At one time, when He was praying in a solitary place, and the disciples were with Him, He asked them, "Whom do the people say that I am?" They answered and said, "For John the Baptist, and some for Elijah; others [say] that one of the ancient prophets was resurrected. And he asked them, "And whom do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "For Christ of God." But He strictly commanded them not to tell anyone about this, saying that the Son of Man must suffer much, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day rise again.

The Lord, asking His disciples, does not ask directly what they themselves say, but first asks about the opinion of the people, and then about the opinion of themselves. He did this in order to show the injustice of the people's rumor about Him and to bring the disciples to the true understanding, which was done. For when the disciples said that some call you John, others Elijah, He asked, "And you, that is, you are different from all, you are chosen, you are separated, whom do you call Me?" Then Peter precedes the others and, having become the mouth of all, confesses Him to be the Christ of God, of Whom it has long been preached. He did not simply call Him the Christ of God, but the Christ of God, who is actually the Christ of God. For many have been anointed, but that Christ (the Anointed One) of God is the One and Only.

And he said to all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and to destroy himself or to injure himself? For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him, when He shall come in His glory, and of the Father, and of the holy angels. But I say to you truly, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

Since Christ said of Himself that the Son of Man must suffer much, He adds something general and universal, namely: I am not the only one who will endure death, but all who wish to follow Me must deny themselves, have no fellowship with the flesh, but despise themselves. — "The cross" here calls death the most shameful; for there was no other death so inglorious as death on the cross. Therefore He declares that whoever desires to be His disciple must die not a glorious death, but a reproachable one, will be killed as one who is condemned. And since many are killed reproachfully as robbers and evildoers, therefore He added, "And follow Me," that is, exercise every virtue. "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it," that is, if anyone wants to live in a worldly way, he will die in soul. "He is ashamed of Christ who says, 'How shall I believe in a crucified and desecrated God?' And he is ashamed of His words who mocks the simplicity of the Gospel. The Lord will be ashamed of such a person "in His glory," that is, at the Second Coming. He says, as it were, "As a householder, having a wicked servant, is ashamed to call him his servant, so I will be ashamed to call him my servant who has denied Me." Since He said above: "Whoever loses his life for My sake will save it," now, wishing to show what blessings such will be worthy of, He says: "There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God," that is, the glory in which the righteous have to be. He said this about His Transfiguration. For the Transfiguration was an image of the future heavenly glory, and just as Jesus in the Transfiguration miraculously shone like lightning, so then the righteous will shine in the same way (Matt. 13:43). There are, he says, a few (John, Peter, and James) who will not die before they see in what glory My confessors will be. And they will see it during the Transfiguration.

After these words, after eight days, taking Peter, John and James, He went up to the mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the appearance of His face changed, and His garment became white and shining. And behold, two men conversed with Him, who were Moses and Elijah; appearing in glory, they spoke of His exodus, which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and those who were with him were burdened with sleep; but when they woke up, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. And as they were departing from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master! it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what I spoke. And as he said this, a cloud appeared and overshadowed them; and they were afraid, when they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him. When this voice came, Jesus was left alone. And they kept silent, and told no man in those days what they saw.

The Evangelist Matthew says that Jesus ascended the mountain when six days had passed after these words (Matt. 17:1), and Luke says that eight days had passed. For Matthew speaks only of intermediate days, and Luke does not speak only of intermediate days, but also means the day on which these words were spoken, and the day on which the Transfiguration took place. Jesus took only three with Him: Peter as loving, John as beloved, and James as burning with zeal for Him, or as being able to conceal the event, keep it silent, and tell no one. for we must pray in solitude, with ascent, without bowing down to anything earthly. His appearance became different, not as if He Himself had become different in essence, for He remained the same as He was, but the appearance of His face was much brighter than before. A similar thing happened with His clothing. For only her sight shone with lightning; the essence of the clothes did not change, but only the appearance. "When He prayed, Moses and Elijah stood before Him to show that He was not an opponent of the Law and the prophets. For if He had been an adversary, Moses, who gave the Law, and Elijah, the most zealous of the prophets, would not have allowed themselves to serve Him (like bodyguards), nor even to be with Him. They spoke of the exodus which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem, that is, of His death. While Christ was in prayer, Peter was burdened with sleep, for he was weak, and in serving sleep, he paid tribute to human nature. When Peter awoke, he saw the glory of Christ and two men. Finding such a stay here pleasant because of the light and contemplation of the prophets, Peter says: "It is good for us to be here!" He thought that now the end of the world and the kingdom of Jesus had come. But he didn't know what he was saying. For then there was no end, the day of the kingdom and the enjoyment of the blessings which the saints will possess. Peter said this (it is good for us to be here) together and because he feared that Christ would be crucified. He heard from Christ that He must be killed and rise again on the third day; therefore he said this, as it were: let us not go down from the mountain, let us remain here in order to avoid the Cross and suffering; if the Jews come against us, then we have Elijah as his helper, who brought down fire from heaven and destroyed the fifty leaders; we have Moses, who smote so many such nations. He said this, not knowing what he was saying. For he thought that the cross was evil, and a painful one at that, and therefore, wishing to avoid it, he said this. Meanwhile, the Lord longed to be crucified, since otherwise the salvation of people could not be accomplished. "Then, as Peter also said: 'Let us make three tabernacles,' the Lord suddenly creates a canopy not made with hands and enters it with the prophets, in order to show that He is in no way less than the Father. For just as in the Old Testament the Lord appeared in a cloud, and Moses entered it, and thus received the Law (Exodus 19:9; 20:20-21), so now the cloud embraced Christ, and the cloud is not gloomy (for the shadow of the Law and the darkness of ignorance have passed), but a bright cloud. For the truth has come, and the grace of the Lord has shone, and therefore now there is nothing dark. And a voice went out of the cloud, just as in the Old Testament the voice of God was heard from the cloud. "Jesus was left alone, so that no one would think that the words: "This is My Beloved Son" were spoken about Moses or Elijah. However, this perhaps also means that the Law and the prophets existed only for a certain time, just as Moses and Elijah were visible here, and then, when their time had passed, only Jesus remained. For now the gospel reigns, while many things that are lawful have passed away. The apostles were silent and said nothing about what they saw. Before the Cross, it was not necessary to say anything divinely about Jesus. For what opinion would they have of Him who heard this, and then saw Him crucified? Would they not consider Him a deceiver and a dreamer? That is why the Apostles do not preach before the Cross about any of the miraculous and God-worthy deeds of Jesus. Incidentally, we have said enough about this subject in our explanation of the Gospel of Matthew (see Chapter 17).

And the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a great multitude met Him. Suddenly, one of the people exclaimed: Teacher! I beseech Thee to look upon my son, for he is alone with me: his breath seizes him, and he suddenly cries out, and tears him to pieces, so that he foams; and forcibly departs from him, having tormented him. I asked Thy disciples to cast him out, and they could not. And Jesus answered, saying, O unfaithful and perverse generation! How long will I be with you and endure you? Bring thy son hither. While he was still walking, the demon threw him down and began to beat him; but Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and gave him to his father.