Transfiguration: The Highest Mountain Peak

2.13. He who is aiming at knowledge, let him establish the foundations of his soul as immovable with the Lord, just as God said to Moses: “But you, stand exactly here, with me” (Deut. 5:31). It must be understood, however, that even among those standing with the Lord there is difference, if only that passage “…there are some among those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God has arrived with power” (Mt. 16:28) is not read cursorily by those eager to learn. For the Lord does not always appear with glory to all who are standing with Him, but rather, He is near the beginners in the shape of a servant (cf. Phil. 2:7), whereas He appears in the shape of God to those who are able to follow Him when He ascends the highest mountain peak of His transfiguration (cf. Mt. 17:1-8), in which shape He was before the existence of the world. It is possible, therefore, that the same Lord does not appear in the same way to all who happen to be with Him; rather, to some He appears in one way, and to others in a different way; in accordance with the measure of the faith in each, clearly He varies the vision.

2.14. When the Word of God becomes altogether radiant and bright in us, His face, too, will radiate just like the sun; then even His garments will appear white (cf. Mt. 17:2); that is, the words of the holy Scripture of the Gospels, clear and distinct, having nothing hidden. But also Moses and Elijah are present with Him (cf. Mt. 17:3); that is, the more spiritual principles of the Law and the Prophets.

2.15. Just as it is written that the Son of Man comes “with His angels in the glory of the Father” (Mt. 16:17), just so the Word of God is transfigured in the worthy with their every progress in virtue, coming “with His angels in the glory of the Father” (Mt. 16:17). For when the more spiritual principles in the Law and the Prophets, which Moses and Elijah through themselves typify, appear with the Lord at the transfiguration of the Lord (cf. Mt. 17:1-3), they preserve the proportion of glory in themselves, revealing the potentiality till then contained in the worthy.

2.16. He who qualifiedly has been initiated into the rationale behind oneness, has necessarily also come to know the rationales behind providence and judgment, which become conjoined to it. It is by this reason also that one reckons it to be right that three tents be made by himself, like saint Peter, for those who were seen (cf. Mt. 17:4); that is, the three aspects of salvation; I mean: that of virtue, and that of knowledge, and that of theology. For the first requires courage in practice and temperance, of which the blessed Elijah was the type; the second requires justice in accordance with natural contemplation, which the great Moses disclosed by himself; and the third requires inviolate perfection in accordance with prudence, which the Lord exhibited. And tents were spoken about because of the fact that there are other greater and more resplendent things than these, regions through which the worthy will pass in the future.



*From St Maximus the Confessor, Two Hundred Chapters on Theology, trans. Luis Joshua Salés (Yonkers, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2015), pp. 115, 117. Available for purchase at Eighth Day Books.