August: Day 6: Teaching 1: Holy Transfiguration of the Lord

 

August: Day 6: Teaching 1:
Holy Transfiguration of the Lord
 
(Lessons From the Event Being Celebrated: 
a) Hurry to Jesus Christ and He Will Calm You and Make You Happy; 
b) The Means to Live in Peace and Love)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Transfiguration of the Lord, which we celebrate today, took place in this way: Jesus Christ, taking with Him three of His disciples, Peter, James, and John, went up with them to the high mountain Tabor, and there, during prayer, He was transfigured before them, that is, He appeared in a glorified form: His face shone like the sun, His garments became white as snow, and Moses and Elijah appeared, talking with Him. The Apostle Peter, delighted with such a wonderful sight, said to Jesus Christ: "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You want, let us build here three canopies: one for You, another for Moses, and a third for Elijah." But while he was still speaking, a bright cloud appeared and overshadowed them; and when they found themselves in the cloud, fear fell upon them. And behold, from the cloud came the voice of God the Father, saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him." When the disciples heard this voice, they were very afraid and fell to the ground. Jesus came and touched them and said, "Rise and do not be afraid." When they rose, they saw no one else except Jesus alone in His former form.

The next day, when they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus Christ forbade them to tell anyone about what they had seen until He rose from the dead (Matt. 17:1-9; Mark 10:2-9; Luke 11:28-36).

II. a) Why, my brethren, did the Apostle Peter suddenly feel so good on the mountain that he didn't even know how to express his joy – would he have stayed there forever? This is because during the Transfiguration, an extraordinary light shone from Jesus Christ, a divine light; and the Apostles, as much as they could, enjoyed this light. This is always the case with divine light. With it, everywhere is good: even in darkness, it is bright, and in solitude, it is joyful.

Sometimes life is hard for us, with various needs and fears, with troubles and illnesses, with labors and deprivations; let every one who labors and is burdened hurry to the sweetest Jesus, and He will give you rest. With the sweetest Jesus we can always be cheerful, calm, content with everything, and forget all grief.

b) On the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, we especially ask Jesus Christ, our Lord, that His eternal, Divine, joyful, and calming light may shine upon us: “May Your everlasting light shine upon us sinners.”

Do you also, brethren, wish to be illuminated by the divine light? Live among yourselves in love and harmony, and you will be well and happy, and you will live in the divine light. “Whoever loves his brother,” says the Gospel, “abides in the light” (1 John 2:10). God’s blessing descends upon those people who live among themselves in love. And from the outside, the heart rejoices as you look at people living in harmony with each other: what joy they themselves enjoy! Unfortunately, such families are rare, and such people are few!

What can I do? We sometimes say: I would be glad to live in peace with everyone, but it does not depend on me; and I would be ready to forget all insults, but not only do they insult me, but they do not want to make peace with me. No, brethren, it depends mainly and almost always on us to live in peace with everyone, it almost always depends on us to live peacefully even with those who do not want to live peacefully and make peace. And with the unpeaceful we must be peaceful - be peacemakers. Listen to the following story from the Prologue, and you will be convinced of the truth of my words. 

One monk, insulted by his brother, came to him to make peace with him, but he did not receive him, and did not open the door to him! The rejected one went after that to an experienced elder and told him about this. “Do you know,” the elder said to him, “why the brother who offended you did not want to make peace with you? You, going to him to make peace, justified yourself in your soul, and mentally accused him. I advise you to do this: although your brother has sinned against you, but you should establish in your soul the thought that you have also sinned against him; blame yourself, and justify him.” The monk followed the elder’s advice, went to his brother, and what happened? He had not yet managed to push the door when he opened it immediately and met him with open arms. ("Prologue," September 17).

And we, if we wish to live peacefully with our neighbors or to make peace with someone, and he does not want to, then we must try to justify him, even if he is really guilty before us, and blame ourselves, although we believe in our opinion that we are right. Our souls somehow understand each other, and our heartfelt dispositions strongly affect the heart of another. The moment you justify and excuse another, he, on his part, will justify and excuse you; thus there will be peace and harmony between you.

Of course, there are people who are so hardened in evil from long service to Satan that there is no possibility of reconciling with them, for they reject the Christian world and in exchange offer such conditions that neither conscience, nor the fear of God, nor civil laws allow one to accept. But let us pray to God for those people, so that He Himself would guide them on the path of truth and goodness.

III. You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God! Unite our hearts with love so that we may always live peacefully and never have the need to make peace.

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.