Transfiguration: the feast, talking about our future

Sermon of Archpriest Vladimir Selitskogo (1926 – 1997) on Transfiguration gogda 1985 in Tallinn Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

Author anbar, photosight.ru

Brothers and sisters, I can tell you this: today there is no way for the words about the dark, painful sins, because the celebration today of light and joy. Today the soul is the light and joy and fun spiritual Christian. So now I want to tell you that would have blocked the heavy that, maybe you’ve heard in the confessional – not about sins, but about what we have. And it is all due to today’s holiday.

This holiday is wonderful, he’s special, he’s out of range even in the circle of festivals of the Church. Here in what sense: the fact that we have all the holidays arranged in the order history, the order of the life of Christ the Savior. And Christ, as you know, was transformed to His sufferings, death, Resurrection, ascension, but we celebrate the Transfiguration after all this, almost at the end of the Church year. Why? Because the Transfiguration is a feast that speaks about the future of our state, about the future state of believers in Christ.

It turns out that this holiday refers, first, to the future, and then and to the present. Why to the future? There are the words of Christ in the Scriptures: “Then shall the righteous Shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father”. On mount Tabor Christ shone like the sun, and we too as Christians are called to this enlightenment, we too will be enlightened in the future, in the afterlife, in the Kingdom of God.

And the Kingdom of God is enlightenment. Christ before the Transfiguration he said to his disciples that “there be some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come with power”. What is the Kingdom of God come with power? Here is the Lord revealed on mount Tabor when He was transfigured, but was transformed during the prayer, it is very significant. Here at once and the future and the present. Future – referring, in this light, the brilliance, the radiance, heavenly state, which perceived the former there by the apostles. But this, dear brothers and sisters, is the state also of the earth – in the sense that it begins already here on earth.

When Christ was asked how come the Kingdom of God, as to know him, He said that this Kingdom cannot be seen, can not say, behold it here or there, because, says Christ, “the Kingdom of God is inside you”. The Apostle Paul says in this regard that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy. And he adds: “In the Holy Spirit”.

 

So the Kingdom of God that is within we have is a state of heart a state of mind. The state of love, peace, joy – that which is born in man from the touch of the Holy spirit. And He touches, and becomes possible a touch of the spirit of human faith and living the gospel. So it’s very simple: the gospel is simple, and Christ is very simple.

I remember one very great theologian, a prominent scholar that the gospel is simple, and children can understand. And this is generally true: children can understand – but just children, that is, open, open-minded, more pure in soul and pure in heart people. Because people can be very Mature, mnogochleny, very smart, who do not understand the gospel and it did not understand. This may be because the heart is closed, closed soul, the soul is already polluted.

If so, if the person to Christ, for the gospel is prejudiced, then, of course, for him the gospel and Christianity – the seven-sealed book, music for the deaf, he is not able to accept it. That is why the Lord says that unless you turn and become like children, that is such a simple, open and clean, at least in some measure pure, or, at least, if not pure, sincere, striving to know the truth and willing to accept it and not to trample upon, blaspheme and reject – such a person is able to accept Christ and the gospel, to understand and feel it. Let’s just say to such a man the Holy Spirit can touch. And touching, He has and bear His own.

It gives birth to the Holy Spirit? This, brothers and sisters, a lot of very. And there are many different steps and conditions. Heart alive, there is faith to Christ, begins to be revealed and understood by the gospel, comes the location to him. Starting to feel prayer, not just saying the words of prayer, and they sound like the beat of a piece of wood, and something in the soul responds. Soul warming, is born a kind attitude towards people, compassion, understanding, reduced judgment, increased vision of himself and his flaws, his imperfections. Hence comes sympathy and compassion for others, understanding that if I struggle, if I am, how hard, how hard…

Saints – it was the people very well seeing yourself, truly knowing yourself. And hence they are very well seen and understood, and sympathized with those who came to them, and never judged anyone. Not because they didn’t care, not because they called white black and black white, no. But because they knew how easy it is to fall into sin, and how it can be difficult to get rid of him, and as many temptations as a man udaroprochen to sin – all this and much more they knew. That’s why confessional prayers is the words of others: “…in the world of the living, the body of the wearer, by the devil deceived…”.

So, to both humans and the world, and he himself, his body, corrupted earthly nature, to sin, and the spirit of darkness – all of it is valid, very valid. That’s why the saints had the right vision and the right attitude to everything – not movoe and heartfelt, it was heart wisdom. And all this, brothers and sisters, is the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is when God reigns in man, reigns in his soul. It’s short, simple, but wonderful, and wise, and unexplained: you can say a thousand words, but still this condition will not give. It is necessary to survive, because Christianity and Christ, His Kingdom – they are experienced.

However, as experienced and hell – it could be priznachennya infernal. And this, alas, is closer to us, because sin is closer to us. We have experience of sin, the experience of evil, discouragement, despair, darkened, irritability, frustration – this experience we have a very rich…But there is another experience: the light coming from Christ, by the spirit of God, from Love. Well, if we are faithful to this experience.

 

Prepared By Peter Davidov

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