The Great Feast of our Lord's Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor

On August 6, the Holy Orthodox Church celebrates the Transfiguration of our Lord on Mt. Tabor in the presence of His apostles, Sts. Peter, James and John.  This feast is of particular importance in the Eastern Church, which informs much of her theology particularly with regards to how it distinguishes  between the essence and energies of God and the deification of Man (theosis).  Unfortunately, though celebrated by the Roman Church also on this day and nominally celebrated by the Lutheran churches before Lent begins (I don't recall it ever being celebrated while I was Lutheran), those churches' celebrations seem to mark  only the event than its overall importance in the Christian life. In short, the Transfiguration is an historical event that manifests Christ's glory, but it is also an end to strive for in our lives, a transfiguration of our very self.

This feast, primarily, should fill the Christian with not only awe before the Godhead, but humility.  We pray, in the Apolytikion for this feast that Christ revealed His glory to the disciples as much as they were able.  And they weren't able to endure his glory for very long.  In the icons of this event, the three disciples who were present could not look at the manifestation of glory for very long at all. They are all seen turning away from the uncreated light which proceeds internally from Christ.  That light is one of  His uncreated energies.  We should be mindful of how the glory of God, when it is manifested in the Old(er) Testament, is described.  In the Hebrew, the word  which describes God's glory is best translated as oppressive or burdensome.  It weighs one down because of its majesty.  Peter, James and John were not able to endure the light for very long at all, weighed down because of the brightness and its majesty.  The glory of God, in its truest form, is not something we can endure and it is not something that we can only casually observe.  The true glory of God takes time to become manifested towards us and, if we have the eyes to see and ears to hear, we should recoil in dread when it is manifested.  Entering into a church does not equate to entering into God's glory.  God's glory is there yes, but to truly experience it is to be brought to the ground because of it.  Since most of us can only experience God's glory mystically, such is why we make bows and prostration to the ground so routinely during Orthodox services.

Notice, too, that the Transfiguration only occurred after Jesus prayed.  We do not know how long he prayed, though we may assume it was for quite some time as the three disciples who accompanied Him fell asleep but awoke in time to see Christ transfigured.  How many of Jesus manifestations of glory occurred only after prayer?   I don't know, but this occasion, certainly and also before His willing Passion.  For us to enter into theosis or deification requires prayer and a lot of it.  I'm certain that such is the reason that Orthodox liturgies and offices are the lengths that they are.  I know a lot of Orthodox Christians who wish that the services be radically reduced in time, but the attainment of the Kingdom does not happen with only haphazard phrase with a timestamp on it.  (My wife has often joked about putting a dial on the icon of the Mystical Supper which stands over the Royal doors so people know how much longer the liturgy will last).

Finally, the Transfiguration of our very selves can only be accomplished by the possession of three virtues.  Have you ever wondered why our Lord chose only Sts. Peter, James and John (the two sons of  Zebedee) to accompany Him when He prayed alone?  I have.  I found out the answer today in the sermon.  According to many of the fathers, St. Peter is the icon of faith.  Contextually, the description of the Transfiguration is very short, but if you read around it (both before and after), you will find that its occurrence in the Gospels is well timed.  St. Peter had just made the confession to Christ that He is the Son of the Living God to which Christ responds that upon this confession, this rock, Christ's Church shall be built.  After that passage, Jesus prophesies His Death on the Cross and His glorious Resurrection, also at the heart of the faith.  St. James is the icon of hope.  He was the first of Christ's disciples to be martyred and did so in the hope of the Resurrection.  St. John is the icon of charity or love.  John's Gospel, unlike the synoptic Gospels, vividly portrays God's love for us throughout, but nowhere so poignantly than in the famous 3:16.  Faith, hope and charity, the virtues St. Paul describes as the greatest virtues, are all required before Transfiguration of the self.

I love this feast day.  With transfiguration comes renewal and rebirth.  Such is why we bless grapes on this day, a symbol of the fruits produced from the earth.  May fruit blossom forth in our celebration of this great feast so that one day we may be transfigured.

Ascension--The Forgotten Feast

It is regrettable that Ascension will always fall on a Thursday.  Many Christians simply cannot get off of work to attend the Divine Liturgy and the offices.  But, at the same time, I think most Orthodox Christians are ignorant about what this feast is really about.  We have come out of the 40 days of feasting at Pascha and Pentecost awaits. Ascension is the prophecy that Christ will send the Comforter, but it's so much more than that.

Christians lament that Christmas and Pascha have been hijacked by the secular world.  Christmas has Santa Clause and the materialism that goes with him and Pascha has the Easter Bunny and the gluttony that goes with him.  Ascension has NO secular counterpart.  And it shouldn't because Ascension is a feast day only for Christians.  There is little or nothing in it for the non-Christian.

Pascha is Christ's triumph over death.  As a result, every person, after their death, will be raised from the dead, regardless of what faith they professed or how long they have been dead.  The dead will arise, but they will also be presented before the Dread Judgment Seat of Christ.  From there, the wicked will go to their abode and the righteous will ascend to theirs to take their place at Christ's right hand, just as Christ ascended to take His place at the right hand of His Father.  Ascension is only for the Christian.

