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 (Metropolitan Jeremiah of Gortynos)

The Prophet Elijah

By Metropolitan Jeremiah of Gortynos and Megalopolis

(Homily Delivered on Sunday 20 July 2014)

1. Today, my Christian brethren, our holy Church celebrates the memory of a great prophet, the Prophet Elijah the Tishbite. He is called so because he came from Tishbe in Gilead, the country beyond the Jordan. This prophet remained vividly engraved in the hearts of the people, that is why in the Old Testament we have five narratives about the prophet Elijah, which come from the mouths of the people. These five narratives do not contain theoretical teaching, but incidents and miracles related to the prophet. But the greatest praise to the Prophet Elijah the Tishbite was given by the people again after many years. When, my beloved, the people of Palestine heard our Lord Jesus Christ preach and perform miracles, they were amazed at what they heard and saw, so they said: "Who is this? Is it Elijah?" (Luke 9:19).

Homily Two on the Glorious Prophet Elijah (Archimandrite George Kapsanis)

 By Archimandrite George Kapsanis  

 

(Delivered in 1988)

 

Many holy men before Christ were adorned with various gifts of the Holy Spirit, as was the Prophet Elijah whom we celebrate today, who, apart from the common characteristics he had with the other holy men of God, also had this special feature: that he was a man who for the ordinances of God, for the commandments of God, for the faith in the true God, made great and heroic struggles. He risked many times in his life and did not rest unless he saw the will of God, the justice and commandments of God and faith in the true God prevail.

The Israelite nation in those years - about five hundred years before Christ - faced a situation similar to the situation we face today.

There was a great influence of foreign peoples, who were idolaters, and the people were being led astray. They abandoned the tradition of their fathers, faith in the true God, for whom they had so many proofs and had seen so many miracles, and from a spirit of pseudo-modernization and modernism, so to speak, they followed the religions and ideologies that came to Israel from the neighboring states.

On the Prophet Elijah (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

By St. Ephraim the Syrian

 

Regarding the life of the blessed Elijah, who can narrate it? For he so lived upon the earth, that before his translocation he might be thought to live in the heavens, and associate with the incorporeal Angels; he who obtained nothing at all upon the earth; he who was wrapped only in sheepskin, and to those who wore crowns and royal robes he appeared dreadful, not because of the strength of the body, but by the power of landlessness and self-control, and by the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, which he obtained by his good life; he who had nothing, and yet possessed everything; he who refused all the comforts of this life; he who parted the river with his command; he who commanded the sky not to rain on the earth for three years and six months; he who shunned all the vain glory of this life; he who quenched the flame of sin with the coolness of temperance; he who never thought of anything carnal; he who rebuked the blasphemies of the prophets of delusion, and slaughtered the priests of Baal; he who commanded fire to come down the third time from heaven, and consumed the unbelievers, and rebuked the king for his diversion; he who had so much boldness and courage of speech; he who bound the clouds.