The Orthodox Christians who follow the old church calendar observe the Feast of Saint Prophet Elias or Elijah on August 2. Prophet Elias is celebrated as a miracle worker and the one who brings rain during a drought period. He is also considered the guardian of crops. On this day, the people go to church to bless the first harvest of the year, IPN reports.
Pavel Borshevschi, bishop of “Saint Dumitru” Church of Chisinau, has told IPN that the goods brought by parishioners to church on this day should be shared out among the poor as alms. “We should learn to see in our fellows the “smallest” in the church, but the most important for you, who should not be ignored as they need you,” he stated.
In Moldova, and in Greece as well, the Christians address Prophet Elias as a liaison to God when it does not rain. The Christians go on hills with standards and crosses and pray to Prophet Elias and God until evening, asking for rain.
There is a popular practice of eating honey with cucumbers on this day. The bishop said honey in this period reaches its perfect state and is full of scent, as the cucumbers are.
Pavel Borshevschi said that if the Christians go to church on this day, they would do what they should actually do on this feast. “In the church they meet Prophet Elias and Christ. The skies break up here and we take the best things from church to our homes,” he said.
Saint Elias is one of the 16 most important prophets in the Old Testament. He lived over 800 years before Christ, during the reign of King Ahab, in the Israeli territory of Samaria. He is considered as the one who brings rain after he saved the people of Israel from death by prayer, when the people were punished by God with three years and a half of drought. It is expected that the heavy summer torrents come after this feast.
