In transfigurationem

On the Transfiguration. The rising sun extends its own rays over the whole world; and the Lord Christ’s birth in the flesh sent forth his disciples, like so many rays, into the whole inhabited world. For this reason also today, like luminaries, Peter and James and John adorn this sacred assembly—the netters of unbelievers, the fishermen of those formerly astray into knowledge of God, who use the cross instead of a rod, and the threefold confession instead of a line, drawing up the rational fish from the depth of wickedness; they who share with the teacher in the ineffable mysteries, and become eyewitnesses and earwitnesses of unspeakable and unseen things. Peter, called rock for his faith, and bearing up the building of the Church upon himself. For you are, he says, Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. But let us see, if you please, for what reason and cause the chief has obtained this reward. The Savior once asked the disciples what opinion they held about him. While the others were silent for the time, this noble one, leaping forward, said—he did not say, “You have become,” “You were created,” but, “You are,” according to the prophet who says, “But you are the same, and your years will not fail”; and for this confession he receives the keys of the heavens. For, he says, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in the heavens.

O paradoxical and nature-transcending dignity! While walking on earth, he sent forth laws to the heavenly powers, and those powers observed them. And below, he dictated what seemed good, while from above God confirmed the judgment of his words. That Joseph was once deemed blessed, entrusted with the granaries of Pharaoh. How is not Peter enviable and thrice-blessed, entrusted with the treasures of the heavens themselves? But I do not bless him so much for receiving the authority to bind, nor because even the shadows of his garments, when they appeared, drove away diseases, nor because he raised Tabitha from the dead—for these are the gifts of the active Spirit in their abundance; rather, I bless that Peter for the true confession, which he first of all set forth: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And he confesses what is apparent: "You are the Christ"; this is the proclamation of his co-existence with the Father. Let us also consider, if you please, the particular excellences of the thrice-blessed John: not from those in which he shared the divine poverty with Peter—for he was with the one who said, "I have no silver or gold," and indicated his agreement by silence—but because, having fallen upon the Master's breast, he forged from there that sacred and great-voiced trumpet, through which, what heaven did not speak, what angels did not conceive, what none of the other evangelists grasped, he alone revealed with a bold and faithful tongue: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

For what reason, then, and on what account, being earlier than the other evangelists, did he write the Gospel last? It is necessary to investigate this as well. Matthew composed the Gospel miracles in the Hebrew language. Mark, having become a disciple of Peter, wrote down the events that took place through the Lord Christ—I mean the unmixed birth, the blameless conduct, the paradoxical signs, the Jewish envy, the saving passion, the life-giving death for us, the resurrection to incorruption, the assumption to the paternal bosom. Similarly, Luke also, being a disciple of Paul, trod the same path as those before him. John alone, then, like a fisherman sitting at a lookout and becoming a spectator of others fishing, when he saw that the chief point of knowledge had been omitted by them, takes up the fishing rod of the Gospel, and from it hunts the sought-after fish, and sells it uncaught to the faithful, crying out, "In the beginning was the Word." Not from the time when Mary, the supposed mother, Christ began, he says; not from the time when Joseph acted as his father does he have his existence; nor from the time of Moses, nor from the time of Abraham, the father of all before the law; but "In the beginning was the Word." And nothing is more ancient than the beginning, nothing is older than the beginning; every creation begins and is under a beginning; but the Son is the beginning of all things, and he is the beginning as creator of all. Everything taken up with the beginning is younger; only the beginning holds the prerogatives of eternity. But let us look at the righteous James.

For even if the other James, the one called "the Just," received the exceptional title of "the Righteous," he will not begrudge his fellow apostle such a distinction. Many are the Gospel achievements with which the son of Zebedee also abounds; but for the present, it suffices for a word of praise that he gladly had his head cut off for the sake of the Master's love. For Herod, as Luke records in the Acts, put him to death. These are the athletes of piety, these the servants of the Gospel proclamations. But when one victor returns from the Olympic games, crowds and cities rush to see him, and that crowned with laurel leaves; we, however, have seen not one, but three contestants, contestants for the Trinity, who have contended and been crowned for the Trinity, coming to us with a merciful gathering. Yet every tongue dares the immoderate when it attempts to recount the praises of even one of these, and the mind reels, forced to measure a sea of virtues with a cup; nevertheless, we have undertaken it, displaying to the fathers the fruit of gratitude. Two days ago, the birthday festival of the all-king Christ was completed; fittingly, therefore, these brilliant contests were accomplished by the pentathlete contestants in honor of the Lord's birth. This is also accustomed to happen in external matters; for in the cities, the rulers honor the royal birthdays; but there, the victor reaped the pleasure of a shadow and of a temporary joy.

Here, the prizes for the victors are immortal, the crowns everlasting, joy with the angels, splendor with the saints in the resurrection. These privileges are reserved for those who engage in these contests. By their intercessions may we also be preserved, and may this good shepherd be granted to us for many decades of years in Christ, to whom is glory for ever. Amen.