Hardback: Michael D O'Brien presents a thrilling apocalyptic novel about the condition of the Roman Catholic Church at the end of time. It explores the state of the modern world, and the strengths and weaknesses of the contemporary religious scene, by taking his central character, Father Elijah Schäfer, a Carmelite priest, on a secret mission for the Vatican which embroils him in a series of crises and subterfuges affecting the ultimate destiny of the Church.
Father Elijah is a convert from Judaism, a survivor of the Holocaust, a man once powerful in Israel. For twenty years, he has been "buried in the dark night of Carmel" on the mountain of the prophet Elijah. The Pope and the Cardinal Secretary of State call him out of obscurity and give him a task of the highest sensitivity: to penetrate into the inner circles of a man whom they believe may be the Antichrist. Their purpose: to call the Man of Sin to repentance, and thus to postpone the great tribulation long enough to preach the Gospel to the whole world.
In this richly textured tale, Father Elijah crosses Europe and the Middle East, moves through the echelons of world power, meets saints and sinners, presidents, judges, mystics, embattled Catholic journalists, faithful priests and a conspiracy of traitors within the very House of God.
Father Elijah: An Apocalypse (1996) is an apocalypse in the old literary sense, but one that was written in the light of Christian revelation. It is a novel about the crucifixion of the Bride of Christ. It is a speculation, a work of fiction. It does not attempt to predict certain details of the final Apocalypse so much as to ask how human personality would respond under conditions of intolerable tension, in a moral climate that grows steadily chillier, in a spiritual state of constantly shifting horizons. The near future holds for us many possible variations on the apocalyptic theme, some more dire than others. And yet, the central character is plunged into a dilemma that would face him in any apocalypse. He finds himself within the events that are unfolding, and thus he is faced with the problem of perception: outside it and to view it objectively while remaining within it as a participant, as an agent for the good. The reader should be forewarned that this book is a novel of ideas. It does not proceed at the addictive pace of a television micro-drama, nor does it offer simplistic resolutions and false piety. It offers the Cross, but bears witness to the ultimate victory of light.
Father Elijah is the fourth book in the Children of the Last Days series which comprise of six novels that examine the major moral and spiritual struggles of our times. Each can be read independently of the others. The first three of the series, however, are best read in chronological order, for they form a trilogy within the larger work.
The books in the Children of the Last Days series, in chronological order, are Strangers and Sojourners, Plague Journal, Eclipse of the Sun (these first three make up a trilogy), Father Elijah, Sophia House, and A Cry of Stone.
About the author: Michael D O’Brien is the former editor of the Catholic family magazine, Nazareth Journal. He is also the author of several books, including his nine-volume series of novels published by Ignatius Press, notably the best-selling Father Elijah. For more than thirty years he has been a professional artist. Michael and his wife Sheila have six children. He writes and paints full-time at his home near Combermere, Ontario.
Rating: 5/5
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