FOS SUMMARY - “Spirit and the City”

Prophet Elijah, the Forerunner of Priests

Chariot of Fire

by Dorothy Poli & Daniel Padovano

22 July 2008

FOS Summaries are recaps of discussions points, organized and presented conceptually, in a session's dialogue and Q&A among Fr. Frank and FOS participants.  The Summaries' authors further elaborate on certain ideas from a theme offered by Fr. Frank.  All Summaries are approved by Fr. Frank prior to e-mail distribution.  Past summaries can be found on the Cathedral website at http://www.thecathedral.goarch.org/FOSSummary/. 

For the past 2000 years we have been living in a time of Pentecost.  Despite all the violence and injustice that has raged this world, we nevertheless can live in joy because the Grace of the Holy Spirit has descended upon the world, the gates to heaven are open and we have “seen the face of God and still live”.  We are able to interact with God and live in His presence through the Church and know that we are His children. There is hope and joy.  This is especially prominent at this time of the calendar year as it the season of Christ’s Resurrection.

The Prophet Elijah becomes the paradigm of how to live joyfully, even at times of loss, pain and depression.  Elijah who was taken by God up to the heavens also had times in his life where he was suicidal.  Elijah did not die and his fiery chariot rode on their wings as angels led him to heaven (I Kings 21).  (He was the second person to be physically assumed by God in the Old Testament, Enoch being the other).   

Elijah, overwhelmed by the enormity of his mission, became depressed.  God allows this depression in order to bring him so low as to surrender to God.  In so doing, Elijah realizes that God is the One Who accomplishes it anyway.  God reminds him that he is the vessel for the work and to cooperate with God, allowing Him to strengthen him and use him for this work.  All great people with great missions have gone through highs and lows.  God allows the lows so as to prevent the arrogance that comes with success or the notion that their accomplishments are through their own power.  This allows them to realize that their power actually comes from God.  Knowing that we are led and protected by God, we are ultimately liberated and free.

Elijah’s mission was to preach the worship of one God and for the people to choose between God and falsehood.  Elijah represents the Church and its leadership in the form of priests in this Pentecostal Period, and is being upheld and strengthened by God.  Elijah as a priest does not die because in his preaching he represents the prophetic voice of God and that cannot be killed. 

Elijah was one of the most important (if not the most important) prophet in the Old Testament. He was the chief Prophet and was active in the northern kingdom (Israel). He was also a teacher and homilist. He is also regarded as the patron of homilists by the Church.  His theology is his most important legacy and the basis for the Orthodoxy’s mystical theology.  His primary message is honoring God as the only God due all honor, worship and glory.

Elijah is also forerunner and harbinger for Jesus’ Second Coming.  John the Baptist was the Forerunner for Jesus’ first coming and inaugurated the Church through baptism.  Christian theology holds that Elijah will appear during the time of the anti-Christ and suffer a martyr’s death at the hands of the anti-Christ before Jesus comes again.  In Judaism, it is also believed that Elijah will return to announce the arrival of the Messiah.  Elijah’s importance in Jewish tradition is demonstrated at the Passover Seder where a cup of wine, a plate setting and chair are reserved in his honor.

Four Cardinal Virtues

In the icon depicting Elijah’s journey to heaven, Elijah is in a fire red chariot being taken to heaven. The chariot is drawn by four horses. The horses represent the four cardinal virtues: Wisdom, Courage, Moderation and Justice. The horses are pulled by an angel. Above the angel we see God’s hand extended towards the angel and chariot. God is calling Elijah to heaven, reaching for him and inviting him.

The four cardinal virtues allow us to have humility and charity – virtues which are highest before God.   It is our responsibility to maintain and hold on to the truth we have been given.  

Beside the chariot is Elisha, the disciple of Elijah. It appears that he is trying to hold Elijah back, because he thinks he is dying.  Elisha asked Elijah for a double portion of Elijah’s blessing. Elijah says he can only pass that on if Elisha witnesses his journey to heaven.  When he does (as depicted in the icon), Elijah passes his mantle – his responsibilities, authority and power to Elisha. This is quite meaningful as Elijah was the last Prophet (priest) left in Israel.

Backdrop of Elijah’s mission

At the time of Elijah’s mission, Israel had fallen away from worshipping God and actively worshipped Baal and other pagan deities. What made this worse is that Israel’s kings encouraged and supported this. In the temple-state rubric of the ear, this meant that the king was also high priest, so by allowing and encouraging worship of other gods, the kings not only betrayed God, but also bore responsibility for leading their people astray.

Elijah’s nemeses were the Israeli king Ahab and his Phoenician wife, Jezebel. Ahab’s marriage was a political vehicle that helped establish ties between Israel and the Phoenician city states. Jezebel, as a princess, was also a high priestess of Baal, the chief deity of Phoenicia.

At this time, c. 900 – 840 B.C., the kingdom of David and Solomon were divided (as of 914 B.C.) into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.  Judah, or the Southern Kingdom included the tribes of Judah, (the one from which Jesus descended in His human lineage) Benjamin and Simeon in what is now central and southern modern day Israel. Jerusalem was the capital which also included the Temple and Holy-of-Holies.  Judah also tended to be more conservative in its adherence and practice of Judaism.

What is most important in this is that the temple was the seat of worship and sacrifice, especially at the major Holy Days. Pilgrimages and purchases of sacrifices as well as tithes and contributions went into the temple treasury which was also the state’s (Judah’s) treasury.

The northern Kingdom, Israel, included the remaining nine of the twelve tribes of Israel: Asher, Zebulun, Issachar, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Gad, Ephraim and Reuben. The kings of Israel (after the division of the kingdom) were not pleased that the people made pilgrimages and payments to the Temple in Jerusalem. Instead, Israel pursued a policy of building altars acceptable for sacrifice within Israel itself. This included altars to God and pagan deities as well. Israel’s population was more mixed than Judah’s which led Israel’s rulers to accommodate and mingle pagan religion with Judaism.      

Elijah’s mission was to have Israel correct her ways and return to God.  Israel’s sin and danger was that of pluralist religious practice.  Not only was Judaism forsaken, but was mingled with Baal worship. This syncretism destroyed the essence of Judaism and tore the people from God.

Elijah’s Work

As stated above, Elijah’s mission was to have Israel return to God. By erecting altars in Israel, Israel rejected the Temple worship based in Jerusalem. This was seen as pushing God out as Israel claimed that God could be worshipped anywhere. Another way God was “pushed out” of Israel was in the acceptance and practice of worshipping pagan Gods.  Elijah was sent by God to redeem Israel. His activities coincided with reigns of King Omri and Ahab. It was Ahab who married Jezebel. Jezebel, who became a manipulator managed to convince Ahab to let her bring in priests and prophets from Phoenicia, thus instituting a wholesale exposure to Baal worship.

Elijah confronts them and offers a challenge to see which God (Yahweh or Baal) is more powerful. The challenge is for the 450 priests of Baal to offer a burnt sacrifice to Baal and for Elijah to offer a burnt sacrifice to Yahweh.  However, the fire is not to be manmade; the fire must be called by the priest or prophet.

The altar is set up on Mt. Carmel; Elijah instructs that the altar be drenched three times and a moat be constructed and filled with water. This was to make sure that no one could claim the fire was man-made.

Baal’s priests efforts failed. Elijah called on God and a fire came from the heavens and consumed the sacrifice, and Baal’s priests. Many in Israel turned back to God. This action infuriated Jezebel (an image of the anti-Christ) who put a bounty on Elijah.   

Elijah flees and goes into a state of depression. He has seen God’s power yet he doubts. The doubt may not be so much as to Elijah’s power, but the fact that if Jezebel kills him, there is no one else to preach to Israel.  Elijah was, at this time, the only priest left in Israel.

An angel of the Lord comes to Elijah when he is hiding and tells him to eat for strength to continue his long journey, both physically and spiritually.  The meal is a meal of bread, akin to Holy Communion.

Elijah hears God’s Voice and Glory during this sojourn and it is in the gentleness of a breeze.

Fire

Fire plays a pivotal role in Elijah's missions (the fire consuming the altar, Baal's priests and the chariot). As fire purges and changes the object being burned or exposed to the fire, it also cleanses and strengthens it.  Other examples are Archangel Michael’s sword at the Gate of the Garden of Eden, Moses meeting God in the burning bush, and God writing the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai and Samuel's mouth being cleansed by the burning ember before he becomes a Prophet/Judge.  In his role as Forerunner, Elijah's message is that his hearers be cleansed spiritually. The fire of God tempers them and prepares them for a better (spiritual) life.

As Forerunner, the fire is both allegorical and literal. As the Old Testament tempers and prepares human mortals for the life to come, the New Testament continues the process with the cooling and finishing element of water. St. John baptizes with water; this water seals us in the life to come. In the same manner that a sword or breastplate (borrowing from St. Paul) is made with hot metal in the forge it is cooled and set by being immersed in water.  So it seems with us as well. 

What some of this means for us?

Orthodox and Catholic tradition holds that, at death, those destined for heaven will be taken there in a chariot.  The Orthodox believe that at the time of death, we are escorted by either angels or demons depending on the direction we are going, towards God or away from God.  After death, our relationship with God continues.  If we already have a relationship with God, we come closer and closer to God for eternity.

The Orthodox Church has the fullness of truth and we abide in the truth which has been given to us.  As in a cup of full water (in the temporal realm), so the truth that we have is integrally whole. While we believe we have the fullness of truth, we do not have the entirety of truth.  The entirety of truth, which rests in Jesus, lies beyond the full cup, in the realm of the divine.