[sueplydup]

A hieromonk I know is looking for a particular icon and I’m trying to help him. I appreciate any help in getting info on where to find this for him. He is looking for an “icon of the Prophet Elias (Elijah) with a sword chopping off the heads of the false prophets and stacking them in a pyramid.” It seems it is a Middle-Eastern type icon. I'm just looking for something that can be taken off the internet.

[KahiroSamo]

Hello David

The scene you describe is one of a series of events in the life of the Prophet Elijah. An icon which only shows this scene would be exceedingly rare, if not non-existent. This scene would, however, be found in a "life" icon of the Prophet, one which has a central panel depicting him (in frontal pose, or sitting at the mouth of his cave, looking up at the raven bringing him bread, or being taken up to heaven in the fiery chariot), surrounded by smaller panels, each showing a scene from his life. A parallel would be a church mural, where a number of scenes from his life are painted, often merging into each other, as a kind of continuous narrative.

I have two images of this scene on file, both are from church murals, from the 18thC Cathedral of Prophet Elijah in Yaroslavl, and from the 14thC Gracanica monastery in Serbia. The Yaroslavl scene shows the Prophet about to behead one of the pagan priests, the Gracanica fresco shows the scene as you described it. The latter image has suffered much damage over the centuries.

[AlexBolduin]

I came across this icon online today, from Grachanica Monastery (though as said, it's not in a great condition): http://www.srpskoblago.org/Archives/...tament-10.html.

I think somewhere Elder Paisios interpreted this event from the life of Prophet Elias in a meaningful way, for anyone who is curious.

[freeringtonesioo]

I came across this icon online today, from Grachanica Monastery (though as said, it's not in a great condition): http://www.srpskoblago.org/Archives/...tament-10.html.

I think somewhere Elder Paisios interpreted this event from the life of Prophet Elias in a meaningful way, for anyone who is curious.

I would like to know what the elder thought about it this event. I have this icon in a pattern book, and always wondered what the real icon would look like, so thank you. It is a magnificent icon. In spite of the subject, the icon does not have a violent atmosphere, or even a narrative atmosphere. It is truly silent and timeless, very well balanced, so very instructive to me. Thank you again.

[Dvjkefdw]

The following is a quote from the spiritual counsels of Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, Volume I: With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man

- Geronda, why does God allow a calamity to happen?

- There are all kinds of reasons. Sometimes God will allow something to happen so that something better may come out of it, and other times He wants to educate us. Some people are rewarded and others pay a debt; nothing is wasted. You know, whatever God allows, even when human beings perish, it is done out of love for man, because God has a “heart”. Do you remember how the Prophet Elijah slaughtered the three hundred priests of Baal? He told them, “Go ahead and pray and I will do the same, and the altar fire that starts up by itself will show us whose god is the true God.” They started shouting, “Hear us our god Baal, hear us!” And the Prophet told them, “Your god is indisposed and can't hear you! Shout louder!” So they went on screaming and slashing their bodies with knives, as was their custom, and being in excruciating pain, they were screaming even louder to get Baal to listen to them. Since nothing happened, the Prophet Elijah finally told them, “Pour water three times over these logs.” So they did it once, twice, three times. The wood had become very wet and water was pouring all around the altar. As soon as the Prophet Elijah prayed, fire fell from the sky and everything they had brought for sacrifice on the altar was burned and so was the altar itself! The Prophet then said, “Arrest these priests because they deceive the people and mislead them into idolatry.” And they were all slaughtered.

Many may wonder, “But how could the Prophet have slaughtered so many people?” God is not a barbarian and neither was the Prophet. But these idolatrous priests had misguided so many people that the Prophet came to the point of saying, “I am all alone!” So much was their influence! And the truth is that they suffered more from slashing themselves than they did from the knife of the Prophet Elijah that put an end to their suffering. The pain they caused on themselves was greater because as you can see, what God allows is for the love of man, whereas their feats were so cruel and painful.