Holy Prophet Elisha

Life

He lived nine hundred years before Christ. When the Lord wished to take to Himself the aged Prophet Elijah, He revealed to him that He had appointed Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of the tribe of Reuben, from the city of Abel-meholah, as his successor in the prophetic service. Elijah told Elisha the will of the Lord and cast his mantle over him and obtained from God a double portion of prophetic grace for him. Elisha immediately left his home and his kindred and followed Elijah. And when the Lord took Elijah on a fiery chariot, Elisha remained to continue the prophetic service with even greater power than Elijah. By purity and zeal he was equal to the greatest prophets, and by the miraculous power given him by God he surpassed them all. He divided the water of the Jordan as once Moses had divided the Red Sea; he made the bitter water of Jericho drinkable; he brought down water in the dug trenches during the war with the Moabites; he multiplied the oil in the vessels of a poor widow; he raised from the dead the son of the Shunammite woman; with twenty loaves he fed a hundred men; he healed the general Naaman of leprosy; he brought leprosy upon his servant Gehazi because of his love of silver; he blinded an entire Syrian army and put another to flight; he foretold many events, both for the nation and for individuals. He departed this life in deep old age.

From the Hymn of Praise

What good are riches and this fair world,What are all power and strength when a man is leprous?Naaman is a general, but covered with leprosy,All white with leprosy, as if drenched with pus.