New Testament In the
New Testament,
Jesus would say for those who believed,
John the Baptist was Elijah, who would come before the "great and terrible day" as predicted by
Malachi. Some English translations of the New Testament use
Elias, a Greek form of the name. In the
King James Version, "Elias" appears only in the texts translated from Greek.
John the Baptist John the Baptist preached a message of repentance and baptism. He predicted the day of judgment using imagery similar to that of Malachi. He also preached that the Messiah was coming. All of this was done in a style that immediately recalled the image of Elijah to his audience. He wore a coat of camel's hair secured with a leather girdle. He also frequently preached in wilderness areas near the Jordan River. In the
Gospel of John, when John the Baptist was asked by a delegation of priests (present tense) "Art thou Elias", he replied "I am not". Matthew 11:14 and Matthew 17:10–13 however, make it clear that John was the spiritual successor to Elijah. In the
Nativity of St. John the Baptist in Luke,
Gabriel appears to
Zechariah, John's father, and told him that John "will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God", and that he will go forth "in the spirit and power of Elijah". (as recounted in , , ).
Transfiguration Elijah makes an appearance in the New Testament during an incident known as the
Transfiguration. At the summit of an unnamed mount, Jesus' face begins to shine. The disciples who are with Him hear the voice of God announce that Jesus is "My beloved Son". The disciples also see Moses and Elijah appear and talk with Jesus. This apparently relates to how both Elijah and Moses, the latter according to tradition but not the Bible, both were translated to heaven instead of dying. Peter is so struck by the experience that he asks Jesus if they should build three "tabernacles": one for Elijah, one for Jesus and one for Moses. There is agreement among some Christian theologians that Elijah appears to hand over the responsibility of the prophets to Jesus as the woman by the well said to Jesus "I perceive thou art a prophet." Moses also likewise came to hand over the responsibility of the law for the divinely announced
Son of God.
Other references Elijah is mentioned four more times in the New Testament: in Luke, Romans, Hebrews, and James. In Luke 4:24–27, Jesus uses Elijah as an example of rejected prophets. Jesus says, "No prophet is accepted in his own country", and then mentions Elijah, saying that there were many widows in Israel, but Elijah was sent to one in Phoenicia. In Romans 11:1–6, Paul cites Elijah as an example of God's never forsaking his people (the Israelites). Hebrews 11:35 ("Women received their dead raised to life again...") refers to both Elijah raising the son of the widow of Zarephath and Elisha
raising the son of the woman of Shunem, citing both Elijah and Elisha as Old Testament examples of faith. In James 5:16–18, James says, "The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much", and then cites Elijah's prayers which started and ended the famine in Israel as examples.
Prophet saint In
Western Christianity, Elijah is commemorated as a
saint with a feast day on 20 July by the
Roman Catholic Church and the
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Catholics believe that he was unmarried and celibate. In the
Eastern Orthodox Church and
Byzantine Catholic Churches, he is commemorated on the same date, . He is greatly revered among the Orthodox as a model of the
contemplative life. He is also commemorated on the
Orthodox liturgical calendar on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (the Sunday before the
Nativity of the Lord). Elijah has been venerated as the
patron saint of
Bosnia and Herzegovina since 26 August 1752, replacing
George of Lydda at the request of Bishop
Pavao Dragičević. The reasons for the replacement are unclear. It has been suggested that Elijah was chosen because of his importance to all three main religious groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina—
Catholics,
Muslims and
Orthodox Christians.
Pope Benedict XIV is said to have approved Bishop Dragičević's request with the remark that a wild nation deserved a wild patron.
Prophet Elias is
commemorated by the
Catholic Church on 17 June. He is also
commemorated by the
Eastern Orthodox Church on 14 April with all holy
Sinai monks.
