Слово на преславное Преображение Господа нашего Иисуса Христа. Преподобного Иоанна Дамаскина 153

Come, pious congregation, let us now celebrate. Come, let us triumph now together with the heavenly Powers: for they, loving festivities, have come here to celebrate with us. Come, let us shout joyfully with our lips, as with cymbals of goodwill; Come, let us leap in spirit: for for whom is there a holiday and triumph, for whom is joy and rejoicing, if not those who fear the Lord, who worship the Trinity, who honor the Son and the co-eternal Spirit with the Father? Who, if not those who with soul and thought and lips confess the Divinity, inseparably cognizable in three persons, who recognize and preach Christ the Son of God and God as one Hypostasis, cognizable in two inseparable and unmerged natures with all their natural properties? For us - joy and all the festive joy; Christ established holidays for us: for the wicked cannot rejoice (Isa. 48:22). Let us put aside the cloud of all sorrow that darkens our minds and prevents us from ascending to grief; let us despise everything earthly, for our residence is not on earth; Let us direct our minds to heaven, and from there we wait for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20). Now an abyss of impregnable light, now an indescribable stream of Divine radiance illuminated the Apostles on Mount Tabor. Now the Lord of the Old and New Testaments, Jesus Christ, is known - the One who is dear to me both in deed and in name, truly the sweetest and most desirable, and who exceeds every idea of ​​​​sweetness. Now Moses, the leader of the Old Testament, the Divine Lawgiver, appears on Mount Tabor, as a servant before the Lord, before the Lawgiver Christ, sees with bright eyes His incarnation, which was figuratively shown to him of old (for this, it seems to me, signifies the back of God), and clearly sees the glory of the Divine, being covered, as the Scripture says, in a cleft in the stone (Ex. 33:22 ). This Stone is Christ, God incarnate - the Word and Lord, as the Divine Paul clearly told us: the stone is Christ (1 Cor. 10:4), - Christ, Who, as if opening some small cleft in His body, illuminated those present with the greatest and strongest light of all vision. Now the leader of the New Testament, the one who most clearly confessed Christ as the Son of God, saying: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16), - now he sees the leader of the Old Testament standing before the Author of both, and loudly saying: This is He, of whom I foretold, that the Lord would raise Him up as a prophet ( Deut. 18:15, 18; Acts 3:22): like me - as a man and leader of a new people, above me - as the Master of me and all creation, who established both Testaments for me and for you - both the Old and the New. Now to the New Testament virgin (John) the Old Testament virgin (Elijah) preaches the gospel from the Virgin to the Virgin Lord. Come, obedient to the call of the Prophet David, let us sing praises to our God, let us sing praises to our King, let us sing: for God is the King of all the earth, let us sing wisely (Ps. 47:7–8). Let us sing with joyful lips, and let us sing with a wise mind, realizing the power and meaning of the words: for the larynx, says one sage, tastes the meat, and the mind recognizes the words. Let us also sing in spirit, experiencing all the most ineffable depths of God, seeing in the light of the Father, i.e. that is, in the Spirit who enlightens all things, seeing the unapproachable light of the Son of God. Now something unprecedented was seen with human eyes: an earthly body was seen shining with Divine light, a mortal body exuding the glory of the Divine: for the Word became flesh, and the flesh the Word, although neither one nor the other changed in its nature. Oh, a miracle that surpasses all understanding! Glory did not come from outside the body, but from within, from the Divinity of God the Word, inexpressibly united with it hypostatically. But how does something that cannot be mixed become mixed, and yet remain unfused? How does something that cannot be united become united, and yet does not deviate from the laws of its nature? This is a consequence of the union of the Hypostasis. Through the immutable incarnation of the Word and through the unchangeable and incomprehensible deification of mortal flesh, the united natures constitute one Hypostasis, and, moreover, in such a way that the unity of person and the duality of natures is preserved intact, with inseparable difference and unmerged unity. Through some kind of mutual communication of natures, through the unmerged entry of one into the other, and through their perfect hypostatic union, what is characteristic of humanity becomes the property of the Divine, and what is characteristic of the Divine - the property of humanity: for one and the same is both God, who exists from eternity, and who subsequently became man. Now unheard of things have been heard by human hearing; for He who reveals Himself to be man is declared to be the only begotten, beloved and consubstantial Son of God; and this announcement is not false, this testimony is true: since the Father who begat Himself speaks it. May David now appear, may he play on the God-speaking lyre of the Spirit, and may he now sing more clearly and expressively those words that he prophesied of old, having seen long before with prophetic and pure eyes the carnal coming to us of God the Word: Tabor and Hermon will rejoice in Your name (Ps. 89:13). And Hermon already rejoiced when he heard the name of the Son, clearly attributed to Christ from the Father, rejoiced soon after he went out to baptize the Jordan Forerunner - this, as it were, mediator of the Old and New Testaments - this treasure hiding in the desert - sent to announce and show people this unapproachable light, as if shining in the darkness of the world and unnoticed by blind people; (Hermon rejoiced) when the water of remission and forgiveness stood in the middle of the Jordan, purifying the world, and not being purified itself - when the Father, with a thundering voice from heaven, called the Baptized One beloved Son, and the Spirit, like a dove, pointed to the One to whom this name applied. And now Tabor rejoices and triumphs. This Divine and holy mountain, no less great in glory and splendor, as well as in enormous height; and she rejoices worthily now, for she is not inferior to the sky in beauty. On it, the chosen Apostles see Him shining with the glory of His Kingdom, on whom in heaven the Angels cannot stop their fixed gaze. It affirms the belief in the resurrection of the dead, and shows the Lord of the dead and the living, who called Moses from the dead as a witness, and Elijah from the living, who of old was caught up from the earth to the lands of the air on a chariot of fire. On it, the leaders of the Prophets still prophesy, revealing the exodus of the Lord on the Cross. And she now hears from the cloud, that is, from the Spirit, the name of the Son, ascribed from the Father to Christ the Life-Giver, and therefore she plays, has fun and, like lambs, jumps: for this is the name, more than any name, about which Tabor and Hermon rejoice. This is My beloved Son: here is the joy in this creation, here is the honor and inalienable glorification of people: for the One to whom this name is attributed is a man, although not a simple one. Oh, bliss beyond hope! Oh, gifts of God that surpass desire! Oh, blessings that exceed the measure of forgiveness!... Oh, the strength of the giver and the recipient of weakness! Man is beginningless, and the beginningless, through carnal birth, begins! And truly, if through the incarnation of God man is adored, and yet one and the same Person is both God and man, then it is obvious that, both as a man, he is without beginning in Divinity, and as God, he begins in humanity. In ancient times, on Mount Sinai, smoke, and storm, and darkness, and terrible fire covered its top, preaching the inaccessibility of the Lawgiver, Who vaguely showed His back and through His own deeds revealed in Himself the greatest artist. Now, on the contrary, everything is full of light and splendor: for the Creator and Lord of all Himself came from the bosom of the Father, although He did not leave His eternal place, that is, being in the bosom of the Father, He came, out of condescension to slaves, in the image of a slave, and becoming by nature and in image a man, so that God, inconceivable for people, reveals the radiance through Himself and in Himself Divine nature, became contained. True, in the beginning, God, through the communication of His grace, made man like God, breathing into the newly created one from the earth the breath of life, making him partaker of God’s likeness, honoring him with His image and likeness, and leaving him a resident of Eden and a cohabitant of the Angels. But because of the impurity of passions we have darkened and blotted out this likeness of the image of God in ourselves: He, having compassion for us, has now entered into a second communion with us, which is much firmer and more amazing than the first. For He Himself, remaining in the superiority of His Divinity, takes humanity to Himself in order to deify it in Himself, mixes the prototype into the image, and on this day reveals His beauty in this image. His face is illuminated like the sun (for it is hypostatically united with immaterial light, and therefore has become the sun of truth); and His clothes become white as snow (because they were glorified not as a result of hypostatic unity, but as a result of some external relationship). And the cloud now overshadowed the light, representing the radiance of the Spirit: for the Divine Apostle seemed to say that the sea represents water, and the cloud – the Spirit (1 Cor. 10:1). And everything is clear and bright for those who are capable of receiving the light and have not desecrated their souls with unclean conscience. Come, let us also be jealous of the obedience of the disciples, we will follow with readiness the voice of Christ, we will throw off the crowd of passions, we will unashamedly confess the Son of the living God, and, having been worthy to receive the promise, we