Homily Seven on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

 By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered in 1958)

I have already preached to you many times about the great feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor, but this feast is so great that any new thought about it deserves a separate sermon.

In the troparion of the Transfiguration of the Lord, you hear the words: “May Your everlasting Light shine on us, sinners, through the prayers of the Theotokos, Giver of Light, glory to You."

Is it necessary to understand these words in such a way that we ask the Lord Jesus Christ that His Divine Light shines on us, so that we only see this Light, be His spectators?

Homily Six on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered in Alushta in 1957)

The glorious feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord gives us reason to ponder the words of our Lord Jesus Christ addressed to the people and the Apostles: “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come in power” (Mk. 9:1).

We could not understand these extraordinary prophetic words of the Son of God if we related them to the manifestation of the Kingdom of God at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, for more than 1900 years have already passed; and all the contemporaries of the Lord Jesus have died, and we are still waiting for the Second Coming.

Homily Four on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered in 1953)

In the great first chapter of the Gospel of John we read about God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).

What life? There is a life that can only be called existence, vegetative life, and a huge number of people live such a life. There is no light in it, true light, but only a faint twilight sort of light.

There is a life completely devoid of light, a life full of darkness. In such darkness live all whoremongers, lechers, drunkards, who serve passions and lusts.

Homily Three on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Luke of Simferopol)

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on August 6/19, 1952)

One of our greatest feasts has come - the Transfiguration of the Lord, and already yesterday at the Vespers you heard the troparion of this festival, and in it such words: “May Thy everlasting light shine on us sinners through the prayers of the Theotokos, Giver of Light, glory to Thee.”

Have you thought about what a great blessing we ask of God in these words, what joy - eternal, unceasing joy we ask - we ask that that divine light shine in us forever, which illuminated on Mount Tabor the whole body, all the clothes of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily Two on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered in 1951)

With deep reverence, we are now celebrating one of the greatest events in the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ - His Transfiguration.

Why do I call this feast so great?

Because the Lord was pleased to reveal to the whole world through His chosen apostles, witnesses of the Transfiguration, His heavenly glory.

Has He revealed all the glory? Oh no, far, far from all. It is impossible to see the glory of God with impunity: it is impossible for a person to see the glory of God and stay alive.

Homily One on the Transfiguration of the Savior (Archim. George Kapsanis)

By Archimandrite George Kapsanis

We were mentally transported to Mount Tabor, where the Transfiguration of the Lord took place. We mentally saw our God-man Savior transfigured, shining like the sun, and His garments white as light. We saw the representatives of the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah and the prophet Moses, conversing with Jesus. We saw the holy Apostles in awe and marvel. And as those who visit Mount Tabor of the Transfiguration say, on this day of the feast the whole Mount is fragrant. With this sign, this heavenly fragrance, which the pious pilgrims of the Mount of Transfiguration sense today, the Lord gives one more proof of His presence and His Grace on this blessed Taborian Mount.

Homily Two on the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Chrysostomos of Smyrna)

By St. Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Smyrna

(Delivered on August 4, 1912)

From the event of the Lord's Transfiguration begins the second period of the Lord's public life, which was his final journey to Jerusalem, where the passion, the cross, and death awaited Him, which were also the main purpose of His life on earth, and the object of the preaching and the preparation of the first part of His early ministry.

But when the first period of the Lord's public life on earth began by a sign from heaven in Jordan, then the heavens were opened, and a voice came from there: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). Similarly, this second period begins with a sign from the sky: "Suddenly, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice came from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

Homily One on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Luke of Simferopol)

 By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on August 19, 1950)

On this great day, we remember the glorious Transfiguration of our Lord and our God Jesus Christ, when He revealed to us the Divine light of His Person, His entire Nature.

We must understand what spiritual light is. My sermon will be about spiritual light.

You all know how every living creature quiveringly reaches out to the sun, to the light of the sun, to the material light, shining from the sky. You know how every insect, every grass, every leaf and flower always reaches for the light. The light of the sun, the material light is known to all of you, and you all love it.

The Monastery of Christ of the Forest on the Island of Paros

The Monastery of Christ of the Forest is also known as the Monastery of Transfiguration of Christ and the Monastery of Saint Arsenios of Paros. This is a convent constructed at a distance of 6 km from Parikia, close to the Valley of Butterflies. The katholikon of the monastery is dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Christ, while on the northern side of the courtyard, there is a church dedicated to Saint Arsenios (1800-1877), the patron saint of Paros. In fact, the grave and the skull of the Saint are guarded in this monastery because the Saint reposed here on January 31, 1877, since he was the spiritual father of the nuns of this community.

