Elijah — is one of the greatest prophets and the first virgin of the Old Testament. He was born in Thesbia of Gilead in the tribe of Levi, 900 years before the Nativity of Christ. When Elijah was born, his father Sovak had a vision that handsome men talked with the baby, swaddled fire and fed fire.
From a young age, Elijah settled in the desert and lived in the strict feat of fasting and prayer. Called to prophetic service during the reign of King Ahab the idolater, who worshiped Baal (the sun) and forced the Jewish people to do the same. The Lord sent Elijah to Ahab and commanded him to predict that if he and his people did not turn to the true God, then his kingdom would suffer famine. Ahab did not listen to the prophet, and drought and great famine arose in the country.
During the famine, Elijah lived for a year in the desert, where crows carried food for him, and for more than two years with a widow in the city of Sarepta. Three and a half years later, Elijah returned to the Kingdom of Israel and told the king and all the people that all the disasters of the Israelites occur because they forgot the true God and began to worship the idol Baal. To prove the error of the Israelites, Elijah offered to make two altars — one to Baal and the other — to God, and said: « Let us make sacrifices, and if fire descends from heaven on the altar of Baal, then he is the true God, and if not, then idol».
First they made an altar to Baal, threw wood, slaughtered a bull, and the priests of Baal began to pray to their idol: «Baal, Baal, send us fire» from heaven. But there was no answer, and the fire did not descend from heaven on Baal’s altar. In the evening Elijah made his altar, laid firewood, poured water on them first and began to pray to God. And suddenly a fire fell from the sky and hit not only the firewood and the victim, but also the water and stones of the altar. When the people saw this miracle, they glorified the true God and believed in Him again.
For his fiery jealousy of the Glory of God, the prophet Elijah was taken to heaven alive in a chariot of fire. The prophet Elisha witnessed this wonderful ascent. Then, in the Transfiguration of the Lord, he appeared with the prophet Moses and appeared before Jesus Christ, talking with him on Mount Tabor. According to the legend of the Holy Church, the prophet Elijah will be the Forerunner of the Last Second Coming of Christ to earth and will suffer bodily death during the sermon.
The prophet Elijah is prayed for the gift of rain during a drought.
Story «Elyin day»