In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
That greeting, glory to Jesus Christ, is said
routinely before any sermon by many priests.
But I think it is particularly appropriate today
to say that. Glory to Jesus Christ. Because the
two themes of today's feast day of the Transfiguration
are revealed in the Troparian and the Kentuckian.
The themes are, number one, the Transfiguration
of Jesus on Mount Tabor. The Transfiguration,
it's commonly interpreted by the scriptures and
by the fathers. that the glory of Jesus' divinity
was shown forth through his glorified humanity.
And the brightness was so great that the disciples,
Peter, James, and John, fell on their faces in
the presence of the divine glory. Before I say...
Well, as a background to this feast, notice that
very often when an encounter with God takes place,
it takes place on the mountain. We see this most
prominently in the Old Testament where Moses
received the tablets of the law, the commandments
from God on Mount Sinai. And there again, the
theme of the divine glory is so great that Moses
could not behold it. But even before Moses, I'd
call your attention to two other events. Number
one, Noah, and when his ark landed on dry land,
traditionally the ark rested on Mount Ararat.
And the other evening, coincidentally, I was
watching a special on the educational channel
about Armenia and the Armenian people. And as
Orthodox people, their church leads such an important
part of their life, both Armenian Americans as
well as the Christians in Armenia. And the view
of Mount Ararat was positively... breathtaking.
I've never seen it, only in pictures and on programs
such as this. Another thing about mountains,
so I think this is a little bit more hidden,
is remember, let's see, Noah is in chapter 5
through 9 of Genesis, and in chapter 11, we have
the account of the building of the Tower of Babel.
And this is when the pagan Mesopotamians wanted
to construct a tower which would reach to heaven
to see God. Of course, a futile impossibility.
And the story of God confusing the tongues is
a polemic against false pagan religions that
wanted to come into communion with God through
that artificial way. And the Tuparian, of course,
basically said, the Kentuckian, rather, for the
Feast of Pentecost says this, when the Most High
came down, he confused the tongues and divided
the nations. But then when he sent the Spirit
upon the disciples and human beings, generally,
he called all men to unity. So we have in the
Old Testament Mount Sinai, the reception of the
law, Mount Ararat, and New Testament, of course,
Mount Tabor, where today's event takes place.
And then when Jesus ascended into heaven on the
Mount of Olives in the Garden of Eden, in the
Garden of Olives, where Jesus so traditionally
went to pray by himself and to be in communion
with the Father. Also, I wanted to mention, in
addition to that tower of Babel, that we visit
Mexico very often, and I'm fascinated by Mayan
culture. And the Mayans have these temples built
of stone where this is a form of their trying
to commune with God. It looks very much like
the Tower of Babel or the ruins of the Mesopotamian
ziggurats, they're called. So that's a traditional
human impulse to come into communion with God
on a mountain. Revelation of Jesus' glory, his
glorified and divinized human nature, is what
awaits us. This event is so important that all
of the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, relate the account of the transfiguration,
and they're almost identical in what they say
about this event. And then, as so often happens,
things that Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention are
not mentioned by St. John in his gospel. And
you'd think offhand, first of all, wow, he was
one of the three, Peter, James, and John. Why
wouldn't he mention the transfiguration? Well,
a standard response is that John was aware. of
the contents of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and
he didn't repeat all over again many times what
was in the three first Gospels, the Synoptic
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. However, they
point to the prologue, the very beginning of
St. John's Gospel, where John says, the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. So bingo,
that seems to many people to be a very clear
reference to Jesus' glory revealed at his transfiguration.
Four verses later says, no man has seen God at
any time, but only the only begotten Son in the
bosom of the Father has declared him. So all
four Gospels, one way or another, either directly
or indirectly, speak about the transfiguration.
Moses and Elijah are presented. in the icons,
because they were present at the Transfiguration.
And then also, as undoubtedly you know, Moses
and Elijah represent the two elements of the
Old Testament. The law, Moses, which he received
on Mount Sinai, and the prophets, Elijah. And
the law and the prophets point to Jesus. The
whole Old Testament is Christ -centered and Christ
-focused on the coming of the Messiah. Moses
and Elijah were there. The disciples were there.
They saw his glory. Then the other theme is the
preparation for the crucifixion. As it says in
the Tropar, that, let's see. Well, let me read
the Tropar and the Kentuckian to refresh your
memory, because really, the Troparian and the
Kentuckian just say it all. They say it all.
Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ
God, revealing thy glory to thy disciples as
far as they could bear it. Let thine everlasting
light shine upon us sinners through the prayers
of the Theotokos. Glory, O giver of light, glory
to thee. And the Kentuckian. Thou was transfigured
on the mountain, O Christ God, as thy disciples
beheld thy glory as far as they could see it,
so that when they beheld thee crucified, they
would understand that thy suffering was voluntary
and would proclaim to the world that thou art
the radiance of the Father. And I think it's
not a liturgical coincidence. It was planned
appropriately that 40 days after Transfiguration,
we have the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross. Again, 40 days is sort of that sacred
number. So today is a day for us and for the
church and for all human beings and all creation
to give glory to God because he has shown us
what we will become in the kingdom of heaven,
in the transfigured universe where God is all
in all and we will behold his glory. God grant
this to each and every one of us at the conclusion
of the age. Glory to Jesus Christ.