The Transfiguration

Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord.

The history of the celebration is outlined by Wikipedia in Feast of the Transfiguration

The New Liturgical Movement recently had an article by Michael P. Foley about the traditional liturgical prayers for the Transfiguration which expound the theology of the event. It can be seen at The Orations of the Feast of the Transfiguration

The fourth, fifth and sixth lections at Mattins in the traditional Breviary include three readings from the sermons of Pope St Leo the Great, whose pontificate was from 440 to 461.

The Lord taketh chosen witnesses, and in their presence, revealeth His glory. That form of body which He had in common with other men, He so transfigured with light, that His Face did shine as the sun, and His raiment became exceeding white as snow. Of this metamorphosis the chief work was to remove from the hearts of the disciples the stumbling at the Cross. Before their eyes was unveiled the splendour of His hidden majesty, that the lowliness of His freely-chosen suffering might not confound their faith. But none the less was there here laid by the Providence of God a solid foundation for the hope of the Holy Church, whereby the whole body of Christ should know with what a change it is yet to be honoured. The members of that body whose Head hath already been transfigured in light may promise themselves a share in His glory.

For the strengthening the Apostles and bringing them forward into all knowledge, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias that is, the Law and the Prophets talking with Him. Before five witnesses did His glorification take place, as though to fulfill that which is written: At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. (Deut. xix. 15.) What can be more certain, what can be better attested than this matter, which is proclaimed by the trumpets of both the Old and the New Testaments, and concerning which the witness of ancient testimony uniteth with the teaching of the Gospel? The pages of either Covenant strengthen one another, and the brightness of open glory maketh manifest and distinct Him Whom the former prophecies had promised under the veil of mysteries.

The unveiling of such mysteries roused the mind of the Apostle Peter to an outburst of longing for the things eternal, which despised and disdained the things worldly and earthly overflowing with gladness at the vision, he yearned to dwell with Jesus there, where the revelation of His glory had rejoiced him. And so he said Master, it is good for us to be here if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. To this proposal the Lord answered nothing, this signifying, that what Peter wished was not wrong, but out of place, since the world could not be saved but by the death of Christ. And the Lord's example was to call the faith of believers to this, that albeit we are behoven to have no doubts concerning the promise of eternal blessedness, yet we are to understand that, amid the trials of this life, we are to seek for endurance before glory.

The seventh lection from St John Chrysostom, who died in 407, includes a similar theme:

… that the Son of Man should come in the glory of His Father, and reward every man according to his works. ( Matth. xvi. 25, 27.) Therefore, to assure them by their own eyes, and show them what the glory is wherein He will come, He manifested and unveiled it to them, as far as in this life they were able to grasp it, lest they and especially Peter should grieve over their own deaths, or the death of their Lord.

With acknowledgments to Divinum Officium

Little more than a century after St Leo the apse of the church of St Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai was decorated with what is now the earliest surviving depiction in the Eastern Orthodox tradition of the Transfiguration. Dated to 565-6, at the very end of his reign it was probably commissioned by the Emperor Justinian:

The Transfiguration as depicted in St Catherine’s Monastery

Image: Wikipedia 

The history of the Transfiguration in Christian art, not least the sheer difficulty of representing it, is outlined on Wikipedia in Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art