Midsummer Vision: The Feast of August 6

typical icon of
The Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor

Our Lord preached to tens of thousands,
but took only three with Him to ascend the Holy Mount of Tabor.
And so those three, lifted into the Mysteries of Glory,
became vessels of light to illumine the Kingdom.

TODAY each of us partakes of that very journey
up the Mount when we gather into "the chapel light"
of the very same Mysteries of the Kingdom,
singing "By Thy Light we see the Light, Jesus full of Light."

Read More from Our post in 2007



Reflections on Scripture and Transfiguration:

Icon of Christ the Lightgiver
written by the hand of Heather Durka

Transfiguration: Taboric Light of the Word, Pentecost, and Liturgy :

Transfiguration in the Epistles of Peter
Transfiguration in the Gospel of John
Transfiguration in the Gospel of Matthew
Transfiguration in the Gospel of Mark
Transfiguration in Mark: The Cry of the Centurion

Transfiguration as
Beatitude
Communio in Sacris
Mystagogy
Liturgy

Excerpts from our post On Becoming Light:

• The biblical image of the Deity as luminous is central to patristic theological and spiritual vision.
• “O God, you started the work of creation with light in order that the whole creation may become light.”
• “it initiates us into the mystery of the future” and our final destiny.

Armenian Orthodox theologian Vigen Guroian
Coptic Orthodox theologian Andrew Youssef:

On Morality in the Light of the Transfiguration:

Transfiguration, Liturgy and Eschatology re. Moral Action

Only in Luke's Gospel
do we encounter
Tabor as an epiphany of the 8th Day,
and only here in all the New Testament
is Jerusalem's Golgotha specifically named as that Epiphanic Reality
which the exodos of
"The 2nd Book of Moses" was only its type:

Preaching Christ Crucified at the Feast of the Transfiguration
Fr. Steven C. Salaris, All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church

Transfiguration: Epiphanic Light
"But I tell you truly, there are some standing here
who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."
Now about eight days after these sayings
he took with him Peter and John and James
and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying ...
Lk 9.27

Icon of the Mandylion
written by the hand of Heather Durka

The Taboric Light
as 4 Dimensions of the Eighth Day:

sanctus - gloria
communio - theosis
discipleship - beatitudes

Transfiguration of the Lord mystagogy - mysterion

The Transfiguration of the Lord brings us into the Mystery of the Lord as He is in Himself: "Glorious, uncreated, self-existing; eternal, adorable, consubstantial~"
These Divine Names are the praises we sing just after the "Theh've" for the Holy Qurbana's 3rd, and consummate, 3-fold Blessing:
Through this litugical praise of the Divine Name,
the faithful choirs mystically enter "the Great Elevation" of the Holy Gifts for the Holy Ones. The choirs are sharing the Mystery of the Revelation which Peter, James, and John encountered on Mt. Tabor

Christ Pantocrator
written by the hand of Heather Durka

OLD TESTAMENT PRESENCE
IN NEW TESTAMENT EVENT
Jane M. deVyver, M.A., M.Th., Ph.D.

In this study of the meaning of the Transfiguration, we will deal with several issues: why did Peter suggest making three tabernacles (skénai) and what is the significance of the Greek word, skéné; and, why was it Elias and Moses who appeared with Christ? In dealing with these two issues, we will be led to a consideration of the Shekhinah (2) and of the significance of the cloud from which God spoke. Essentially, the answers to these questions are rooted in the Old Testament.

Transfiguration Tradition: St. Makarios and Macarian Themes

"In Macarian understanding of Christ's transfiguration on Mt. Tabor,
the duality of inner and outer in visio Dei is attempted through in a new metaphor of the transformational vision-- Christ's Body of Light."

Through the festal cycle we encounter the spiritual light of Tabor in the liturgies of the Church, in the life of the Theotokos, in the lives of the saints ~

Ascension of St. Mary

7 Sundays of the Holy Cross
behold the Sign of the Jonah
and the Hope of our Salvation