On this day, June 14 according to the Julian Calendar (June 27 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Prophet Elisha, the great prophet of Israel who lived in the 9th century BC.
The Holy Prophet Elisha was the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, and was called to be a prophet by Elijah the Tishbite according to the command of God. When Elijah cast his mantle upon Elisha, the young man immediately left his oxen and his field, said farewell to his parents, and followed the prophet. He became Elijah’s devoted disciple and servant.
When the time came for Elijah to be taken up to heaven in the fiery chariot, Elisha asked that a double portion of his spirit might rest upon him. He witnessed Elijah’s miraculous ascent and received his mantle. With this mantle he struck the waters of the Jordan, which divided before him, and the sons of the prophets who watched from Jericho recognized that the spirit of Elijah had come to rest on Elisha.
The Prophet Elisha performed many more miracles than his teacher Elijah. He healed the waters of Jericho with salt, cursed insolent young men in the name of the Lord, provided miraculous oil for a widow, restored a Shunammite woman’s son to life, cured the Syrian military commander Naaman of leprosy, revealed the plans of the king of Syria to the king of Israel, struck the Syrian army with blindness, and foretold many events of great importance for Israel and the surrounding nations.
Elisha prophesied and worked wonders for approximately sixty years, from the reign of King Ahab to the reign of King Joash of Israel. Even after his death, his wonder-working power did not cease: a dead man revived when his body touched the bones of Elisha in the tomb.
May the intercessions of the Holy Prophet Elisha be with us all.