And Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they conversed with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi! it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he did not know what to say; because they were afraid. And a cloud appeared overshadowing them, and out of the cloud came a voice, saying, This is my beloved Son; Listen to him. And suddenly looking around, they saw no one else with them, except Jesus alone.

For many reasons, Elijah and Moses are conversing with Christ. But it is enough to mention two. Thus, since the disciples rejoiced that some of the people took Him for Elijah, and others for one of the prophets, He reveals to them the greatest prophets, so that the disciples, at least, may know the difference between slaves and the Lord. Here is the first reason. Second: since many considered Christ to be an adversary of God, who supposedly destroys the Sabbath and transgresses the law, He shows on the mountain such prophets, one of whom was a lawgiver, and the other a zealot; and such prophets would not have conversed with Him if He had destroyed the Law and did not do what they preached. And Peter was afraid to come down from the mountain (for he feared the Lord's crucifixion), and therefore he said, "It is good for us to be here," and not to go down among the Jews; for if thy enemies come hither, we have Moses, who smote the Egyptians, and Elijah, who brought down fire from heaven, and destroyed the fifty chiefs. What did the prophets talk to Him about? They spoke of the Crucifixion and His death. And what Peter said, he himself did not know what he was saying, because all of them (the disciples) were in fear of the ineffable light and glory of Christ. He did not want Jesus to come down from the mountain to the Crucifixion for the sake of our salvation, but wanted to remain always on the mountain. But let us also turn our minds to (mysterious) contemplation. At the end of this world, created in six days, Jesus will lead us, if we are His (true) disciples, "to the high mountain," that is, to heaven, and He will reveal Himself to us in the brightest form. Now He appears to us in an inglorious form, as the Crucified One and the Son of the woodworker, and then we will see His glory as the Only-begotten; if we also see the Law and the prophets conversing with Him, that is, what was spoken of Him by Moses and the prophets, then we will understand and find the perfect fulfillment of their prophecies. Then we will also hear the voice of the Father, for the Father will reveal to us the Son and declare: "This is My Son." How will He tell us this? When the cloud is overshadowed, that is, the Holy Spirit, for He is the source of life.

And when they came down from the mountain, he commanded no one to tell what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. And they kept the word, asking one another what it meant to rise from the dead.

Why does Jesus command the disciples not to tell anyone about the Transfiguration? So that people, hearing about such glory of Christ, would not be offended later when they saw Him crucified. After the Resurrection from the dead, it will be convenient to speak about such a glorious event that took place before the Crucifixion of Christ. Thus, the apostles "kept this word (observing this event in secret), asking one another what it meant to rise from the dead," for they had not yet understood His words that He was to rise from the dead.

And they asked him, "How then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He answered and said to them, "True, Elijah must come first and arrange all things; and the Son of Man, as it is written of Him, must suffer much, and be humiliated. But I say to you, that Elijah also came, and they did to him as they wished, as it is written about him.

There was a rumor among the Jews that Elijah would come before the coming of Christ. However, the Pharisees did not interpret what was written about Elijah as they should, but maliciously changed (the meaning of the Scriptures), hiding the truth. For there are two comings of Christ: one is the first (which has already been), and the other is yet to come. The forerunner of the first was John, the forerunner of the second will be Elijah. But Christ calls John Elijah as a denouncer, zealot and desert dweller. Thus, the Lord refutes the opinion of the Pharisees, who thought that the forerunner of Christ's first coming should be Elijah. How does he refute it? He says, "Elijah must come first and arrange all things; and the Son of Man, as it is written of Him, must suffer much." This means this: when Elijah the Tishbite comes, he will pacify the disobedient Jews, lead them to faith, and thus become the forerunner of the second coming of Christ. And if the Tishbite, who was to arrange all things, had been the forerunner of the first coming, how is it written that the Son of Man must suffer? So, one of two things: either Elijah should not be the forerunner of the first coming, if the Scriptures tell the truth that Christ must suffer, or we will believe the words of the Pharisees that the forerunner of the first coming must be a Tishbite, and then there will be no truth in the Scriptures, which say that Christ will suffer; for Elijah must arrange all things, and then there will not be a single Jew who does not believe, but all will believe the preaching, whoever hears it from Elijah. Thus refuting the wrong opinion of the Pharisees, the Lord said that "Elijah (i.e. John) had already come, and they did with him as they wished," because they did not believe him, and he accepted the end by cutting off (the head), becoming a victim of amusement (Herod's).

And when he came to the disciples, he saw many people about them, and the scribes arguing with them. Immediately when all the people saw Him, they were amazed, and running up, they saluted Him. He asked the scribes; What are you arguing with them about? One of the people answered and said, "Teacher! I have brought my son to Thee, possessed of a dumb spirit: wherever he seizes him, he throws him to the ground, and he foams, and gnashes his teeth, and becomes numb. I told Thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not.