Weekly Reflection 

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“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.” Rather than specifically naming the mountain ascended by Jesus and His apostles, the author uses the more general “ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ ὄρει,” this same lack of specificity is found in the Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration as well. In Matthew 17:1, Christ: ἀναφέρει αὐτοὺς εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν, (leads them up a high mountain), which is the same way the mountain is described in Mark 9:2. In Luke 9:28, the ascent is describes as: εἰς τὸ ὄρος, up the mountain. This wording creates an intertextual connection between the Transfiguration and that defining moment in Jewish history, the Sinai theophany, as God commands Moses: ἀνάβηθι πρός με εἰς τὸ ὄρος (come up to me upon the mountain). Sinai is “the mountain,” and in not specifying that Christ ascends Mt. Tabor with the apostles, the Evangelists, and the author of 2 Peter, make it into a new Sinai, and Christ into, seemingly, a new Moses. Interesting too, is the use of ὑψηλὸν by both Matthew and Mark, which also connects the Transfiguration with the sacrifice of Isaac, as God commands Abraham to go: εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ὑψηλὴν (to the high country)3

Other important intertextual connections with the Sinai theophany exist as well, particularly in the longer Gospel accounts. Where Peter mentions that “we...were eyewitnesses of His majesty...” the Gospel accounts mention three apostles by name, whom Christ brings with Him up the mountain: Peter, James, and John. Moses too was accompanied by three companions, who are mentioned by name: Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu. Following the vision of God seated upon His throne, the initial giving of the tablets of the law, and the Golden calf episode, Moses ascends the mountain again and receives a second set of tablets, as he descends the mountain: “...when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), he did not know the skin of his face was glorified while God talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses and the glorified appearance of the skin of his face, they were afraid to come near him.” Christ too undergoes a transformation while on Mt. Tabor: “as He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.” Both theophanies, of course, culminate in a direct encounter with the divine. On Sinai: “...the glory of God descended on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. Then on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud." The cloud, which signifies the presence of God on Sinai is seen again when God descends on the tabernacle: “the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and God talked to Moses...” God manifests Himself again in this same way at the Transfiguration: “...a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’”

The literary, intertextual connection between the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor and the Sinai theophany reflects the theological connection that exists between the two as well. The transfiguration on Mt. Tabor: “signifies two things, namely that it is impossible for man to see God, and that man will see Him in the latter times on the summit of rock...And it is for this reason that He conferred with him face to face on top of the mountain [at transfiguration], while Elijah was also present.” This interpretation of Irenaeus, that the Transfiguration is a fulfillment of the promise given in Exodus 33, is shared by Tertullian. While this interpretation of the passage becomes less prominent in western theology, under the influence of Augustine’s interpretation of theophanies, it remains an important strain of thought, particularly in Byzantine hymnography and in the writings of church fathers such as St. John of Damascus.4 In the writings of St. John of Damascus we see the idea of the Transfiguration as the fulfillment of Exodus 33 to underscore Christ as “setting the law of both covenants.” As fulfilling the promise of Exodus 33, the focus of the passage shifts as well, this is not only a vision of Christ’s theophany offered to the apostles, but a “vision of a vision – a vision granted to Moses and Elijah, witnessed to by the disciples.”

The theophany on to Moses and Elijah on Tabor, showing them the face of God, that which was impossible on Sinai is made possible in the Incarnation. Tabor takes its place with Sinai and Zion as places where God is “enthroned.” In the Transfiguration, however, we see the identity of this “Lord” who is enthroned, it is Christ.