Lives of the Saints
1. THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD, GOD, AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST
In the third year of His preaching on earth, the Lord Jesus spoke more often to His disciples of His approaching Passion, but at the same time also of His glory after His suffering on the Cross. So that His coming Passion would not utterly weaken the disciples and cause them to fall away from Him, He the All-Wise desired to show them before His Passion a part of His divine glory. Therefore, taking with Him Peter, James, and John, He went with them by night up Mount Tabor, and there He was transfigured before them. And His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as snow. And there appeared beside Him Moses and Elijah, the great prophets of the Old Testament. And the disciples beheld and marveled. And Peter said: "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles: one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." But while Peter was yet speaking, Moses and Elijah withdrew, and a bright cloud surrounded the Lord and the disciples, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." Hearing this voice, the disciples fell on their faces to the ground as though dead and remained lying there in fear until the Lord came to them and said: "Arise, and be not afraid" (Matthew 17). Why did the Lord take only three disciples to Tabor and not all of them? Because Judas was not worthy to behold the divine glory of the Teacher whom he would betray, and the Lord did not wish to leave Judas alone below the mountain, lest the traitor justify his betrayal thereby. Why was He transfigured on a mountain and not in a valley? To teach us two virtues: diligence and meditation on God. For climbing a height requires labor, and the height represents the height of our thoughts — that is, meditation on God. Why was He transfigured by night? Because night is more suitable for prayer and meditation on God than the day, and because night covers with darkness all earthly beauty and reveals the beauty of the starry heavens. Why did Moses and Elijah appear? To dispel the Jewish error that Christ was one of the prophets — Elijah, Jeremiah, or some other — therefore He appears as King over the prophets, and therefore Moses and Elijah appear as His servants. Until then the Lord had many times shown the disciples His divine power, but on Tabor He showed them His divine nature. This vision of His Divinity and the hearing of the heavenly testimony about Him as the Son of God was meant to serve the disciples during the days of the Lord's Passion as a strengthening of their unshakable faith in Him and in His ultimate victory.
“This vision of His Divinity and the hearing of the heavenly testimony about Him as the Son of God was meant to serve the disciples during the days of the Lord's Passion as a strengthening of their unshakable faith in Him and in His ultimate victory.”
Hymn of Praise
There where Israel vanquished Sisera,
There the Heavenly King was also pleased
To go forth in prayer and nightly vigil,
To reveal the glory of His Transfiguration,
And to confirm the faith of His followers
In the lasting victory of Him — the Conqueror.
There He let the divine light shine forth from Himself
And illumined Tabor, dispelling the dense darkness;
The light He had long contained within Himself,
Of which He had given to the world but little at a time,
He now released in abundant rays,
In joyful rays, in tender rays.
That He might show the heavens the radiance of humanity,
And show the earth and men the truth of His Divinity.
Let the heavens behold their Emissary,
Let the earth come to know its Savior God.
“That He might show the heavens the radiance of humanity, and show the earth and men the truth of His Divinity.”
Reflection
Why did the Lord not show His divine glory on Tabor before all the disciples but only before three? First, because He Himself through the mouth of Moses had given the law: "At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established" (Deuteronomy 19:15). Three witnesses are therefore sufficient. Furthermore, because those three witnesses were chosen. The three of them represent the three chief virtues: Peter — faith, for he was the first to declare his faith in Christ as the Son of God; James — hope, for with hope in the promise of Christ he was the first to lay down his life for the Lord, being the first killed by the Jews; and John — love, for he leaned upon the breast of the Lord and remained beneath the Lord's Cross to the end. God is not called the God of many but the God of the chosen. "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Often God valued one faithful man more than an entire nation. Thus He wished on several occasions to destroy the Jewish people, but on account of the prayers of the righteous Moses He left that people alive. And God hearkened more to the faithful prophet Elijah than to the entire kingdom of the faithless Ahab. On account of the prayers of one man God has often saved cities and nations. So the sinful city of Ustyug was about to be destroyed by fire and hail, had it not been saved by the prayers of the one lone righteous man in it, Saint Procopius the Fool-for-Christ (July 8).
“On account of the prayers of one man God has often saved cities and nations.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the Providence of God, which rewarded the virtue of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth), namely:
1. How Ruth, left a widow, remained faithful to her aged mother-in-law and by her labor fed both her and herself;
2. How the rich Boaz was merciful and helped these two destitute women;
3. How Boaz and Ruth entered into marriage, from which was born Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David.
“How the rich Boaz was merciful and helped these two destitute women.”
Homily
on the exaltation of the Church of God
This prophecy refers to the Church of Christ. However mysterious this prophecy may have appeared to the Jews before Christ, it is to us today entirely clear. The mountain, or height, of the Lord's house is indeed established upon the top of the mountains — that is, upon the top of the heavenly heights — for the Church of Christ rests not upon the earth but upon heaven, and at last one part of the members of the Church (and indeed now the greater part) is in heaven while the other is still on earth. Furthermore, the Church of Christ is exalted above the hills — that is, above all earthly and human greatnesses. Human philosophy, art, all the cultures of nations, and all earthly values represent only low hills compared to the immeasurable height of the Church of Christ. For the Church had no difficulty in creating all those hills, while not one of them — nor all of them taken together, in the course of many thousands of years — has been able to create the Church. Finally, says the prophet, all nations shall flow unto it. To what, in truth, have all nations streamed until now, if not to the Church of Christ? The Temple of Jerusalem was closed to the Gentiles under penalty of death. But the Church from the very beginning has called all nations on earth, obedient to the commandment of the Lord: "Go ye and teach all nations" (Matthew 28:19). This is the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, a vision from the distant past, a vision true and wondrous. O wondrous Lord, we give Thee thanks unceasingly that Thou hast deemed us worthy to be children of Thy holy and true Church, exalted above all worldly heights. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“The mountain of the Lord's house is indeed established upon the top of the mountains; for the Church of Christ rests not upon the earth but upon heaven.”