HOLY AND GLORIOUS PROPHET ELIJAH THE TISHBITE
Troparion Tone 4
Incarnate Angel and summit of the Prophets,/ second forerunner of the coming of Christ,/ glorious Elijah sent down grace from on high to the Prophet Elisha./ He heals diseases and cleanses the leprous./ He pours healings on all who honour him.
Kontakion Tone 2
O great Prophet Elijah,/ seer of God's mighty works,/ who didst halt the torrential rain by thy word,/ pray for us to the Lover of Mankind.
+ + +
SAINT ELIJAH THE PROPHETOF MOST HIGH GOD
Fiery man, the Prophet Elijah,
With heavenly radiance, glowed on earth
Pleased the Lord with your prayers
You closed the heavens and from heaven brought down fire,
All with the help of God's All-powerful right hand;
Because of their lukewarm faith, you rebuke men;
For the Living God, you diligently labored
And, as its prophet, the Church celebrates you.
The king did not frighten you and the queen even less,
Your king and your possession, the Lord God is.
Neither about food nor about drink did he worry.
To God's Providence, you were completely devoted
Without fear of anyone, you were a fear to everyone.
As a powerful lion who is a fear to small mice.
For the Living God you diligently labored
And as its prophet, the Church celebrates you.
As so few, the Lord glorified you
For the Living God you glorified:
To ignite sacrifices, God sent you a fire;
To resurrect the dead, power He gave you.
The entire world, your powerful work amazed,
All your prophecies were fulfilled,
With soul and body, you were alive and whole,
That is why death did not have any part in you.
Both in soul and body, fiery prophet
Glory to you! We exclaim with a joyful soul.
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 translation to heaven 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 Antichrist (Revelation, Chapter 11).
_______________________________________________________________________________
In a Greek Synaxarion the following miracle of the Holy Prophet Elijah related to the Traditional Orthodox Calendar is recorded ; A certainFr. Paisius, Abbot of the monstery of Holy Prophet Elijah in Jerusalem came to Constantinople, and from Constantinople went to Belgrade (Serbia). At that time the Patriarch Paisius was there. At that time there lived in Belgrade an Orthodox Christian who had Roman Catholic wife . On St Elijah's day (according to Orthodox traditional, so called "old calendar" by some) his wife was going to knead bread, but her husband said to her , ''Today is the Feast of Holy Prophet Elias, and you shouldn't work.'' His wife replied that this feast had passed than about ten days or so earlier(according to the Gregorian-papal calendar so called new calendar). And so a quarrel arose between them . The stubborn women kneaded the dough, but lo the wonder! The dough turned to stone in her hands . All the neighbours gathered to see the miracle and each took a piece of the stone. Fr.Paisisus also happened to be there , and he likewise took piece of the stone as evidence of the miracle of God and took it with him to Jerusalem . Paisius placed the stone before and icon of the Holy Prophet Elijah in his monastery.
________________________________________________________________________________
In Serbia tradition to abstain from working on the Great Feast days of the Church and especially on St Elijah's day were kept widely in great fear of God, among the people for many generations (until the rule of the godless comunists came to power,) since there was and still there is many fear full incidents -examples that as punishment happened to some of those OrthodoxChristians who would be ignorant of the fact that is great feast day of the Church and especially St Elijah's feast and would go to do work in field or around the house etc......doing those things which otherwise could be postponed until the day after. In Serbia St Elijah is traditionally called the Prophet Elijah the Thunderer, since traditionally every year over there in Serbia there is usually mighty thundering on his feast .
Comments