Transfigured
- Michael Haldas
- Mar 13
- 3 min read
“…God gloriously reveals Himself on Mount Tabor within the hearts of Peter, James, and John. When the body of the Lord is transfigured, the mortal eyes of these disciples see a radiance from the uncreated Light (Mt 17:1-9): “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Mt 17:2). When the Lord is transfigured, He does not lay aside His humanity. Rather, He illumines His humanity with His divinity, and this they see. That transfiguration of human nature has important consequences, for now all men have the capacity to be illumined by the divine light. The Lord Jesus demonstrates the possibility that every person who acquires the grace of the Holy Spirit may become a participant in the divine radiance.” (Dynamis 5/14/2020)
“The world is not self-sufficient: it does not exist of and for itself. Its function is the final transfiguration and deification of the creature through knowledge of the Creator. God did not create the world in order to live the life of the creature: He created it in order to associate man with His own Divine Life. And when man does not arrive at the deification, which cannot be achieved without his own collaboration, the very meaning of his existence disappears. Created in the image and likeness of God, man is endowed with the capacity to apprehend deification – to receive the divine form of being. The universe is a marvelous creation but the mystery of the creation of eternal gods is even more prodigious.” (St. Sophrony)
“Our spiritual goal is not to become an angel, but rather to become a transfigured human. The Son of God became incarnate as a human and we are to become Christ like, which means not abandoning our bodies but transforming them into places where the Son and Holy Spirit can abide. We live in the world, not in heaven, but rather we are striving to get to heaven. We don’t stop caring about this world, our needs or the needs of others. We are to transfigure life and work, not escape them. We are to use our bodies and our lives to glorify God and to have Christ abiding in us. The mundaneness of the world is not our enemy, but the very thing we are to transfigure in our role as priests to make it an offering to God.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“Our transfiguration depends on the relationship we have with Him [Christ] and the extent to which we’re able to receive His light. And whatever it is, it’s certain that it’s not from this world. You have a different view of yourself, other people, your problems and predicaments. You can’t just behave as you did before, as if nothing had happened, and allow the passions and sins to continue to accompany you. You won’t now see them as the center of your life, because you know that Christ, as the ‘true light’ can transfigure and illumine everything within you. Now you can continue to live as before outwardly, but will enjoy His presence and your transfiguration inwardly.” (Fr. Andreas Agathokleous)
“The only way to participate in Christ’s transfiguration of the human person in holiness is to offer ourselves to Him in obedience, no matter how insignificant or difficult the particular offering may seem. We never know how God will multiply our small offerings to bless the world. We must make the offerings of which we are capable and leave the rest in His hands….Salvation is much more than a heavenly reward or the deliverance from hell. Rather, salvation is the transformation of the whole person and their ultimate transfiguration into the image of Christ. Salvation is becoming eternally and truly what we were created to be – the very image of God.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters, Father Stephen Freeman)
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