Why did Christ choose to be transformed into… LIGHT (substance…) shortly before His voluntary Crucifixion…?!
Let's listen to Manna-Church explain to us the HOW and the WHY...
From the hymn of the Feast:
“On the Mount You were transfigured / and as Your disciples entered / they saw Your glory, Christ the God. / But when they saw You Crucified, / they would understand Your Passion voluntarily, / and they would proclaim to the world / that You truly exist / the radiance of the Father…”
INTERPRETATION: You were transfigured on Mount Tabor, O God-Man Christ, and Your disciples beheld Your Divine glory, to the extent of their spiritual capacity. So that, when they would see You on the Cross… they might understand that Your saving Passion was voluntary, and proclaim to the world that You are truly the all-luminous reflection of Your Heavenly Father!
The Transfiguration of the God-Man Christ (an 'explosion' of uncreated Light... from within Him outwards) on the summit of Mount Tabor, shortly before His immaculate Passion, before His Disciples... was a tremendous condescension of Divine Mercy towards weak human nature! A generous 'economy' of Love... which aimed at two 'indicative' revelations of God:
a) That, He "who puts on the LIGHT as a garment..." [i.e. who 'wears' the LIGHT as a garment...] during His Transfiguration on Tabor... is the Same One who, a short time later, will... hang voluntarily nailed to the Cross, for the Salvation of the world..., and
b) That, in this same state of 'Thavorian' Photomethexis... all people are destined to reach, those who will excel in godlike virtues... as Saint Cosmas the Poet writes, "Those who excel in the heights of virtues... and are made worthy of divine glory..."!
The LIGHT of the Transfiguration of the Savior Christ on Mount Tabor, before His voluntary Crucifixion – as well as the LIGHT of His Resurrection, after the Crucifixion [ 1 ], is a LIGHT that existed uncreated… before the sunrise of Creation, and will remain uncreated… after the sunset of created sunlight! A LIGHT… that emanates and shines endlessly from the ever-luminous “Intellectual Sun of Righteousness” Jesus Christ, illuminating endlessly all material and immaterial Creation! A LIGHT… that radiates incessantly without weakening in any way/ever, as a ‘super-nuclear’ energy, to the space/time extremes of universal immensity!
In front of the super-blinding brilliance of this sanctuary LIGHT… if the luminary of our solar system were compared, which floods Creation with 'two' light every day, even in its brightest version… it would seem like palpable darkness! This uncreated 'Thaborian' LIGHT of our Christ, longing to be 'bathed'… all the Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church, struggled unyieldingly, with incessant fastings… all-night vigils… and unceasing prayers…, as well as countless other miraculous spiritual exercises and unheard-of physical sports… to which they voluntarily submitted, out of divine Love for the God-Man Christ!
This uncreated LIGHT… which is seen as a 'halo' of brilliant aura around the faces of our Saints, making them serene and attractive… does not come to the Saints 'from outside' but comes 'from within' them… without, however, being 'theirs'! It is the result of the Purifying and Illuminating Grace of God, which 'transfuses' into the souls and bodies of those who love Him and joyfully keep His Salvation Commandments, all the supernatural idioms of His Divine Majesty, one of which is the unfathomable, unfathomable LIGHT…!
The desire and attraction towards this 'Thavorian' LIGHT... may it also guide our own steps, in our effort to follow the 'inner path' of the Spiritual life in Christ, going through life towards the "Kingdom of God within us" (Luke 17:21)! And when we arrive, with the help of Divine Grace, before the 'locked' Door of... let us humbly beg the "Theotokos and Mother of Light" [ 2 ] to open before us the "Gate of Mercy" [ 3 ] so that the flood of the sanctuary LIGHT may flow into us... and not simply to bathe us superficially or to illuminate us externally and superficially!
Because, the expected good, from this 'attempted' [ 4 ] Mysterious union of ours with the Life-Giver and Light-Giver Christ, is not for us to enter into the LIFE and the LIGHT of the Godhead… but for them (Life and Light) to penetrate and dominate within us! Because, only THIS is possible - with the Grace of God - for our existential mortality to be 'devoured' by LIFE… and for our spiritual darkness to be 'swallowed' by the unending LIGHT of the Trisylvan Godhead…!
“Christ, the true LIGHT, illuminating and sanctifying every man coming into the world, let the Light of Your Face shine upon us, that in it we may behold the unapproachable LIGHT… and direct our steps toward the fulfillment of Your Commandments, through the intercessions of Your Most Holy Mother and all Your Saints.” Amen.
Happy August 15th!
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REFERENCES-FOOTNOTES
[ 1 ] The aforementioned "Feasts of the Uncreated Light" (Transfiguration and Resurrection) of the Orthodox Church are 'known' to other Christian confessions (Papacy and Protestantism). However, the 'theology of Light' (as this particular theological theme is called in the glossary of our Orthodoxy...) is NOT understood by them - let alone by other religious systems! - to the extent and with the clarity that they are experienced in our own East...
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[ 2 ] The 9th Ode of the Chantical Canons of Matins each day begins with the Theotokos prayer: “The Theotokos and Mother of Light… honoring in hymns, we magnify!” and is followed by the Theotokos hymn: “The most honorable of the Cherubim and incomparably more inward than the Seraphim…” etc.
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[ 3 ] A troparion of the Theotokos widely used in Orthodox services, which expresses the deep faith of Orthodox Christians in the Person of the Most Holy Theotokos, and their expectation of the Theotokos' intercession, regarding the issue of Salvation: "Open to us the Gate of mercy, O Blessed Theotokos. Hoping in You, we will not be disappointed, we will be steadfast in circumstances through You, for You are the Salvation of the Christian race."
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[ 4 ] Although the "salvation of our souls" is a Work of Divine Grace and a Gift of Divine Mercy... it necessarily presupposes the self-willed and, to the best of our ability, participatory 'activation' of man in this effort of the Spiritual struggle in Christ. So much so that it seems that man himself 'pulls the strings' of this grand undertaking...
