On this great day, we commemorate the glorious Transfiguration of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, when He revealed to us the Divine light of His Countenance and His entire Being.
It is fitting for us to contemplate what spiritual light is. My sermon today will be about this spiritual light.
You all know how every living creature yearns for the sun, for the material light shining from the heavens. You know how every insect, every blade of grass, every leaf and flower always reaches toward the light. The sunlight, the material light, is known to all of you, and you all love it.
But do you all know that besides the sunlight, there is another great light, an immaterial light, a spiritual light? Do all of you yearn for this spiritual light?
Oh, how hard it is for me to say it, but no, not all of us—far from all. I would even go further to say that very few reach for it, while the vast majority of those living on earth have no need for spiritual light and do not wish to know anything about it. They only need material light and the blessings associated with it.
Moreover, I will clarify what I have said—that all living things reach for sunlight. No, I did not make a mistake—there are many nocturnal birds, animals, and insects that seek darkness and avoid sunlight; there are toads and worms, and fish that live in deep waters that do not perceive light.
There are also many people like them—unfortunate people who need not light, but darkness. For you know that all thieves and robbers, all fornicators and adulterers seek darkness; they do their dark deeds in the gloom, in the darkness of night. Light bothers them; light is unbearable to them, and they do not love it.
And if they do not even love material light, how much more unbearable for them is the spiritual light, the light that shone upon the world from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well then, let them not endure it. But nevertheless, that Divine light which Christ revealed to us on Mount Tabor still shines and will never cease to shine.
Often, heavy, black clouds block out the heavenly sun. There are people who close their eyes to the sun, and there are also blind people who cannot see the light.
Concerning those who cannot bear spiritual light, the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian spoke in his marvelous Gospel, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Light that came into the world:
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not (Jn 1:9–11).
Oh, what terrifying words—His own received Him not.
But as many as received him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (Jn. 1:12).
And this Light shines, and it will shine forever, no matter how many people turn away from it, no matter how unnecessary this light seems to the world.
But in the eyes of the world, this light grows dimmer and dimmer. It shines in the heavens, but in human souls it grows dim, like the sunlight obscured by heavy clouds.
Do you not remember how the light of Christ dimmed, how terrible a bloody darkness settled over the world not so long ago when our [Russia’s] enemies, the Germans, committed their unspeakable atrocities?
Do you not know what bloody darkness, what an impenetrable gloom resides in the hearts of those American soldiers, those pilots who are annihilating the innocent population of Korea? Darkness, bloody, impenetrable darkness...
And the darkness grows ever thicker, and it frightens us, it frightens us when we see that this darkness reigns in the hearts of many people.
Outwardly, they seem well-off; they have everything—strength, vigor, beauty, an abundance of earthly fruits, and beautiful clothes—they have everything. It seems they are alive—but this only seems so because the darkness in their hearts is spiritual death. The words of Revelations can be said of them: Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead (Rev. 3:1).
The words of the holy Apostle John the Theologian apply to them: He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes (1 Jn. 2:9–11).
St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea For true life, it is not the sunlight that is necessary, but another light, the spiritual light that illuminates and enlightens our hearts.
Were there not many great bearers of spiritual light in the caves of the Kiev-Caves Lavra? Did not these great people live without sunlight—men in whose hearts shone a great, bright spiritual light that is more brilliant than the sun?
One can be a bearer of light even while living without light; and one can live in sunlight while being dead, having no spiritual light within himself.
In ancient Persia, people worshipped the sun. This was pitiable paganism, but in this paganism one can see that the people who worshipped the sun at least partially understood what spiritual light was—that by worshipping the sun, they were worshipping not only its light, visible to all, but in the material light, they also saw that Sun of Righteousness, whom we call our Lord Jesus Christ.
There were also fire worshipers in Persia. Can we say that their faith was utterly despicable? No, for in the Holy Scriptures, we read: For our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).
These pagans, these fire worshipers, vaguely understood and felt that fire could be a symbol of the Divinity, purifying all, consuming all defilement and wickedness. This was recognized by these fire worshipers. And they should be placed above those who have no concept of spiritual light, who acknowledge nothing beyond material goods, nothing beyond the light of the sun shining in the sky.
And to us Christians, on this great feast, the Lord has shown that His human body could shine with divine light. If that is so, if the body of the God-Man could shine with divine light, then it means that the bodies of Christians, destined for union with the God-Man, can also shine with heavenly light.
And we know, we know that not only did the Lord shine with this divine light on the day of His Transfiguration, but both the Old and New Testaments provide us with examples of this.
When the great Moses descended from Mount Sinai, carrying the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed by the finger of God, his face shone with divine light, so brightly, so unbearably that the Israelites asked Moses to cover his face with a veil, for they could not look upon it.
When St. Stephen the Archdeacon stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin and fearlessly spoke of Christ, all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel (Acts 6:15)—as the “face of an angel”, meaning illuminated with heavenly light.
And we know even more—we know that the face of St. Seraphim at times shone with the same heavenly light.
He had a friend, a neighboring landowner named Motovilov, who was a good and pure man. He often conversed with St. Seraphim, and once during such a conversation, Seraphim said to him: “Look at me!” Motovilov looked and was horrified, for suddenly the face of St. Seraphim shone with divine light.
So you see that the Lord, revealing to us the path to union with the God-Man, also gave us the possibility to shine with heavenly light, just as His entire body shone on this great day on Mount Tabor.
Oh, how important, how great, how desirable this is!
If we can shine with spiritual light, with divine light, will we not make every effort to become worthy of this?
The righteous in the Kingdom of Heaven will shine with heavenly light if they are found worthy.
The righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt. 13:43).
Thus said our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
And now, while we live in our earthly bodies, we must remember what the Lord said: Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you (Jn. 12:35).
Believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light (Jn. 12:36).
Sing in your hearts the hymn you so often hear on this day: “Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ God, showing Thy glory to Thy disciples as far as they could bear it. Let Thine everlasting light also shine upon us sinners, through the prayers of the Theotokos. O Giver of Light, glory to Thee” (Troparion to the Tranfiguration, Tone 7).
August 19, 1950