The Remarkable and Recently Restored Wooden Russian Church With Its 22 Domes

The Church of the Transfiguration, a visionary wooden wonder with an octagonal frame and 22 domes built in 1714 — legend has it without a single nail — has reopened to tourists for the first time in 40 years after an extensive, and at times contentious, restoration.

Located on an island in Lake Onega about 60km north-east of the city of Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Karelian republic, the Russian Orthodox church is part of an ensemble of storied wooden buildings known as Kizhi Pogost. A Unesco World Heritage Site since 1990, the complex also features the nine-domed Church of the Intercession and a bell tower.

The 37m-tall Church of the Transfiguration was built by craftsmen drawing on ancient and somewhat mysterious traditions of wooden construction. It was in dire condition for decades, and specialists and bureaucrats sometimes warred over restoration plans because of its unique architecture. The conservation process involved numerous commissions and consultations with international experts.

Homily One on the Transfiguration of the Lord (St. Chrysostomos of Smyrna)

By the Holy Hieromartyr Chrysostomos, 

Metropolitan of Smyrna

(Delivered in 1911)

"And he was transfigured before them: his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him." (Matt. 17:2-3)

This feast is the preeminent feast of the glory of the Lord, in a way it is the Resurrection before the Resurrection, for on this unique day in His life it pleased Jesus to reveal to His three foremost disciples, Peter, James and John, although faintly, His extraordinary beauty and the brilliant rays of His supernatural radiance and the majesty of that glory, which was hidden throughout the thirty years of His earthly life under the humble enclosure of His human flesh, in which the Only-begotten Son and Word of God dwelt among men.

Homily Three on the Transfiguration of the Savior (Archim. George Kapsanis)

By Archimandrite George Kapsanis,

Former Abbot of Gregoriou Monastery on Mount Athos

Just as all the events narrated to us by the Holy Evangelists took place for the salvation of men, so also the Divine Transfiguration of the Lord took place for us and for our salvation. There is nothing in the life of our Lord that has no salvific significance, that has nothing to do with our salvation. That is why, after all, He became a human being - for our salvation.

And the Transfiguration of our Lord shows us not only the divinity of the Lord and the glory which He had near His Heavenly Father, before the creation of the world, eternally - which He revealed to His Disciples for a short time, though He did not reveal His full glory, but something of His glory, as it was possible, as the hymnography of the Church says -, but even so He showed us who He is and the purpose of our life.

Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Archpriest Rodion Putyatin)

By Archpriest Rodion Putyatin

The Transfiguration of the Lord, which we commemorate today, took place in this way: Jesus Christ, taking with Him three of His disciples - Peter, James and John - ascended with them to a high mountain, to Tabor, and there during prayer He was transfigured before them, that is, He appeared in a glorified form: His face shone like the sun, His robe became white as snow, and Moses and Elijah appeared talking with Him. The Apostle Peter, delighted with such a wonderful sight, said to Jesus Christ: “Lord! It's good for us here; if you want, we will build three tents here: one for you, the other for Moses, the third for Elijah."

Christian listeners! Why did the Apostle Peter suddenly feel so good on the mountain that he wanted to stay there forever? Saint Peter has probably been on this mountain before; why did he feel so good now? This is because during the Transfiguration, an extraordinary light, Divine light, shone from Jesus Christ, and the apostles, as much as they could, enjoyed this light. In the light of the Divine, everywhere is good: it is light in the darkness, and it is an oasis in the desert.

Homily Two on the Transfiguration of the Savior (Archim. George Kapsanis)

By Archimandrite George Kapsanis,

Former Abbot of the Athonite Gregoriou Monastery

(1988)

The feast of the Divine Transfiguration of the Lord has profound and many theological meanings. From time to time we hear them from the sacred hymns and from the sacred readings, but here too we have said a few things. Today I want to draw your attention to a certain point, that the Transfiguration of the Lord is not only a Christological event, but it is also an anthropological event. It is done not only to show the glory of Christ the Savior, but it is also done to show the glory of a man in Christ. Man after his fall tarnished the heavenly beauty he had. And since then the clear image of God in man has not been seen. It should have to be revealed therefore what man really is, how much glory and how much beauty he has. This true man was restored by Christ. And he revealed it on the Mount of Transfiguration.

The Miracle of the Holy Cloud of Mount Tabor: Testimony of the Abbot of the Monastery on Tabor

The miracle of the descent of the Holy Cloud on Mount Tabor during the vigil of the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ on August 6/19 is one of the three annual miracles of the Holy Land witnessed by thousands of people, together with the Holy Light that emerges from the tomb of Christ on Easter and the reversal of the Jordan River on the feast of Theophany. The Holy Cloud descends over the Monastery of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor spreading a beautiful aroma like incense, to the joy of all the faithful. Sometimes the cloud is so thick that you cannot see six feet in front of you.

