Saturday, 20 July 2024

Holy Prophet Elijah

Saturday of the 4th week after Pentecost

76 days after Pascha · Tone 2 · Red cross half-circle (vigil typikon symbol) · No Fast (Fish, Wine and Oil are Allowed)

Saints commemorated

★ Holy and Glorious Prophet Elias the Tishbite

The Holy Prophet Elias the Tishbite, of the tribe of Aaron, was born in Tishbe of Gilead about nine hundred years before the Incarnation of the Word. According to tradition his father saw at his birth bright men in white converse with the child and feed him with flame, signifying the prophet's fiery zeal. Brought up in the fear of God, he prayed and fasted in the wilderness from his youth and burned with zeal for the glory of the true God in a generation that had abandoned Him for Baal under King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. By his prayer he closed the heavens, so that there fell upon Israel neither rain nor dew for three and a half years; he was fed in the wilderness by ravens at the brook Cherith; in Sidonian Sarepta he multiplied the meal and the oil of the widow and raised her dead son to life; on Mount Carmel he confronted the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and called fire from heaven to consume the offering; and on Horeb he heard the voice of God in the still small breeze. Saint Elias was the first to live the angelic life of virginity, and prefigured the Christian monastic vocation. He did not see death: in a fiery chariot drawn by horses of fire he was caught up to heaven, casting down his mantle to his disciple Elisseus. The Church teaches that he will return at the end of time as Forerunner of the Second Coming of Christ, with the Prophet Enoch, to confound Antichrist and to suffer martyrdom. He was present in the body at the Lord's Transfiguration on Tabor. His feast on 20 July is among the most beloved in the Orthodox world, especially among shepherds, mountaineers and seafarers, and many chapels on hilltops are dedicated to him.

Uncovering of the relics of the Holy Hieromartyr Athanasius of Brest

The Holy Hieromartyr Athanasius (Filippovich) of Brest was a champion of Orthodoxy in the western lands of Rus' under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Born about 1597 to a pious Belarusian family, he received a sound education and for some time was tutor in noble households. Tonsured at Vilna, he laboured at Kupyatichi and from 1640 became hegumen of the monastery of Saint Simeon Stylites at Brest. From this post, he was the most outspoken Orthodox witness against the Union of Brest of 1596, travelling repeatedly to Warsaw to plead before the Sejm and the king for the rights of the Orthodox Church, suffering imprisonment, beatings and humiliation for his confession. In the troubles surrounding the Khmelnytsky uprising, he was accused of complicity with the Cossacks; on 5 September 1648 he was tortured and shot in a wood near Brest, falling alive into a grave dug for him. Thirty-one years later, on 20 July 1679, his incorrupt relics were uncovered by his fellow brethren and laid in the cathedral church of Saint Simeon at Brest, where many healings followed. The Orthodox Church keeps his repose on 5 September and the uncovering of his relics on 20 July; he is venerated as a confessor and defender of Orthodoxy in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus.

Venerable Abraham of Galich and Chukhloma, disciple of Saint Sergius

Saint Abraham (Avraamy) of Galich, called also of Chukhloma and Gorodetsky, was a fourteenth-century Russian ascetic and disciple of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. Tonsured by Saint Sergius at the Holy Trinity Lavra, he lived for many years under his guidance, distinguished by silence, obedience and humility. With his elder's blessing he set out as a missionary into the still half-pagan north of Russia, into the country of the Galich and Chukhloma tribes. About 1350, while praying on a wooded mountain by Lake Galich, he received from a luminous appearance a wonder-working icon of the Mother of God, since called the Chukhloma or Galich Icon. There he founded a monastery in honour of the Dormition. Drawn by the renown of his sanctity, many gathered around him; he established three further monasteries dedicated to the Mother of God in the surrounding wilderness, brought many of the local people to baptism, and so came to be called the enlightener of the Galich land. Wearied with old age and yearning for stillness, he handed over the rule to his disciple Innocent and withdrew once more to a hermitage. He reposed on 20 July 1375 and was buried in his monastery at Chukhloma; his tomb became renowned for healings, and his foundations long flourished as a chief seat of monasticism in the north.

Martyrs Maria, Dimitri and those with them, who perished in the Nazi concentration camps

