This inseparability of Christ from the Holy Spirit. The Eastern Church especially reveres the Holy Trinity, which was so vividly manifested on Tabor, for "the voice of the Mother of God has heard, announcing the mystery of Thy incarnation" (On the verses of the sticheron are self-voiced, tone 1). [45] He revealed the identity of the eternal Logos and the historical Jesus of Nazareth. After the event on Tabor, this identity became an immutable truth, indisputable and inviolable forever, for it was witnessed by God Himself. The descent of the Spirit of God upon Jesus at His baptism and "a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son" (Matt. 3:16-17; cf. Mk. 1:10-11; Lk. 3:22) was also a testimony to heaven itself. However, it was not yet connected with the appearance of the Divinity of Christ in His transfigured form, so it could only be understood as a sign of Christ's mission: Jesus of Nazareth was called by the Lord to be the Messiah. However, in order to understand that He is also God, the sign that occurred on the banks of the Jordan was not enough. Meanwhile, on Tabor, not only a voice from heaven is heard, but Jesus himself shines with Divine light. And all this is seen and heard by the people present at the time. This means that Christ is the beloved Son of His Father, not only in the sense of the mission entrusted to Him, but also in the sense of the Essence itself. After all, the Nature of the Father and the Son is one, so He shares His power with the Father. [46] Thus, S. Bulgakov rightly notes that the name of Jesus, which belongs to the Second Hypostasis of the Holy Spirit. Through Her He also names the whole Godhead, for it is the name of the Word (Logos). This Word is the word of the Father, which contains the Divinity as such. On the one hand, the name Jesus is a proper name, on the other hand, it belongs to God Himself, being a sub-designation of the name Yahweh. [47] That is why this name has such great power that "every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth" bows before Him (Phil. 2:10).

      The divinity of Christ is the main thing that the event on Tabor indicates, which is why the Byzantine liturgy of the feast of the Transfiguration tirelessly sings of it. At Matins of this feast, a beautiful parallel is drawn between Moses' experiences on Mount Sinai and what he experienced on Tabor. In both cases, the Divine Logos appeared to him: on Sinai as the Lawgiver, on Tabor as the Saviour. The light in which Christ appeared did not descend from above: it was the radiance of His nature. The light came from within. "Thou didst show the hidden lightning under the flesh of Thy being, O Christ, and the Divine splendor on the holy mountain, the Benefactor" (Glory, and now, tone 8),[48] sings the Eastern Church. "Hide thyself by the dawn of the Divinity, O sensual sun, as on Mount Tabor having seen Thee being transformed, O my Jesus." [49] Moses saw Christ "in the Light, but now we are unapproachable to the Godhead" (Another Canon, Tone 8, Ode 1). [50] In these images of the Byzantine liturgy is expressed the profound dogmatic thought that the Divinity is the hidden principle of Christ. According to the deep conviction of the Eastern Church, Christ, as it has been said, has always been and will always be the light of being, for He is the prototype of this being, according to which all and everything is created. Therefore, the transfiguration that took place on Tabor was a new state for Christ the Man, if we talk about the human condition, but it was not new for Christ God. Christ, as the Divine Logos, lives eternally in the ineffable light of the Holy Spirit. Trinity. The heated polemics that broke out in the 14th century between Barlaam and Palamas revolve around the nature of the light of Tabor. The Byzantine Councils of Constantinople (1341 and 1351) resolved this polemic in such a way that, after condemning Barlaam and agreeing with the teaching of Palamas, they advised to distinguish in God between essence (ousia) and power (energeia). Both of them are not created and therefore divine. However, the Divine Essence is not communicable or comprehensible, while the Divine Power can be manifested and transmitted, it can even be experienced in sensations. [51] The light of Tabor was a manifestation of Divine power. This power lives in Christ as in God, always. But on Tabor it became accessible, visible. It was revealed to us as a sign of the Divinity of Christ. It bore witness to us of Christ as the pre-eternal Logos, who is Light in His Very Being. Thus, the light of Tabor is a vision of the Divinity of Christ – "now the Apostle has seen the invisible Divinity in the flesh, having shone on Mount Tabor"[52] or "Thou didst show Thy kindness in creation, not as in an image, but as He Himself in essence"[53], i.e. the Divinity of Christ was seen in reality, as the Liturgy says.

