THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD
The Transfiguration is the visual manifestation of God’s Kingdom on earth. Shortly before His suffering on the cross, Jesus Christ, taking along with Him three of His disciples – John, James, and Peter, – left Capernaum and went north towards Mount Tabor, which rose like a citadel above the hills of Galilee. The disciples were silent, having a presentiment that a mystery would be revealed to them. Mystic events take place in silence. The human word bears the same relation to mysticism as a wave to the depth of the ocean.
On Mt.Tabor the apostles saw the divine Transfiguration of Christ, the manifestation of His majesty and glory. The Saviour’s face became like lightning, His raiment – white as snow. He stood encircled by shining brilliance, as though amid the rays of the sun. Two prophets – Moses and Elias – appeared before the Saviour and conversed with Him. Interpreters of Holy Scripture say that they talked of the sacrifice on Golgotha, of Christ’s forthcoming suffering, of the fact that mankind’s sins would be redeemed by the blood of the Son of God and Saviour.
The three apostles experienced the manifestation of the Divine Light as a great and incomparable joy. It seemed that time itself stood in the contemplation of the Divine Light. The awed apostles fell to the ground. The vision ended. Together with Jesus Christ they came down from the mountain and by morning were back in Capernaum.
Transfiguration
The Lord not only preached His Gospel to the people, but also educated and enlightened His disciples. And gradually He revealed Himself to them as the Messiah not only of Israel, but of all mankind, as the King of the eternal spiritual kingdom. The Messiah’s words that He would be tortured in Jerusalem evoked awe and fear in the disciples. A vision of the crucified Messiah might have evoked the feeling of despair in Christ’s disciples, the thought that everything was irrevocably lost. The mystery of redemption could have appeared to them as a defeat, as the Messiah’s powerlessness. At a time of despondency and doubt, the three apostles’ witness to the Transfiguration was to strengthen the faith of the other disciples.
What constitutes the mystery of Christianity? It attracts people not so much by its delicate and sophisticated intellectualism, nor by the brilliant oratory of its preachers, nor yet by the beauty of its rites. Christianity revealed to the human soul a new world, an eternal world, a world of divine light – that which not a single religion or philosophical system could give.
“And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart from themselves: and He was transfigured before them. And His raiment became shining, exceedingly white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus” (Mark 9:24).
Together with Christ three apostles – Peter, James, and John – ascended Mt. Tabor, where the Lord’s Transfiguration took place. It was accompanied by the appearance of the Old Testament prophets Moses and Elias. They spoke with Christ about His imminent departure from earth to rejoin God the Father. The Gospel then speaks of how all of them were overshadowed by a bright cloud, out of which a voice issued, saying: “This is My beloved Son; hear Him.”
The Lord did not ascend the mountain alone, but took three disciples with Him. On Mt Tabor their eyes were opened to a different, spiritual world, and they were able to see the Light which transfigured Christ. After that the Saviour spoke for the first time about His martyric end and resurrection. At that time the apostles did not understand Him, because in accordance with Jewish tradition they saw Christ as a future earthly king and liberator from foreign domination. Christ, however, was preparing for His suffering on the cross and the humiliation of Golgotha, and He showed His Transfiguration to the three disciples, so that they would be able to bear witness to His divine nature and voluntary agreement to torment on the cross.
The essence of the Transfiguration is revealed in its symbols. The mountain is a silent, solitary place which makes it easier to engage in prayer and helps us unite our restless mind with God. The name “Tabor” translates as purity or light. Whoever comes to an awareness of his actions and repents of what he has committed is freed of spiritual uncleanliness and is able to see the divine uncreated Light. Christian teaching sees the spiritual meaning of life precisely in the attempt to acquire this Light and deify human nature.
Why are fruits blessed in church on Transfiguration?
From apostolic times the Church established the custom to bless ripened fruits before eating them, by reading special prayers over them.
In the beginning all the works of God’s creation were good indeed, because God’s blessing rested upon them through His omnipotent words: “Let it be.” At that time everything stayed on earth without requiring special sanctification. But the first-created man transgressed the law of God and allowed impurity to fill his entire being, and through him this impurity descended upon all living things. God’s curse hung over all of man’s efforts, according to the Lord’s words to Adam: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake” (Gen. 3:17). Subordinate creation, as the Apostle testifies, “was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected it” (Rom. 8:12), i.e. all living things were defiled because of man. Subordinate nature, which in accordance with the Creator’s design should have provided its master – man – with physical means of bliss, – this same nature became the source of his illness and death. All the elements declared war on man for having subjected them to vanity, all earthly plants now contained admixtures or even poisons that were harmful to man’s body. Such were the inevitable consequences of God’s curse, which hung over all of man’s deeds from the day of Adam’s transgression. Such is the terrible necessary connection between our sin and everything with which it comes into contact.
And what would have happened to us and our surrounding environment, had not our most-merciful Lord Jesus Christ removed the terrible seal of our rejection and given us the means to return blessing and sanctification to everything we use? Therefore, only those who truly believe in Christ the Saviour can overcome the forces of nature that war against us. The Holy Church blesses and sanctifies the first crop of earthly fruits and, removing from them the ancient seal of damnation, turns these fruits not into a weapon of our sinful lusts, not into food of corruption and death, but into a true pleasure for man reborn in grace.
The Church prays to God to sanctify both the souls and the bodies of those who eat of these fruits, to keep their lives in peace and joy, and to multiply these fruits abundantly. Christ’s Church blesses and sanctifies the fruits by the holy name of God glorified in Trinity and by sprinkling holy water upon them.
According to ancient tradition, the first fruits are blessed on the feast of Transfiguration.
