This past Thursday, we celebrated, and continue today to celebrate, of one of my favorite feasts of the Year: The Holy Transfiguration of our Lord! In the middle of fasting and remembering the holiness of the Theotokos, we take a pause to get a glimpse of the Kingdom!
The Transfiguration wasn’t just some small miracle or a footnote in the earthly ministry of our Lord. It is, rather, the very center of our salvation. In this feast, our future is revealed to us and our destiny as Christians is shown to us. That common future that all those who are moving towards Christ are called to share, is revealed on Mt. Tabor.
One of the truly beautiful teachings in Holy Orthodoxy, is that this Glory…this Kingdom of Heaven…is something that we can experience in this life. Even today, it is possible with us, to reflect and be engulfed by what many Fathers and Mothers of the Church call “The Light of Tabor”; the Energies of God entering into our very being, bringing indescribable heavenly joy.
Personal Transfiguration, reflecting the Glory of God, isn’t some fairytale that we read to our children. It is a reality. We see it so often when reading the lives the saints! I cannot tell you how many real examples we have of people that witnessed this same Divine Light emanating from Holy Men and Women while they were in prayer.
Perhaps one of the more famous ones that many of you have read in classes with me, is the story of Motovilov, sitting in the woods and having a conversation with St. Seraphim of Sarov, who while He was praying, became too bright for Motovilov to look at Him! The Divine Light shone all around the forest where they were sitting, and enveloped both the Saint and Motovilov. They just sat in the midst of the snow, basking in the Glorious Energies of God.
Have you ever wondered what it must have been like for Peter, James, and John on Mt Tabor to be surrounded by Christ’s Light ? When St. Seraphim asked Motovilov how he felt when being surrounded by the Uncreated Light, he responded with words like: “indescribably calm…extraordinary sweetness…extraordinary joy….extraordinary warmth…and the smell, like nothing on earth that could match this fragrance.” Those of you who have been in the presence of Holiness at a weeping Icon know what smell this is!
St. Seraphim is but one example. Saint Paisios, a wonderful Saint of our own lifetimes, called these moments: “Sweet Candies from God’s Pastry Shop!” There is a wonderful story written by a young man who travelled the world looking for answers to deep spiritual questions. His travels once took him into the presence of Saint Paisios, who showed him firsthand what holiness feels like:
“As we reached the gate, I was again in a spiritual state of watchful inebriation. Looking down at me from his yard, the Elder started making jokes about “God’s Pastry Shop.” I felt so joyful…it was even embarrassing. I didn’t want to leave his presence…
The elder then placed his hands on my head and momentarily lifted up his eyes to heaven. I was flooded by a spiritual torrent. I felt such a fullness of light and life…of peace and joy…that it took my breath away. Words are insufficient to express what I felt…it was beyond all measurement and comparison…”.
The question for us today dear ones, is how to do we get there?
I think that sometimes, we fall into this trap of thinking that living our faith and developing a relationship with Christ is something that is external and intellectual. We try to cram all of this knowledge in our brains about the faith and watch apologetical conversations on youtube. We make sure we are checking labels on food items to see if they are fasting foods or not. We stand in front of our icon corners in the morning and at night, not to pray, but rather to fulfill some kind of external obligation. In some cases, we see our orthodox faith through the lens of some kind of western moralism: “Do the Right thing, don’t sin…maybe show up occasionally to Church…and you will get to a place called heaven where we can finally put our feet up.”
This isn’t Holy Orthodoxy. This isn’t how we get to Tabor…or how we grow in a relationship with Christ. As Orthodox Christians, especially with this recent surge coming into the Church, we have to start setting the example that our faith goes SO MUCH DEEPER than that.
The joys of the Kingdom, reflecting the Glorious Energies of God within our life is something that is available to us right here and right now, if we only decide, not just to practice our faith…but to live it.
Fr. Silviu Bunta of our diocese once beautifully said that: Holy Orthodoxy is not some kind of system. It is internal, inherited, informal, natural, ascetical, simple, therapeutic, and soteriological. It comes down to living, both in this world and in the world to come, the life which God has given us through his revelations from the beginning of time all the way to today...God has not simply taught our ancestors things, shown them ways, and given them commandments and liturgy, but in all these things, He has given them His own being and His own life.
Our faith, dear ones, is life itself.
Until we get to that moment…until we can get out of our heads and start fully living and internalizing a life like Christ…may we all continue to be inspired by both the Lives of the Saints, and by the Holy Feasts like Transfiguration, which are there to remind us that we too are destined for indescribable Joy that can only be found when we start to live our faith in God.