      In the Liturgy, the Divinity of Christ is especially emphasized in the aspect of Egoslava. The most beautiful images that are used in the hymns of the feast of the Transfiguration are aimed at making this glory of Christ understandable and tangible to us: "The sun, clarifying the earth, sets, but Christ, having shone with glory on the mountain, enlightened the world" (Little Vespers). [54] He appeared in the radiance of glory, "gloriously covered with food, showing that by the height of virtues they would be vouchsafed Divine glory" (At Great Vespers)[55]; the Apostles saw "the beginnings of goodness and splendor" (At Great Vespers, Litiya). [56] The event on Tabor is the glory of His Divinity, and therefore Tabor itself is higher than any place on earth, for this mountain has seen the radiance of the glory of Christ. In the Liturgy of the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Eastern Church, addressing the faithful, exhorts: "Arise, ye slothful people, who have always lowered your thoughts to the ground of my soul, lift up and ascend to the height of the Divine ascent. By coming to Peter and Zebedee, and together with them we will reach Mount Tabor, that we may see with them the glory of our God" (Ikos). [57]

      The power of Christ is also connected with glory. In the Byzantine liturgy of the feast of the Transfiguration, this aspect was also noted and expressed in indescribably beautiful images. Before Christ was raised to the cross, He ascended Mount Tabor together with the Apostles, and there "Thou wast transfigured before them, illuminating them with a ray of power" (At Great Vespers). [58] This He did, guided by love for mankind and by the authority given to Him. During the procession of the cross, the Eastern Church sings the power of Christ revealed to the disciples, calling Him Lord of the living and the dead (cf. Litiya). The Eastern experience of Christ as the Lord, the Almighty of the universe, which will be discussed a little later, is manifested unusually vividly in the liturgy of the feast of the Transfiguration. And indeed, as the Russian monk Silouan (1866-1938), who died on Mount Athos, said, "When God appears in a great light, then there can be no doubt that it is the Lord, the Creator and the Almighty." [60] For the whole environment, all the circumstances of Jesus' transfiguration, speak of His lordship: He appears illuminated by light, accompanied by the prophets of old, and the Heavenly Father Himself presents Him as the Lawgiver to be obeyed. The event on Mount Tabor reveals to us Christ God in the radiance of glory and power.

3. CHRIST IN HUMANITY

     However, Christ is not only the true God and the Light of Light, but at the same time He is the True Man. At the moment of His incarnation, He descended from His Divine Throne and entered human history. The existence of Christ is contained not only in the incomprehensible depths of the Holy Scriptures. But also in the historical fate of mankind, and through humanity in the fate of the whole world. This second or human side of Christ's existence was also revealed on Mount Tabor. The remark of the Gospels that Christ spoke to Moses and Elijah "about His exodus, which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31), shows that the Transfiguration was not only a testimony to the Divinity of Christ, but at the same time an indication of His human fate. Christ came into the world to redeem mankind not by His divine power, but by sacrificing His life on the cross. Therefore, when Peter proposed to make three tabernacles on Tabor, which means to strengthen this event by turning it into a permanent state, the Gospels note that at that moment he "did not know what he was saying" (Luke 9:33), for this proposal was precisely a desire to remain in the radiance of Divine power, a desire to get out of the darkness that Christ came to overcome without withdrawing from it, but accepting this darkness and suffering for it. Thus, Peter's desire was caused by his human weakness.

