On the east side of the Church of Stella Maris is a small cave where, according to Carmelite tradition, Elijah has stayed. The inscription reads: "Hanc aliquando speluncam incoluit Maguns illa Prophetarum Dux et Pater Elias Thesbites", which is in Latin for "in this cave stayed occasionally the great leader and father of the prophets - Elijah the Tishbite". The small cave is about 3M by 5M.
On the floor before the cave are three markers that commemorate the founders of the Cramelite order - Berthold, St. Brocardus and Prosper.
Inside the cave, behind the pair of marble columns, is a table where dozens of candles light up, and a stone altar is in the center.
On top of the marble table is a statue of Elijah. According to tradition, the stone was the bedrock on which Elijah has slept.
According to a late Jewish tradition, this is the cave and tomb of Elisha, Elijah's follower and prophet, who also resided in the Carmel (2 Kings 2: 25"And he went from thence to mount Carmel..."). Another tradition locates his tomb in Samaria, the capital of the Northern Israelite Kingdom.
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