will ascend the mountain of virtues, which is love, and we will see the glory and hear the unspeakable mysteries. For, in truth, blessed are, as the Lord said, the eyes of those who see, and the ears that hear, what many Prophets and Kings desired to see and hear, but did not receive what they wanted (Matthew 13:16). So, come: we, having explained as much as possible the words of Divine Scripture, will offer supper to you, good guests and the most ardent lovers of Divine things; we will offer a supper of Divine words, seasoned with the grace of the Spirit, which rests on the grace of the One who gave the tongue-tied a tongue that speaks easily and clearly. In Caesarea Philippi [this is Panea, a once famous city formerly called the city of Philippi of Caesar, which in the Holy Scripture is also called Dan in the place where it is said: “David numbered the people from Dan even to Beersheba” (2 Sam. 24:2): this is the city in which the Lord, accompanied by a crowd of slaves, dried up the fountain of blood and raised up the daughter of the ruler synagogue], - in this city Jesus the Stone of Life, having convened the first council of His disciples and for a time built for Himself a pulpit of a certain stone, asked His disciples, saying: Who do men say I am, the Son of Man (Matthew 16:13)? He asked not because he did not know, being omniscient, human ignorance, but because he wanted to dispel this ignorance with the light of knowledge, like some kind of darkness lying on spiritual eyes. The disciples answered that some recognize Him as John the Baptist, others as Elijah, and others as Jeremiah, or one of the Prophets. For, since these people saw such an abyss of miracles, they assumed that He was one of the ancient Prophets, resurrected from the dead, and therefore worthy of such grace. This is clear from the words of Scripture: Herod the tetrarch heard the hearing of Jesus, and said to his servants: This is John the Baptist: he is risen from the dead, and for this reason they work for him (Matthew 14:1). In order to destroy such an opinion about Himself, and to give to the ignorant the true confession, as a gift, the most precious of all gifts, what does He do, in whose right hand all things are possible? – Like a man, He proposes a question; and as God, He secretly makes wise the one who was first called and the first to follow, and whom He predestined in His foreknowledge to be a worthy head of the Church. He, as God, inspires this one and speaks through him. What is the question? Who do you say Me to be? To this Peter, kindled by fiery zeal and instructed by the Holy Spirit, said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. O most blessed lips! O God-bearing mind, worthy of Divine inspiration! In truth, blessed are you, Simone, var Jonah! For this is what He said in Whom there is no lie, because it was not flesh, not blood, not human thought, but My Heavenly Father who revealed this Divine Theology to you. For no one knows the Son except the Father, who begat Him, and by Him (the Son) only known (Matthew 11:27), and the Holy Spirit, Who tests the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10). This is the firm and unshakable faith on which the Church is founded as on the stone from whose name you deservedly received your name. Although the gates of hell, the mouths of heretics, the weapons of demons will rise up against it, they will not overcome it; although they will arm themselves, they will not destroy it; Their arrows and wounds have been and will be, their tongues will fail and will be against them (Ps. 63:8): for he who resists the truth builds disasters against himself. Christ Himself acquired it (the Church) with His blood, and handed it to you as your most faithful servant. Keep her serene and peaceful with your prayers. We are firmly convinced that it will never be overthrown, will never be shaken or destroyed, since Christ said this, by whom the heavens were established and the earth was founded and stands firm, as the Holy Spirit says: By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established (Ps. 33:6). But we pray that the storm will be tamed, the excitement will subside, and we will be granted a clear and serene peace. Ask this from Christ, her immaculate Bridegroom, Who gave you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, gave you the power to bind and loose sins, and Whom you, with your Divine lips, rightly called the Son of the living God! Whoever called Himself the Son of man, Peter, or better, the one speaking in Peter, proclaimed Him to be the Son of God: for He is truly both God and man. He is not the son of Peter, not Paul, not Joseph, not any other father, but the Son of Man: for He had no father on earth, Who had no Mother in heaven. After this, wanting to confirm His words by deeds, and knowing that it would be accomplished, Jesus - the omnipotent Wisdom of God and Power, in whom are all the hidden treasures of knowledge (Col. 2:3), - said: there are none of those who stand here, who have not tasted death, until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matthew 