Thunder rolled across the sky, and the old women crossed themselves, looking warily at the clouds. "Ilya the Prophet rode in a chariot," their whisper is heard. Older people remember scenes like this. Who is this prophet who shakes heaven and earth? Let's open the Bible and listen to what it tells us.
Israel in pagan darkness
900 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, the wicked king Jeroboam reigned in Israel. For reasons of self-interest, he apostatized from the true God, fell into idolatry, and dragged the whole unfortunate people with him. Since then, a whole galaxy of kings of Israel worshiped idols. Many troubles have been suffered by the inhabitants of the country 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 with their mouths. Among them, the most ardent fighter for the true faith was the prophet of God Elijah.
The birth of a new prophet
The Bible tells that he was born in the east of Palestine, in the city of Fesvit. At the moment of his birth, his father, a priest, had a vision: he saw some men swaddling the baby with fire and putting flame into his mouth. This was a prediction thatmature years, the words of his sermons will be like fire, and he will mercilessly burn out wickedness among his compatriots who have fallen into sin. They named the newborn Elijah, which in Hebrew means "my God." These words perfectly expressed his destiny to become a vessel of the grace of God.
Growing up, the prophet Elijah, as befits the son of a priest, led a pure and righteous life, leaving for a long time in the desert and spending time in prayers. And the Lord loved him, sending down all that was asked. The young man himself endlessly grieved in soul, seeing around him a terrible bacchanalia of idolatry. The rulers and the people made human sacrifices. Everything is mired in vice and depravity. The true God was 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 filled with pain.
Terrible Revealer 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 devoted to idols. She worshiped the Phoenician god Baal and implanted this faith in the Israelites. Pagan altars were built everywhere and temples were erected. The prophet Elijah, defying mortal danger, went to the king and menacingly denounced him for all the iniquities he had committed, trying to convince their fathers of the one and only God. Seeing that the king’s heart was impenetrable to the truth, in order to prove his words and to punish the apostates, by the power of God, he sent a terrible drought over the whole country, from which the crops perished and famine began.
Speaking of the miracles performed by the saints during their earthly life, one should pay attention to a very important detail: they do not work miracles themselves, as they are ordinary people during this period, but the Lord God acts with their hands. They, by virtue of their righteousness, become a kind of transmission link between the Almighty and people. After death, being in the Kingdom of God, the saints, through our prayers to them, can beg God for the fulfillment of what they ask.
Prophet Elijah risked not only becoming a victim of royal wrath, but also starving to death together with ordinary people. However, God spared his life. The Lord brought his prophet to a remote place where there was water and commanded a 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 Sarepta
The next perfect miracle was the salvation from starvation of a poor widow from the city of Sarepta, where Elijah went at the command of God. Because the poor woman did not spare the last piece of bread for him, her meager food supply by the power of God became inexhaustible. When the widow's son died from an illness, the prophet Elijah, having shown a new miracle, returned the life to the lad. His name was Jonah. The Bible tells of his amazing fate. Having matured over the years, the young man became an ardent zealot of the true faith. One day, on his way to the city of Nineveh, where he was going to appeal to the inhabitants with a call to repent, he got into a storm and ended up overboard, where he was swallowed by a whale. But by the will of God, after three days, Jonah wasregurgitated alive and unharmed. This stay in the belly of a whale and the subsequent return to the world is a type of the three-day resurrection of Christ.
The contest with the priests and the end of the drought
In the third year of the drought, the last wells dried up. Death and desolation reigned everywhere. The merciful Lord, not wanting the tragedy to continue, ordered the prophet Elijah to go to King Ahab and convince him to turn away from the worship of demons. After three years of terrible calamities, even such a wicked man must have understood the perniciousness of idolatry. But the king's mind became clouded from anger.
Then the holy prophet, in order to prove the truth of his God and turn 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 servants of Baal were 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 disgraced priests were immediately executed. The people were clearly convinced of the correctness of the messenger of God.
After that, the holy prophet Elijah, ascending Mount Carmel, offered up a prayer to the Lord for the gift of rain. Before he could finish, the heavens opened and a noisy downpour poured down on the earth, irrigating the fields and gardens. Everything that happened was so impressive that even King Ahab repented of his errors and began to mourn for his sins.
VisitProphet Elijah by God
However, the embittered Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, set out to avenge her shame and ordered the prophet to be killed. He was forced to hide in the desert. One day, exhausted from hunger and thirst, the prophet Elijah fell asleep. An angel of God appeared to him in a dream, ordered him 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. This was very helpful, since it was forty days and forty nights to go.
Bitter feelings about the fate of his pagan people plunged the prophet Elijah into deep sadness. He was on the verge of despair, but the most merciful Lord honored him on Mount Horeb with his visit and announced that the righteous in the land of Israel had not yet dried up, that He had saved seven thousand of His faithful servants, 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 Ahab. To top it off, the prophet Elijah learned from the mouth of God the name of his successor, whom he should anoint as a prophet. After some time, the Almighty sent Elijah a disciple - the pious Elisha, who began to fight paganism just as zealously.
