Nathan Duffy
Rating: 8,6|Votes: 7
For modern western Christians (who typically have very little exposure to Orthodox Christianity), it’s often difficult to grasp the nature of the divide between east and west. In my experience, most reflexively tend to reduce the differences in their mind to being relatively superficial or inessential. But the divide runs much deeper than most tend to realize.
Gabe Martini
Transfiguration is one of the twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. It comes forty days before the Elevation of the Holy Cross, and is the next-to-last feast of the ecclesiastical year. In this feast we are reminded of our calling as Christians: to be transfigured; to mature into ripened fruit; to be glorified in Christ.
Archbishop Dmitri (Royster)
Rating: 3|Votes: 1
The disciples fell on their faces, for they could not bear, as created beings, the vision of glory. Only when Jesus touched them and told them to arise and not be afraid, were they able to return to the reality they knew. Our own credal statement, "Light of Light," with reference to the Son is testimony to our faith that God is light and that the Son is also light, and is related to this vision as the eternal, uncreated light on Mt. Tabor.
Archpriest Andrew Phillips
Today, however, I would like to point out an aspect of this Feast which is often overlooked: Mt Tabor, the 'mountain' where the Transfiguration occurred. This Mt Tabor is for us a figure of repentance. We note that, like the disciples, in order for us to see the transfiguration or to hope to be transfigured ourselves, we will first have to climb up, to mount, from our present condition. Otherwise any transfiguration or change for the better in our lives is impossible.
Fr. Alexander Lebedev
We have requested Fr. Alexander Lebedev, senior priest of the Church of the Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God (at the Marketplace) of Vologda, to tell us about where the Church gets money and how the money is spent. For those interested, we add that this priest used to ride to services on a motorized scooter; that is until it was stolen. Then it became necessary for him to buy a Ford for the community.
