St Elias, Founder of Carmel ~ A Bi-Ritual Saint

St Elias, Prophet, is honoured today in both the Latin Church, especially in the Carmelite Family, and the Byzantine Catholic Churches.

From the East:

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The Holy Prophet Elias is one of the greatest of the prophets and the first dedicated to virginity in the Old Testament. He was born in Thesbe of Gilead into the Levite tribe 900 years before the Incarnation of the Word of God.

Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus gives the following account about the birth of the Prophet Elias: “When Elias was born, his father Sobach saw in a vision angels of God around him. They swaddled him with fire and fed him with flames.” The name Elias (the Lord’s strength) given to the infant defined his whole life. From the years of his youth, he dedicated himself to the One God, settled in the wilderness and spent his whole life in strict fasting, meditation and prayer. Called to prophetic service, which put him in conflict with the Israelite king Ahab, the prophet became a fiery zealot of true faith and piety.

During this time the Israelite nation had fallen away from the faith of their Fathers, they abandoned the One God and worshipped pagan idols, the worship of which was introduced by the impious King Jereboam. Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, was devoted to idol worship. She persuaded her husband to build a temple to the pagan god Baal, which led many Israelites away from the worship of the true God. Beholding the ruin of his nation, the Prophet Elias began to denounce King Ahab for impiety and exhorted him to repent and turn to the God of Israel. The king would not listen to him. The Prophet Elias then declared to him, that as punishment there would be neither rain nor dew upon the ground, and the drought would cease only by his prayer. Indeed, the word of Elias was a torch (Eccles. 48: 1). The heavens were closed for three and a half years, and there was drought and famine throughout all the land.

During this time of tribulation, the Lord sent him to a cave beyond the Jordan. There he was miraculously fed by ravens. When the stream Horath dried up, the Lord sent the Prophet Elias to Sarephta to a poor widow, a Sidonian Gentile who suffered together with her children, awaiting death by starvation. At the request of the prophet, she prepared him bread with the last measure of flour and the remainder of the oil. Through the prayer of the Prophet Elias, flour and oil were not depleted in the home of the widow for the duration of the famine. By the power of his prayer the prophet also performed another miracle: he raised the dead son of the widow.

After the end of three years of drought, the Merciful Lord sent the prophet to appear before King Ahab and promised to send rain upon the earth. The Prophet Elias told the king to order all of Israel to gather upon Mount Carmel, and also the priests of Baal. When the nation had gathered, the Prophet Elias proposed that two sacrificial altars be built: one for the priests of Baal, and the other for the Prophet Elias who served the True God.

The Prophet Elias told them to call on their gods to consume the sacrificial animals with fire, and he would call on his. Whichever was first to send fire on the sacrifice would be acknowledged as the true God. The prophets of Baal called out to their idol from morning till evening, but the heavens were silent. Towards evening the holy Prophet Elias built his sacrificial altar from twelve stones, the number of the tribes of Israel. He placed the sacrifice upon the wood, gave orders to dig a ditch around the altar and commanded that the sacrifice and the wood be soaked with water. When the ditch had filled with water, the prophet turned to God in prayer. Through the prayer of the prophet, fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, and even the water. The people fell down to the ground, crying out: “Truly, the Lord is God!” Then the Prophet Elias had all the pagan priests of Baal put to death, and he began to pray for rain. Through his prayer, the heavens opened and an abundant rain fell, soaking the parched earth.

King Ahab acknowledged his error and repented of his sins, but his wife Jezebel threatened to kill the prophet of God. The Prophet Elias fled into the Kingdom of Judea and, grieving over his failure to eradicate idol worship, he asked God to let him die. An angel of the Lord came before him, strengthened him with food and commanded him to go upon a long journey. The Prophet Elias traveled for forty days and nights and, having arrived at Mount Horeb, he settled in a cave.

The Lord told him that the next day Elias would stand in His presence. There was a strong wind that crushed the rocks of the mountain, then an earthquake, and a fire, but the Lord was not in them. The Lord was in “a gentle breeze” (3 Kings 19:12). He revealed to the prophet, that He would preserve seven thousand faithful servants who had not worshipped Baal.

Later, the Lord commanded Elias to anoint Eliseus into prophetic service. Because of his fiery zeal for the Glory of God, the Prophet Elias was taken up alive into Heaven in a fiery chariot. The Prophet Eliseus received Elias's mantle and a double portion of his prophetic spirit.

