Transfiguration of Jesus
The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event described in the New Testament where Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels recount the occasion, and the Second Epistle of Peter also refers to it.
In the gospel accounts, Jesus and three of his apostles, Peter, James, and John, go to a mountain to pray. On the mountaintop, Jesus begins to shine with bright rays of light. Then the Old Testament figures Moses and Elijah appear, and he speaks with them. Both figures had eschatological roles: they symbolize the Law and the prophets, respectively. Jesus is then called "Son" by the voice of God the Father, as in the Baptism of Jesus.
Many Christian traditions, including the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican churches, commemorate the event in the Feast of the Transfiguration, a major festival. In the original Koine Greek, the word μετεμορφώθη, "he was transformed" is used to describe the event in Matthew and Mark. In Greek Orthodoxy, the event is called the metamorphosis.
Significance
The transfiguration is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels. Thomas Aquinas considers the transfiguration "the greatest miracle", in that it complemented baptism and showed the perfection of life in Heaven. The transfiguration is one of the five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus, the others being baptism, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. In 2002, Pope John Paul II introduced the Luminous Mysteries in the rosary, which include the transfiguration.In Christian teachings, the transfiguration is a pivotal moment, and the setting on the mountain is presented as the point where human nature meets God: the meeting place of the temporal and the eternal, with Jesus, as both true man and true God, serving the connecting point, acting as the bridge between heaven and earth. Moreover, Christians consider the transfiguration to fulfill an Old Testament messianic prophecy that Elijah would return again after his ascension. states:
New Testament accounts
In the Synoptic Gospels,, the account of the transfiguration happens towards the middle of the narrative. It is a key episode and almost immediately follows another important element, the Confession of Peter: "you are the Christ". The transfiguration narrative acts as a further revelation of the identity of Jesus as the Son of God to some of his disciples.In the gospels, Jesus takes Peter; James, son of Zebedee; and James' brother John with him and goes up to a mountain, which is not named. Once on the mountain, states that Jesus "was transfigured before them; his face shining as the sun, and his garments became white as the light." At that point the prophet Elijah and Moses appear and Jesus begins to talk to them. Luke states that they spoke of Jesus' exodus which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Luke is also specific in describing Jesus in a state of glory, with Luke 9:32 referring to "they saw His glory".
Just as Elijah and Moses begin to depart from the scene, Peter begins to ask Jesus if the disciples should make three tents for him and the two prophets. This has been interpreted as Peter's attempt to keep the prophets there longer. But before Peter can finish, a bright cloud appears, and a voice from the cloud states: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him". The disciples then fall to the ground in fear, but Jesus approaches and touches them, telling them not to be afraid. When the disciples look up, they no longer see Elijah or Moses.
When Jesus and the three apostles are walking down the mountain, Jesus tells them to not tell anyone "the things they had seen" until the "Son of Man" has risen from the dead. The apostles are described as questioning among themselves as to what Jesus meant by "risen from the dead".
In addition to the principal account given in the synoptic gospels; in 2 Peter 1:16–18, the Apostle Peter describes it as follows: "For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain."
Elsewhere in the New Testament, Paul the Apostle's reference in 2 Corinthians 3:18 to the "transformation of believers" via "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord" became the theological basis for considering the transfiguration as the catalyst for processes which lead the faithful to the knowledge of God.
Some scholars believe that the Gospel of John lacks an account of the transfiguration, though others argue that the Gospel of John does in fact allude to the transfiguration, in John 1:14. Mark Goodacre notes a parallel between John 1:14 and Luke 9:32, where the disciples talk about building tabernacles and seeing the glory; the verse reveals that the narrator of John is the Disciple whom Jesus loved, a character in the Synoptics. One explanation is that John wrote his gospel not to overlap with the synoptic gospels but to supplement them, and hence he did not include all of their narrative. Most scholars today agree John knew and used the Synoptic gospels; Goodacre notes that since John presupposes the Synoptics, there was no need to narrate every incident. The general explanation is thus the Gospel of John was written thematically, to suit the author's theological purposes and has a less narrative style than the synoptics.
Theology
Importance
assigns a great deal of significance to the transfiguration, based on multiple elements of the narrative. In Christian teachings, the transfiguration is a pivotal moment, and the setting on the mountain is presented as the point where human nature meets God: the meeting place for the temporal and the eternal, with Jesus as the connecting point, acting as the bridge between heaven and earth.The transfiguration not only supports the identity of Jesus as the Son of God, but the statement "listen to him", identifies him as the messenger and mouth-piece of God. The significance of this identification is enhanced by the presence of Elijah and Moses, for it indicates to the apostles that Jesus is the voice of God "par excellence", and instead of Moses or Elijah he should be listened to, surpassing the laws of Moses by virtue of his divinity and filial relationship with God. 2 Peter 1:16–18 echoes the same message: at the Transfiguration God assigns to Jesus a special "honor and glory" and it is the turning point at which God exalts Jesus above all other powers in creation, and positions him as ruler and judge.
The transfiguration also echoes the teaching by Jesus that God is not "the God of the dead, but of the living". Although Moses had died and Elijah had been taken up to heaven centuries before, they now live in the presence of the Son of God, implying that the same return to life applies to all who face death and have faith.
Historical development
The theology of the transfiguration received the attention of the Church Fathers from the earliest times. In the 2nd century, Irenaeus was fascinated by the transfiguration and wrote: "the glory of God is a live human being and a truly human life is the vision of God". Origen's theology of the transfiguration influenced the patristic tradition and became a basis for theological writings by others. Among other issues, given the instruction to the apostles to keep silent about what they had seen until the resurrection, Origen comments that the glorified states of the transfiguration and the resurrection must be related.The Desert Fathers emphasized the light of the ascetic experience and related it to the light of the transfiguration – a theme developed further by Evagrius Ponticus in the 4th century. Around the same time Gregory of Nyssa and later Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite were developing a "theology of light" which then influenced Byzantine meditative and mystical traditions such as the Tabor light and theoria. The iconography of the transfiguration continued to develop in this time period, and there is a 6th-century symbolic representation in the apse of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe and a well known depiction at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in Egypt.
Byzantine Fathers often relied on highly visual metaphors in their writings, indicating that they may have been influenced by the established iconography. The extensive writings of Maximus the Confessor may have been shaped by his contemplations on the katholikon at Saint Catherine's Monastery – not a unique case of a theological idea appearing in icons long before it appears in writings.
In the 7th century, Maximus the Confessor said that the senses of the apostles were transfigured to enable them to perceive the true glory of Christ. In the same vein, building on 2 Corinthians 3:18, by the end of the 13th century the concept of "transfiguration of the believer" had stabilized and Gregory Palamas considered "true knowledge of God" to be a transfiguration of man by the Spirit of God. The spiritual transfiguration of the believer then continued to remain a theme for achieving a closer union with God.
One of the generalizations of Christian belief has been that the Eastern Church emphasizes the transfiguration while the Western Church focuses on the crucifixion. However, in practice both branches continue to attach significance to both events, although specific nuances continue to persist. An example of such a nuance is the saintly signs of the Imitation of Christ. Unlike Catholic saints such as Padre Pio or Francis of Assisi Eastern Orthodox saints have never reported stigmata, but saints such as Seraphim of Sarov and Silouan the Athonite have reported being transfigured by an inward light of grace.