In an essay entitled “The Washington Chapel: An Elias to the Washington D.C. Temple” by Gaskill and Soha, we read the following about the relationship between these two edifices:
In the Church, we sometimes use
the name Elias as a title, referring to something or someone that serves as a “forerunner.”
In some ways, the Washington Chapel was a kind of proto-temple and an “Elias,”
or forerunner, of the Washington D.C. Temple. DC-area resident Page Johnson
noted that “the Washington Chapel prepared people of other faiths and
backgrounds for the arrival of the temple. Washington area residents . . .
first began to know and accept the ‘Mormons’ because of the Washington Chapel.
That building prepared them for an even more special place—situated on a hill
for all to see—that would represent the continuation and expansion of the Lord’s
work” (Page Johnson, correspondence, 6 July 2020). (Alonzo L. Gaskill and Seth
G. Soha, “The Washington Chapel: An Elias to the Washington D.C. Temple,” in Latter-day
Saints in Washington DC, ed. Kenneth L. Alford, Lloyd D. Newell, and Alexander
L. Baugh [Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book,
2021], 375)
Further Reading