According to the Tradition of Holy Church, the Prophet Elias will be the Forerunner of the Dread Second Coming of Christ. He will proclaim the truth of Christ, urge all to repentance, and will be slain by the Antichrist. This will be a sign of the end of the world.

The life of the Holy Prophet Elias is recorded in the Old Testament books (3 Kings; 4 Kings; Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 48:1-15;1 Maccabees 2:58). At the time of the Transfiguration, the Prophet Elias conversed with the Saviour upon Mount Thabor (Mt. 17:3; Mark 9:4; Luke. 9:30).

Eastern Catholics of all times, and in all places, have venerated the Prophet Elias for centuries. The first church in Russia, built at Kyiv under Prince Ihor, was named for the Prophet Elias. After her Baptism Saint Olha (July 11) built a temple of the Holy Prophet Elias in her native region, at the village of Vibuta.

In iconography the Prophet Elias is depicted ascending to Heaven in a fiery chariot, surrounded by flames, and harnessed to four winged horses. We pray to him for deliverance from drought and ask for seasonable weather.

Troparion — Tone 4

An angel in the flesh and the cornerstone of the prophets, / the second forerunner of the coming of Christ, / glorious Elias sent grace from on high to Eliseus, / to dispel diseases and to cleanse lepers. / Therefore, he pours forth healings on those who honour him.

Kontakion — Tone 2

Prophet Elias of great renown, / seer of the mighty mighty works of God, / by your command you held back the rain! / Pray for us to the only Lover of mankind!

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From the West:

From the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus

"I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts.  But the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword.  I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”  (1 Kings 19:14)

The prophet Elijah is considered to be the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, as well as the Father of the Carmelite Order.  Not much is known of his background.  All that is known from scripture is that he was a Tishbite (or Thesbite), although scholars disagree on what the term refers to.  He lived sometime around the year 90 BC.  Some Jewish traditions maintain that he was of priestly descent.  Otherwise, Elijah's life before he is called by God in the First Book of Kings is a mystery.  Elijah was described as a wild and hairy man; "as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch."    He lived a very ascetic life, living in a cave and wearing clothes made of camel hair. His entire known life was a protest against the immorality of his time.  Pagan worship had corrupted the land, and King Ahab and Queen Jezebel had erected a shrine to the false god Baal.  Elijah informed Ahab that if they did not repent of the evils they had committed, God would scourge the land with a drought to punish them for their apostasy.  After delivering God's message, Elijah quickly disappeared, led by Yahweh to the land east of the Jordan, where he was fed by ravens.

Ahab ignored Elijah's warning, and for three years, not a drop of rain fell upon the land.  Furious, Ahab devastated the land in search of Elijah, but his efforts were futile.  After three years, Elijah returned and confronted the King.  Ahab fiercely accused Elijah of bringing the curse upon the land, but Elijah flung the accusation back at Ahab, pointing out that the drought was caused by his own stubbornness and sinfulness.  Next came the episode for which Elijah is most famous.  He challenged the priests of Baal to a contest.  Atop Mount Carmel, Elijah and the priests would each set up an altar and provide a sacrifice upon their altar.  They would then pray to their respective deities, the priests to Baal and Elijah to Yahweh, and whichever deity sent fire down from the sky to consume the sacrifice would be the true God.  The priests of Baal went first, and for hours and hours they chanted and danced and cut themselves, to no avail.  Finally, laughing at their failure, Elijah approached his altar.  He set twelve stones around the altar, for the twelve tribes of Israel, and poured water all over the sacrifice.  Then Elijah prayed to God, and suddenly a fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.  Elijah then killed all the priests of Baal, and the people once again believed in the true God. That very evening, torrential rains fell upon the land, thereby ending the three year drought.

Elijah went on to prophesy and perform many more wonders which can be found in the First Book of Kings.  He is considered to be the Father of Carmelites, as the Carmelite way of life embodies the Elijahan tradition.  Father Elijah's spirit of prayer, penance, contemplation, and zeal for the Lord is to this day the very spirit of the Carmelites.  During his ministry, Elijah went up to Mount Carmel in Palestine to live and to pray.  It was there that he taught and trained his followers, who are considered by some to be the first monks.  From that time onward, Mount Carmel has always been inhabited by men seeking union with God.  It is also believed that Elijah and the monks living on Mt. Carmel had a devotion to the woman who would be the mother of the Messiah, the Blessed Virgin Mary, long before she was born.

Elijah's end was as quick and mysterious as his beginning.  One day as he was speaking with his successor Elisha, "a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings:11)  Elijah appeared along with Moses at the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor. His feast is celebrated on July 20.