Carmelite tradition Elijah is revered as the spiritual Father and traditional founder of the Catholic religious Order of
Carmelites. In addition to taking their name from Mt. Carmel where the first
hermits of the order established themselves, the Calced Carmelite and
Discalced Carmelite traditions pertaining to Elijah focus upon the prophet's withdrawal from public life. The medieval Carmelite
Book of the First Monks offers some insight into the heart of the Orders' contemplative vocation and reverence for the prophet. In 1725, the
Holy See of the
Catholic Church, during the reign of
Pope Benedict XIII, allowed the Carmelites to place a statue of the Prophet Elias in
St. Peter's Basilica, denoting him as their founder. In the 17th century the
Bollandist Society, whose declared aim was to search out and classify materials concerning the saints venerated by the Church, and to print what seemed to be the most reliable sources of information entered into controversy with the Carmelites on this point. In writing of St.
Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem and author of the Carmelite rule, the Bollandist
Daniel Papebroch stated that the attribution of Carmelite origin to Elijah was insufficiently grounded. The Carmelites reacted strongly. From 1681 to 1698 a series of letters, pamphlets and other documents was issued by each side. The Carmelites were supported by a Spanish tribunal, while the Bollandists had the support of
Jean de Launoy and the
Sorbonne. In November 1698,
Pope Innocent XII ordered an end to the controversy.
Liturgical commemorations , as depicted in a
Greek Orthodox icon Since most
Eastern Churches either use Greek as their liturgical language or translated their liturgies from the Greek,
Elias (or its modern
iotacized form
Ilias) is the form of the prophet's name used among most members of the
Eastern Orthodox Church and those
Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the
Byzantine Rite. The
feast day of
Saint Elias falls on 20 July of the
Orthodox liturgical calendar (for those churches which follow the traditional
Julian Calendar, 20 July currently falls on 2 August of the modern
Gregorian Calendar). This day is a major holiday in Lebanon and is one of a handful of holidays there whose celebration is accompanied by a launching of fireworks by the general public. The full name of St. Elias in Lebanon translates to St. Elias the Living because it is believed that he did not die but rode his fiery chariot to heaven. The reference to the fiery chariot is likely why the Lebanese celebrate this holiday with fireworks. Elias is also commemorated, together with all of the righteous persons of the Old Testament, on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers (the Sunday before the
Nativity of the Lord). The
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone for St. Elias: The incarnate Angel, the Cornerstone of the Prophets, the second Forerunner of the Coming of Christ, the glorious Elias, who from above, sent down to Elisha the grace to dispel sickness and cleanse lepers, abounds therefore in healing for those who honor him. The
Kontakion in the Second Tone for St. Elias: O Prophet and foreseer of the great works of God, O greatly renowned Elias, who by your word held back the clouds of rain, intercede for us to the only Loving One.
Pagan associations and mountaintops Starting in the fifth century, Elias is often connected with
Helios, the Sun. The two words have very similar pronunciations in post-classical Greek; Elijah rode in his chariot of fire to heaven corresponds to the sun warming the earth.
Sedulius writes poetically in the fifth century that the "bright path to glittering heaven" suits Elias both "in merits and name", as changing one letter makes his name "Helios"; but he does not identify the two. A homily entitled
De ascensione Heliae, misattributed to
Chrysostom, claims that poets and painters use the ascension of Elijah as a model for their depictions of the sun, and says that "Elijah is really Helios".