16:28). Of course, if He said, as it were, about one thing: “there is one from those who stand here,” then we might think that this means the same thing as the words: if I will, let him remain, until I come, what to you (John 21:22)? - said about John the Theologian, i.e., that John will remain untasted of death until the coming of Christ. But since the Word of God designated many who would see (the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom), and in fact this followed, there is no place for those who want to allow such an interpretation. - The essence is netsyi from those standing here. Why are some and not all called to this vision? Are not all disciples and apostles? Didn’t everyone follow the same calling? Didn’t they all receive the gift of healing? Why didn’t everyone receive this divine vision? Is the Lord not averse to partiality? Everyone is a disciple, but not everyone is blinded by the disease of love of money; everyone is a student, but not everyone has lost the sharpness of their eyes from the pus of envy; all are disciples, but not all are traitors; all are Apostles, but not all despair, and correct evil with evil; all are lovers of Christ, but one is a lover of silver, this is Judas Iscariot, who alone was unworthy to see the Divinity, for it is said: let the wicked be lifted up, let him not see the glory of the Lord (Isa. 26:10). But since he, being envious and malicious, would have been inflamed with even greater rage if one of all had been rejected (and meanwhile it was necessary that everyone who would subsequently be obvious witnesses of suffering should be spectators of glory): then the Lord takes only the highest of the Apostles as witnesses of His glory and His light (and precisely in the number of three in order to indicate the sacred sacrament of the Trinity, and because with two or three witnesses every word will become . (Matthew 18:16). Thus, He closes the path for the traitor to justify his betrayal, and reveals His Divinity to the Apostles: for Judas, seeing that Andrew along with the others remained below, could not say in his own defense that he was prompted to betray the Lord because he did not see the glory of the Divine. That is why Andrew and the rest of the Apostles remained below, physically separated from the Lord by space, but united by bonds of love - staying body on earth, but following their Teacher upward with love and the movements of the spirit. And after six days (Matthew 17:1; Mark 9:1), the Divine Evangelists Matthew and Mark write, and the wise Luke says: according to these words it became like eight days (Luke 9:28). It is equally lawful and just that the proclaimers of truth appoint both eight and six days; and in these words there is not disagreement, but agreement, which comes from one and the same Spirit: for they do not speak on their own, but the Spirit of God speaks in them (as it is said: when the Comforter comes, he will teach you everything and remember everything to you (John 14:26). So, those who said: and according to six days, they took away the two extreme days, that is, the first and the last, and counted only the average; and the one who counts eight days counted both of them: for people usually count in one way or another. And the number six is taken as the first of the perfect numbers, since it is composed of its parts: three is half of it, two is a third, and one is the sixth part, and all this in combination forms a perfect number; on this basis, experts in such things called the number six, and God created the composition in six days. everything visible. And it is natural for those who have seen the Divine glory to be perfect, above all, most perfect and ancient of all perfection, for it is said: Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). As for the octal number, it is taken because it depicts the future century: for the present life is determined by seven centuries; and the osmeric number denotes the future life, as Gregory, the great among theologians, says, explaining the following words of Solomon: give a portion to the seventh, referring it to the present life, and we will osmite (referring it) to the future (Ec. 11:2). Therefore, on the eighth day, it was fitting to reveal to the perfect that which relates to the eighth day, i.e., that the Lord, as the truly divine interpreter of Divine things, Dionysius, said, His perfect servants would see him as the Apostles saw Him on Mount Tabor. But why did He take Peter, James and John? He took Peter in order to show that his (Peter’s) testimony, which he had given falsely, was confirmed by the testimony of the Father, and in order to assure him of his words, i.e., that the Heavenly Father had revealed this testimony to him. He took James, as having before all the Apostles to die for Christ, to drink His cup and to be baptized for Him with baptism. Finally, he took John as a virgin and the purest organ of Theology, so that, having seen the eternal glory of the Son of God, he would thunder these words: in the beginning, he was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word (John 1:1), - from which he is called the son of thunder (Mark 3:17). Why does He lead the disciples to a high mountain? – Virtues are called mountains in a figurative sense in the Holy Scriptures; but the highest and most excellent of all virtues is love: because perfection lies in it, if someone spoke in the tongues of men and of angels, if he had such faith that he could move mountains, if he had all the understanding, and knew all the mysteries, and gave his body to be burned, but did not have love, then he is a sounding brass or a discordantly ringing cymbal, and he will be counted as nothing (1 Cor. 13:1–3). Therefore, one must first leave earthly things on earth, step over the humiliated body, ascend to the highest and Divine tower of love, and then it will be possible to contemplate what is above contemplation: for whoever stands at the very pinnacle of love, having emerged in some way from himself, begins to see the Invisible, and, having passed the darkness of the bodily cloud surrounding him, and standing under the bright sky of the soul, he clearly sees the Sun truth, although he cannot completely get enough of the vision. (He leads the disciples) especially and to pray: for solitude is the mother of prayer; and prayer is the revelation of Divine glory. And truly, when we enclose all our feelings and treat ourselves and God, when we free ourselves from the external worldly vanity and enter into ourselves: then we will clearly see the Kingdom of God within ourselves, because our God Jesus said: the kingdom of heaven, that is, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). However, the slaves prayed differently, and the Lord prayed differently: slaves in prayer approach the Lord with fear and love, and prayer helps their mind to draw closer to God and unite with Him, nourishing and strengthening it with itself. But how will the Lord appear with a request? Obviously, He prayed as one who took our face to Himself, and prayed in order to instruct us and open the way for us - through prayer to ascend to God, to teach us how prayer brings Divine glory, to honor the Father as the cause and beginning of Himself, and to enable the flesh to act in accordance with its nature (so that it could by itself be strengthened and acquire knowledge of Divine things and skill in them). Moreover, He prayed in order to catch the devil, who was carefully observing: is He really God, as the powers of miracles preached? For this purpose, He everywhere mixes the human with the Divine, as if covering the hook of a fishing rod with some kind of bait; and in this way he who deceived man with the hope of the Divine was himself, justly, deceived by the flesh accepted by the Savior. Seeing Christ shining during prayer, he immediately remembered the face of the famous Moses. But Moses was glorified with glory that came from without, but the Lord Jesus was adorned not with acquired glory, but with that which came from the light of Divine glory innate to Him. Thus, Jesus, taking with Him to Mount Tabor those who were distinguished by the highest virtues, was transformed before them (Matthew 17:2). Before the disciples, He is transformed, Who is always equally glorified and shines with the radiance of Divinity: for, being born without beginning from the Father, He also has in Himself without beginning the natural ray of Divinity, and did not later receive glory. Although He has His radiance of glory from the Father, it is without beginning and eternal; and after the incarnation He remains the same as He was, abiding in the same Divine lordship. Yes, and His flesh is glorified from the first minute of its appearance from non-existence into being, so that the glory of the Divinity becomes the glory of the body: for one and the same Christ is both God and man, and consubstantial with the Father, and co-natural and akin to us. However, although this holy body was never alien to Divine glory, but, on the contrary, from the very first minute of the hypostatic union, it was completely enriched with the glory of the invisible Divinity, so that the same glory is both of the Word and the flesh; however, this glory, being hidden in the visible body, could not be seen by those who are bound by the bonds of the flesh, and of course cannot contain what the Angels do not see. therefore, when Christ is transfigured, he does not become what he was not, but, opening the eyes of His disciples and making them sighted from the blind, he appears to them what he was; and this is the meaning of the words: be transformed before them. Remaining in Himself the same as He was before, He now appears to His disciples as something else, beyond what they saw Him before. And His face shone like the sun (Matthew 17:2). Him, that is, the One who illuminated the sun with His immortal power, who created light, older than the sun, and only then created this luminary - the sun, the receptacle of light: for He is the true Light, Which from eternity is born from the true and immaterial Light; He is the hypostatic Word from the Father, the radiance of glory, the natural image of the Hypostasis