      Earlier, when Jesus had told His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem, suffer much, and be killed, "Peter began to rebuke Him, 'Be merciful to Yourself, Lord! let it not be so with Thee" (Matt. 16:22). However, Christ answered Peter quite clearly: "Get thee behind me, Satan! you are a stumbling block to Me! for thou thinkest not of the things of God, but of the things of men" (Matt. 16:23). In Peter's words we hear the hope of human nature to see the salvation of the world, which will be realized not by historical means, but only by the action of the Divine power, the power that remains on the other side of earthly fate, but by the wave of which everything can be transformed without suffering and death. Christ does not abandon such hope, for Tabor without the Way of the Cross is only a deceptive dream. Tabor is the manifestation of the Godhead, but the Divinity alone is not the fullness of Christ, therefore Tabor alone is not the fullness of salvation. The path to Tabor, as to the permanent state of man, goes through Golgotha. To make tabernacles on Tabor, avoiding events on the way to Golgotha, means to be deceived by a dream and thereby refute the reality of salvation. That is why Christ chose Peter rather sharply to try to keep Him from suffering, and that is why Cardinal E. Suhard of Paris spoke in his time of the temptation of Tabor, which threatens not only Peter, but all Christians, if only they make an attempt to remain in the radiance of the grace of Baptism, forgetting about the world drowned in darkness. [61] Therefore, to separate Tabor from the Way of the Cross means to exclude Christ and the Church from history and thereby to refute the reality of the Incarnation. The radiance of Christ's divine power should never so blind us that in this blindness we will not only fail to understand Christ's mission in earthly history, but even, which is quite likely, we will refute it. Christ's relationship with humanity is as genuine and true as His relationship in the Holy Scriptures. Trinity.

      The Byzantine liturgy of the feast of the Transfiguration reveals to us the connection between Christ and humanity in three aspects: the event on Tabor as a reflection of the Resurrection, as the beginning of the deification of man, and as a harbinger of the transfiguration of the world.

      The Eastern Church, calling the transfiguration of Jesus "the brightness of the resurrection," says that it proclaims the "saving resurrection" (Great Vespers). [62] The deepest meaning of these definitions is contained in the fact that Christ, transfigured on Tabor, is Christ as He will be after His resurrection: His face, shining like the sun, is permeated with the Divine power hidden in the very nature of the Logos. Transfiguration is a manifestation of the uncreated Divine power. And if the manifestation of this Divine power on Tabor is an image of the resurrection of Christ, then the resurrection is nothing but the breakthrough of this Divine power. Thus, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is essentially related to His divinity. Jesus had to be resurrected, for already in this life His Humanity was so full of Divinity that the laws and rules of this life became powerless and were subordinated to the Divine life. The law of death, to which all men are subject, did not operate in Christ by virtue of its natural necessity, as in any other man, but only because the Logos, by His self-abasement, allowed him to act, accepting it as His fate. In the light of the Transfiguration, the death of Christ is an absolutely free action: it is a sacrifice in the salvation of mankind. Therefore, at Matins of the Feast of the Transfiguration, the Eastern Church sings that on Tabor the disciples saw the Divine glory of Christ and understood that His suffering on Golgotha was voluntary. [63] But Christ, permeated with the Divine light, could not die. And if He did die, it was only because He allowed death to work. It was as if He was showing her mercy by exposing His human nature to destruction.

      This aspect is characterized by the fact that the Byzantine liturgy considers the transfiguration of Jesus to be a response to the conversation between Moses and Elijah "about His exodus, which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem" (Luke 9:30). True, the necessity of this outcome was defended by Jesus Himself, who rejected Peter's words and called him Satan when the latter tried to convince the Savior that there was no need for Him to go to Jerusalem and be killed (cf. Matt. 16:21-23). Jesus' mission on earth was to end in death. On the other hand, however, the disciples had to understand that Jesus' death was not the natural end of His earthly journey. That is why He allowed them to see His transfiguration, during which His human nature shone with divine light. Thus Jesus proclaimed to His disciples and to all mankind that His death was not the natural result of His humanity, for His humanity was already filled with Divinity in the very process of life, but was a voluntary decision of the Lover of mankind, taken for the salvation of mankind (cf. Great Vespers, Litiya). [64] The Transfiguration on Tabor is indisputable proof that death on Golgotha is a completely free sacrifice of Christ for the good of man.