What's more is that Ascension ties directly to one of Orthodoxy's great theological truths that is proclaimed at every Orthodox liturgy and office--theosis, becoming like God.  Christ ascended into Heaven still clothed in the flesh that He assumed from the Blessed Virgin at His birth, the flesh that was beaten, bruised and tormented during His Passion.  Remember that His wounds were still present even after His Resurrection as He invited St. Thomas to put his hands into His side.  Christ ascended into Heaven with this very same flesh and deified it, made it god-like.  Before Christ's incarnation, our flesh was a detriment to salvation. Now, because of Christ's work on earth, it is our gateway to salvation.  Yes, we still war with it but as Christ assumed it, it is now healed.  "Anything unassumed is unhealed" said St. Gregory the Theologian.  Because human flesh sits at the right hand of God the Father, our flesh can be tempered and used for the glory of the heavens.  We can ascend to the heavenly place right now in our current existence.

We still await the Comforter, but let us glory in Christ's departure from this earth. It had to be done, just as the Incarnation, the Passion and Pascha as well as the events that happened to to His mother, the Theotokos.  Without Ascension, we cannot be more than what we are. Let us not forget it just because it always will happen on a Thursday.  Happy feast!

The Glorious Ascension of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ

Forty days after His Resurrection from the Dead, the Orthodox Church today (as well as the Western confessions) celebrate our Lord's Ascension into Heaven and His sitting at the Right Hand of God the Father. I was privileged for the first time to be able to celebrate the entire cycle of the feast (Vespers last night, Orthros and Liturgy this morning) and some insights came to me as to why this feast is so important and significant. Thanks to Fr. Peter Pappas at St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church for giving me some food for thought. And especially a great many thanks for allowing me to chant Orthros with you in both Greek and English.

Though this is one of the 12 great feasts, Ascension is often forgotten because it always falls on a Thursday and not everyone can get off work to go to Liturgy. At the same time, I think a lot of Christians, particularly Orthodox Christians, get discouraged when we come to Ascension because no longer do we chant "Christ is Risen" which we have done several million times since April 4 and the services return, more or less, to their "normal" mode. At the same time, though this feast is often forgotten, by both Eastern and Western Christians, I think that is a blessing in disguise. If it were more mainstream, how long would it be before the secularists who have so convoluted Pascha and Nativity with the Eastern Bunny and Santa Claus come up with some sort of secular alternative to this or even to our next feast, Pentecost? So, maybe we should rejoice in this little secret.

It's always disheartening to see Orthodox Christians not take the feasts of the Church seriously. I'm not speaking of those Orthodox Christians, of course who cannot make it because of their work and/or family schedules, but those who don't go simply because they have no desire to. Yet, at the same time, we should rejoice that even though the seats are left empty by our fellow man, the saints in Heaven and the Angels and Archangels together celebrate with us.

But, at the same time, I believe that most people don't really understand what Ascension is all about. They, as a whole, know the Gospels which record this event where Christ ascended into heaven giving his final commandment to the Apostles to love and forgive one another and that will be bound and loosed on earth will also be bound and loosed in heaven. OK, so what's the point then of his Ascending to heaven?

Our Lord spent 40 days here on earth following His Resurrection from the dead. He appeared to many, not as a spirit but as the God-Man, the Theanthropos. Every time he appears, He still appears with the wounds suffered from His Crucifixion. He doesn't appear as if He had his wounds treated. Why is this important?

Our Lord ascended into heaven while he still wore human flesh, wounds, sores and all. The Ascension is the deification of the flesh. We must remember that the bedrock of our theology is that God became man so that everything we have become through sin would be healed. Christ took our flesh up to heaven and that flesh sits at the right hand of the Father. Christ came not to destroy but to save!

We are often taught to fight against the body. This is erroneous. We are taught to war against the flesh. It is the flesh that is our enemy, but it is at the same time it is the source of our salvation. Bishop BASIL once said that the fallen Angels would never be saved because they have no flesh. Without flesh, they have not the means of repentance. Now that Christ has come, has been crucified, has been raised from the dead and has now ascended into the heavens, our repentance becomes strengthened not in spite of the flesh, but because of it! Our Lord did not come and do all these things simply to say "You are forgiven. Go and live life as you want because I will always forgive you." As he ascended and deified the flesh, Christ did command us to love and forgive one another. But he commanded us to do that because we now can do that since our flesh is no longer the burden it used to be. We have been changed! Ascension has done that.

There will be a general Resurrection at the Last Judgment. All men, Christian and not, will be resurrected as Christ promised. But the Ascension is only for the saved. St. Gregory Palamas says that "the Resurrection is connected with all men, but the Ascension only with the saints." Going further, Metropolitan HIEROTHEOS says this:

This is said from the from the point of view that by His Resurrection Christ conquered death and gave the gift of Resurrection to all. All will be resurrected on the day of Christ’s Second Coming, both righteous and sinners, but not all will be taken up. Only the righteous, the deified will be found worthy of this great experience. The Apostle Paul confesses: “And those who have died in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:16-17).

My thanks to Chris Orr at Orrologion for providing these quotes.

Christ's Pascha is for all men since all will be resurrected to be judged. Christ's Ascension is only for the saved who will become partakers of the essence of God through His energies (2 Peter 1:4). This is the bonafide Christian holiday! Though non-Christians and nominal Christians celebrate Nativity and Pascha, Ascension is not for them! It is for us!

So, let us go forth this day, rejoicing that the flesh is deified and that this holiday confirms our salvation through Christ our Lord and God and Saviour. Amen.