The Feast of Transfiguration

The Feast of Transfiguration is celebrated on August 6 in commemoration of the dedication of the first church on Mt. Tabor in the 5th century. "The Feast of Transfiguration, very popular in the Orthodox Church, can serve as the key in the understanding of Christ's humanity in the Eastern Tradition" (Vladimir Lossky) Indeed, while we adore and venerate kenosis, the divine self-emptying, the Church constantly reminds us that Christ is fully God, even when He strips himself of His glory, "For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwelt bodily..."(Col 2:9). Byzantine hymnographers always have these two poles in mind, even when writing about the cross and tomb. Christ abases Himself willingly: He accepts disgrace and abandonment, but even in His poverty the majesty and triumph of the King of Glory can be seen.

In the earthly life of Christ, the Transfiguration occurs between His baptism and his passion. Having revealed Himself to John the Baptist, Jesus now reveals the mystery of His person to the apostles: He is the second person of the Holy Trinity. It is through the apostles, "eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Pet 1:16), that we have inherited the revelation about Christ, both God and man....Transfiguration and the cross are inseparable, and the forty days between the two feasts express this link. Indeed forty days, the same length of time as Great Lent, makes of Transfiguration a preparation for the mystery of the cross.

In Orthodoxy, we have a beautiful custom of blessing fruit in the church on Transfiguration. It is, of course, because of the season, the peak of summer, that the Church has chosen this day to bless the fruits of the earth. But we can ascribe a theological meaning to this rite: the blessing of the fruit reminds us that the divine energies penetrate into all created matter and transfigure the world in the light of the age to come.