A HOMILY FOR THE AFTERFEAST OF THE LORD’S TRANSFIGURATION
(Aug. 6/19)
About Christ’s Prayer on Tabor and Our Own Prayer
Brothers and sisters!
Today we continue to celebrate the Great Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ; therefore, in my homily I will begin by directing your attention to Christ’s prayer on Mount Tabor, then turn to our own prayer.
Before He made the world, God, the All-Holy Trinity, foreseeing man’s fall, determined to redeem His creature in the most marvelous way possible. The three Persons of the Trinity decided that one of their number, God the Son, would assume human flesh from an all-holy virgin and suffer in that flesh for the human race. So that man’s redemption would not only be perfect, but would be best received by its beneficiaries, the Son of God chose certain men – mostly simple fishermen – to become the heralds of our salvation through the Cross. Wishing to assure these men of His divinity, and to ensure that they would succeed in their task, He ascended Mount Tabor and gave Himself over to prayer. As a result, His divine glory was visibly revealed to three of those disciples. He went up into a mountain to pray, the Gospel says, and as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and glistering.[1] He revealed His glory thus in order that the disciples, when they saw Him crucified, would know His Passion to be willing and would preach to the world that He in truth is the Effulgence of the Father, as we chant in the Kontakion of the feast.
Through prayer to the Father, all the Lord’s wishes as He approached Tabor became reality. He prayed to be transfigured before the disciples so that they would understand that He really was the Son of God, and during His prayer His humanity shone with the radiance of His divinity. As the natural result of His perfect prayer, the light of the One Who is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,[2] blazed infinitely bright not only in His soul, but in His flesh. Actually, however, it always shone in this way, but the disciples, as yet uninitiated by the Holy Spirit, could not see it. Now, on account of His prayer, they were granted to behold it, not fully, but in part – as far as they were able to endure. Even so, they could see that it extended beyond Christ’s incarnate Person, as it brilliantly illumined His clothes, too. At this the apostles reacted with fear and, at the same time, with joy and delight; and Peter, expressing as so often what the others were thinking, cried, Lord, it is good for us to be here![3] Moses and Elijah appeared from the world beyond and beckoned the disciples into that realm, into the presence of God the Father Himself, and the Father spoke to the disciples out of a cloud, proclaiming, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased![4]
See, dear brothers and sisters, what momentous results obtained from Christ’s prayer on Mount Tabor!
Oh, blessed prayer, which unites heaven and earth! Wondrous is the example of the God-man’s supplication, which calls every man to emulation! Let no one imagine that Christ’s prayer only pertained to Christ, and has no application to us. Rather, what occurred with Christ should occur with every person, even if not to the same degree as with Christ. To a certain extent, whatever we see in Christ pertains to us. This is why Saint Paul says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.[5]
As God, Christ had no need for prayer; but as Man, His soul thirsted for communion with the Father, and thus it longed for prayer to Him. Besides this, the Lord yearned to pray, so that He could show all men that they need to pray. For what are we without God: without being created, preserved, and saved by Him? What are we, without living communion with Him? Nothing at all… Except inasmuch as He brought us into being, and inasmuch as we live in Him, we have neither right to exist, nor right to blessedness. We are because of His compassion, and we are saved by His compassion. Nevertheless, it is essential that we remember that we are children not only of Adam the first-created by God – created for divine glory – but children of Adam the first to sin. As such, we are born in sin, as the righteous Job says: Who shall be pure from uncleanness? Not even one; if even his life should be but a single day upon the earth.[6] Thus we are continuously in need of forgiveness and thus continuously in need of specifically repentant prayer.
Perhaps you will say: “I understand this, but I do not have the disposition necessary for such prayer.” You speak truly, O man; but you do not draw the proper conclusion from this truth. On the one hand, you acknowledge the necessity for communion with God and you desire such communion. On the other, there nestles in your soul a feeling of revulsion for communion with the Lord and you are governed by a tendency to flee such communion. It may seem difficult to understand such a state of affairs, but in reality its explanation is simple. The first inclination is a reflection of man’s first-created state, traces of which remain in everyone – traces strengthened in some by grace; the second is an expression of our fallen nature, marred and weakened by sin. As it is written in the Book of Genesis: And the voice of the Lord God was heard as He walked in the Garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God.[7] Therefore, if you wish to hide from the face of the Lord, you may do so; but know that, doing so, like Adam, you will be blocked from the Garden by Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turneth every way, to guard the way of the tree of life.[8] But if you wish to dwell in the Paradise of delight with God and to enjoy the vision of His light, then stop fleeing from Him. Rather, overcome your sinful inclination to shun prayer, and run to His fatherly embrace, as Christ showed you by His prayer on Tabor and elsewhere.
“But,” you protest, “my prayer is weak and fruitless.” Our prayer is indeed weak and fruitless, but not because prayer is such by nature, but because of our own feebleness and laziness. We either do not pray for what we should, or simply do not pray as we should. “Be wise when you pray,” counsels Saint Isaac the Syrian. “Do not ask for anything vain and corruptible. Instead, remember the Saviour’s command: ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things necessary for your temporal existence shall be added unto you.” Therefore, the two most necessary prayers (for our private use) are the Prayer of Jesus and the Lord’s Prayer. The first enables us, with relative ease and much simplicity, to call upon the Saviour’s mercy at all times and in every place and circumstance. The second reminds us of what are the things we are primarily asking for when we call upon that mercy. Also, very helpful to repeat frequently another of Christ’s prayers, His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: Not My will, but Thine be done.[9] This prayer is especially useful when we are undergoing trials and temptations.
Pray with faith, dear Christians – with simple, unquestioning faith – for faith gives wings to prayer. Without such faith, your prayer will go nowhere. Also, be careful not to say, “I have achieved nothing by my prayer.” This is the devil’s whispering. The very fact that you have persisted long in prayer is itself great gain. As that renowned master of prayer, the prophet David, says: It is good for me to cleave unto God, to put my hope in the Lord.[10] What could be higher than to cleave to the Lord and abide perpetually in communion with Him? Besides, what calamities might you have already escaped – unbeknown to you, but with God’s help – on account of your devotion to prayer and your persistence in it?
Beloved brothers and sisters, if you do not forsake prayer, God will not forsake you. Do not worry if your prayer is imperfect. Persist, struggle, force yourself to pray, and pray with as much force as you can muster; and the Lord Himself will perfect your prayer. Also, beseech Him insistently to grant you true prayer: prayer in spirit and truth. Do so, and He in His good time will certainly lead you up to the brilliant vision of Him in His uncreated light, not on Mount Tabor, but in Heaven itself! Amen.
[1] Luke 9:28-29
[2] John 1:9
[3] Matt. 17:4
[4] Matt. 17:5
[5] Phil. 2:5
[6] Job 14:5
[7] Gen. 3:8
[8] Gen. 3:24
[9] Luke 22:42
[10] Ps. 72:26
