Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord at Caraiman Monastery

On 6 August 2013, the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrates the Transfiguration of the Lord. His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the chapel of the “Transfiguration of the Lord” of the Monastery of the “Exaltation of the Holy Cross” – Craiman, Busteni, county of Prahova which celebrated its dedication day. His Beatitude was assisted by a group of priests and deacons which also included Rev Archimandrite David Petrovici, abbot of the monastery and Rev Archpriest Costica Dumitru of the Deanery of Campina.

In the sermon delivered His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel referred to the importance of the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord for the life of the Christians and showed that this feast reveals us the future of the human nature in the Kingdom of God: “The feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord shows us first of all the divinity of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Secondly, it shows us that the glory of His Resurrection is the glory of His coming to the universal Resurrection too, at His second coming when He judges the living and the dead, and whose Kingdom will have no end. The feast also shows us that this glory of Christ is shared to those who believe in Him and love Him as a foretaste, in advance, ever since this world. This is why the troparion says that His glory was shown to the disciples according to their abilities, namely according to their capacity, of the three apostles, to receive this glory. Had He shown it all, in all its fullness, they would not have resisted. Therefore, it was the divine glory adapted to the human nature of the Saints Apostles. This is why, the Transfiguration of the Lord which is, in fact, the changing of His all body into light shows us the future of the human nature in the Kingdom of God. If now, the light of the grace unseen to the physical eyes is hidden in the souls of those who believe and who keep in touch with God through much praying – the source of the eternal uncreated glory, not made and never setting – at His second coming, in the New Heaven and New Earth, the bodies will be inside the glory, wrapped in the light of the glory. This is an uncreated, never setting light, the light of the eternal grace of the Most Holy Trinity.”

From this point of view the Transfiguration of the Lord does not refer only to Him, but to the entire humankind, His Beatitude continued, adding: “The book of the Revelation tells us that the New Jerusalem will be a city where God will live with the people; it will come down from Heaven and there will be no more sun or moon because God will illuminate it with His glory. The Transfiguration shows us the ultimate future of those who believe in Christ and will share His glory. Because the glory of Christ shared to those who believe in Him, as a foretaste in this world and in its fullness at His second coming, cannot be seen in a decayed, corruptible world, God will change the sky and the earth into a new sky and new earth and this change is called transfiguration in theology, namely passing into another plan of existence”.

The Patriarch of Romania has also shown that the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord is a feast of the Church too, as ultimate stage in her life: “The meaning of the Church is not only to make people get the forgiveness of their sins, but also to deify and illuminate them. This is why the baptism is named the holy illumination. From that time forward the presence of the unseen light of the divine grace begins in man. This light must be cultivated through faith and good deeds, through much prayer in the life of the Christian. From the 4th century on, some very spiritualised monks felt the presence of this light in their souls, and some of them have even seen, while still living in this world, by the good will of God, glimpses of the presence of the glory of God in their bodies, on their faces, and around them. This sight ever since this world of the glory of the Kingdom of God as a foretaste made the saints pray even more. The movement focused on searching for the Kingdom of God and foretasting of the never setting joy, peace and light of God ever since living in this world has been called hysichasm.

The purity of the heart is the first requirement for the salvation of the soul, His Beatitude Daniel has also shown: “The Transfiguration shows us that the light acquired through prayer and good deeds is a sharing of God Himself, not only of His gifts, but of His very loving, illuminating, and deifying presence. Therefore, the Light of the Tabor or the uncreated Light is the light of the grace of God. This is why, the Holy Fathers when experienced, for example, in the desert of Egypt, as seen in the conversations of Saints John Cassian and Gherman of Dobrudgea with some elevated monks in Egypt, learned that this light is given only to the pure hearted. When one of the old Egyptians asked what the meaning of the Christian’s life was, the fore-Romanian Fathers Cassian and Gherman said: It is the salvation of the soul, and when asked: How can the salvation of the soul be reached and what is the sign of hope for reaching the salvation of the soul?, the old man who asked the question answered, when he saw that the young people were not answering: The pure hearted will see God. Thus, the purity of the heart is the first requirement for getting this light when and how God wills. Therefore, the purity of the heart means getting rid of fierce, selfish thoughts and feelings, and getting much lowliness and obedience to the word of God and accomplishment of His will”.

To end with the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel announced that a church would be built at Caraiman peak, in Bucegi Mountains, according to the model of the one raised at Ceahlau Mountain, in the early ’90-ies: “We hope that this church may be built in not a very long time, but with much devotion and care because it should be a stone church and a very solid one, because storms break out in this mountain rather often. The same as we succeeded by God’s grace, to build a church at Ceahlau Mountain in the early ’90-ies, so we hope to have a new church here too, at Caraiman Mountain, because we need the blessing of God and to learn from climbing the mountain the need of inner spiritual climbing”.

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