One God


 * You may also be looking for Dahak, also identified as the "One God."

The One God, known as The Light, the God of Love, simply God, and many other names, is an all-powerful entity, above the Earthly pantheons, who exists outside of our realm. He was a counterpart to the Darkness, and together they maintained the balance between good and evil in all things. (HTLJ: "Let There Be Light") Eli is the avatar of the God of the Ultimate Way. (XWP: "The Way")

God was worshipped by a multitude of peoples all across the known worlds. The Zealots, Israelites, and Elijians were some of the people that worshipped the One God. (XWP: "Altared States"; "The Giant Killer"; "Seeds Of Faith")

Early activities
The origin and existence of God goes back to the time before man. Predating even the Titans, the Light (God) and the Darkness (Dahak) balance out each other across several worlds and realms. As an entity existing outside of our realm, God does not physically manifest himself, although, like Dahak, he has circumvented this rule with his angels and guardians. (HTLJ: "Let There Be Light")

Before the beginning of mankind, God created the angels to act on his behalf. The angels and archangels lived in the realm of Heaven and often interceded in the affairs of early man, sometimes dealing with the various Earthly pantheons. (HTLJ: "Revelations") Some of these angels rebelled against God, following the leadership of the fallen angel, and later god, Mephistopheles, and would be banished to a domain known as Hell. (XWP: "Fallen Angel"; "The Haunting Of Amphipolis")

After Dahak's war with the Titans, Dahak's top priest, Zarathustra, became the first follower of the One God during the thousand years he was cursed with immortality. (HTLJ: "Let There Be Light") The Zealots and the Israelites were other early followers of God, often seen as curious amongst pagans with their ideas of a Supreme Diety above the other gods. (XWP: "Altared States"; "The Giant Killer")

Although he was generally forced to send messages through his angels, God did have the ability to vocally communicate with mortals. He did so directly to prevent the Zealot Anteus from following false orders to kill his son Icus (XWP: "Altared States"), and he communicated "the truth" to Eli. (XWP: "The Way")

Twilight of the Gods
Following Dahak's near success at entering the realm of mortals, God first attempted to start Armageddon by sending his archangel son Michael to awaken the Four Horsemen and destroy mankind. Michael was persuaded and stopped by Hercules, Iolaus, and Ares not to complete this task, and God postponed Armageddon for another time. (HTLJ: "Revelations")

With the death of Xena and Gabrielle, God received both an ally and enemy in Heaven and Hell that tipped the balance between the realms and nearly started a supernatural war between them. Although this was prevented with the reformation of Callisto and the resurrection of Xena and Gabrielle, God set the "Twilight of the Gods" in motion by mystically impregnating Xena. (XWP: "Fallen Angel"; "Animal Attraction")

With the rise of the Elijians, gods such as Ares continued fighting against the One God's influence, going so far as to martyr Eli, the founder of the Elijian church. (XWP: "Seeds Of Faith") With the death of Zeus, King of the Greek Gods, and the survival of Eve, events unfolded according to God's plan without any of his direct involvement. (XWP: "God Fearing Child"; "Looking Death In The Eye")

During Eve's baptism into the Elijian faith, God bestowed the power to slay gods unto Xena, and she destroyed most of the Olympians in defense of her daughter. (XWP: "Motherhood") He would take this power away when Xena defied his order to kill Aphrodite. (XWP: "The God You Know")

After the Twilight, and even after the restoral of Aphrodite and Ares to Olympian positions, God quickly supplanted the local pantheons in worship. Some doubted the existence of physical gods (XWP: "Many Happy Returns"), and the Roman Empire would even take a pro-Elijian stance. (XWP: "Path Of Vengeance")

Zealots
The Zealots were one of the original followers of the One God. They held beliefs that God was a bloodthirsty being, antithetical to the ideas of the Israelites and Elijians. Maell impersonated God to convince fellow Zealot Anteus to sacrifice his son Icus. (XWP: "Altared States")

Some 31 years later, a group of Zealots continued to sacrifice virgins to the One God, raising the virgins from childhood to believe this was a just thing to do. (XWP: "Many Happy Returns")

Israelites
The Israelites were a band of people who believed that the land of Israel was bestowed to them by the One God. Although they were forced to give up much of their land by the occupying Philistines, they held on to their distrusted belief in God and preached about him to guests and others they took in. (XWP: "The Giant Killer")

Elijians
The Elijians, followers of the "Church of Eli," were a relatively new group, first founded in India to follow the Way. Although they church centered more on peace and love than on following any god, Eli had been a follower of the One God from his childhood, and would briefly enter Heaven upon his martyrdom. (XWP: "The Way"; "Seeds Of Faith")

Decades later, the Elijians would focus on the ideas of their being One Supreme God, and would pray to him as well as their founder, Eli. (XWP: "Motherhood"; "The Haunting Of Amphipolis")

Names
God was referred to by several different names and titles:
 * Abba (XWP: "Devi")
 * Almighty (XWP: "Many Happy Returns")
 * Almighty God (XWP: "Altared States")
 * Almighty Master (XWP: "Many Happy Returns")
 * God (XWP: "Altared States")
 * God of Eli (XWP: "The God You Know")
 * God of Love (XWP: "Motherhood")
 * God of the Israelites (XWP: "The Deliverer")
 * The Light (HTLJ: "Let There Be Light")
 * Lord (XWP: "The Giant Killer")

Mythology and religion
The One God of the Elijians and Israelites is a heavily fictionalized version of the Judeo-Christian God of the Abrahamic religions. Some related Biblical comparisons:
 * The story of Anteus and Icus is based on the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, with the Zealots supplanting the pre-Israelite Hebrew people. (XWP: "Altared States")
 * The Ark of the Covenant was stolen and retrieved by Xena and Autolycus in one episode, although it was not identified with God or the Israelites. (XWP: "Royal Couple Of Thieves")
 * The story of David and Goliath is adapted almost directly from the Bible. (XWP: "The Giant Killer")
 * The birth of Jesus, and subsequent escape from Bethlehem, is shown in the background of a Xena and Hercules crossover. (HTLJ: "A Star To Guide Them"; XWP: "A Solstice Carol")
 * The activities of Eli in India are based on non-Biblical legends of Jesus' "lost years." (XWP: "Devi")
 * The Elijians are based on the early Christians. (XWP: "Seeds Of Faith")
 * Najara and her allies, were loosely based on Muhammad and the early Muslims. (XWP: "Crusader")