The Holy Transfiguration

Today is the Feast Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord. St. Gregory Palamas, in one of his sermons on the Transfiguration, comments how in Matthew's Gospel account of the narrative, six days pass before Jesus leads His disciples up to the mountain. In Luke's Gospel account, eight days have passed. This shows us two things: not only how many people are there accounted at the Transfiguration, but also the event of the creation and renewal of the world. For in some sense, there are six people at the Transfiguration. These people include Jesus, Elias, Moses, James, Peter, and John. But the radiance of the glory of the Son is the Holy Spirit showing Himself in the narrative. And the Father speaks, testifying that Jesus is the Son of God, adding an eight person. This text is impossible for modalists to interpret properly as they reject the Divine Father and proclaim that Jesus is His own Father instead. But the Father clearly proclaims Jesus as the Son here and there is no need to fancy that Our Lord would choose to play tricks on us. Thus, the image is Triune.

In the icon, we see the threefold image of God. First, we see the incarnate Son displayed fully. Then, we see in the almond shape, the Father declaring Jesus as His Son. Then the radiance of the light shows the glory of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity once again shows itself in the most explicit way in this narrative of the Transfiguration. The disciples are taken aback by the glory. This display of glory was meant to prepare them for the Death of their Lord which would ultimately take place at Calvary. It was meant to point them toward the sign of the Resurrection that was to come. Let's go back for a moment to the significance of the days. If one has not figured out by now, there is a glaringly obvious sign pointing at us in the choice of how many days passed before Christ takes His three disciples up to the Mount Tabor.

Six days for the world's creation. We see in the Book of Genesis that God creates the world in six days. The six days are a sign of the Old Law. Moses appears to confirm that Christ is the fulfillment of that Law. He is the End. He is the Creator of the World. Six days symbolize the week, the Creation, the Law of the Old Covenant. In John's Gospel, there are seven miracles theologians typically point to but the eighth is the Resurrection. The eight days point to the Resurrection. Indeed, the Transfiguration shows the glory of the Transfigured body. It reveals to us the resurrected body of the Christian soul. The eight days signify completion and renewal. Elias comes to voice the coming of the Lord in His earthly ministry in the character of John the Baptist. Elias also will come again himself to announce the coming of the judgment of Christ. In the Transfiguration, the creation of the old has met with the creation of the new and the renewal of the world.