Transfiguration

[gamavor]

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg198357.html

 

 

Spero News

Aug 6 2007

 

 

Feast of the Transfiguration: a gift from the east

 

The Feast of the Transfiguration, which has always been celebrated in

Eastern Christianity, has been on the Universal Calendar only since

the 15th Century. It marked a turning point in history that is

relevant today.

 

Sunday, August 05, 2007By Jay Scott Newman

 

Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

 

 

The Feast of the Transfiguration (described with slightly different

emphases by Matthew, Mark and Luke) recalls the manifestation of His

divine glory by the Lord Jesus to Peter, James, and John on Mt.

Tabor. During this revelation of His divine nature to human eyes,

Jesus was accompanied by Moses and Elijah, living symbols of the Law

and Prophets, who spoke to their Savior about the suffering which He

would endure in His passion and death. This combination of suffering

and glory reveals the paradox at the heart of the Gospel and spoken

of by the Lord Jesus just before His Transfiguration: "If anyone

wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross

daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose

it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." (Luke

9:23-24)

 

The oldest known liturgical celebration of this feast was in the

Armenian Church, and the 7th century Armenian Bishop Gregory

Arsharuni wrote that the feast was placed in the liturgy in the early

4th century by St. Gregory the Illuminator. In the Orthodox Church,

the Feast of the Transfiguration is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of

the liturgical year, and it is both preceded by a fast and celebrated

with a Vigil and an Octave, in the way Latin Rite Catholics celebrate

Christmas and Easter. These liturgical observances underscore the

importance of the truths revealed to us by the Transfiguration of the

LORD.

 

The Feast of the Transfiguration, which from antiquity has been kept

on August 6th, gradually entered the liturgical life of the Western

Church through our monasteries, and by the tenth century this feast

was observed in many of the dioceses of England, France and Germany.

But despite the importance and widespread celebration of this feast,

it was not placed by the Pope on the Universal Calendar until the

15th century, and the reason for that change is a timely one for us.

 

In 1453, Sultan Mohammed II conquered the great Christian imperial

capital of Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul; the armies of

Islam seemed to be invincible, and the Turks were on the move north

and west. But on 22 July 1456, János Hunyady, the Governor of Hungary

and a devout Catholic, led a Christian army to victory over the Turks

at Belgrade, marking a turning point in the centuries-long struggle

between the Christian West and militant Islam. In celebration of this

victory, Pope Callistus III extended the Feast of the Transfiguration

to the universal Church and ordered that it be kept each year on

August 6th. Callistus died two years later on 6 August 1458.

 

 

Reverend Jay Scott Newman is pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church

in Greenville, SC. Father Newman's other articles and homilies can be

seen at his blog .

 

 

 

[aghzar]

Fascinating, i knew that transfiguration became one of the main armenian church feast days to replace the pagan vartavar but i did not know we were the first ones to have transfiguration as a feast day at all...

[Arpa]

How timely!

Specially during this month of October, on the eve of Halloween, when we transfigure our children, dress them as angels and we dress as the devil.

According to the official calenar of the Armenian Church, that date, Sunday, August 12 2007 is known as Assmption of the Holy Mother of God/Վերափոխում Սուրբ Աստուածածնի. That is, when Մարի-ամ became Մայր-ամ

 

Edited October 4, 2007 by Arpa