One of the concerns we might have about any Eve story is what sort of Messenger she is. If we regard her as basically a Christian with the serial numbers filed off, then does that make her an Eve-angelist? Does she travel to other countries looking to convert “pagan” souls to her faith? Is she a cultural imperialist, a zealot, preaching the one true message of the one true god? 

I think we already have our answer to this in The God You Know, in the very last scene. Eve, Ares & Aphrodite are all sitting next to each other, with Eve smiling sympathetically as Dite complains about her newfound mortality. She’s sitting right next to Ares, with whom she had some bad history, but doesn’t seem to mind. He did bring her back to life, after all, in Motherhood. Later on, Eve has no problem when her mother restores their godhood to them. 

It doesn’t surprise me that Eve & Dite get along: they’re in the same line of work, as I see it, just working different sides of it. They’re spreading the word of love, & I believe Dite has a bright future, in her own way. Ares, as well, since he’s highly adaptable & probably the most open minded of the Olympians, given his opportunism. We shouldn’t be surprised. This is how it worked in real life. These Olympians continued on side-by-side with the Christian faith, & survived into the present as motivators of human interest in their respective sphere’s of influence. Love & war did not end with the Christian Era, & certainly not with the Elijian era. 

So, what IS the Elijian Era? How does it work, according to the show? How is it different from the Olympian era?

The bottom line is: pretty much the same! If you go back & highlight everything Eli says about his faith, it’s pretty much a description of what Xena & Gabrielle already believe. It’s the ethos of the show, presented as a religion. 

Eli never talks about having rituals, or having to believe in a particular god (despite there actually being an entire heavenly hierarchy associated with this faith). There don’t seem to be any jealous gods demanding fealty, or holy days, or anything like that. In fact, nothing to preclude one from leaving any other faith to join it. In Seeds of Faith, Eli does say that humanity doesn’t need the gods. He teaches that each person is potentially a vessel of love that can find peace on their own. 

This makes him a threat to the jealous Olympians, but Krishna doesn’t seem to have a problem with his teachings. Indeed, Eli was a student of the Temple of the Chakram, which presumably was set up by the elder gods, & we’re told by Chris Manheim that he traveled to Egypt as well to study there, so there seems to be a connection of truth among all these faiths that he’s tracing. 

I think the roots of Eli go deep in the show’s creation, all the way back to its original concept as an adaptation of Conan the Barbarian. In those stories, there is a similar figure, Mitra, who is different from the others. He is a kind of humanist god, appearing as a gentle, bearded man, who empowers & elevates humanity, rather than try to reduce it to a groveling & bestial race. 

But Eli’s teachings come straight from Greek drama, I believe. #HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys was heavily influenced by Euripides’ drama, Herakles, I believe. It’s about Hercules’ reputation being destroyed by Hera, & redeemed by the faith of his friend, Theseus, who stands by him when all others have turned way. This act of unconditional friendship is key to the show, & I believe key to #Xena as well. The very last ep is called A Friend in Need, after the Aesop fable about true friendship when it’s most needed. In Looking Death in the Eye, Ares laments #Xena’s “death”, envying Gabrielle’s unconditional friendship, while acknowledging that his own is quite conditional, indeed. 

This doctrine of unconditional friendship is the true creed of Eli, & he demonstrates it when he saves his persecutor, Livia, & restores her to her true self, Eve. You might say there’s a condition: Eve becomes his Messenger, continuing his ministry, but that’s how she rolls. She never does anything by half measures. The theme of friendship is the message that I believe Eve takes up. As Eli says in Seeds of Faith, “If we are joined in peace & friendship, then we have no need of the gods.”