Transfiguration of Christ

Beams of uncreated light shine forth from the glorified Christ on Mount Tabor. Struck by rays of this light, seers witness His divine glory. The apostles Peter, James, and John are shown prostrated at Christ’s feet, while the prophets Moses and Elijah gesture toward him from adjacent peaks. The depiction of light in the icon reflects the hesychastic theology of Gregory Palamas who was a monk on Mount Athos in the fourteenth century. Hesychasm (“stillness”) offers monks a pathway to union with God, through unceasing prayer and contemplation of the “uncreated light.” The dismissal hymn, chanted on the Feast of the Transfiguration, anticipates hope for the divinization of human nature: “Illuminate us sinners also with your everlasting light.”