By Walt Garlington
We assume that even in these times of vanishing historical memory that Elvis Presley 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 Aillbhe, 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. Aillbhe of Emly (+6th 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.”
Who knew that the Southern Elvis was named after an Irish Saint?
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.'”
All I knew was gospel music. It became such a part of my life it was as natural as dancing. A way to escape my problems and my way of release.
— Elvis Presley describing his favorite music
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.”
St. Elvis grew weary as his life neared its end, and wanted to retire from active life but was prevented and died while still an active bishop:
“When in his old age he wanted to resign and retire to the solitude of Thule (Shetland? Iceland? Greenland?) to prepare for death, the king stationed guards at the ports to prevent his flight. Thus, Saint Ailbhe died in the midst of his episcopal labours and is deemed the principal patron of Munster.”
Lord please give me dignity and grace so that I can have the strength to face these last days that seem to run fast. Give me some more time to do what I can. So that facing death is not a penalty. Please Lord, that’s all I’m asking.
— Elvis Presley’s “scribblings” from the year of his repose
The South’s Elvis likewise sought deeper spiritual contemplation as his life went on, but died on August 16, 1977 still in his role as a performer:
“But a glimpse of a Christian faith, or just an interest in God, remained right up to his tragic death. Presley died reading a book on the famed Christian relic the Shroud of Turin – his dead body was found in a toilet with the book lying next to him.”
As difficult and confused as his life became, Elvis Presley nevertheless made a statement that has prophetic overtones for the South: “Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.”
Dixie, like much of the West, did indeed shut out the sun – the Light of the true, undistorted Christ in the Orthodox Church – but, thanks be to God, it was only “for a time” and didn’t “go away” from our people forever.
And now as the Orthodox Church grows across the South, would it not be an entirely conceivable and rather joyful occasion that many new Orthodox Christians, whether new-born babies or older converts, take St. Ailbhe/Elvis as their patron saint? If this were to occur, it would be yet another way that the Orthodox Church preserves and sanctifies the good things of Southern history.
And it is one more illustration of a borrowed and slightly modified adage: Scratch someplace in the South, and before long you will uncover a relationship between that thing and the Orthodox Church.
Walt Garlington is a chemical engineer turned writer and editor of the website Confiteri: A Southern Perspective. This longtime Southern Baptist, then Anglican, was united to the Orthodox Church in 2012 and makes his home in Louisiana where he attends a GOA parish.
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