c. 1945

Mother Maria was born in Latvia in 1891. Like many of the pre-Revolutionary Russian intelligenstia, she was an atheist and a political radical in her youth, but gradually came to accept the truths of the Faith. After the Revolution, she became part of the large Russian emigre population of Paris. There she was tonsured as a nun by Metropolitan Evlogy, and devoted herself to a life of service to the poor. With a small community of fellow-believers, she established ‘houses of hospitality’ for the poor, the homeless, and the alcoholic, and visited Russian emigres in mental hospitals. In 1939 Metropolitan Evlogy sent the young priest Fr Dimitry to serve Mother Maria’s community; he proved to be a partner, committed even unto death, in the community’s work among the poor. When the Nazis took Paris in 1940, Mother Maria, Fr Dimitry, and others of the community chose to remain in the city to care for those who had come to count on them. As Nazi persecution of Jews in France increased, the Orthodox community’s work naturally expanded to include protection and care of these most helpless ones. Father Dimitri was asked to provide forged certificates of baptism to preserve the lives of Jews, and always complied. Eventually, this work led to the arrest of Mother Maria, Fr Dimitri, and their associates. A fragment survives of the Gestapo’s interrogation of Fr Dimitri: Hoffman: If we release you, will you give your word never again to aid Jews? Klepinin: I can say no such thing. I am a Christian and must act as I must. (Hoffman struck Klepinin across the face.) Hoffman: Jew lover! How dare you talk of helping those swine as being a Christian duty! (Klepinin, recovering his balance, held up the cross from his cassock.) Klepinin: Do you know this Jew? (For this, Father Dimitri was knocked to the floor.) “Your priest did himself in,” Hoffman said afterward to Sophia Pilenko. “He insists that if he were to be freed, he would act exactly as before.” Mother Maria, Fr Dimitri, and several of their colleages, were sent to the Nazi concentration camps (Mother Maria to Ravensbruck, Fr Dimitri to Buchenwald) where, after great sufferings, they perished. It is believed that Mother Maria’s last act was to take the place of a Jew being sent to death, voluntarily dying in his place. A full account of their life and death is given on the site of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship. Mother Maria and her companions were glorified by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2004.

Daily readings

Vespers

OT — Composite 12 - 3 [1] Kings 17.1-23

The word of the Lord came to the Prophet Elias and he said to Achab, ‘As the Lord the God of powers lives, the God of Israel, before whom I stand today, there shall be neither dew nor rain during these years, except by my mouth.’ The word of the Lord came to Elias, saying, ‘Go from here and towards the east, and hide yourself in the brook Chorrath, which is opposite the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook, and I am commanding the ravens to feed you there.’ So he went and settled by the brook Chorrath, which is opposite the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread in the morning, and meat in the evening; and he drank water from the brook. And it cane to pass after some days that the brook dried up, because there was no rain on the land. Then the word of the Lord came to Elias, saying, ‘Arise and go to Sarepta, which belongs to Sidon, and settle there; for see, I am commanding a widow there to feed you.’ And he arose and went to Sarepta, to the gate of the city. And a widow was there gathering sticks. And Elias he called after her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.’ As she was going to bring it, he called after her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ But the woman said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in the jar, and a little oil in the jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my children, that we may eat it, and die.’ Elias said to her, ‘Take courage. Go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your children. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of flour will not fail and the jug of oil will not grow less until the day that the Lord sends rain on the whole land.’ The woman went and did as Elias said, and he and she and her children ate. And from that day the jar of flour did not fail, neither did the jug of oil grow less, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elias. After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elias, ‘Why do you trouble me, man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sins to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son?’ But he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, ‘Alas, Lord my God, you have brought calamity upon the widow with whom I am staying, whose witness you are, by killing her son.’ Then he breathed upon the child three times, and called on the Lord and said, ‘Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ And so it happened and he cried out. And the Lord listened to the voice of Elias; the child’s soul came into him again, and he lived. Elias took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother. Then Elias said, ‘See, your son is alive.’ So the woman said to Elias, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.’

