Magnificent Glory

The Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6) stands, as it were, outside the general order of the Lord's holidays, corresponding to the sequence of events in the earthly life of Christ. The place for it was chosen as if by chance, timed to coincide with the consecration of the fruits. But the latter is, of course, not essential for this particular holiday. The deeper meaning of this seemingly external nature of the holiday can be seen in the fact that the very event of the Transfiguration of the Lord, in its internal meaning, points to the life of the future century, outside of our time. It speaks of the kingdom of glory, the transformation of the world, which is evidenced by it in some anticipation, in a vision from here. Lord, it is good for us to be here. This was the involuntary testimony of the apostle. Peter in the face of this vision of the Kingdom of God coming in power (Mark 9:1). He wanted to hold on to something that, although it existed in this century, did not actually belong to him. Only at the coming of the Lord in glory will we always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17). And here, on Tabor, the miraculous vision went out, and the apostles, descending from the Mount of Transfiguration, felt themselves again in the unenlightened region of the prince of this world, among the demoniac, the sick, and those of little faith. The Transfiguration of the Lord testifies to us of the glory of the coming age, revealed in the parousia 1. However, it itself is included in the fabric of the events of the Gospel history and the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus. A careful reading of the Gospel narrative convinces us precisely that this event is a facet in His life, similar to the one with which Christ appeared to the world in Baptism. The latter, on the human side, reveals the matured will of Christ for His service; it is, as it were, dedication to it. The first is evidence of the matured will to suffer, to ascend to Jerusalem to die on the cross. For some time now, the Lord has been more and more persistently beginning to prepare His disciples for this, who, due to human weakness, resist this saving will. This preparation also includes the power of the Transfiguration: “that when they see You crucified, they will understand free suffering.” But this manifestation of the glory of Christ, which is revealed in the Transfiguration, testifies to His glorification, already accomplished through this determination. When at the Last Supper the Lord mysteriously precedes His impending death on the cross with His disciples, He also testifies to the pre-fulfillment of Glory. Events cast light from the future into the past and into the present, already fraught with this future. And in this sense, before His passion, the Lord speaks of glory: now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him (John 13:31). Likewise here, even before that, on the Mount of Transfiguration, who appeared from the afterlife, also illuminated by the foretaste of the coming glory, Moses and Elijah, talk with Him about His exodus to Jerusalem to suffer. And the Father accepts the will of the Son to suffer already for its accomplishment and sends down “magnificent glory” in the shadow of a cloud. Just as at the Baptism of the Lord, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, the Father’s voice of adoption came from heaven: This is My beloved Son, in Him I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17), the same voice of adoption is heard here from the cloud of glory, that is, at the new manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, and at the Transfiguration. The voice of the Father from heaven before the passion of Christ about His coming glorification can be compared with this: I will also glorify and again I will glorify (John 12:28). The Father crowns the sacrificial will of the Son with glory and confirms it as if by a new adoption. The Transfiguration of the Lord, understood in this sense, is the spiritually accomplished self-sacrifice of the Son, according to the will of the Father - filial: Thy will be done. But what new thing, which had never been seen in the world, was discovered on Mount Tabor? What did this mountain, and the air, and the sky and earth, and the universe, and the astonishing disciples of Christ see? What was this light that shone upon the apostles? This was a clear action of the Holy Spirit resting on Christ and transforming creation in Him. This was the preliminary appearance of a “new heaven and a new earth,” a transformed world illuminated by the beauty. This was, like the Epiphany, a revelation of the entire Holy Trinity - the Father, who sent down His Spirit on the Beloved Son, and in Him on all creation with which Christ was united by taking on human nature. This was a manifestation of something whose onset is associated only with the Resurrection of Christ and the coming general resurrection. The Kingdom of God is prophesied not only in word, but also in deed itself. The Light of Tabor was a genuine divine light, and not just a visual perception of the apostles, but in essence it was as if ghostly. This was the same light of the overshadowing of creation by the Holy Spirit, which was seen and revealed by God’s chosen ones, spirit-bearing men, certain Holy Mountain dwellers, St. Simeon the New Theologian and Rev. Seraphim of Sarov today. They also lit their candles from the Tabor light of the Transfiguration. The Church has devoted special attention to explaining this truth. Its preliminary dogmatic disclosure was given in the definition associated with the so-called. Palamite disputes (in the 14th century Church of Constantinople). Indirectly, this dogma about the Light of Tabor, as a genuine manifestation of the Divine, is also a dogmatic testimony about the power of the Transfiguration of the Lord, which revealed to people the “ever-present light” of the Divine (troparion of the Transfiguration). This dogmatic definition contains not only the particular thought that in the Transfiguration of the Lord the disciples saw the true radiance of the Divine, but also an even more general truth, namely, that the light of the Transfiguration has already penetrated the world and remains in it. The prelude to the world transformation took place, through the power of Christ's incarnation and Pentecost of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit now acts in the world through grace, which is found in the entire life of the Church, in Her mysterious gifts. But He is also present in the world with Glory, which until the end of this century remains hidden, but by the will of God it reveals itself now to God’s chosen ones, just as the light of the Transfiguration was revealed to the three chosen for this by Christ from among the apostles - Peter, James and John. The Holy Spirit descended into the world and the glorification of the world has already been accomplished, although it has not yet been revealed. However, in the light of Tabor, like lightning, this true future image of the world sparkles for the chosen ones. The world appears in its transformation. But what does this transformation mean? Is it some kind of change in the image with the abolition of the previous one, or its true revelation in glory, in the captivating, because convincing, manifestation of Beauty? It’s good to be here, it’s good. But this is exactly how the world was created by God’s vision, although until now it has not yet been revealed to human contemplation. However, it has already been revealed on Tabor. And this contemplation of imperishable, primordial Beauty is the joy of joy, “Perfect Joy.” That is why this holiday is a special day of anticipation of joy, a holiday of Beauty. Beauty does not yet reign in this world, although it reigned in it through the Incarnation and Pentecost. She follows Christ along the path of her crucifixion, beauty is crucified in the world. She is the beauty of the godmother, in relation to which the “exodus” to passion is spoken of. But she is beauty. And we celebrate the holiday of this Beauty of the Cross on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord. “May Your ever-present light shine upon us sinners too.” Amen. This is the Greek name for the Second Coming of the Lord in glory.