of God the Father (Heb. 1:3). Enlighten His face like the sun. How do you, Evangelist, compare something that really cannot be compared? How do you find similarity and similarity where there is really no similarity? Has the Lord really become enlightened like a servant? Did the light, which cannot be demolished and which cannot be approached, shine like this sun that everyone sees? No,” answers the Evangelist, “I do not liken this unique, only-begotten and incomparable radiance of Divine glory; I only take as an example what is most beautiful and brilliant among bodies, and I take it because I am speaking to those who are bound by the bonds of the flesh, and this example is not completely similar: for the uncreated cannot be fully depicted in anything created. But just as the sun, being one, has two natures, namely: light, which was first created, and a body, which came into existence after, and with which the light is inseparably and completely united; and as in the sun, although the body remains with itself, the light spills over the boundaries of the entire earth: so Christ, this Divine and unapproachable Light from Light, appearing in a temporary and created body, is one Sun of truth, one Christ, inseparably cognizable in two natures; so in Him, although His holy body is limited, for, being on Tabor, it did not extend beyond the mountain, but the Divinity is incontainable by nothing, being in everything and above everything. And the body of Christ shines like the sun (the shedding of light was the radiance of the body): for everything became common to the one incarnate God the Word, both that which related to the flesh and that which related to the indescribable Divinity. However, there is a different communion of the gifts of glory, and a different communion of passions. Here the Divinity is vigilant and imparts His glory and light to the body, while He Himself remains uninvolved in passions. So, His face shone like the sun, not because it was no brighter than the sun, but because the audience could accommodate so much: for wouldn’t they have been immediately burned if He had revealed all His glory? Enlighten His face like the sun: since the sun is among sensible objects, then God is among rational beings. His vestments were as white as light. Just as the sun is another thing (it is a source of light and cannot be clearly visible), another is the light spreading from it across the earth (the wisdom and goodness of God has given us the opportunity to look at it, so that we would not be completely deprived of participation in blessings): so His face shines more clearly, like the sun, and His clothes become white, like Light, shining with the Divine light imparted to them. After this, in order to indicate the Lord of the Old and New Testaments, in order to stop the lips of heretics, in order to establish faith in the resurrection of the dead, and so that He to whom the Father testified would be recognized as the Lord of the dead and the living - after this, in glory they appear before the Lord as servants, Moses and Elijah, and appear to their fellow servants speaking with Him (Matthew 17:3 ). It was necessary for these to see the glory and boldness of the servants of God, albeit slaves similar to them, both so that they would be surprised at the humane condescension of the Lord, and especially so that they themselves would be inflamed with jealousy and strengthened for exploits. For whoever has learned the fruits of labor very easily dares to undertake exploits: the desire for profit brings a person to the point that he does not spare his body. Just as warriors, farmers, and traders, in order to obtain the benefits desired for them, take up their labors with greater readiness, boldly expose themselves to the dangers of the sea, and do not pay attention to either animals or robbers, and the greater the fruits they see enjoying those who previously worked, the more they are encouraged to endure labor: so the spiritual warriors of the Lord, and farmers, and traders, who do not strive for those who desire earthly benefits and long-term benefits will begin to strive with great zeal when they see with their own eyes what they hope for, and see those who have labored before tasting the sweetness of the expected benefits. They will begin to struggle, not fighting with people, not bringing screaming oxen under the yoke so that with their help they can plow the earth, and not crossing the stormy depths of the sea, but fighting with the rulers of the world of darkness, rejoicing when they are killed, collecting treasures, when they are naked, opposing the helm of the cross to the storms of the sea and the spirits of malice that uplift them, driving them away with the power of the Spirit, as predatory and roaring beasts, sowing in the hearts of men, as if in some kind of reins, the word of piety and gathering a bountiful harvest for the Lord. - But let's return to the subject of our discussion. Moses then spoke approximately in this way: “Hear, O spiritual Israel, what sensual Israel could not hear: The Lord your God is one Lord: for there