      However, Christ's human nature is inextricably linked to His divine nature. The acceptance of humanity at the moment of incarnation was not the temporary clothe of the Logos in humanity as in garments, but was the union of the Creator with His creation for permanent co-existence. Christ as Man never had to cease to be Man and return to His purely triune state as the Word of the Father. Therefore, death could only be a transitory state for Christ, but not a permanent state. After all, death destroys human nature, dividing it into carnal and spiritual principles. True, the spiritual principle lives on after death, but not in the fullness of the image. In view of the fact that man as such is not only a spirit, then his posthumous life outside of his carnal nature is not fully human. Therefore, Christianity, calling the afterlife a perfect existence, proclaims the resurrection of the flesh and its union with the soul, for only in this way does man regain his nature as it was originally created by the Lord. Having become man, Christ took on human nature in all its fullness. Therefore He could not allow death to destroy the carnal nature of this nature, and that the Logos should bear only the human soul, not clothed with flesh. In the existence of Christ, death could only be a sacrificial act. He performed this act on the cross, prepared a sacrifice for His Heavenly Father for people, and thereby fulfilled His mission on earth – and rose again in order to return to the Father in the fullness of His being. The Resurrection is the indispensable result of the unity of the two natures of Christ in one Person of the Divine Logos.

      Therefore, it is understandable why Christ forbade the Apostles to tell people about the transfiguration, "until the Son of Man rises from the dead" (Mark 9:9). For it was only after the resurrection that the apostles and all others could understand that the transfiguration of Christ was not an accidental event that took place by command from above, but that it was a manifestation of His Divine Nature as well as His resurrection. On Mount Tabor, the Divine Nature broke through with a transient radiance, which after the resurrection was to become the permanent state of Christ. By forbidding His disciples to tell about what they had seen on Tabor, Christ Himself pointed to the essential connection of the Transfiguration with the Resurrection as the final affirmation of Divinity in the human principle. That the Apostles understood this thought of Christ is evidenced by their conversation among themselves about "what it means to rise from the dead" (Mark 9:10). The disciples felt that the light of Tabor was something more than just an ordinary reflection of Divinity, that it indicated what was to happen to Christ. That is why they spoke of the resurrection, although they did not know how this could happen. However, in any case, the transfiguration of Jesus on Tabor is an introduction to the resurrection, and the resurrection of Jesus on Easter morning is a fully realized transfiguration.

      But the human nature in Christ, united with the Divine Logos, is exactly the same as that of all of us. Jesus of Nazareth is the True Man, possessing soul and body, bearing all the content of His people. As a human being, He is no different from others. However, this universal human nature in Christ is not for Himself. The saying is quite vague, but true. Christ is a man, but not in the sense of a human person, but only in the sense of nature. There is no human person in Christ, as in any other of us – Jonas, Petras, Povilas, Antanas. This is the greatest mystery of the confession, the depths of which our reason cannot comprehend, but which is one of the fundamental Christian dogmas. Christ took on human nature, but did not turn into a human person. As a person, Christ is only a Divine Person: the Divine Logos is the Second Person of the Holy Spirit. Trinity. He carries human nature and unites it with the Divine. Christ is one Person (Divine), having two natures (Divine and human). And precisely because there is no human person in Christ, His human nature did not become His private property. We, as self-aware individuals, make human nature our personal property: our personality makes our human nature its belonging, which is separate from others and contained only in our personality. Therefore, the actions of our personality, concentrated on our own Self, concern only our nature, not extend to the entire space of the humanity of this nature. We live and act in ourselves and for ourselves.

      This is what we do, but not Christ. Not being a human person, Christ does not separate His human nature from the same nature of other people. Human nature in Christ was not incarnated in a human person. It is personified in the Person of the Divine Logos. However, the Logos as God is so universal that there can be no separation. The Divine Person of the Logos, who bears human nature, does not make this nature exclusively His own, which could belong only to Him and serve Him alone. By taking on human nature and personifying it not in a human person, but only in a divine person, Christ did not become a personal man, but became a universal man, a universal man, as vast as human nature itself. And this is something that needs to be paid special attention if we are to understand Christ's relationship with humanity. This connection is not only legal, not only moral, but iontological. This connection is based on the same universal human nature. The universal and complete humanity, which our personality individualizes and thereby limits, does not live in Christ individually or in a limited way. Consequently, all of Christ's activity is not limited to the expanse of nature that we see in Jesus of Nazareth. The activity of Christ extends to the whole of human nature in all its universality.