§ 132. The Services of the Feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration - 6th August. This feast was inaugurated to commemorate the Transfiguration of the Lord before His disciples, Peter, James and John, that they might be assured of His Divinity, and so that He might show them His glory before the Passion and strengthen them in faith. The feast of the Transfiguration was instituted after the fourth century.

The verses for the festival on the one hand describe the outward circumstances at the original event (the prayer of the Lord, the disciples’ falling asleep, the light upon the mountain, the radiance shining forth from the Saviour, the appearance of the Prophets Moses and Elias, their converse with the Lord, the fear and trembling of the Apostles, the voice of God the Father, and so on), and on the other hand they make plain the inner significance of the feast, and pre-eminently, they tell of the purpose of the Lord’s Transfiguration. Jesus Christ was transfigured so that the Apostles might be convinced of His Divinity, and thereby be delivered from their fearful misgivings at His approaching Passion, by revealing the radiance of His Resurrection, and to instruct them that people, engaged in “the highest contemplation of the virtues” might be vouchsafed Divine glory, and that “the darkened nature of Adam,” might be filled “with brightness.” Then the theophany granted Moses on Mount Horeb is juxtaposed with his present converse with the Lord, and this is seen as a fulfilment of the prophecy of King David, “Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy (that is, the Lord’s) Name.” In conclusion, the verses call the faithful to prayer, that the Lord might deem us also worthy of the splendour of the light of His unapproachable glory.

In the Old Testament readings we have the following thoughts: in the first (Exodus 24:12-18) it tells of Moses on Mount Sinai; in the second (Exodus 33:11-23, 34”4-6, 8) it speaks of the manifestation of God’s glory to Moses; and in the third (3 Kings 19:3-9. 11-13, 15-16) it speaks of the appearance of God’s glory to the Prophet Elias.

The troparion is:

“Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God,
showing Thy disciples Thy glory as each one could endure.
Shine forth Thou on us who are sinners all
Thy light ever unending,
through the prayers of the Theotokos;
Light-bestower, glory to Thee.”

The contakion:

“On the mount Thou wast transfigured,
and Thy disciples, as much as they could bear,
beheld Thy glory, O Christ our God;
that when they should see Thee crucified,
they would know Thy Passion to be willing,
and would preach to the world
that Thou, in truth, art the Effulgence of the Father.”

In the canon, the greatness of the Lord’s Transfiguration on Mount Thabor is depicted, which even Christ’s chosen Apostles could only see in part, as much as permitted mere mortals, and also they heard a Divine Revelation from the heavens. The Lord’s Transfiguration, as it were, illumined the souls of the chosen ones with a spiritual light; it irradiated their mind with a consciousness of the Saviour’s Divine worthiness, and it confirmed them in believing that all the promises of the Lord would be fulfiled. This glorification of the Saviour on Thabor was a clear demonstration of the fact of His two Natures, which are united in the one Person of the Godman. Here the light of the Divine being shone through the veil of human flesh, which, being not party to any sin at all, was and appeared to be perfect.

The prokeimenon is: “How magnified are Thy works, O Lord, in wisdom hast Thou made them all.”

In the Apostle reading (2 Peter 1:10-19) it tells how the manifestation of the Lord’s glory on Thabor is a demonstration of His Divine majesty.

In the Gospel (Matt. 17:1-9) it relates the actual sacred event of the Lord’s Transfiguration.

The megalynarion is:

“Magnify, O my soul, the Lord Who was transfigured on Thabor.
Thy birthgiving was undefiled: God came forth from thy womb,
and He appeared upon earth wearing flesh
and made His dwelling among men;
therefore we all magnify thee, O Theotokos.”

The communion hymn is: “O Lord, in the light of Thy face shall we walk, and in Thy name shall we rejoice unto the ages.”

A very visible particularity of the services for this feast is the blessing of fruits and vegetables, which are gifts from God because of the burgeoning of nature through God’s blessings, through seasonable weathers, and through man’s care to provide his daily bread.

… to be continued in the next issue with “The Services of the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God” .