“The Elvis Connection to the Orthodox Church”

 

We assume that even in these times of vanishing historical memory that Elvis Pressley still needs no lengthy introduction.  Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1935 and later migrating to Memphis, Tennessee, his mixture of various strands of Southern music (blues, Gospel, country, and so forth) produced the rock-and-roll genre that he overshadowed for many years.  Or we might go so far as to say that he ‘ruled’ it, for Elvis is The King of Rock.  In this way, he is the other half of Southern royalty, the consort of Lucy Pickens, who was named the Queen of the Confederate States.  Like her, he was wealthy, handsome, talented, and had Christian leanings.

Which is all fine and good, you might be saying, but how does any of this relate to Orthodoxy?  We’re mighty glad you asked.

The name Elvis is the English spelling of the Irish name Ailbhe, which, by the wonderfully arcane rules of the Irish Gaelic language, is pronounced Al-vee.  And the peculiar thing about the name Ailbhe is that there was an extraordinary Irish saint of the Orthodox Church who bore that name, St. Ailbhe of Emly (+6^th century), and one of the alternative spellings of his name is precisely . . . Elvis.

St. Elvis was a disciple of the famous missionary to Ireland, St. Patrick, who ordained him the first archbishop of Munster, with his see established at Emly.  In some ways, both he and Dixie’s Elvis are quite similar.

Both were Christians from their early days.  A couple of stories circulate regarding St. Elvis’s Christian birth:

“Saint Ailbhe was converted by British missionaries. Some traditions say that he was baptized by a priest while a boy in northern Ireland; another that he was baptized and raised in a British settlement in Ireland.”

For Dixie’s Elvis, the account is a little more straightforward:

“Raised in the charismatic Assemblies of God denomination, Presley went on to have a complex relationship to faith. He did identify as a Christian, and described Gospel music as 'the purest thing there is on this earth'.”

And though there is some ambiguity in Elvis’s later life regarding his faith in Christ (as there was about St. Elvis’s baptism), he had enough clarity and conviction to say in response to the title others had given him, the King of Rock-and-Roll, “'There's only one king', he said, 'and that's Jesus Christ.'”

It was also said of St. Elvis,

“He made frequent retreats and engaged in habitual recollection. Saint Ailbhe especially loved to pray in front of the sea.”

Dixie’s Elvis had a similar inclination:

“We do two shows a night for five weeks. A lotta times we'll go upstairs and sing until daylight – gospel songs. We grew up with it...It more or less puts your mind at ease. It does mine.”

. . .

The rest is at https://southernorthodox.org/the-elvis-connection-to-the-orthodox-church/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!