is one God, although knowable in three persons, because there is one being of the Godhead and the witnessing Father, and the witnessing Son and the overshadowing Spirit. This is He to whom the Father now gives testimony; behold, the Belly of men, Which foolish people will see hanging on a tree and will not believe their Belly.” (Deut. 28:66). Here, in turn, Elijah said: “Behold, He whom I once saw disembodied in a thin voice of coldness (1 Kings 19:12), that is, in the Spirit: for God, as He is by nature, is not seen anywhere (John 1:18), and if anyone saw it, he saw it in the Spirit. Behold, the betrayal of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 76:11); behold, the eye has not seen them, and the ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not sighed (1 Cor. 2:9). Thus, in the next century we will always be with the Lord, in vain of Christ the shining light of the Divine” (1 Thess. 4:17). What about Peter, who was a spectator of this Divine revelation? Embraced by the Spirit, he said to the Lord: it is good for us to be here (Matthew 17:4). And who would trade light for darkness? You see how beautiful this sun is, how magnificent it is, how pleasant, how brilliant and light - you see how precious and sweet this life is, to which everyone is so attached that they do everything so as not to lose it. How many times more desirable and pleasant, do you think, is that self-existent Light by which everything is illuminated? How many times more precious and sweet is that self-existent Life, from which all life is communicated and given life, and by which we all live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28)? Isn’t this light and this life entirely sweetness and desire? There is no word, no thought that would approximately show the measure of their superiority: they are beyond any comparison, and surpass any measure: for how can one measure the indescribable and incomprehensible by thought itself? This is the light that has a victorious palm over all nature; This is life that has conquered the world. How can it be wrong to not be separated from goodness? So, Peter's words were not reasonable. However, since everything is good in its time, and for every thing there is a time, as Solomon said (Ec. 3:1); moreover, since goodness should not belong to only those who were there (on Tabor), but should have been poured out and spread to everyone, that is, believers, so that many would participate in the good deed, and this should be accomplished through the cross, suffering and death: then it was not good for Him to remain on Tabor, Who was incarnated for this purpose in order to redeem His creation with His blood, if you, Peter, had remained on Mount Tabor, then it would not have been the promise given to you would be fulfilled. Then you would not have carried the keys of the Kingdom, paradise would not have been opened to the thief, the proud dominion of death would not have been destroyed, the palaces of hell would not have been given over to theft, Adam would not have cried out for salvation, the righteous would not have been brought out of the depths of hell, and human nature would not have been clothed with incorruption, if Adam had not sought deification ahead of time, he would have received what he wanted. Do not seek blessings prematurely, Peter; the time will come when you will forever enjoy this spectacle. The Lord did not make you a builder of a canopy, but a builder of the universal Church. Your disciples, these sheep of yours, entrusted to you by the good Shepherd, put your words into practice, arranging for Christ and his servants Moses and Elijah the tabernacle in which we now celebrate the festival. - However, Peter did not say this out of reflection, but out of inspiration of the Spirit, predicting the future, for the Divine Luke notes: “I don’t know what the verb is” (9:33), and Mark also adds the reason: “I am afraid” (9:6). Meanwhile, as Simon spoke in this way, behold, the cloud was the light of their autumn, and the disciples were seized with even greater fear, in vain Jesus the Savior with Moses and Elijah were present in the cloud (Matthew 17:5). In ancient times, the Seer of God entered into divine darkness, making it possible through this to understand the darkness of the law: for the law, as can be heard from Paul, had a shadow of what was to come, and not the very truth (Heb. 10:1); and Israel could not then look upon the glory of the face of Moses, although it was transitory. We, on the contrary, with open face look, as in a mirror, at the glory of the Lord, being transformed from glory to greater glory, as it should be, by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:7, 18). That is why the cloud overshadowed not a dark one, but a light one: for a mystery hidden from ages and generations is revealed, and unceasing and eternal glory appears. As for Moses and Elijah, they appeared as representatives of the law and the Prophets: for Whom the law and the Prophets proclaim, He is Christ the Life-Giver. On the other hand, Moses represents the council of the ancient saints who