Слово о святом пророке Илие

Bring me your silence as a gift, incline your ears; I will offer you a legend about the holy and glorious Elijah, how he was always ardently jealous that everyone would worship the one God; how I learned that the people, doing many things that were not permitted, had deviated from God, worshiped idols and, filled with anger and jealousy, strained their eyes, shot (pierced) the sky with their tongue, and reached to the sky with a word. Elijah sees the people deceived by the demon, and with boldness and hope he distracts them from delusion; Elijah sees a people humiliated by a multitude of idols, and all the false prophets gathered from among the lawless, and, filled with jealousy and great anger, he uttered an oath against this lawless people, bound the sky, sealed the clouds so that they would not give rain, and persuaded the merciful God to fulfill the word of the servant; and with these punishments, wanting to show the power of the good Lord, He swears by Himself before the people, saying: “As the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, lives, I stand before him... even if there be dew and rain in these years, even the word of my mouth will come” (1 Kings 17:1). He performed an extraordinary miracle! The merciful God, immediately heeding the word of the jealous servant, as Elijah swore, so soon fulfilled the prophecy to his people, uttered in divine jealousy. Since the sky was closed and the clouds sealed, everything on the face of the earth withered: the vines withered, the wheat did not grow, every fruitful tree hid its fruit, the earth did not produce fruit, no greenery was visible on the earth; in a word, everything green on the earth disappeared, the trees disappeared on it due to the impoverishment of water, according to Elijah’s definition. It was an amazing sight then and an extremely sad contrition on earth, similar to what happened in the days of Noah: not only people died, but also cattle, animals, and birds. Consider, zealot Elijah: people who were deceived by the enemy sinned against God; how did the infants sin? What sins did the cattle, animals and birds make? You put them all to death. At least have mercy on them as innocent, and give rain to the earth. But nothing like this meant anything to the fiery Elijah. Those rich in property perished from hunger and thirst because there was no rain. The Lord of all, always ready to show mercy to the human race, uses all means to persuade Elijah to show his mercy. When he was not convinced to change his anger, then he sent Elijah himself to ask for food from a widow, and from a widow in need and extremely meager. Elijah, having arrived where he was ordered, saw a widow gathering wood. Having learned about the extreme poverty in which she was, he was ashamed to speak or address her. But with all his shame, he fulfilled the command and, as if venturing on a bold deed, said with embarrassment: “Bring me now a little water in a vessel, and I will drink” (1 Kings 17:10). And it was he who bound the sky so that the earth would not be irrigated! The widow cried out to Elijah: “You, zealot, have sealed the heavens with an oath, so that they will not give rain; how then do you seek water from me? With your lips you put a bridle and held back the rain, drying up the earth, and bringing everything that is on it to death; where will I give you water from?” His heart was soon touched by this word from the widow, and some mercy was aroused in him. The widow, having listened to the prophetic voice, promised to give him the water he asked for. But as soon as she went to get it, what did Elijah say to her? “Take it for me and wrap the bread in your hand, and eat it” (1 Kings 17:11). She immediately cried out to Elijah: “As the Lord your God lives, if I have unleavened bread, but only a handful of flour in a waterpot and a little oil in a pot of oil: and behold, I will gather two pieces of wood... and I will make it for myself and for my children, and for them we die” (1 Kings 17:12). When I heard this, tormented by hunger, I thought that the bonds should be resolved. For, having listened to the widow’s plaintive speech, he immediately utters a word to her full of compassion: “Come in... but first make a small unleavened bread out of this for me... and you will make it for yourself and for your son after. Thus says the Lord...the water of flour shall not fail, and the arrogance of oil shall not fail until the end, until the Lord gives rain to the earth” (1 Kings 17:13-14), and will produce, as before, food for all who live on it. And as if reluctantly, he signed the release of the heavenly bonds, for the exhaustion of hunger forced him to do this. The widow, having entered, tried to fulfill his word, which he spoke to her, understanding in spirit that this was the prophet Elijah, who bound the sky with the word of his mouth, and together believing that everything that the righteous man had said to her would be fulfilled. But when Elijah later settled with the widow and, having had his fill, became inexorable, as before, then God finally sends death to the widow’s son, and thereby induces Elijah to give the command to release the bonds. The widow, as soon as she saw the death of her son, came to the prophet and told him with tears: “Alas! You, the prophet of God, a zealot more than all, inflicted such painful grief and inhealable grief on my soul. Why else am I living on earth, unhappy one? The son that I had, you put to death. I know that he died for you, because before, until you came here, my son was healthy. During times of severe hunger and incomparable thirst, while you wandered the earth, we ate, and were alive. Now, having come to me, you seemed to be our nourisher, supplying us with food, and you became the destroyer of the only begotten son who was with me. Having gathered my strength after hunger, I am exhausted from tears; Thinking of having an assistant in you, I found a traitor; I accepted you to live with me in the house, and lost my son; having fed us during the famine, you put him to death; fed us, and killed the only begotten that was with me. I had hope, and you took it away; I had an eye, and you quenched it with death. With your arrival I lost my consolation; after meeting you I lost my son. For as soon as you came, my child died. I suffered a sad blow, having lost my beloved son. What good is it to me in other things, in flour and oil to satisfy myself with food, when my son has died? It would be better for me to die of hunger along with everyone else than to be well-fed and lose my son. Who will eat what you gave me? What benefit does it have to me to have my fill of food, but to lose the glory of my only begotten son who was with me? I am dying now, shedding tears and sighing for him. Oh, it would be better if I didn’t see you or hear about meeting you! I didn’t want to lose my beloved son.” It was necessary to see how this widow expressed her complaints in tears at the feet of Elijah. And as soon as this zealot Elijah listened to the cry, saddened in his soul, he hurried to prayer and began to ask God, saying: “Release, O Lord, the death bonds of the widow’s son and resurrect him.” But the merciful God called to him: “Loosen the sky, which I have bound with my tongue, and then with a word I will loosen the mortal bonds that, according to My providence, I have imposed for your sake. Turn your gaze and see, Elijah, how many old people, young people, and babies, along with their mothers, perished. Look, and you will see the tears of the whole universe; you will see how they fall down crying, asking for rain. For just one woman crying for her son, you want to be merciful, while the whole universe is crying pitifully, and, seeing this, you ignore all those who are exhausted. I know that you imposed this punishment, driven by jealousy; I know, Elijah, that there is no one like you.” Then Elijah says to his Master: “Give life to the youth and resolve the sky. Only spare me from the weeping of the widow, so that she no longer crushes me with her tears.” And when the boy came to life, Elijah took him and gave him to his mother. The widow with great joy takes her son and says to Elijah: “Behold, I have realized that you are a man of God, and the word of the Lord is true in your mouth” (1 Kings 17:23). Then God says to Elijah: “Go and show yourself to Ahaav, and I will give rain on the face of the earth” (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah, coming to Achaav, told him that the Lord was giving rain on His land, and, having gathered all the people of Israel, he slaughtered (slaughtered) the priests making sacrifices to Baal. And, having converted everyone to faith in the living God, Elijah, on a chariot of fire, during a great earthquake, was taken “as into heaven” (2 Kings 2:1), sending Elisha from above his mantle. To our God be glory forever and ever! Amen. You might be interested in: