July: Day 20: Teaching 1: Holy Prophet Elijah the Tishbite

July: Day 20: Teaching 1:
Holy Prophet Elijah the Tishbite
 
(In What Ways Should We Imitate the Prophet Elijah?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Prophet Elijah lived eight hundred years before Christ and came from the city of Tishbe, which is why he is called a Tishbite. 

When the Jewish people gave themselves over to idolatry, Elijah predicted as a punishment for this that there would be no rain in the Jewish land, and there was none for three and a half years. 

During the barrenness that occurred due to drought, the Prophet Elijah was first fed by ravens, who brought him meat, and then lived with a widow from Zarephath. Although this widow had only a handful of flour and a little oil in a vessel, neither the flour nor the oil ran out the entire time that Elijah lived with her. This widow's son died, but Elijah begged the Lord to resurrect the boy. 

Out of his zeal for the faith in the Lord, Elijah killed the priests of Baal after they had brought a sacrifice to God, upon which fire came down from heaven, and then announced that rain would soon fall, which came true. 

The Prophet Elijah was so pleasing to God that he was honored with the appearance of the Lord to him in a "still small voice." 

The wicked king Ahab with the lawless queen Jezebel, and after their death the equally wicked son Ahaziah, constantly persecuted the Prophet Elijah and sought his death; but those who attempted to kill him were themselves killed by heavenly fire. 

The life of Elijah was filled with miracles and his death was miraculous. He did not die as all other people die, he was taken by a whirlwind to heaven in a fiery chariot harnessed by fiery horses.

During the Transfiguration of the Lord, he appeared with Moses and conversed with Jesus Christ, to which the Holy Apostles Peter, James and John were witnesses.

II. The righteous man honored today, dear brethren, belongs to the number of those great men who, like stars, shone upon the firmament of the Old Testament Church, until the rising of the Sun of righteousness – the manifestation in the flesh of the Son of God. We call this righteous man a "Prophet" due to the exceptional decisiveness of his prophecies; but even more fittingly he deserves the title of "Wonderworker." What did not happen at the voice of Elijah? The heavens were closed and opened, it gave no rain and poured forth entire rivers; fire descended upon the sacrifice and consumed even the water surrounding it. What did not happen for Elijah? Ravens brought him food, the Jordan revealed its bed and led him across dry ground; God Himself appeared to Elijah as He had not appeared to anyone after Moses. The end of a life filled with miracles is even more miraculous: Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire, as no one before him had been taken up, and likely no one will be taken up after him.

And despite all this, Elijah, according to the words of the Apostle, "was a man subject to like passions as we are" (James 5:17)! When you contemplate this, brethren, at times you are immediately lifted up as if to the heights, while at other times you seem to fall low. In a moment of holy jubilation, you wish to elevate your thoughts to the height of the righteous, to expand your actions to their sphere of activity; you hear within yourself the voice that "the God of Elijah" (2 Kings 2:14) is the God of all and each one, that He has not just one fiery chariot, but "tens of thousands" (Psalm 68:18). Yet in a moment of spiritual weakness, your gaze involuntarily lowers before the image of the righteous, it becomes difficult to believe that all this was accomplished with our mortal flesh; you think you see but a painting drawn by the hand of a pious artist, you stand in thought at the foot of Horeb, and do not dare to enter the cave where the Lord reveals Himself. This is how it is when thinking of other great righteous ones: the spirit soars towards them and with them, as with one's own, while the flesh recoils from them as from those who are foreign, incomparable.

What exactly should we imitate in Elijah?

a) Was it really his wondrous works, in which he appeared above all nature? And what then, beloved, if we were to tell you to imitate this too? Would we be telling a lie? Are not signs promised to those who believe in Christ? “But these signs will follow to those who believed,” says the Savior Himself: “In My name they will cast out demons, they will speak new tongues, they will take up serpents, and if they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them” (Mark 16:17-18). Much has been said, but do not think that everything has been enumerated here; and this much is indicated only as an example. For listen to what the Savior Himself says in another place: “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do” (John 14:12). Did the Savior perform few miracles? But behold, even greater things are promised. To whom? To the believer, and consequently to you too, if you believe as you should. This seems impossible to us, because we are far from the heights of Christian perfection – just as to a man standing in a ditch, everything seems above him.

b) Let us imitate the virtues of the Holy Prophet Elijah.

Elijah had many miracles, but even more virtues. Let us imitate virtues when we cannot imitate miracles. Virtues are better than miracles; for from them come all miracles, but a miracle does not by itself give virtue.

Let us imitate the abstinence of Elijah, according to which he ate flour and oil for three years.

Let us imitate the holy inclination towards solitude, due to which he spent almost his entire life in a cave.

Let us imitate the humility by which Elijah did not want to have even Elisha as a witness of his ascension to heaven.

Above all, let us love the zeal of Elijah “for the glory of the true God.” I say, “above all,” for this holy virtue is almost completely forgotten by us. If our honor is touched in any way, we lose our temper, ready to give our lives for it. But the honor of faith and its most holy mysteries, and the honor of our Redeemer and future Judge, and the honor of our common mother, the Church, are nothing to many! Say whatever you like in their presence, against everything holy, they will not say a word in defense, they will find pleasure in your words, and perhaps they will love you for it. Should it be so among true believers? Is this not a clear sign that such people have no faith in their hearts, that they are secret pagans? And there are many such!

Therefore we invite you to imitate the zeal of Elijah. How to imitate? With the sword of Elijah? No, it is in the hands of the ruling power, which proves by all its actions that it, in the words of the apostle, “does not bear the sword without reason” (Rom. 13:4). Firstly, by a good example, that is, by your personal respect for everything sacred, and secondly, by a good word and conviction, as long as you stop the outbursts of madness and bring to reason the foolish and unpunished people. At least do not listen to blasphemous speeches, do not smile when you hear them, but run, if you can, from the speaker. How much impiety would be reduced if it were punished at least by inattention alone! 

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.