A HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY
PROPHET ELIJAH
Brothers and sisters!
Today we celebrate the feast of the holy prophet Elijah, also known as Elias. His memory is fervently honored by all the Orthodox, but particularly those of the Middle East. Prophet Elijah, who lived about nine hundred years before Christ, was the first of the holy ascetic desert-dwellers, and was in this respect an example for future ascetics such as Saint John the Baptist and all those who subsequently followed the great Baptist in leading a virginal life of self-denial in the wilderness. Such a life constituted a direct rebuke to the apostate Israelites of prophet Elijah’s day, and forever remains a reproach to the corruption of the world.
Although Saint Elijah left behind no writings, we know more about him than about most of the prophets, because quite a bit is written in connection with him in the books of Kings. These are some of the most interesting books in the Old Testament, and those of you who have never read them, or have not read them for a long time, will find it profitable to acquaint or reacquaint yourselves with them – not just the parts about Saint Elijah, but the rest as well. In these books, we learn that the prophet was called the Tishbite, because he was born in the town of Tishba in Gilead, and that when almost the entire population of the Israelite kingdom had fallen away from God and begun worshipping idols, sacrificing their own sons and daughters to them – especially to the loathsome Baal – Elijah prophesied that for three-and-a-half years there would be no rain in the land. All rain ceased; then drought and famine followed. During this time, Elijah was fed first by ravens, then by a widow of Zarephath in Phoenicia, modern Lebanon, which was also affected by the drought. Despite the fact that the only food remaining to the widow was a tiny bit of meal and oil, neither ran out during the whole time she shared them with the prophet. When the widow’s young son died, Elijah raised him from the dead. Elijah’s faith in the Lord was such that it brought down fire from heaven and burned up a sacrifice he was offering, after which, because of his extreme zeal for God, he slaughtered 850 heathen prophets who had entreated Baal to perform the same miracle. After this Elijah predicted that the Lord would soon send rain and end the drought, and it was so.
Learning of the slaughter of the false prophets, Jezebel, the Queen of Israel, became infuriated with Elijah, and Elijah was compelled to seek refuge in the wilderness near Beer-sheba, in the Kingdom of Judah. There God again fed Elijah miraculously, and the prophet continued on to Mount Horeb, on Sinai. On Horeb, the Lord passed by Elijah, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still, small voice,[1] and through that voice the Lord spoke to Elijah, teaching the prophet that it is a greater thing when God manifests Himself through the quiet voice of our conscience and the action of grace than when He does so by astounding outward signs. Finally, prophet Elijah was taken up into heaven alive, as it were in a chariot of fire pulled by fiery steeds.
Saint Elijah likewise figures in the New Testament, most notably at the Lord’s Transfiguration, appearing to the apostles Peter, James, and John and speaking with Christ about the sufferings the Lord was shortly to endure.
Brothers and sisters, the life of Saint Elijah is full of miracles and wondrous prophecies, but greater than these and more profitable for us are his virtues. Let us emulate to the best of our ability the abstinence of Elijah, who subsisted for three-and-a-half years on nothing but flour and oil; and let us emulate the humility of Elijah, who, when he was about to be taken up to heaven, did not wish to have even his successor, the prophet Elisha, present as a witness. But most of all, let us emulate Saint Elijah in his zeal for God’s glory. I say in his zeal for God’s glory, because this was the virtue which was strongest in Elijah and for which he is best known; and it is also the virtue which is most forgotten by us, the pitiable new Israelites of the present day. If anyone says or does anything we imagine to be demeaning to our supposed “glory,” our honor and worth, we are ready to retaliate against him immediately with a sharp tongue and sometimes by taking revenge by means of deed; but if someone offends against God’s glory, we think it nothing.
And so, how should we emulate the zeal of Elijah and uphold the glory of God? By violence, or by calling down the wrath of Heaven in prayer, as did the holy prophet? No, dear Christians, no… Elijah was a man of Old Testament times, when such things were permitted by the Lord because the fullness of grace and spiritual illumination had not yet been revealed, even to persons of immense spiritual stature, like the great prophet. We are children of the Holy Gospel, whereby Christ shows mankind a better, higher way. Let us always show others by our conduct an example of profound reverence for the sacred, and when they show irreverence, let us say an edifying word, if only we sense the least possibility that their hearts and minds might be open to it. In any case, when impious people say sacrilegious things, let us not laugh or agree. If we cannot redirect them, then let us flee them. For how much less irreverence towards the Most High would there be on earth, if only those who revere the Lord would learn just to step away.
Unto our God, the God of Israel, be all glory and dominion! Amen.
[1] III Kings 19:11-12
