Him Prophet Elias on July 20, our Orthodox Church celebrates.
According to ekklisia online we do not celebrate his sleep because it is said that the prophet Elijah did not die. We celebrate his promotion. However, according to some interpreters, the Apostle Paul mentions that the Prophet Elijah was not taken up, like the Lord, into heaven, but that God would see that he was taken up and that he lives on earth with his indestructible body for thousands. years later.
Customs and traditions
Folk traditions and customs are rich, not only among Orthodox Greeks.
In the past, the Saint was also celebrated by the millers, because he was considered the ruler of the winds, and he is also the patron of bakers, because of the fire, which is mentioned in his synaxari.
When there is a drought, litanies to the prophet Elias are common. This custom is pan-Hellenic and is even mentioned in the letter of James: “Elijah prayed that it would not rain and it did not rain on the earth for three months and months, he prayed again and the sky gave him it”.
Taygetus
On the day of his festival, the pilgrims climb with difficulty to that peak and light a large fire in the evening, where they pour plenty of incense in honor of Saint Elias. When those who live in the surrounding areas see that fire, they light grass and straw fires and celebrate by dancing around them or jumping over them.
Thrace – Macedonia
In many areas, especially in Thrace and Macedonia, the prophet Elijah was considered to be the master of rain, thunder and lightning. This is explained by the events told in the Old Testament about the drought that Elijah imposed and the opening of the heavens after three years for the rain to fall again. In fact, the villagers of Northern Thrace, who came to Greece in 1923 and settled mainly in Macedonia, offered a “sacrifice” to the saint.
The danger from the heat of the sun, and also from the pouring of summer, concerned the prophet Elijah.
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On top of the mountains, where his small churches are still located, the prophet Elias replaced Zeus our ancient ancestors, Zeus the cloud riser, master of the sun, but also the lightning, thunder and winds, with a single word , the controller of weather conditions. In this capacity, Zeus was worshiped at the same time that our prophet Elijah is celebrated, that is, in the first day of the last ten days of July, during the so-called Cynic two.
In other parts of Macedonia, another version of the legend about the prophet in pursuit of the devil is found: it is not Ilias who is in pursuit of the devil but the “lamia”, which destroys the crops of man. Christians believed in Bulgaria; the saint hunts the “lamia” sitting on a golden chariot and chases the dragon that eats their crops in the fields. As soon as the prophet sees him, he throws the thunderbolts against him.
Achaia
In Achaia they say that “Ai Lias was a sailor, and because he had suffered a lot at sea and was almost drowned many times, he got tired of traveling and decided to go to a place they did not know what the sea is what the ships are. So he puts it on his shoulder and went to land. He asks people
who found there what it is, and they called it “wood”.
Cephalonia
According to a variation on this tradition in Kefalonia, the saint is in the mountains, because he never set foot on the plain, and he was not buried. He turns his chariot in the sky and on the peaks alone he stands and breathes. And when he was alive, that’s how he liked to be in the mountains.”
Kozani
Every year, at dawn on July 20 many residents of Pentalofos and Vythos find themselves in Ano Voio walking in the cool of the dense forest. cause; Of course, who else but the custom wants the first family to reach the church of the Prophet Elias on the peak of the same name, that they would have luck and blessing for the rest of the year and that there would be … a little more of the… grace of the Saints.
Finally, the Prophet Elias is considered to be the patron saint of furriers because he performed miracles with his apple (sheepskin from the ancient word apple = sheep) and with that he struck the Jordan River and it immediately split in the middle and became a road and he crossed. overland to the other bank together with Élis and fifty others.
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