My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
THE HOLY TRANSFIGURATION (METAMORPHOSIS) OF OUR LORD, GOD,
AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. (Part II)
The Restoration of Fallen Man
Saint Gregory Palamas: “Now that our nature has been stripped of this Divine Illumination and radiance as a result of the transgression, the Logos/Word of God has taken pity on our disgrace. Indeed, in His compassion, He has OUR NATURE AND HAS MANIFESTED IT AGAIN TO His chosen disciples, clothed more remarkably on Tabor. He indicated what we once were and what we shall become THROUGH Him in the future age, IF WE CHOOSE HERE BELOW TO LIVE ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
Saint John of Damascus says that the God-Man Christ, at His Transfiguration, DISPLAYED IN HIMSELF THE ORIGINAL BEAUTY IN THIS SAME HUMAN BODY WHICH HE FORMED. And so he chants: “Being complete God, Thou hast become complete man, bringing together manhood and the complete Godhead in Thy Person which Moses and Elias saw on Mount Tabor in two natures.”
Saint Kosmas the Melodist, Bishop of Maiuma (7th Century), emphasizes that Christ put Adam on entire, “and changed the nature grown dark in past times. He filled it with glory and made it godlike.” And Saint John of Damascus adds that this “union was without confusion”. Saint Kosmas hymns: “The nature that knows no change, being mingled with the mortal nature, shone forth ineffably, unveiling in some small measure to the Apostles the Light of the Immaterial Divinity.”
Our RESTORATION is a repeated theme in the hymns of this divine service. Christ has shown His Disciples the nature of man, ARRAYED IN THE ORIGINAL BEAUTY OF THE IMAGE. And He made that nature, which grew dark in Adam, to shine again as lightning, by “TRANSFORMING IT INTO THE GLORY AND SPLENDOR OF HIS OWN DIVINITY. The Savior of our souls in His love and mercy “TRANSFIGURED DISFIGURED MAN AND MADE HIM SHINE WITH LIGHT UPON MOUNT TABOR.”
The Divinization of the Saints
In Saint Gregory Palamas’ Hagioretic Tome, he explains that God makes Himself VISIBLE IN THE CHURCH; FOR, IN IT, THE KINGDOM OF THE AGE TO COME REALLY EXISTS EVEN NOW BY ANTICIPATION, EVEN AS CHRIST, BY ANTICIPATION, REVEALED HIMSELF TO THE RIGHTEOUS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Saint Gregory writes: “This is why the Saints ARE THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, HAVING RECEIVED THE SAME ENERGY AS Him. As certain proof of what I say, one might cite the CHARISMATA (SPIRITUAL GIFTS) OF HEALING, THE WORKING OF MIRACLES, FOREKNOWLEDGE, THE IRREFUTABLE WISDOM WHICH THE LORD CALLED ‘THE Spirit of your Father’ (Matthew 10:20). …They (the Saints) have received an energy identical to that of the DIVINIZING ESSENCE, AND POSSESS IT IN ABSOLUTE ENTIRETY, AND REVEAL IT THROUGH THEMSELVES. As the Apostle says of Christ, ‘For in Him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily’ [Colossians 2:9). …However, “the divinizing gift of the Spirit cannot be equated with the superessential essence of God. It is the divinizing energy of this Divine essence, yet NOT THE TOTALITY OF THIS ENERGY… Indeed, what created thing could receive the entire, infinitely potent power of the Spirit, except He Who was carried in the womb of hte Virgin…”
The Eighth Day
In setting forth the future brightness of the saints, Saint John Chrysostom says, “The righteous shall shine forth as the sun” (Matthew 13:43), or rather more than the sun…since on the mount too, ‘His face did shine as the sun’ [Matthew 17:2]… The righteous therefore will shine as the sun, and more than the sun in that time: but THE SINNERS SHALL SUFFER ALL EXTREMITIES. Then there will be no need of records, proofs, witnesses. For He Who judges is Himself all, both witness, and proof, and Judge.”
Saint Theophylact, in his commentary on Saint Mark, writes: “We ought to understand these words in a spiritual manner. After the end of this world, which was created in six days, if we are truly His disciples, Jesus will lead us also to a high mountain, by which I mean heaven, and He will show Himself to us in greater splendor. For on earth He appeared without glory, as the crucified and the son of a carpenter, but then we will see His glory as the Only-begotten. And we shall see both the law and the Prophets speaking with Him; that is, then we will understand all that Moses and the Prophets spoke concerning Him. Indeed, we shall find that their prophecies are in complete agreement with the events which took place. And then we shall truly hear the Father’s voice, when the Father REVEALS TO US THE SON, TEACHING US, “THIS IS MY SON.” How will He teach us? With the overshadowing cloud, that is, WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS THE SOURCE OF ALL WISDOM.”
Saint Gregory Palamas writes: “The Light which illuminated the Disciples…Will continually and endlessly dazzle us with its most brilliant ray in the age to come, when “we shall always be with the Lord” [1 Thessalonians 4:17], according to His promise.” Speaking of the Last Day, he comments, “For it is in the glory of the Father that Christ will come again; and it is in the glory of their Father, Christ, that ‘the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in hte Kingdom of their Father’ (Matthew 13:43). THEY WILL BE LIGHT AND WILL SEE LIGHT, A SIGHT DELIGHTFUL AND ALL-HOLY, BELONGING ONLY TO THE PURIFIED HEART. This light present shines in part, as a pledge, for those who, through impassibility, have passed beyond all that is condemned. Through pure and immaterial prayer, they have passed beyond all that is pure… They will then rejoice in eternity and in glory in communion with Him Who has endowed our nature with a glory and a splendor that is divine. And this wew chant in today’s service: THOU WAST TRANSFORMED UPON MOUNT TABOR, SHOWING THE EXCHANGE MORTAL MEN WILL MAKE WITH THY GLORY AT THY SECOND AND FEARFUL COMING. {Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)
____________
“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George