Yesterday night we attended a service for the Transfiguration of Christ. I'm so grateful to be in the Orthodox Church where they celebrate such things. See the icon to the left in which Moses and Elijah stand next to Jesus on the mountain and the three disciples, Peter, James and John down below. I'm finding the feastdays to be a very intimate and tangible experience of Christ's life. And the hymnography recounting the gospel event was so meditative and instructive. Can't find lyrics like this elsewhere! Verses like below went on for a full hour. Then the service ended with making three prostrations before an icon of the Transfigured Christ and being annointed with Holy Oil by the priest.
"Christ, the Light that shone before the sun, who in the body lived upon the earth and before His Crucifixion fulfilled all His fearful dispensation in a manner befitting His divine majesty, today upon Mount Tabor mystically manifests the image of the Trinity. Taking aside the expressly chosen Disciples, Peter, James and John, He led them up into the mountain alone. Concealing briefly the flesh He had assumed, He was transfigured before them, manifesting the loveliness of the original beauty, though short of full perfection; for He spared them as He assured them, lest seeing, they die. Yet they perceived as far as they were able with their bodily eyes. He likewise presented the chief Prophets, Moses and Elijah, who testified to His Divinity...Today on Mount Tabor, O Lord, You have shown the glory of Your divine form to Your chosen Disciples, Peter, James and John. For they looked upon Your garments that gleamed like the light and at Your face that shone more than the sun. Unable to endure the vision of Your brightness that none can bear, they fell to the earth, powerless to gaze at the sight, for they heard a voice that bore witness from above: "This is My beloved Son Who has come into the world to save mankind!"
