mantzarides -- the transfiguration of our saviour.pdf

7/27/2019 Mantzarides -- The Transfiguration of Our Saviour.pdf

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Te PerennialCrown of the

Church Calendar

Te PerennialCrown of the

Church Calendar

On the Feast o the rans guration o Our Savior (6 August)

he ransfiguration of Our Savior *by Georgios Mantzarides Pro essor at the School o Teology,

University o Tessaloniki

HE RANSFIGURA IONo Our Savior has a centralplace in the Orthodox Church and inOrthodox theology.

It is the event that reveals the glory o the Church and o the aith ul. It isa witness to thenew reality introducedby the coming o Christ in history.

During His rans guration, Christrevealed the Uncreated Glory o HisDivinity within His human nature. At the same time, He took up thosesurrounding Him into His Uncreated

Divine Glory. Moses and Elias participated in the same radianceas Christ. Te only diference is that Christ is the Source o Divineradiance, whereas the others are recipients thereo .

Te reason why Christ was trans gured be ore His Disciples wasthat the day o His Cruci xion was approaching:Tat when they should see Tee crucifed, they might know Ty Passion to be voluntary.... 1

By His rans guration, Christ, on the one hand, bears witnessto His Divinity, which His Disciples had con essed shortly be orethrough the mouth o the Apostle Peter; and, on the other hand, He


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ofers an initial experience o the coming o His Kingdom. Te act that we celebrate the rans guration on August 6 perhaps

does not help us to remember its direct relationship with the Cross o Christ. Only when we consider that a ew weeks later, on September

14, we celebrate the Universal Exaltation o the Precious Cross which is reminiscent o Great Fridaydo we nd its historicalconnection with the Feast.

In other words, as an historical event, the rans guration took place a ew weeks be ore the Passion. From an historical standpoint, we would place it in the ecclesiastical Calendar a ew weeks be orePaschaperhaps as many weeks as now separate it rom the Exaltation

o the Precious Cross. And we should not reckon it ortuitous that the Church has

instituted another Feast in this place: the Feast o the Teologiano the Light o Mt. abor, St. Gregory Palamas. Tus, the SecondSunday o Great Lent, ve weeks be ore Pascha, is dedicated to St.Gregory Palamas.

Moreover, it is signi cant that in all three Synoptic Gospels theevent o the rans guration is related immediately a ter Christsdeclaration that there be some o them that stand here, which shall not taste o death, till they have seen the Kingdom o God come with power. 2 Hence, as Patristic radition also emphasizes, the rans guration o Christ comes as a revelation o the Kingdom o Godwith power.

By His rans guration, Christ con rms and strengthens aith in

His Divinity, which His Disciples had already con essed.During His rans guration, Christ did not assume somethingthat He did not previously possess; rather, He revealsonce again,according to the measure that His Disciples could receive ittheGlory that He always possessed as God-Man. In other words, theGlory that His Disciples saw on Mt. abor was not some transitory phenomenon, but rather the eternal Light o the Divine nature o Christ. One o the hymnographers o our Church declares this whenhe says:Tou wast transfgured on the mountain, O Christ our God,showing to Ty Disciples Ty Glory as each one could bear it. 3

Te Light o the rans guration is the Uncreated Light o theKingdom o God, which came into the world with the coming o Christ. O course, the Kingdom o God, being without beginning or


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end, is not limited by time; rather, it transcends and trans orms time.It does not begin at the end o history, but rather already exists withinand above it, and it will continue to exist beyond history.

In reality, that is, the coming o the Kingdom o God with power

is nothing other than its revelationwith power. Tis is not the arrivalo something that did not previously exist; instead, that which existedand will always exists is revealed. Just as the Uncreated Light, which was revealed during the rans guration to the Disciples, existed rombe ore the ages and abides eternally in the Teanthropic Hypostasiso Christ, so also the Kingdom o God, which came into the world with Christ, is sometimes revealed to the aith ul as a precursor o the

Age to Come. Te Christian Faith is not based on some moral principle or

ideology; rather, it is ounded on the revelation o the Kingdom o Godin Christ within history. Te testimony o the Apostle Peter, in whichhe makes precise re erence to his experience o the rans guration inorder to proclaim the truth o the Christian message, is striking:For we have not ollowed cunningly devised ables, when we made known unto you the power and coming o our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesseso His majesty. 4

Without experience o the Heavenly, man is not reed romearthly temptations. Te Apostles o Christ, Martyrs, Saints, andascetics o the Church would not have been able to gain victory overthe world and to ofer everything to Christ had they not had some

taste o Heavenly bliss.One obtains adoption in Christ in the present li e. Now are we the children o God, writes the Apostle John the Evangelist,and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; or we shall see Him as He is. 5

Man acquires a sense o adoption in Christ in his li e by keepingthe Divine commandments. By sel -abnegation and ofering onesel to God and to the Will o Godwhich constitutes a orm o deaththe believer becomes a participant o the Divine Li e and Kingdom.

Te taste o eternity does not begin a ter the Cross, but rather with the Cross. Obedience to the Will o God unto death already constitutes participation in the resurrection. Just as the Glory o Christ begins with the Cross, which crushes the powers o the Evil


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One, so also the glory o Christians begins with voluntary acceptanceo death or Christ, Who crushes the old man and reveals the new.

Te rans guration o Christ is preparation or the Cross. Andthe Cross o Christ is the commencement o His Glory as man. By

His rans guration, Christ does not acquire anything new; rather,He strengthens His Disciples in view o His Cruci xion. HisDisciples are in need o this strengthening, in order to ace the Crosso their eacher, as well as their own cross, later, or the Name o their eacher.

Te gate o the Kingdom o God is the Cross, and the Glory o God in the world begins with the Cross. Every revelation o the Glory

o God within history, whether be ore or a ter the coming o Christ,constitutes a model or an extension o the Cross o Christ. Every experience o the Glory o God during this present li e presages oraccompanies an experience o the Mystery o the Cross.

___________* Orthodoxe Martyria, (Cyprus) No. 49 (Spring-Summer 1996), pp. 8-10.1. Kontakion or the Feast.2. St. Mark 9:1; c . St. Matthew 16:28, St. Luke 9:27.3. Apolytikionor the Feast.4. II St. Peter 1:16.5. I St. John 3:2.

mantzarides -- the transfiguration of our saviour.pdf

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