How many were there, on the mountain of Transfiguration?

Feb 28, 2015 at 2:04 pm

How many were there on the mountain at the Transfiguration?

Did you answer four? Jesus, Peter, James and John?

Six? Adding Moses and Elijah?

How about eight?

Most of us are not used to thinking about the Trinity when we hear the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus, as we do for the second Sunday of Lent.

As St. John Paul II noted, in an Easter season audience in 2000, the Eastern churches (both Orthodox and Catholic) are very clear about the Transfiguration being a manifestation of the Holy Trinity. In the Eastern churches, the late pope noted, morning prayer on the feast of the Transfiguration prays: “Immutable brightness of the Father’s light, O Word, in your shining light on Tabor we have seen today the light that is the Father and the light that is the Spirit, a light that illumines all creation.”

John Paul added that this prayer “emphasizes the Trinitarian dimension of Christ’s Transfiguration on the mountain. In fact, the Father’s presence with his revealing voice is explicit. Christian tradition catches an implicit glimpse of the Holy Spirit’s presence based on the parallel event of the baptism in the Jordan, when the Spirit descended upon Christ like a dove.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting St. Thomas Aquinas, also notes the Trinity’s appearance: “The whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining cloud” (n. 555).

The presence of two other threesomes helps to emphasize this as a Trinity moment: Peter, James and John represent the church, each of us who have been baptized into Christ.

The presence of Moses and Elijah, with Jesus, emphasizes the fullness of salvation history that is about to take place with Jesus’ Passion, death and resurrection — of which Jesus, Moses and Elijah speak.

There may be another threesome as well. A member of the Orthodox Church who maintains an anonymous blog at iconreader.wordpress.com notes the Eastern Orthodox tradition that Peter, James and John on the mountaintop represent the cardinal virtues of faith, hope and love:

  • Peter is faith “for he was the first to confess his faith in Christ as the Son of God;”
  • James is hope because “he was the first [Apostle] to lay down his life for the Lord, being slain by the Jews;
  • and John stands for love, since “he reclined on the bosom of the Lord and remained beneath the Cross of the Lord until the end.”

For Western Catholics, it isn’t hard to see the presence of God the Father in the voice: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” And, since we heard the same voice at the Baptism of Jesus on Jan. 11, we can, with a little reflection, be reminded that the Spirit was also at the baptism. Jesus’ presence, of course, is obvious at both events.

So the Holy Spirit being at the Transfiguration makes sense. But there’s no dove. So where’s the Spirit?

St. Gregory Palamas, who was archbishop of Thessalonica in the early 14th century, explained that “the Father and the Holy Spirit were invisibly with the Lord: the Father, with his voice testifying that this was his beloved son, and the Holy Spirit shining forth with him in the radiant cloud.”

The bright cloud that overshadows Jesus – from which the Father’s voice speaks – is Matthew’s reminder of the shekinah, the bright cloud that led the Chosen People out of Egypt and that filled the meeting tent whenever God was present there.

Shekinah is a Hebrew word meaning “the dwelling place of God.” For Jews, the shekinah does not represent God, but announces God’s presence and power.

In the tradition of the Old Testament, the shekinah contained God’s glory in both beautiful and fearsome ways. The cloud of brightness — which may seem a beautiful image — was also the nighttime pillar of fire.

At times, the cloud was dark and menacing (1Kgs 8:12); and its presence was always difficult to bear. When God “cast a glance” through it (Ex. 14:14), the Egyptian forces were cast into turmoil. Priests were driven from the Temple in Jerusalem, when the shekinah descended there (1Kgs 8:11).

And the three disciples were, like Peter, so afraid they did not “know what to say” when the bright cloud appeared on the mountain.

Yet, Peter, James and John were also happy to behold the bright cloud that heralded God’s presence. They felt “it is good that we are here,” because they knew God was there also. Whether or not they understood how God was there, nonetheless the disciples recognized the divine presence.

In Eastern icons of the Transfiguration, the Spirit is represented as a dark circle around the transfigured Jesus, with light edging the darkness. The voice of the Father is depicted as bright lines radiating from this dark circle. On some icons, there are also three red lines coming from Jesus’ feet: another sign of the Trinity. (Red is the traditional icon color for divinity.)

So not only does the Transfiguration show forth the glory that belongs completely to Jesus, in anticipation of the suffering he is about to endure, it is a reminder of the Trinity, who is the God of the living and the dead (since Moses died but is now seen alive, and Elijah, who did not ever die).

The event is also a promise of what God will reveal to all of us.

As retired Australian Greek Orthodox Bishop Joseph of Arianzos said of the Transfiguration (often called the Metamorphoses in Eastern churches): “The divine alteration that occurred to the three disciples on Tabor … will happen to us, too, and we will be worthy to become ‘God-viewers,’ like them and all the saints of the ages.”

We, too, are promised a climb up the holy mountain to join the greatest threesome of all: the Trinity.

 

Sources: “Smith’s Bible Dictionary”; “The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon”; “The Collegeville Bible Commentary”; “The Catholic Encyclopedia”; Catechism of the Catholic Church; “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary”; iconreader.wordpress.com; pravoslavie.ru/english; orthodoxchristian.info; w2.vatican.va.

 

Kasten is the author of “Linking Your Beads, The Rosary’s History, Mysteries and Prayers,” and “Making Sense of Saints,” both published by Our Sunday Visitor Press.

 

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