Thursday, August 5, 2004
Dormition Fast Martyr Euginios of Antioch
2nd of Transfiguration: Exodus 33:11-23; 34:4-6, 8 Epistle: 2 Corinthians 1:1-7
Gospel: St. Matthew 21:43-46
Exodus 33:11-23; 34:4-6, 8 LXX, especially vss. 19, 20: "And God
said, I will pass by before thee with My glory, and I will call by My Name, the Lord, before thee;
and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and will have pity on whom I will have pity.
And God said, Thou shalt not be able to see My face: for no man shall see My face, and live."
On Mount Sinai, through His servant Moses, the Lord God gave His ancient People Covenant
laws, including both moral commandments and detailed forms of worship. God chose to deliver
these covenant prescriptions through "Moses face to face, as if one should speak to his friend"
(vs. 11). The Lord, ever free to "have mercy on whom [He] will have mercy, and...pity on whom
[He] will have pity" (vs. 19), "found grace" (vs. 17) for Moses before Himself. Thus, He
permitted the Seer to behold His "back parts," but His face did not appear to him (vs. 23). God
the Lord did manifest Himself to some extent to this man of God who found grace in His eyes.
While the Holy Fathers agree that no fallen, mortal man may see the face or essence of God,
which is beyond every form of perception in this present life, yet Moses was granted a great
privilege, to have God manifest Himself to him in some manner. Saint Gregory of Nyssa points
out that "Scripture does not indicate that this [beholding of God] causes the death of those who
look, for how would the face of life ever be the cause of death to those who approach it. On the
contrary, the Divine is by its nature life-giving." What then? As Saint Gregory explains, "Yet it
is the characteristic of the divine nature to transcend all characteristics. Therefore he who thinks
God is something to be known does not have life, because he has turned from true being to what
he considers by sense perception to have being." Still, God manifested Himself to Moses.
What did God allow Moses to behold? Or rather, what did Moses see when God put him "in a
hole of the rock" (vs. 22) and covered him over with His hand, until He passed by? What are we
to make of the phrase "back parts"(vs. 23), and what sort of a Divine manifestation can be
referred to in such words? St. Augustine reframes the matter by directing attention to the deep
truth inherent in the words: "As regards this life, Moses is told, 'Nobody has seen the face of God
and lived.' You see, in this life we are not meant to live in order to see that Face; we are meant
to die to the world in order to live forever in God. Then we won't sin, not only by deed but not
even by desire, when we see that Face which beats and surpasses all desires."
Let us then direct our attention to the real problem we face in having God manifest Himself to us
- our sin. Thus, St. Augustine appeals to us, "Because it is so lovely [the face of God], my
brothers and sisters, so beautiful, that once you have seen it, nothing else can give you pleasure.
It will give insatiable satisfaction of which we will never tire. We will always be hungry and
always have our fill." But the filling is in the age and life to come. In this present life, where sin
is rife in us and everywhere around us, where it distorts the perception of the heart and blinds the
eyes of the soul, and blockades the manifestation of God, let us be about ridding ourselves of sin
as an urgent priority of our lives. Let us truly strive against our numerous infirmities and to seek
ever to please the Lord we serve "in every deed and word" and show that our true desire is to be
"a child and heir of [His] heavenly kingdom."
St. Augustine suggests that Moses was allowed to see prefigured the Person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. "Thus the back parts are taken to be His flesh, in which he was born of the Virgin and
rose again...." Is He not the Lord before Whom we wish to purify and conform our lives so that
when this life is ended, we may behold Him face to face, as our Savior and friend?
Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and Thy salvation do Thou give unto us. (Ps. 84:7 LXX)