St. Elias, also known in the Hebrew Bible as Elijah, is a man who saw God, a wonderworker and zealot for faith in God. St. Elias was of the tribe of Aaron, from the city of Tishba, which is why he was called “the Tishbite.” When St. Elias was born, his father Sabah saw angels of God around the child, swaddling it with fire and feeding it with flames. This was a foreshadowing of Elias’ fiery character and his God-given fiery powers. He spent his whole youth in prayer and meditation, withdrawing often to the desert to ponder and pray in tranquility.

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The prophet Elias came into conflict with the Israelite king, Ahab, and his evil wife Jezebel, (1 Kings 17) because they worshipped idols and turned the people from the service of the One, living God. On top of this, Jezebel, persuaded her husband to build a temple to the foreign god Baal, and appointed many priests to the service of this false god. Elias performed many miracles by the power of God: he closed the heavens, no rain fell for three years and six months; he called down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice to God, while the priests of Baal were unable to do this by praying to their false god; he brought rain from the heavens by his prayers; he miraculously multiplied corn and oil in a widow’s house at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-24), and he restored her dead son to life; he prophesied to Ahab that the dogs would lick up his blood, and to Jezebel that the dogs would devour her (1 Kings 21:19-24). In addition, he performed many other miracles and foretold many events. You can read all this in your Bible at home in 1 Kings 17 through 2 Kings 2 (Or if you have the Orthodox Study Bible you can find them in 3 Kingdoms 17 - 4 Kingdoms 2)

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He is often depicted in icons being fed by ravens as in 1 Kings 17:2-16.