King Ahab's new sin
Meanwhile, the wicked king Ahab again entered the path of sin. He liked the vineyard of an Israelite named Naboth, but, trying to buy it, the king was refused. His proud heart could not bear such shame. Upon learning of what had happened, Queen Jezebel, through her henchmen, slandered Nabothai, accusing him of scolding both God and the king. An innocent man was stoned to death by the mob, and Ahab became the owner of the vineyard. But his joy was short-lived. Through the mouth of His prophet Elijah, the Lord denounced the slanderer and predicted a quick death for him and his deceitful wife. Once again the king shed tears of repentance. Three years later he was killed. The wicked man's wife and children did not long survive.
The 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 then one day, seriously ill, he began to call on them for help. Upon learning of this, the Prophet Elijah angrily condemned him and predicted his imminent death. Twice the angry king sent detachments of soldiers to seize Elijah, and twice fire descended from heaven and destroyed them. Only on the third time, when the messengers fell on their knees before him, did the Prophet pardon them. After Elijah repeated his diatribe, Ahaziah died.
Ascension alive to heaven
Described in the Bible and other miracles performed by Elijah the Prophet. Once, with a blow from his cloak, he stopped the waters of the Jordan River, forced them to part, and crossed to the other side on a dry bottom, just as Joshua had done before.
Soon, by God's command, a miracle happened - the prophet Elijah was taken alive to heaven. The Bible describes how a fiery chariot suddenly appeared, drawn by flaming horses, and the prophet Elijah ascended to heaven in a whirlwind like lightning. The miracle was witnessed by his disciple Elisha. The Grace of God passed to him from the teacher, and with it the ability to work miracles. The prophet Elijah himself is still alive in the villages of paradise. The Lord keeps himas His faithful servant. Proof of this is his appearance in the flesh on Mount Tabor, where he, in the presence of the holy apostles and Moses, conversed with the transfigured Jesus Christ.
It should be noted that before him, only the righteous Enoch, who lived before the Great Flood, was taken to heaven alive. This fiery path in the clouds was the reason why thunderstorms were often associated with his name. The prophet Elijah, whose life is mainly described in the Old Testament, is mentioned repeatedly in the New. Suffice it to recall the scene on Mount Tabor, where he appeared to the transfigured Jesus Christ together with Moses, as well as a number of other episodes.
Honoring the Prophet Elijah in Russia
Since the light of Orthodoxy shone in Russia, the prophet Elijah has become one of the most revered Russian saints. The first churches in his honor were erected back in 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 there were summer droughts in Russia, they went to the fields with religious processions 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 on our land.
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 Kyiv. Similar temples are also known in Veliky Novgorod and 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 floated here along the river, and it was convenient and fast to build here. The house turned out fast. One day - "everyday", and everything is ready. This gave the name to the alleys that run 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. Historical chronicles often mention processions to the church during drought days, as well as on patronal feasts. Often the service was conducted by representatives of the higher clergy.
The stone building of the temple was erected in 1702, and for three hundred years the flow of pilgrims to it has not dried up. Even in difficult years for the church, its doors were not closed, although there were such attempts. It is known, for example, about the intention of the authorities to close the temple immediately after the end of the liturgy on June 22, 1941. But the Lord did not allow it.
During the period of persecution of the church Church of the Holy Prophet Elijahbecame a place where the 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 had been preserved since pre-revolutionary times. Thus, as the community grew, it enriched itself spiritually.
Temple of Elijah the Prophet in Butovo
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, in 2010 Moscow launched the "Program 200" - a project to build 200 Orthodox churches in the capital. As part of this program, in 2012 in Northern Butovo, at the intersection of Grina and Kulikovskaya streets, the construction of another church in honor of the Old Testament prophet Elijah began. The building is currently under construction and services are being held in a temporary facility. Despite the forced inconvenience, the parish life of the church is very busy. A consulting service has been organized, the activists of which are ready to give exhaustive explanations on all issues related to the church service. An Orthodox cinema club was opened. In addition, there is a Sunday school for children and a number of sports sections. The Church of Elijah the Prophet in Butovo will undoubtedly become one of the prominent religious and cultural centers of our capital.
The image of the prophet Elijah today
Today, the church is doing extensive work to promote Orthodox culture. Books are being published, films are being made. Among other materials, the publication “The Holy Prophet Elijah. Life . There are many interesting things for children and adults. Contemporary icon painters created a galleryworks representing the deeds of St. Elijah. Following the established canons, they creatively rethink the religious and moral meaning of the image.
It is also impossible not to remember that the holy prophet Elijah is the patron saint of the airborne troops of Russia. Every year on August 2, ceremonial services are held in the churches of the Airborne Forces units. 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, has become a truly Russian saint, an intercessor in troubles and an example of selfless Christian service to God.
