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Christ, by Saint Sophrony,
pencil on discoloured greaseproof paper.
Iconostasis, St Silouan’s Chapel,
Community of St John the Baptist, 1988.
"Behold, a bright cloud which overshadowed them, and behold a voice
out of the cloud, which said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased; hear ye him" [Matt. 17:5].
The Transfiguration of our Lord is a mighty event of everlasting
consequences, not only for each of us but for the whole of world history. In
their writings our Fathers scrutinised it from every aspect, starting with the
Lord's prior preparation of His disciples, then going on to consider what
accompanied or took place simultaneously with the Theophany on Tabor; and
finally pondering what followed after it in the actions of the Lord Jesus and
in the consciousness of the Apostles who witnessed the Transfiguration. Our
knowledge of all these things will help us, too, wisely to tread the same path,
following Christ's footsteps. But just now let us concentrate our attention on
the peculiarities of the matter as we have it in the Gospel account.
What was this bright cloud which overshadowed Holy Tabor that
night? Many years ago now, on the feast of Transfiguration I put the question
to a certain ascetic who, as I firmly believe, had himself been vouchsafed the
vision of this Light. In reply to my audacious request to tell me something of
the mystery of the Light of Tabor, and how it is contemplated and how one may
attain to such a gift, he treated my ignorance with extreme indulgence and
patiently explained the mystery to me. And today I am going to tell you what I
heard from his truthful lips, if only the most essential part and as briefly as
possible.
He explained that at first, when he was still young, the Light used
to appear to him faintly and for brief moments, now like an elusive flame of
fire which kindled love in his heart, now a radiance that pierced his mind with
its brightness. The Light would appear to him at times when he was praying,
particularly during church services. But once, after long and fervent prayer
over many months, accompanied by deep regret for his own wickedness, the Light
gently descended on him and stayed with him for three days. During those days
he experienced the clear sensation of being beyond the reach of death. The joy
of resurrection from the dead filled his soul. He thought of the Light as the 'rooming
of resurrection, since it was quiet and gentle like a spring morning. At that
time he was leading an ordinary workaday existence in the world. Several years
later, after he had become a monk and been ordained to the clergy, his prayer
would time and time again be transformed into a vision of Light, which made him
oblivious both to his own body and the material world around him.
This Light makes its appearance as a pure gift, bestowed by Divine
benevolence from on high. The first time it comes unexpectedly -the soul having
no intimation of its approach or even that it exists. Hitherto unknown, the
Light reduces the soul to a state of sweetly agreeable bewilderment and, in her
astonishment, the soul has no idea of who or what has appeared to her, but she
instantly feels like a prisoner who has been brought out of a gloomy cell into
sunlit, fragrant open spaces.
The man of God also told me that although the Divine Light is
invariable in nature, its effects - i.e. what it does to a man - differ widely.
Sometimes he perceives it as tender love of Christ, at others like a divine
force accompanying him. Sometimes it is like some inexplicable breath of
eternal life within man; at others like a Light of understanding or a spiritual
vision of God surpassing all thought. But the loving-kindness of the Lord is
beyond measure and it can happen that His love is poured out even more
abundantly. Then the Divine Light fills the whole being to such an extent that
the recipient himself begins to resemble Light. And what a man sees then can
only be described as Light, though that Light is altogether different in its
very nature from the light of the visible sun.
Saint Sophrony the Athonite.
In answer to my original question concerning the Theophany on
Mount Tabor this man of God continued his account with evident pains to find
concepts that would have even slight meaning for me. He said, 'We must always
be mindful of our inadequacy, and if we do venture to broach this exalted theme
we must make no more than a diffident attempt to advance, be it only a little
way, towards comprehending it, and should make no pretentious claims to really
fathoming or exhausting it. So then, proceeding from the effects of the Divine
Light as just described, the account of the Transfiguration given us by the
Evangelists in language so simple as to seem naive can to some extent be filled
out by us as follows:
After the Apostles had begun to realise the superhuman perfection
of their Master and, through the mouth of Peter, had acknowledged Him to be to
be "Christ, Son of the living God", the Lord wished to confirm them
further in this recognition by means of corroboration from the Father. This
was particularly necessary since He was already preparing for "his decease
which he should accomplish in Jerusalem" [Luke 9:31], that is, the
Sacrifice in the place called Golgotha. Peter's pronouncement, "Thou art
the Christ" [Mark 8:29] was prompted by a still far from perfect knowledge
of who was this Christ; but despite all the imperfection and incompleteness of
that confession of faith it did already express the growing love and
dedication of the Apostles, which made them capable of assimilating a greater
outpouring of the Light of Divine revelation. And so the Lord said: "There
be some standing here which shall not taste death, till they see the Son of man
coming in his Kingdom" [Matt. 16:28]. After this pronouncement the Lord
makes His silent journey with His disciples from the area of Caesarea Philippi
to the sacred Mount of Tabor. There He chose Peter, James and John and brought
them up into a high mountain of contemplation of His Divine "glory which
He had with the Father before the world was" [John 17:5].
'The Lord Himself always and immutably bore with Him Light, being
in His Divinity Unoriginate Light, but at that level He remained invisible to
those who had not yet the Light in themselves. On Mount Tabor our Lord prayed.
Nothing prohibits us from presuming that by its content that prayer resembled
His prayer after the Last Supper [John 17], for His hour was drawing near.
Encompassing in His prayer everything from the creation of the world to the end
of time, the Lord also prayed for the Apostles, that the Name of the Father
should be revealed to them, and that the love with which the Father had loved
the Son should be in them too [John 17:26].
Reference:
Truth and Life. Archimandrite Sophrony Sacharov. Essex 2014.