Слово на Преображение Господа Бога Спасителя нашего Иисуса Христа. Святого Прокла, архиепископа Константинопольского

Come, friends, let us now vigilantly enter the Gospel treasury, so that from it, according to our custom, we may draw wealth that flows abundantly and is never exhausted. Come, let us follow the wise guide Luke, so that we will see Christ ascending a high mountain and taking Peter, James and John with Him to make them witnesses of the Divine Transfiguration. We sing, says the Evangelist, of Peter and John and James, the Lord has gone up to a high mountain (Luke 9:28; cf. Matt. 17:1), to a high mountain where Moses and Elijah talked with Christ, to a high mountain where the law and the prophets talked with grace, to a high mountain where Moses slain the Passover lamb (Exod. 12:3) and who sprinkled the blood of the Jewish thresholds - on a high mountain, where - Elijah, who burned the sacrifice wet with fire, - on a high mountain, where - Moses, who opened and closed the depths of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:21,27), - on a high mountain, where - Elijah, who opened and closed the rain storehouses. The Lord ascended a high mountain so that Peter, John and James would know Him, to whom every knee will worship, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (Phil. 2:10). The Lord ascended the mountain, taking only three: he did not take them all, and did not leave them all; he did not arouse envy of the glory of others, did not consider them unworthy, and did not want to sadden the nine disciples. No, being righteous, He disposes of everyone righteously: He looks at everyone as one, and does not separate from mutual love those whom He has united through love. But since the future traitor, Judas, was not worthy of Divine contemplation and this terrible vision, the Lord leaves others with him in order (since he was not the only one left) to anticipate any apology from him later. He took three, sufficient according to the law, witnesses of His Transfiguration, who in spirit represented in their person all the others, for He says: keep them, O righteous Father, that they also may be one, just as we are one (John 17:11). For Judas, seeing Andrew, Thomas, Philip and others left with him under the mountain, and yet not grumbling, not indignant, not slandering, on the contrary, rejoicing, confident that they, who were absent, shared in grace from above as much as those who were present to the Lord - would have remained completely inexcusable, never being alienated from a single miracle. Such an act of the Lord was especially necessary for Judas, who, although he was entrusted with the ark, for the high cost of the world, innocently became indignant at the anointing one and had the audacity to sell the Teacher to his enemies. What else does the Evangelist say? And there was a different vision of His face, and His robe shone white. And behold two men spoke with Him, even Moses and Elijah (Luke 9:29–30). Peter, as always quick and ready for everything, contemplating with the eyes of the souls of those whom he had never seen, and who talked with Jesus (however, without thinking about the importance of the miracle, and without looking at the glory of the Divine light), calls the deserted place beautiful, from a fisherman he suddenly becomes a screen-maker and says to the Savior: let us make here three canopies, one for You, and one for Moses, and only Elijah: not knowing what he said (Luke 9:33). The wise Luke protects Peter wonderfully: “ignorant,” he says, “the hedgehog verb.” Supreme of the disciples and foremost of the apostles, Petre! Why do you so hastily indulge in earthly feelings, and with human thoughts lower the price of the Divine, wanting to build three canopies in the desert, placing the Lord along with slaves, and volunteering to make Him one canopy, the same as the other two? Was Moses conceived in the womb by the Holy Spirit, just as Christ was? Was Elijah born from his mother in the same way as Christ was born from the Blessed Virgin? Did any child in the womb recognize Moses in the same way as the Forerunner recognized Jesus? Did heaven mark the birth of Elijah? Did the wise men worship Moses in swaddling clothes? Did Moses and Elijah perform the same miracles? have legions of demons been driven out of people? did they drive out spirits from human caves? Moses, once angry and striking with a rod, divided the sea (Ex. 14:21); and your Teacher, Jesus, walked on the sea as on dry land (Matthew 14:25), and for you, Peter, he made the very depths passable. Elijah, by prayer, multiplied the flour and oil of the widow, and raised her son from the dead (1 Kings 17:14, 22); and He who chose you from among the fishermen as disciples fed thousands with a few loaves of bread (Matthew 14:15–21), captured hell and snatched out of it those who had fallen asleep from eternity. So, Peter, don’t say: let’s make three canopies here; do not say: it is good for us to be here; don’t say anything human, nothing sensual, nothing earthly, nothing earthly. Strive for things above, be wise on things above, not on earth, as Paul proclaims (Col. 3:2). Is it good for us to be here, where the serpent seduced the primordial, wounded him and concluded paradise for him? Is it good for us to be here, where we are condemned to eat bread by the sweat of our brow, - where through Cain we learned the groaning and shaking of the earth, - where there is no constant, - where everything perishes in an instant? Is it really good for us to be here? If Christ leaves us here, then why did He bow down the heavens and come down (Ps. 17:10)? If Christ leaves us here, then why did He