedness among his fallen compatriots. They called the newborn Elijah, which means Heavenly in Hebrew. These words perfectly expressed his purpose to become a vessel of the grace of God.
Growing up, the prophet Elijah, as befits the son of a priest, led a clean and righteous life, long retiring to the desert and spending time in prayers. And the Lord loved him, sending down all that was asked. The young man himself endlessly mourned his soul, seeing around a terrible orgy of idolatry. Rulers and people made human sacrifices. Everything is mired in vice and debauchery. The true God has been forgotten. Before his eyes, those rare righteous who still remained in Israel and tried to condemn dishonor, were put to death. Elijah's heart was full of pain.
Terrible accuser of wickedness
At that time, the successor of Jeroboam king Ahab reigned in the country. He was also wicked, but his wife Jezebel was especially committed to idols. She worshiped the Phoenician god Baal and instilled this faith in the Israelites. Pagan altars were built everywhere and temples were built. The prophet Elijah, despising mortal danger, went to the king and menacingly convicted him of all the lawlessness that he did, trying to convince the truth of the one God of their fathers. Seeing that the king’s heart was impenetrable to the truth, in order to prove his words and to punish the apostates, he sent a terrible drought to the whole country through the power of God, from which the crop died and starvation began.
Speaking of the miracles revealed by the saints during the period of their earthly life, one should pay attention to a very important detail: they do not work miracles, since they are ordinary people in this period, and the Lord God acts with their hands. By virtue of their righteousness, they become a kind of transmission link between the Most High and people. After death, while in the kingdom of God, the saints, by our prayers to them, can beg God to fulfill what is requested.
The prophet Elijah risked not only becoming a victim of royal anger, but also, together with ordinary people, die a starvation death. However, God saved his life. The Lord brought his prophet to a remote place where there was water, and ordered the raven to bring him food. It is worth noting that the prophet Elijah, whose icon is present in almost every Orthodox church, is often depicted with a raven bringing food.
Miracles in Sarept
The next perfect miracle was the salvation from the starvation of a poor widow from the city of Sarept, where Elijah went by the command of God. Because the poor woman did not spare the last piece of bread for him, her meager food supplies of God's power became inexhaustible. When the widow’s son died of illness, the prophet Elijah, revealing a new miracle, returned the youth to life. His name was Jonah. The Bible tells of his amazing fate. Having matured over the years, the young man became an ardent zealot for true faith. Once, on a ship heading to the city of Nineveh, where he was going to appeal to the inhabitants to repent, he fell into a storm and ended up overboard, where he was swallowed by a whale. But according to the will of God three days later, Jonah was cast out alive and unharmed. This dwelling in the whale's belly and subsequent return to the world is a type of Christ's three-day resurrection.
Match with the priests and the end of the drought
In the third year of drought, the last wells were already dry. Death and desolation reigned everywhere. The gracious Lord, not wanting to continue the tragedy, ordered the prophet Elijah to go to King Ahab and convince him to turn away from worshiping demons. After three years of terrible disasters, even such a wicked man had to understand the perniciousness of idolatry. But the king’s mind became clouded with malice.
Then the holy prophet, in order to prove the truth of his God and to avert the king and the people of Israel from idolatry, volunteered to compete with the priests of Baal. They accepted the challenge and built their altar. The prophet began by prayers to invoke heavenly fire on them. The servant of Baal was four hundred and fifty, and the prophet Elijah was one. But only the prayer of the righteous was heard, and his altar lit up with fire, and the efforts of the priests were in vain. They danced and stabbed themselves with knives - all in vain. The people glorified the true God, and the shamed priests were immediately executed. The people were clearly convinced of the correctness of the messenger of God.
After this, the holy prophet Elijah, ascending Mount Carmel, offered the Lord a prayer for the gift of rain. Before he could finish, the heavens opened, and a noisy rain poured down upon the earth, irrigating the fields and gardens. Everything that happened was so impressive that even King Ahab repented of delusions and began to mourn his sins.
A visit to the prophet Elijah by God
However, embittered Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, set out to avenge her shame and ordered her to kill the prophet. He was forced to hide in the desert. Once, exhausted from hunger and thirst, the prophet Elijah fell asleep. An angel of God appeared to him in a dream, ordered to direct his path to Mount Horeb and settle there in a cave. When Elijah woke up, he saw food and a jug of water in front of him. It was very handy, as there were forty days and forty nights to go.
Bitter experiences about the fate of his pagan people plunged the prophet Elijah into deep sadness. He was on the verge of despair, but the all-merciful Lord blessed him on Mount Horeb with his visit and announced that the righteous in the land of Israel had not yet run dry, that He had kept seven thousand faithful slaves, that the time was near when King Ahab and his wife would die. In addition, the Lord announced the name of the future king, who will destroy the entire family of the Ahab. To crown it all, the prophet Elijah learned from the mouth of God the name of his successor, whom he should anoint with the prophets. After some time, the Almighty sent Elijah a disciple, the pious Elisha, who began to struggle with paganism with the same zeal.
The New Sin of King Ahab
Meanwhile, the wicked king Ahab again embarked on the path of sin. He liked the vineyard of an Israeli named Naboth, but, trying to buy it, the king was refused. His heart filled with pride could not bear such a shame. Upon learning of the incident, Queen Jezebel slandered Navufai through her minions, accusing him of scolding both God and the king. The crowd stoned an innocent man, and Ahab became the owner of the vineyard. But his joy was short-lived. The Lord, through the mouth of His prophet Elijah, exposed the slanderer and foretold a quick death to him and his lying wife. Once again, the king poured tears of repentance. Three years later he was killed. His wife and children survived for a short while.
Descent of heavenly fire on the servants of King Ahaziah
After Ahab, his son Ahaziah reigned. Like his father, he worshiped Baal and other pagan gods. And once, seriously ill, he began to call them for help. Learning of this, the Prophet Elijah angrily condemned him and predicted a quick death. Twice the angry king sent troops of soldiers to seize Elijah, and twice came down from heaven fire and destroyed them. Only the third time that the messengers fell on his knees before him did the Prophet have mercy on them. After Elijah repeated his accusatory speech, Ahaziah died.
Ascension alive to heaven
Other miracles performed by Elijah the Prophet are also described in the Bible. Once, with the blow of his cloak, he stopped the waters of the Jordan River, forced them to part, and crossed to the other side along a dry bottom, just as Joshua had done before.
Soon, according to God's command, a miracle happened - the prophet Elijah was taken alive to heaven. The Bible describes how suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, harnessed by flaming horses, and the prophet Elijah ascended into heaven in a whirlwind, like lightning. Witness the miracle was his student Elisha. The grace of God and the ability to work miracles passed on to him from the teacher. The prophet Elijah himself is still alive in the villages of paradise. The Lord keeps him as His faithful servant. This can be proved by his appearance in the flesh on Mount Tabor, where he, in the presence of the holy apostles and Moses, spoke with the transformed Jesus Christ.
It should be noted that before him, only righteous Enoch, who had lived before the Great Flood, was taken alive to heaven. This fiery path in the clouds was the reason that thunderclaps in our country were often associated with his name. The prophet Elijah, whose life is mainly described in the Old Testament, is mentioned repeatedly in the New. It is enough to recall the scene on Mount Tabor, where he appeared to the transfigured Jesus Christ with Moses, as well as a number of other episodes.
The veneration of the Prophet Elijah in Russia
Ever since the light of Orthodoxy shone in Russia, the prophet Elijah became one of the most revered Russian saints. The first temples in his honor were erected even during the time of Prince Askold and the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. This is largely due to the fact that the first Christian missionaries on the banks of the Dnieper and Volkhov faced the same problems as the prophet Elijah in Palestine - it was necessary to rescue the people from the darkness of paganism.
When summer droughts occurred in Russia, religious processions went to the fields and asked him for help. There was no doubt: the holy prophet Elijah, whose prayer put an end to the three-year drought in Palestine, has the power to send rain to our land.
The Prophet Elijah and his miracles inspired many Russian rulers to create temples in his honor. In addition to the saints already mentioned, Prince Askold and Princess Olga, Prince Igor erected the Temple of Elijah the Prophet in Kiev. Similar temples are also known in Veliky Novgorod and in Pskov.
Temple of the Prophet Elijah in Obydensky Lane
Among the current ones, the most famous is the Moscow Church of Elijah the Prophet in Obydensky Lane, a photo of which is presented in our article. It is believed that it was built in 1592. The place where the temple is now located is called Ostozhenka, and once it was called Skorod. The fact is that logs were rafted here along the river, and it was convenient and quick to build here. The ambulance turned out to be a house. One day is “everyday”, and everything is ready. This gave the name to the lanes running here.
The wooden church of Elijah the Prophet built in this place was one of the most revered in the city. In the Time of Troubles, in 1612, within its walls, the Moscow clergy performed a prayer service, asking for help from the Lord God in expelling the Polish invaders from Moscow. In historical chronicles, religious processions to the church are often mentioned in the days of drought, as well as on patronal festivals. Often, service was carried out by representatives of the higher clergy.
The stone building of the church was erected in 1702, and for three hundred years the stream of pilgrims has not dried up to it. Even in the difficult years for the church, its doors did not close, although there were attempts. It is known, for example, about the intention of the authorities to close the church immediately after the end of the liturgy on June 22, 1941. But the Lord did not allow this.
During the persecution of the church, the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah became the place where parishioners of many churches closed in the capital flocked. They brought with them not only church utensils saved from confiscation, but also many pious traditions that have been preserved since pre-revolutionary times. Thus, expanding, the community was enriched spiritually.
Temple of Elijah the Prophet in Butovo
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, in 2010 in Moscow launched the “Program 200” - a project to build two hundred Orthodox churches in the capital. As part of this program, in 2012 in Northern Butovo, at the intersection of Green and Kulikovskaya streets, the construction of another temple began in honor of the Old Testament prophet Elijah. The building is currently under construction and services are being held in a temporary building. Despite the inconvenience, the parish life of the temple is very saturated. A counseling service has been organized, the activists of which are ready to provide comprehensive explanations on all issues related to the church service. An Orthodox film club has been opened. In addition, a Sunday school and a number of sports sections are available for children. The Church of Elijah the Prophet in Butovo, without a doubt, will become one of the prominent religious and cultural centers of our capital.
The image of the prophet Elijah today
Today, the church carries out extensive work to promote Orthodox culture. Books are being published, films are being shot. Among other materials, the publication “Holy Prophet Elijah. Life. " For children and adults there are many interesting things. Modern icon painters have created a gallery of works representing the acts of St. Elijah. Following the established canons, they creatively rethink the religious and moral significance of the image.
Also, one cannot help but recall that the holy prophet Elijah is the patron saint of the airborne troops of Russia. Every year on August 2, solemn services are held in the churches of the Airborne Forces. More than a thousand years ago, the light of Orthodoxy shone in Russia, and over the years Elijah the Prophet, whose earthly life was spent in Palestine, became a truly Russian saint, an intercessor in troubles and an example of selfless Christian service to God.