Elijah and Elisha

He prayed much on behalf of Nebuchadnezzar, as Belshazzar his son was entreating him not to be lost when he had become a beast and a cattle-animal. For his face was like an ox's and his feet were like a lion's. The mystery of this was revealed to the holy man: that he became a beast because of his love of pleasure and his hard-neckedness, and cattle because he was under the yoke of Belial and was obedient; and as an ox he ate grass, but human nature became food to him.

His tongue was held back from speaking; and understanding immediately, he wept, and he entreated God according to his mind all day and hour; and his eyes had become fleshy from many tears. And many observers of the city saw him and marveled. But Daniel alone did not wish to see him. Rather, all the time of his change, he was in prayer concerning him, beseeching God. For he was saying: that he would become a man again and would believe in him.

And Daniel made the seven years which he said, seven seasons, to become seven months, and the mystery of the seven seasons was completed upon him after the forgiveness of his lawlessness. And God restored his kingdom to him again; and he ate neither bread nor meat, nor drank wine, confessing to God that Daniel had commanded him to appease God with moist offerings and herbs. Because of this, Belshazzar called him, because he wished to make him co-heir of his children; but the holy man said: 'May God appease me so as to release me to the inheritance of my fathers, and to be joined to the inheritance of the unblemished.'

And for the Persian kings that followed, he did many wonders, as many as I have not written; second, they were thrown into the lion's pit for the sake of piety and the love of God. For the first, because while the Babylonians were praying, he alone prayed to God, while Darius the king was there. And the second, because he destroyed Bel and slew the dragon during the time of Cyrus the king, and he himself was saved, and went up from the pit unharmed from the lions. But those who plotted against him were thrown into the pit.

They were near the lions, and immediately they were devoured by them. After these things, having grown old and having passed away in peace, he was buried there in that royal cave, alone and gloriously. He also gave a sign in the mountains to those above Babylon, saying: when smoke rises from the marsh, the end of Babylon shall come; and when it is burned as with fire, the end of all the earth shall come. If waters flow in the mountains of the south, the people shall return to their land; but if blood flows, there shall be the slaughter of the Belial in all the land.

Elijah the Thespian was from the land of the Arabs, of the tribe of Aaron, dwelling in Gilead, because Thebes was a house for the priests. When he was about to be born, his mother Sobachah saw that bright-faced men were prophesying him, roasting him in fire and giving him a flame of fire to eat. His father, Asom, came and announced in Jerusalem, saying the oracle: 'Take courage, for his house shall be light and his word a decree, and he shall judge Israel with sword and fire.' For having become a zealot and a precise guardian of the commands of God, and having been made worthy of the greatest mysteries and divine gifts, he was taken up in a fiery chariot. He shall return again before the consummation, as God says through Malachi: 'Behold, I will send Elijah the Thespian to you before the coming of the great and manifest day of the Lord, who shall restore the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of man to his neighbor; lest coming, I strike the earth with a rod.'

His disciple Elisha was from Abelmuth, from the land of the tribe of Reuben, the son of Levi and Jehoshaphat. When the golden heifer was born in Galgal, he cried out so sharply that he was heard in Jerusalem; and the priest, through the signs, said that a prophet was born in Jerusalem who shall cast down their carved images and their earthen vessels. For the spirit having rested upon him, a double portion has become in him, double in spirit and in gifts and in works. Therefore, not only in his life did he work wonders, but also after dying and being carried to Samaria, he was thrown dead, alone in his tomb. And immediately the dead man lived.