take our flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14)? If Christ leaves us here, then why did He descend to the fallen and raise up the lying? If it is good for us to be on earth, then it is in vain that you were chosen as the guardian of heaven. Why do you need the keys to heaven? When you loved this mountain, then renounce heaven: if you want to create tabernacles, then do not want to be and be called the foundation of the Church. The Lord was transformed not without a reason, but to show us the future transformation of our nature, and His future second coming on the clouds in glory with the angels. He is the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42), clothed with light like a robe (Ps. 103:2); That’s why he brings Moses and Elijah down to the mountain, capturing ancient visions. What else does the great Gospel writer say? Behold, I said to him, “The clouds and their autumns were.” And a voice came from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him (Luke 9:34–35; Matt. 17:5). While Peter was still speaking, the Father testified from heaven: What is this I see, Peter? Why are you hesitating? Why are you in a hurry to say unnecessary things and call this place good? Are you beside yourself? Or, envying those who are talking, do you not know what you are saying? Haven't you learned yet? Have you not yet acquired true knowledge of My Son? Were not your words: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16)? You, son of Jonah, have seen so many miracles, and you still remain Simon! You have been given the keys to heaven, and have you not yet cast off your fisherman's robes? This is the third time you are resisting the will of the Savior, not knowing what you are saying. He told you: “I must suffer”; and you object: “Lord! You shall not have this” (Matthew 16:22). He said again: “You will all be offended because of Me”; and you say: “Even if everyone is offended because of You, I will never be offended” (Matthew 26:31, 33). And now you want to erect a canopy for Christ the same as for Moses and Elijah. The canopy of Christ, who, together with Me, spread out the heavens? Canopy – to him who, together with Me, founded the sea and settled the firmament? The canopy of the one who kindled the lights, who shed the air and everything, together with Me, who created from the beginning? The shadow of the One who was born by Me and Who became like you? Canopy of the One Who is in Me and Who is among you? Senya - To a man without a father? Canopy - to the immortal God? A canopy for the one who chose a virgin’s womb as a tabernacle?... So, if you want to build three tabernacles, without knowing what you say, I use a bright cloud instead of a tabernacle and, overshadowing those present, I cry from on high: This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased, listen to Him. Not Moses and Elijah, but He; not one or the other, but This One, one and the same, in Him He is well pleased, listen to Him. I justified Moses, and I am pleased about this; I took Elijah, and sent Him to the Virgin, as if into heaven, and from the Virgin, into heaven itself. “No one has ascended into heaven,” you are told, “only he who came down from heaven” (John 3:13). So, My Only Begotten Son would have descended to earth in vain if He had remained always on earth; It would have been in vain that He would have humbled Himself by taking on the form of a servant, if, while remaining what I was, I had not become like you. If He had not redeemed the world with His blood, having endured the cross as a man, the economy of salvation would not have been accomplished, and the ancient prophetic broadcasts would have remained untrue. Cease, Peter, and not the thoughts of men, but of God. This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased; listen to Him. I uttered this voice twice: before you, on this mountain, and even before, with John, on the Jordan River (Matthew 3:17; 17:5), so that the words of the ancient Prophet would be justified, who proclaimed: Tabor and Hermon will rejoice in Your name (Ps. 89:13). What name? - about the name of the Son: this is My beloved Son. For the Father gave Him a name above every name (Phil. 2:9). But you, of course, will ask, beloved, what do the words mean: Tabor and Hermon will rejoice in Your name? So, listen with attention: Tabor is the mountain where Christ wanted to be transfigured, where He, as the Son, is witnessed by the Father; and Hermon is a small mountain near the Jordan, from where Elijah was taken to heaven, and near which Christ was baptized in the streams of the Jordan and, as the Son, received a testimony from the Father. On these two mountains, the Most Holy Father, affirming sonship, both then and now, another time, says: This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased; listen to Him. For whoever listens to Him listens to Me; and whoever is ashamed of Him and His words, of him I will also be ashamed when I come in My glory and with the holy angels (Luke 9:26). Listen to Him unfeignedly, without guile, seeking by faith, and not measuring with the tongue; receiving by faith, and not by words, test the Word. As evidence of this, it is enough for now to bring Paul to Vitius, who curbs curiosity and boldly cries out for the edification of everyone: O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and understanding of God! For His judgment has not been tried, and His ways have not been tried (Rom. 11:33). To him be glory forever and ever. Amen 144. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series graeca, vol. LXV, col. 763–772; cp. Christian Read 1839, III, 162–165 pp. You might be interested in: