From the Prologue of Ochrid
Seer of God, wonderworker, zealot for the faith of God, holy Elijah was by origin of the tribe of Aaron, from the city of Tishbe, for which reason he is called the Tishbite. When Elijah was born, his father Savah saw the angels of God around the child, how they swaddled the child with fire and gave him a flame to eat. This was a foreshadowing of Elijah's fiery character and his God-given power of fire. He spent all his youth in the contemplation of God and prayer, withdrawing often into the wilderness to reflect and pray in silence. At that time the Hebrew kingdom was divided into two unequal parts: the Kingdom of Judah, comprising only two tribes — Judah and Benjamin — with its capital in Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of Israel, comprising the remaining ten tribes, with its capital in Samaria. The first kingdom was ruled by the descendants of Solomon, and the second by the descendants of Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon. The Prophet Elijah's greatest conflict was with the Israelite King Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel. For they worshipped idols and turned the people away from serving the one and living God. Moreover, Jezebel, being a Syrian, persuaded her husband to erect a temple to the Syrian god Baal and appointed many priests to the service of this false god. By great miracles Elijah demonstrated the power and authority of God: he shut the heavens so that there was no rain for three years and six months; he brought fire down from heaven and set ablaze the sacrifice to his God, while the priests of Baal could not do the same; he brought rain down from heaven by his prayer; he miraculously multiplied the flour and oil in the house of the widow of Zarephath and raised her dead son; he prophesied to Ahab that the dogs would lick his blood, and to Jezebel that the dogs would devour her, which indeed came to pass; and he performed many other miracles and foretold many events. On Horeb he conversed with God and heard the voice of God in the still, gentle breeze. Before his death he took Elisha and appointed him as his successor in the prophetic calling; with his mantle he parted the waters of the Jordan; and at last he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire with horses of fire. On Tabor he appeared together with Moses to our Lord Jesus Christ. Before the end of the world, Elijah shall appear again, to oppose the power of the Antichrist (Revelation 11).
