SERMON ON THE FEAST OF THE TRANSFIGURATION

St. John of Shanghai (Maximovitch)

When He created the world, God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness(Gen. 1:26). God’s image manifests in man’s mental capabilities, in his authority over nature, his power, and his ability to create. God’s likeness in man consists in his moral perfection, his spiritual strivings, and in his possibility of attaining sanctity.

God’s image and likeness, in which our fore-parents were created, was fully reflected in them before the fall. Sin disrupted both the former and the latter, although it did not entirely deprive man of them.

Significance of the Lord's Transfiguration

by Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina

Forty days before He was delivered to an ignominious death for our sins, our Lord revealed to three of His disciples the glory of His Divinity.

“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart; and was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light” (Matt. 17:1-2). This was the event to which our Lord was referring when He said, “There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His Kingdom” (Matt. 16:28). By this means the faith of the disciples was strengthened and prepared for the trial of our Lord’s approaching passion and death; and they were able to see in it not mere human suffering, but the entirely voluntary passion of the Son of God.

Questions About the Transfiguration Answered

St. Nikolai Velimirovich

In the third year of His preaching, the Lord Jesus often spoke to His disciples of His approaching passion but at the same time of His glory following His suffering on the Cross. So that His impending passion would not totally weaken His disciples and that no one would fall away from Him, He, the All-wise, wanted to partially show them His divine glory before His passion. For that reason, He took Peter, James and John with Him and, with them, went out at night to Mt. Tabor and there was transfigured before them: "And His face shone as the sun and His garments became white as snow" (Matthew 17:2). There appeared along side Him, Moses and Elijah, the great Old Testament prophets. And, seeing this, His disciples were amazed. Peter said: "Lord, it is good for us to be here: if You will, let us make here three tabernacles; one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah" (Matthew 17:4). While Peter still spoke, Moses and Elijah departed and a bright cloud overshadowed the Lord and His disciples and there came a voice from the cloud saying: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear Him" (Matthew 17:5). Hearing the voice, the disciples fell to the ground on their faces as though dead and remained that way, lying in fear, until the Lord came near to them and said: "Arise and be not afraid" (Matthew 17:7).

An Interpretation of the Icon of the Transfiguration of the Lord

The icon of the Transfiguration constitutes the key to Orthodox theology on the vision of God. The light which appeared to the Apostles was the expression of the Divine brilliance, of the timeless and uncreated glory, the recognition of the two natures of Christ, the divine and the human. At the same time, it was a prototype, an icon of the transfigured human nature and of the theosis (deification) which is granted by the redemptive work of Christ. The Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor is the corresponding event in the New Testament of the event in the Old Testament in which God is revealed to Moses on Mount Horeb.

Already from the first Christian centuries we have indications that the Transfiguration of Christ was celebrated in the Church, while from the end of the 6th century of the Christian era the date of this celebration was fixed to be the 6th of August. It is from the same period that we derive the first examples of the iconographic art.

18 Spiritual Interpretations of the Transfiguration

St. Maximus the Confessor

That The Saints Are Not Introduced into The Mysteries Like Us

But going back to what has already been contemplated, let us turn our attention according to our means to the rest of the meaning of the Transfiguration, so that the excellence of the Saints in everything and their genuine separation from the flesh and matter may be seen. And let us note that they do not contemplate either creation or Scripture like us in a material or lowly way. They do not acquire the blessed knowledge of God only by sense and appearances and forms, using letters and syllables, which lead to mistakes and bafflement over the judgment of the truth, but solely by the mind [nous], rendered most pure and released from all material mists. Since therefore we want to judge reverently and see clearly and intelligibly the meanings of those things perceived by the senses, we must look carefully to the inerrant knowledge concerning God and divine things and rightly proceed along the straight path.

The Dormition Fast

The Dormition fast was established as preceding the great feasts of the Transfiguration of the Lord and of the Dormition of the Mother of God. It lasts two weeks — from August 1–August 14.

The Dormition fast comes down to us from the early days of Christianity.

We find a clear reference to the Dormition fast in a conversation of Leo the Great from around the year 450 A.D.: “The Church fasts are situated in the year in such a way that a special abstinence is prescribed for each time. Thus, for spring there is the spring fast — the Forty Days Great Lent; for summer there is the summer fast [the Apostles’ fast]; for autumn there is the autumn fast, in the seventh month [Dormition fast]; for winter there is the winter fast [Nativity fast].”

The Apostle Peter and the Transfiguration of Christ

His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The prophetic and apostolic texts are not the fruit of philosophical theories and reflections, but the fruit of revealed theology. That is, both the Prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New Testament saw the glory of God. Whilst the Prophets saw the Word of God before His Incarnation, the Apostles saw Christ after His Incarnation. Hence, it is this experience they recorded in their writings and led Christians with the content of this theology.

We see this in the apostolic reading which we read today in the church, because of the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ. It is a section from the Second Catholic Epistle of the Apostle Peter in which he refers to the experience of the Transfiguration that he had. It is known that the Apostle Peter was one of the three disciples who was worthy to be found at Tabor when Christ was transfigured in front of His disciples, where His face shone like the sun and His clothes were white as light.

The Theological Meaning of the Transfiguration of Christ

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The theology of the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ always moved me, together with the theology of the feast of the Resurrection and Pentecost. Even by reading the hymns of the feast of the Transfiguration, it feels like those who wrote them had the experience of the uncreated light of divinity, which emanates from the Body of Christ.

The Holy Fathers of the Church, especially however Saint Gregory Palamas, that hagiorite saint, not only saw the uncreated light of divinity, but he also developed this great event theologically and then identified the difference between contemplative theology and hesychastic theology. Contemplative theology is associated with metaphysics, while hesychastic theology is associated with the purification of the heart and illumination of the nous. Herein lies the difference between Western and Orthodox theology, and, of course, the difference between the contemplatives - metaphysicians and the Orthodox hesychast Fathers.

On the Transfiguration

St. Anastasios of Sinai

Upon Mount Tabor, Jesus revealed to his disciples a heavenly mystery. While living among them he had spoken of the kingdom and of his second coming in glory, but to banish from their hearts any possible doubt concerning the kingdom and to confirm their faith in what lay in the future by its prefiguration in the present, he gave them on Mount Tabor a wonderful vision of his glory, a foreshadowing of the kingdom of heaven. It was as if he said to them:“As time goes by you may be in danger of losing your faith. To save you from this I tell you now that some standing here listening to me will not taste death until they have seen the Son of Man coming in the glory of his Father. “Moreover, in order to assure us that Christ could command such power when he wished, the evangelist continues: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. There, before their eyes, he was transfigured. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Then the disciples saw Moses and Elijah appear, and they were talking to Jesus.

Transfiguration and the Cross

By George Mantzarides

Professor at the School of Theology, University of Thessaloniki

Are you aware that counting 40 days from today, on the 40th day we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross? It’s not a mistake.

The Transfiguration of Our Savior has a central place in the Orthodox Church and in Orthodox theology.

It is the event that reveals the glory of the Church and of the faithful. It is a witness to the new reality introduced by the coming of Christ in history.

During His Transfiguration, Christ revealed the Uncreated Glory of His Divinity within His human nature. At the same time, He took up those surrounding Him into His Uncreated Divine Glory. Moses and Elias participated in the same radiance as Christ. The only difference is that Christ is the Source of Divine radiance, whereas the others are recipients thereof.