Saint Patrick appears to conflate Helios and Elias. In modern times, much Greek folklore also connects Elias with the sun. In Greece, chapels and monasteries dedicated to Prophet Elias (Προφήτης Ηλίας) are often found on mountaintops, which themselves are often named after him. Since Wachsmuth (1864), the usual explanation for this has been that Elias was identified with Helios, who had mountaintop shrines. But few shrines of Helios were on mountaintops, and sun-worship was subsumed by Apollo-worship by Christian times, and so could not be confused with Elias. The modern folklore is not good evidence for the
origin of the association of the sun, Elias, and mountaintops. The association of Elias with mountaintops seems to come from a different pagan tradition: Elias took on the attributes and the locales associated with
Zeus, especially his associations with mountains and his powers over rain, thunder, lightning, and wind. When Elias prevailed over the priests of
Baal, it was on
Mount Carmel When Elias confronted
Ahab, he stopped the rains for three years. A map of mountain-cults of Zeus shows that most of these sites are now dedicated to Elias, including
Mount Olympus,
Mount Lykaion,
Mount Arachnaion, and
Mount Taleton on the mainland, and
Mount Kenaion,
Mount Oche, and
Mount Kynados in the islands. Of these, the only one with a recorded tradition of a Helios cult is Mount Taleton. folklore among the
Slavs incorporating pre-Christian motifs in the beliefs and rites regarding him in
Slavic culture. As Elijah was described as ascending into heaven in a fiery chariot, the Christian missionaries who converted
Slavic tribes likely found him an ideal analogy for
Perun, the supreme
Slavic god of storms, thunder and lightning bolts. In many
Slavic countries Elijah is known as Elijah the Thunderer (
Ilija Gromovnik), who drives the heavens in a chariot and administers rain and snow, thus actually taking the place of
Perun in popular beliefs. Perun is also sometimes conflated with the legendary hero
Elijah of Murom. The feast of St. Elias is known as
Ilinden in
South Slavic, and was chosen as the day of the
Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903; it is now the holiday of
Republic Day in
North Macedonia. In
Estonian folklore Elijah is considered to be the successor of
Ukko, the lightning spirit. Among other peoples of the Caucasus, including the
Ossetians and
Kabardians, Elijah is understood as a kind of
thunder-divinity named Uac-illa, Ilia, or Yeli, and was traditionally invoked in "choppa" ritual associated with lightning strikes and certain mental illnesses. If a person or animal was struck by lightning, a
circle dance was performed immediately around the site, even if the storm was still ongoing, and Elijah's name was invoked alongside a nonsense word "choppa" or "coppay". If the victim had died, their family were forbidden from grieving and were required to bury them where they fell instead of in the village cemetery. If the victim survived, their lives were dedicated to Elijah: human survivors were prophets, while animals were released with a mark so that others would know not to take them home. In other versions of this tradition, the one venerated was not Elijah, but other traditional thunder-divinities like Shyble (Щыблэ), Afy (Афы), or Antswa (Анцуа). Elias has other pagan associations: a modern legend about Elias mirrors precisely the legend of
Odysseus seeking a place where the locals would not recognize an oar—hence the mountaintops.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints acknowledges Elijah as a prophet. The Church teaches that the Malachi prophecy of the return of Elijah was fulfilled on 3 April 1836, when Elijah visited the prophet and founder of the church,
Joseph Smith, along with
Oliver Cowdery, in the
Kirtland Temple as a
resurrected being. This event is chronicled in . This experience forms the basis for the church's focus on genealogy and family history and belief in the eternal nature of marriage and families. In
Latter-day Saint theology, the name-title Elias is not always synonymous with Elijah and is often used for people other than the biblical prophet. According to Joseph Smith, The spirit of Elias is first, Elijah second, and Messiah last. Elias is a forerunner to prepare the way, and the spirit and power of Elijah is to come after, holding the keys of power, building the Temple to the capstone, placing the seals of the Melchizedek Priesthood upon the house of Israel, and making all things ready; then Messiah comes to His Temple, which is last of all. People to whom the title Elias is applied in Mormonism include
Noah, the angel
Gabriel (who is considered to be the same person as Noah in Mormon doctrine), Elijah,
John the Baptist,
John the Apostle, and an unspecified man who was a contemporary of
Abraham. Detractors of Mormonism have often alleged that Smith, in whose time and place the King James Version was the only available English translation of the Bible, simply failed to grasp the fact that the Elijah of the Old Testament and the Elias of the New Testament are the same person. Jesus then gave this power to the Twelve saying, "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." == In Islam ==