The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ (Prof. John Fountoulis)

By Professor John Fountoulis

Our Church celebrates the great despotic feast of the Transfiguration of the Savior on the 6th of August, and in the days that follow it, she still celebrates this feast and lives in the glittering glory of the transfigured Lord. The celebration will continue until the 13th of August, for eight days, when, on the 13th, the entire service of the feast will be repeated - the "apodosis of the feast" will take place. All the great despotic and theological feasts are celebrated in the same way. This is because they refer to events, the memory of which the Church wants to engrave deeply in the minds of the faithful. In other words, not only does she prepare her faithful with the pre-festal troparia, but also after the feast, for eight days, she incubates, in some way, the subjects and daily projects them for constant study and spiritual nourishment. Especially the faithful, who for various reasons could not attend the gathering of the people of God on the great day of the feast and relive the sacred event, they have the opportunity on Sunday, which will definitely fall into this eight-day period, to hear the hymns of the feast and to smell its aroma. In this way, along with the glory of the resurrection, the uncreated light of the transfigured Christ will be praised. At our entrance into the temple we will see and venerate in His icon the Lord of Glory, with His face shining like the sun, with white robes like the light, in the radiant glory of the Godhead, with the two representatives of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah, and the three witnesses of the New Testament, Peter, James and John.

Homily on the Epistle Reading for the Transfiguration of Christ (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

The prophetic and apostolic texts are not the fruit of philosophical theories and reflections, but the fruit of apocalyptic/revelatory theology. That is, both the Old Testament Prophets and the New Testament Apostles saw the glory of God. The Prophets saw the Word of God before His incarnation, and the Apostles saw Christ after His incarnation. So, they recorded this experience in their texts and guided the Christians with the content of this theology.

We see this in the apostolic reading we read today in the Church, because of the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ. It is a part of the second catholic epistle of the Apostle Peter and which refers to the experience of the Transfiguration of Christ that the Apostle Peter had. It is well known that the Apostle Peter was one of the three disciples who was found worthy to be on Tabor when Christ was transfigured before His disciples, where His face shone like the sun and His robes became white as light.

Transfiguration of Christ: Epistle and Gospel Reading

Transfiguration of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ

August 6

Matins Gospel Reading

Gospel According to Luke 9:28-36

English

At that time, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white. And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they wakened they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah" - not knowing what he said. As he said this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Beloved; listen to him!" And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silence and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Dionysius the Areopagite and the Apse Mosaic of the Transfiguration in Sinai

By Hieromonk Alexander (Golitzin)

Let me conclude this essay by turning to an artifact constructed within two or three decades of the first public mention of the Dionysian corpus. In the mid-sixth century, the same emperor who convoked the colloquium of 532, Justinian I, built a fortress monastery in the Sinai at the foot of Jebel Musa, the by-then traditional site associated with the theophanies of Exodus and, in consequence, already a longtime haunt of Christian ascetics. In the monastery church, imperial artisans assembled several mosaics, including one depicting the Transfiguration. The latter is located in the apse, directly above the altar. Here already, as Jas Elsner has pointed out in a remarkably perceptive essay in his recent book, Art and the Roman Viewer, we find the assemblage in a single glance of the major Dionysian themes: the God-man Christ in light, the altar of the eucharist, the Sinai of Moses' ascent, the Tabor of the Transfiguration, and the suggestions at once of mystical vision in this life open to the monks (and pilgrims) who form the worshipping body, and of the eschaton.

The Prophets and Apostles Shared a Mutual Vision at the Transfiguration

By Sergei V. Bulgakov

Together with the Apostles two of the greatest men of the Old Covenant appeared before the transfigured Lord - Moses and Elijah. "One died," in the expression of St. John Chrysostom, "and the other still had not tasted death", appeared to show that "Christ has authority over life and death and rules over Heaven and earth." Their appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration likewise bore witness that the transfigured Master is the God of the living and the dead, the Creator and Fulfiller of the law and the prophets. "The Prophets and the Apostles gathered on the mount were filled with joy," observes St. Ephraim the Syrian, "the Prophets rejoiced for they have beheld here His humanity which they did not see before; the Apostles rejoiced for they beheld here the glory of His Divinity which before they had not understood. They stood before the Lord as ministers, and looked at one another, Prophets at Apostles and Apostles at Prophets. There they mutually extended to themselves the sights of the prototypes of the Old and New Covenants. Thus, the mount represents the Church itself because Jesus united in it the two covenants accepted by the Church and has shown that He is the Giver of both."