have fallen asleep, and Elijah represents the council of the living: for the Transfigured One is the Lord of the dead and the living. Now Moses has entered the land of promise (because Jesus, the giver of lots, led him in), and clearly sees what he previously saw in images; as this is hinted at by the Light of the cloud. And a voice came from the cloud, saying: This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased: Hear ye Him (Matthew 17:5). The Father's voice came from the cloud, that is, from the Spirit. This is My beloved Son, that is, the existing one, who recently became a man, humbly turning among you, whose face has now shone, this is My beloved Son, eternal, one from one, only begotten, who came before time and eternally from Me who begot Him, from Me, in Me and with Me, who is always present, and not after having received being. From Me: since He was born, as from the Father’s cause, from My being and My Hypostasis (and therefore is consubstantial); in Me: because He was born inseparably and without origin; with Me: because He is a self-perfect Hypostasis, and not a word that is pronounced by the lips and which is spread through the air. For this reason He is also the beloved: for who is the beloved Son but the only begotten? About Him I was well pleased: - because by the good will of the Father His Only Begotten Son and Word became incarnate; the favor of the Father in the Only Begotten Son brought salvation to the whole world; the favor of the Father in the Only Begotten Son united all things. If man is a small world, since he represents in himself the connection of every being, visible and invisible, being involved in both: then, indeed, by the good will of the Lord and Creator and Ruler of all, in His Only Begotten Son the union of Divinity and humanity was accomplished, and through humanity - of all creation, that there may be all God in all. This is My Son - the radiance of My glory and the image of My being, through whom I created the angels, by whom the heavens were established and the earth was founded, who holds up all things by the word of His power and the spirit of His mouth, that is, the life-giving and commanding Spirit. Listen to him: for he who receives Him receives Me, Who sent Him not as a Master, but as a Father, because He, as a man, is sent, and as God, He abides in Me and I in Him. And whoever does not honor My only begotten and beloved Son does not honor Me, the Father who sent Him. Listen to Him: for He has the words of eternal life (John 6:68). Such is the meaning of this phenomenon, such is the power of this sacrament! Having sent Moses and Elijah each to their own place, Christ Jesus alone appears in the eyes of the Apostles, and thus they descend from the mountain, not telling anyone anything they saw or heard, for the Lord commanded so. For what? For what purpose? Since the Apostles were still imperfect, did not yet have the full communion of the Holy Spirit, the Lord did this so as not to fill their hearts with sadness, and so that the malice of envy would not enrage them. Here, together with the end of the subject for the word, we will end our speech. You will forever retain in your memory everything that was said. Carry the beauty of this sight in your heart. Let the Father's voice always sound to you: This is not a slave, not a messenger, not an angel, but My beloved Son. Listen to him. So, let us heed His commandments: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (Mark 12:30). Do not kill, and do not even be angry with your brother in vain. Make peace with your brother first, and then come and bring your gift. Don’t commit adultery, and don’t even indulge in someone else’s beauty with excessive curiosity. Do not break your oath, and do not even swear at all; but let your word be: “Yes, yes; no no"; and what is more than that is the invention of the evil one. Do not take away another’s property, but give more to the one who asks from you, and do not run away from anyone who wants to borrow from you (Matthew 5:21–22, 24, 27–28, 33, 34, 37, 42). Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who harm you and drive you out; Judge not, lest ye be judged. Forsake, and it will be left to you, that you may be sons of your Father perfect and merciful, as the sun shines on the evil and on the good, and rains on the righteous and on the unjust (Matthew 5:44, 45, 48). Let us keep these Divine commandments with every care, so that we too can enjoy the Divine beauty of the Lord God: now - as much as possible for those burdened by the earthly tabernacle of the body, and later - clearer and purer, when the righteous will shine like the sun, and, freed from bodily needs, like the angels, will be immortal with the Lord, in the great and glorious revelation from heaven of the Lord and God Himself and our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power now and ever and forever and ever. Amen 154. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series graeca, vol. XCVI; Wed “Christian. Read." 1842, III part, 166–205 pp.; “Church. Led." 1897, No. 31. You might be interested in: