Transfiguring Light
“Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.”
In his Transfiguration of Christ (c. 1480), the Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini depicts Christ's radiant transfiguration … on a transfigured plane of our own experience, rather than a mountaintop. Our eyes are opened, not blinded by the gentle heavenly light pointing down from the clouds. On the horizon, we see the mundane world — towns and castles in the distance. A man plows his field. Two figures converse. Life continues, even as it is interrupted by terrible shadow and overwhelming light. A withered tree on the left suggests the Cross, and the curse of Christ on the fruitless fig; but the flourishing tree on the right suggests hope of new life and recreation through the person of Christ as our eyes move across the scene.
Yet even as one motion of our eyes invites us into this new life, another holds us back. A ravine, a shadow, a fence follows the opposite line, from the bottom of the frame upward, separating us from the luminous scene. We see this glory only from a terrible distance; we behold this possibility only from afar. And what separates us from it is the Cross: his Cross, and our own.
The disciples sprawl on the ground, their contorted postures revealing their shock at this divine revelation. But their eyes remain fixed on Jesus whose face shines like the sun unveiling His heavenly glory. Moses and Elijah are there with them, the three heavenly figures standing placidly and piously, unperturbed by the dramatic diversity of landscape into which they have been projected.
On this mount of transfiguration, the veil between heaven and earth grows thin. The disciples behold their Lord transformed and see His sacrifice foreshadowed. Strengthened by this glimpse of glory, they can follow Him down from spiritual heights into the valley of suffering ahead. Like the disciples shielding their eyes before the blinding vision of Christ revealed, we both long for and recoil from the light. But His dazzling brilliance can infuse our darkness, lending courage for the descent ahead. By grace, we too may be transfigured in that light, eyes fixed on the Uncreated Source of life.
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
— Exodus 34:29
Transfiguration / Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Texts for This Week
Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
The Transfigured Life
As much as it a piece of unabashed monastic propaganda, this song and video from the 1000 year established Bigorski Monastery in Macedonia is a thing of precious and extraordinary beauty. Originally written in Greek by the contemporary Athonite monk, Abba Dorotheos Bourlis (you can hear the original here) it extols the separation from the world and complete devotion to Christ that these monks embrace. Besides translating the song into Macedonian, the Bigorski monks have added some subtle instrumentation to the austere neo-Byzantine chant, and beautiful hi-def scenes from the daily life of the monastery.
I learned about Bigorski recently from a documentary celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the monastery’s founding, that has a similar “vibe” to this little music video. It’s an inspiring story, actually. Bigorski became almost completely abandoned during the atheistic Yugoslavian regime, from 1948-1995. After a short period of formation on Mount Athos, a 24 year old Parthenius was dispatched to restore the monastery to its historic stature and prestige. His labors have been remarkably fruitful; his success serving, not only to restore the ancient foundations, but make a significant contribution to Macedonian cultural revival.
This is the grace of God flowing through the austere beauty of the monastic life, witnessed also in the stunning shots of natural and ecclesiastical beauty in these little videos. But the valorization of the monastic life of which the song indulges can be a little misleading. The transfiguring power made manifest in the renewal of Bigorski flows — like the grace of transformation in our own lives — not from the tirelessness of our efforts, the magnitude of our successes, or the depth of our achievement of virtue — but from God’s gracious disruption of history with abundant grace and renewing power.
Like the disciples on the mount of Transfiguration, we behold the possibility of transformation. But it comes not through our own works, but through fixating our vision on the glorified Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit. As we descend from spiritual heights, may we walk in the confidence that His divine light can infuse our darkness and transfigure our frail humanity.
