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Presentation
The Editors

Elijah is undoubtedly a biblical personality who tends to be forgotten in Christian circles, and yet he seems to have been very popular down the centuries, judging by the number of places or ancient Christian sanctuaries that bear his name.
This popularity is reflected in the liturgy; traces have been found of a feast celebrated in Gaul during the sixth century in honor of the prophet Saint Elijah; it had its own Preface. Even today the Byzantine liturgy evokes the figure of Elijah many times, especially during Lent and at Pentecost and above all on the feast of the holy and glorious prophet, Elijah the Tishbite which is celebrated on July 20, the traditional date observed also in the Proper of the Saints used by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Elijah is also very important in Islamic tradition. He is called either Ilyas or Al Khidr or El Kadev according to whether one is stressing his prophetic struggle against idolatry or thinking of him more as a legendary personality intervening in the lives of believers to help, heal and guide them, or to be with them during times of prayer. In Judaism, as we will see, Eliyahu has an important part to play, above all in popular tradition.
Whence then comes this popularity, this success story of someone who could be regarded as marginal in all our traditions? Are we attracted to him as a man of God who was able to oppose uncompromisingly the idolatry of his own day? Idols are reborn at every moment in history. Is it because we identify with him in his discouragement? Or again, is it because, as a semi-legendary figure, he is less threatened by the "Establishment"? Could this attraction be because Elijah is one of the few "miracle workers" to be found in the Bible? In this at least he is like Jesus, as the latter is presented in the Gospel tradition. Do we turn towards the mystical fervor of one who, possessed by the Spirit of God, sprang up like a fire and calls us to follow him with equal zeal into the Presence of God?
Elijah has perhaps another important message for those of us who are Christians, for are we not also a people in waiting, a people of both the already and the not yet? If it is true that the messianic era is inaugurated in Christ, we know very well that it is not yet fully achieved here below, that we are called to work each day for its establishment on earth and that we also await the day when he will return in glory. As Michel Remaud says so well, we can falsify the word of Jesus and settle down comfortably by keeping only one half of his message to the disciples: Elijah has already come. We must, however, be careful to preserve a balance because is it not also true that he said: Elijah will come and restore all things.