Wednesday, August 4, 2004
Dormition Fast The Seven Sleepers of Ephesos
1st of Vespers Transfiguration: Exodus 24:12-18 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 16:4-12
Gospel: St. Matthew 21:28-32
Exodus 24:12-18, especially vs. 16: " The glory of the Lord settled on
Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses out of
the midst of the cloud." St. John the Theologian declares that "no one has seen God at any time"
(1 Jn. 4:12), yet, in another place, St. John reports the words of Christ our God to Philip: "he who
has seen Me has seen the Father" (Jn. 14:9). When we consider whether it is possible to see God,
let us hold both of these statements in mind, for while they appear contradictory, still, taken
together, they express a wider truth concerning human vision and God.
On the one hand, the sight of God in glory for all of fallen, sinful humanity is a terrifying vision,
an unbearable sight. As we say at the Vespers of Transfiguration, it is a "sight...that may not be
looked upon." On the other hand, let us never miss the significance of the Apostolic assertion
concerning Him Who was from before time and forever but became Incarnate: "we have seen
with our eyes...we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life
[Who] was manifested and...seen" (1 Jn. 1:1,2).
At least one purpose of the Incarnation of Christ our God was to disclose to mankind the vision
of God in the most complete manner apprehensible to human sight, that in seeing we might be
saved. The three Disciples with Christ on the mountain when He "shone forth in glory" indeed
saw something of His Divinity. They fell down before His radiance. That sight of God was
limited to what they could bear; for seeing Jesus transfigured by His Divinity, they fell "down on
their faces kneeling...overcome with astonishment." The present reading from Exodus helps
further to clarify our understanding of what it means to behold the glory of God.
First, like Moses (Ex. 24:12), Peter, James, and John, went "up on the mountain" at the Lord's
behest (Mt. 17:1). "Moses rose with his servant Joshua and...went up into the mountain of God"
(vs. 13), because God specifically said to him, "Come up to Me" (Ex. 24:12). We are not told
how Moses heard God. It was another instance of a man hearing God even when He was not
present "in the flesh" (Jn. 1:14). Therefore, let us understand that the Prophet heard with the ears
of his heart - with spiritual hearing (1 Sam. 9:15). Now in the case of Jesus' Disciples, we know
that they heard the Lord with their physical ears; yet, in their hearts, they also had heard enough
so that they did not wish to leave Him (Jn. 6:68). Hence, they followed Him readily.
When Moses "went up into the mountain of God" (vs. 15), he left the community of Israel
behind. Thus, he was separated from the company of other men except for Joshua. Likewise,
when the Disciples went up with the Lord, notice that it was "by themselves" (Mt. 17:1). The
sight of God is not revealed to the common throng. In addition, to shield His meeting with
Moses, the man, the Lord "covered the mountain" with a cloud (Ex. 12:15). Thus, the Prophet
did not continue up the mountain toward God, but waited for the Lord upon the slopes a full six
days, until God should call him higher into the cloud at the peak (vs. 16).
See the parallel: when the three Disciples were on top of Mount Tabor with the Lord, "a bright
cloud overshadowed them" (Mt. 17:5). And when Moses met God in the cloud, "the glory of the
Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people" below (Ex.
24:17). What then must the sight of God have been like for Moses within the cloud? St. Luke's
report is suggestive: that those with Peter "were heavy with sleep" at seeing Jesus transfigured
(Lk. 9:32), beholding His glory only "as far as they could bear it."
Let us go up to the mount of the Lord and to the house of our God, ascending by the Spirit to
behold His glory as of an only Son of the Father, in praise of the Life-giving Trinity.
