“This feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord shows that human beings were not created for the grave, but for heaven,” His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church emphasised on Thursday.
The Patriarch participated in the Divine Liturgy celebrated for the Feast of the Transfiguration at the historic St George Chapel of the Patriarchal Residence.
“The Transfiguration was accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sake of His disciples, so that after seeing Him disfigured and crucified, they would not fall into despair or lose their faith, but would await His Resurrection, when His divinity would once again be revealed,” Patriarch Daniel explained.
The Romanian Patriarch said that human beings were not created for corruption but for eternal glory in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The purpose of Christian life
His Beatitude stressed that the Feast of the Transfiguration reveals the true purpose of Christian life.
“This feast, which became especially popular among us in the fourteenth century through the hesychast movement, shows that the purpose of Christian life is the purification of the heart and the vision of God’s grace—the unseen light, the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven—perceived even with ordinary human eyes.”
He explained that hesychasm flourished on Mount Athos during the fourteenth century before spreading to Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Romanian lands.
“In our country, most monasteries and sketes dedicated to the Transfiguration were established in mountainous regions,” the Patriarch noted.
Patriarch Daniel also recalled that Romanian monks who had lived on Mount Athos later returned home and transformed Mount Ceahlău into “a mountain of the Transfiguration.”
Every church is a Mount Tabor
His Beatitude explained that Christ’s Transfiguration is a prophetic icon of His Church.
“Every Orthodox church is a Tabor, a holy mountain. That is why our churches have three distinct spaces: the Holy Altar, the nave, and the narthex.”
He said these three sections symbolically correspond to the three tabernacles mentioned by St Peter the Apostle on Mount Tabor and represent humanity’s journey toward Christ through the Law of Moses and the prophets.
“The goal is entry into the Kingdom of God, iconically represented by the sanctuary, from which we receive Christ’s divine, holy, life-giving, and immortal Mysteries,” he added.
Concluding his homily, Patriarch Daniel called on the faithful to renew their lives.
“This feast calls us to transform our lives, beginning with the enlightenment of the mind through reading Holy Scripture, the illumination of the heart through the Prayer of the Heart, and the illumination of our lives through good works and holy living.”
Photo: Lumina Newspaper