Vespers

OT — Composite 13 - 3 [1] Kings 18, 19

The word of the Lord came to Elias the Thesbite in the third year, saying, ‘Go, and appear before Achab, and I will give rain on the face of the land. And it came to pass that when Achab saw Elias, he said to him, ‘Is it you, the one who is troubling Israel?’ He answered, ‘I am not troubling Israel; but you are, and your father’s house, by forsaking the Lord our God and following Baal. Now therefore have all Israel assemble to me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of the scared groves, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’ So Achab sent to all Israel, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elias said to them, ‘How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ Then Elias said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but the prophets of the sacred grove are very many. Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull, but put no fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord my God. And the god who answers by fire shall be God.’ All the people answered, ‘The word you have spoken today is good.’ Then Elias said to the prophets of shame, ‘Choose for yourselves one calf and prepare it first; then call on the name of your god, but put no fire to it.’ So they took the calf, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, crying, ‘O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no voice, and no answer. They ran upon the altar that they had made. At noon Elias the Thesbite mocked them, saying, ‘Cry aloud! For your god likes garrulousness.’ And when the time of the offering of the oblation came, there was nothing. Then Elias the Thesbite said to the prophets of abominations, ‘Stand aside now, and I will offer my holocaust’. And Elias said to the people, ‘Come close’. And all the people came closer to him. Elias took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, ‘Israel shall be your name’. With the stones he built and repaired the altar of the Lord that had been cast down. Then he made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two measures of seed. Next he put the pieces of wood on the altar he had made, cut the holocaust in pieces, and laid them on the pieces of wood and piled them on the altar. He said, ‘Bring me two jars of water and pour it on the holocaust and on the pieces of wood.’ Then he said, ‘Do it a second time’; and they did it a second time. Again he said, ‘Do it a third time’; and they did it a third time, so that the water ran all around the altar, and filled the trench also with water. And the prophet Elias cried aloud to heaven and said, ‘Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, hear me today by fire. And let this people known that you alone the Lord. the God of Israel, that I am your servant, and that through you I have done all these things, and that you have turned back the heart of this people to you.’ Then fire from the Lord fell from heaven and consumed the holocaust and the pieces of wood; and the fire licked up the water that was in the trench, the stones, and the dust. And the people fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord indeed is God; he is God.’ Elias said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.’ Then they seized them; and Elias brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there. And after this Elias said to Achab, ‘There is a sound of rushing rain. Harness your chariot and go down, lest the rain catch you.’ Then Elias went up to the top of Carmel; there he bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees and prayed to the Lord. And the heavens grew black with clouds and wind; there was a heavy rain. Achab went to Jezreel. Achab told Jezebel his wife all that Elias had done. Then Jezebel sent to Elias, saying, ‘Tomorrow I will sacrifice your life like one of them.’ And Elias heard and was afraid; he arose and fled for his life, and came to Beersheba, in the land of Juda; he left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly someone touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat and drink, for you have a long journey.’ Elias looked, and there at his head was a cake of flour and a jar of water. He arose, ate and drank, and slept again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Arise and eat and drink, for you have a long journey.’ He arose, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to mount Horeb. There he entered a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elias?’ Elias answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the Almighty; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return to your way and you will come to the desert way of Damascus; and you shall anoint Elissaios son of Shaphat as prophet in your place.

Vespers

OT — Composite 14 - 3 [1] Kings 19.19, 20, 21; 4 [2] Kings 2.1,6-14

A day came and Elias found Elissaios son of Saphat, who was ploughing. Elias passed by him and threw his mantle over him. Elissaios left the oxen, ran after Elias, and ministered to him. And it came to pass, when the Lord took Elias in a whirlwind as though up to heaven, that Elias went with Elissaios to Galgala. Then Elias said to Elissaios, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as the Jordan.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets came, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elias took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water with it; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and the two of them crossed on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elias said to Elissaios, ‘Ask me what I may do for you, before I am taken up from you.’ Elissaios said, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ He responded, ‘You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken up from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.’ It came to pass that as they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elias was taken up in a whirlwind as if into heaven. Elissaios kept watching and crying out, ‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ But when he could no longer see him, Elissaios grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. He picked up the mantle of Elias that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Elissaios took the mantle of Elias that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, ‘Where then is the God of Elias, Appho?’ And so he struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elissaios went over on dry ground.

Matins Gospel

Luke — Luke 4.22-30

²²And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? ²²And all bare him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth: and they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? ²³And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. ²³And he said unto them, Doubtless ye will say unto me this parable, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in thine own country. ²⁴And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. ²⁴And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is acceptable in his own country. ²⁵But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; ²⁵But of a truth I say unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; ²⁶But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. ²⁶and unto none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. ²⁷And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. ²⁷And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. ²⁸And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things; ²⁸And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, ²⁹And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. ²⁹and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. ³⁰But he passing through the midst of them went his way, ³⁰But he passing through the midst of them went his way.

Epistle

weekly cycle

Romans — Romans 6.11-17

¹¹Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ¹¹Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof: ¹³Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹³neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹⁴For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. ¹⁴For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace. ¹⁵What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

¹⁵What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid. ¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁷But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. ¹⁷But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered;

Epistle

— Prophet Elijah

James — James 5.10-20

¹⁰Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. ¹⁰Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. ¹¹Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful. ¹¹Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

¹²But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment. ¹²But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

¹³Is any among you suffering? let him pray. Is any cheerful? let him sing praise. ¹³Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. ¹⁴Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: ¹⁴Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: ¹⁵And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. ¹⁵and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him. ¹⁶Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. ¹⁶Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. ¹⁷Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. ¹⁷Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. ¹⁸And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. ¹⁸And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

¹⁹My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him; ¹⁹Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; ²⁰let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins. ²⁰Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 8.14-23

¹⁴And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.

¹⁴And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick of a fever. ¹⁵And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. ¹⁵And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she arose, and ministered unto him.

¹⁶When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: ¹⁶And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick: ¹⁷That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. ¹⁷that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases.

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. ¹⁹And there came a scribe, and said unto him, Teacher, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. ¹⁹And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. ²⁰And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. ²⁰And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. ²¹And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. ²¹And another of the disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. ²²But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. ²²But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me; and leave the dead to bury their own dead.

²³And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

²³And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him.

Gospel

— Prophet Elijah

Luke — Luke 4.22-30