"Let books be your dining table, / And you shall be full of delights. / Let them be your mattress,/And you shall sleep restful nights" (St. Ephraim the Syrian).
Showing posts with label Transfiguration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transfiguration. Show all posts
Continuing on in our series, begun Monday of this week, with the focus on the many books of Robert Slesinski published by Eastern Christian Publications, let us turn next to his liturgical and festal commentaries. I count at least three.
This book continues the series of adult education on the feast days of the Byzantine Churches, their theology and liturgical texts. 200 pages with icons.
This book of reflections investigates the feast of the Encounter of Christ with Simeon in the Temple, celebrated on February 2nd, from several theological perspectives.
The in-depth educational book reflects on the feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord from a scriptural perspective, comparing the Gospel accounts and writings of Luke, Matthew, Mark, John, Peter and Paul.
The Transfiguration has long been my favourite feast. It its honour today, I reprint below an updated and slightly condensed version of several posts from many years ago now.
The Transfiguration has an obvious Paschal character--to say nothing of the fact that is so wonderfully captures the "dyophysite" nature of humankind: called to transfiguration ourselves, beholding the glory of Christ as far as we can bear it, we are also at the same time like the apostles: falling down the mountain, our faces half-covered in cowardice and bewilderment.
About this collection, which is volume 48 in the SVS series "Popular Patristics," we are told by the publisher:
The episode of the Transfiguration of Jesus plays a key role in the narrative of the Synoptic Gospels. Peter and his fellow Apostles have just acknowledged Jesus to be Israel s long-awaited Messiah, and have been shocked by Jesus immediate prediction of his coming passion and death. Now Peter, James and John are allowed to share an extraordinary vision, marking him out as truly God s own Son, radiant with divine glory. Early Christian commentators and preachers recognized the crucial importance of this incident for Christian faith and discipleship, as pointing in advance to the power of the cross and resurrection of Christ. The liturgical feast of the Transfiguration, anticipating that of the Exaltation of the Cross by forty days, came to be celebrated in the Eastern and Western Churches, beginning in the seventh century; yet since at least the third century, theologians have reflected on the significance of this event for the life of faith.
This volume brings together, in a new translation, a comprehensive collection of homilies on the Transfiguration of Christ from the Greek Patristic and Medieval Church, from Origen in the third century to St. Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth. Together they form a profound and moving set of meditations, from many perspectives and in many voices, on the light of the recognition of the glory of God in the face of Christ (II Cor 4.6), and on its importance for our lives.
Homilies include:
Origen, Commentary on Matthew 12.36 43 (on Matthew 17.1 9)
John Chrysostom, Homily 56 on Matthew (on Matthew 16.28 17.9)
Proclus of Constantinople, Homily on the Transfiguration
Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 51 on Luke (on Luke 9.27 36)
Pantoleon, Sermon on the Transfiguration of the Lord
Leontius, Presbyter of Constantinople, Homily 14 on the Transfiguration
Patriarch Anastasius I of Antioch, Homily on the Transfiguration (Homily 1)
Timothy of Antioch, Homily on the Cross and Transfiguration of Jesus
Anonymous, Incomplete Homily on the Transfiguration (7th-9th c.)
Anastasius of Sinai, Homily for Feast of the Transfiguration
Andrew of Crete, Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration
John of Damascus, Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration
Emperor Leo VI (the Wise), Three Homilies for the Transfiguration:10,11,39
Philagathos of Cerami, Homily 31 on the Feast of the Saving Transfiguration
Neophytos the Recluse, Catechesis on the Transfiguration
Theoleptos of Philadelphia, Catechesis for the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Nikephoros Choumnos, On the Holy Transfiguration of Christ
Ps-Chrysostom, Discourse on the Transfiguration (Sicily, 14th c.?)
Gregory the Sinaite, Discourse on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
Gregory Palamas, Two Homilies for the Feast of the Transfiguration (34 and 35)
I commend both authors and all three books to your attention, as well as the ones above. All of them invite us to enjoy a feast whose glory comes to us “as far as we can bear it.” And if you are unable to get to a celebration of it, then enjoy this vigil from the finest Byzantine parish in North America:
Tonight we prepare to keep vigil for one of the loveliest feasts of the year. The Transfiguration has long remained my favourite feast of the year, perhaps because of its obvious Paschal character--to say nothing of the fact that is so wonderfully captures the "dyophysite" nature of humankind: called to transfiguration ourselves, beholding the glory of Christ as far as we can bear it (as the troparion puts it), we are also at the same time like the apostles: falling down the mountain, our faces half-covered in cowardice and bewilderment. The brilliant luminosity of the icon of this feast, attributed to Theophanes the Greek (at right), captures these dynamics well it seems to me.
About this collection, which is volume 48 in the SVS series "Popular Patristics," we are told by the publisher:
The episode of the Transfiguration of Jesus plays a key role in the
narrative of the Synoptic Gospels. Peter and his fellow Apostles have
just acknowledged Jesus to be Israel s long-awaited Messiah, and have
been shocked by Jesus immediate prediction of his coming passion and
death. Now Peter, James and John are allowed to share an extraordinary
vision, marking him out as truly God s own Son, radiant with divine
glory. Early Christian commentators and preachers recognized the crucial
importance of this incident for Christian faith and discipleship, as
pointing in advance to the power of the cross and resurrection of
Christ. The liturgical feast of the Transfiguration, anticipating that
of the Exaltation of the Cross by forty days, came to be celebrated in
the Eastern and Western Churches, beginning in the seventh century; yet
since at least the third century, theologians have reflected on the
significance of this event for the life of faith.
This volume
brings together, in a new translation, a comprehensive collection of
homilies on the Transfiguration of Christ from the Greek Patristic and
Medieval Church, from Origen in the third century to St. Gregory Palamas
in the fourteenth. Together they form a profound and moving set of
meditations, from many perspectives and in many voices, on the light of
the recognition of the glory of God in the face of Christ (II Cor 4.6),
and on its importance for our lives.
Homilies include:
Origen, Commentary on Matthew 12.36 43 (on Matthew 17.1 9) John Chrysostom, Homily 56 on Matthew (on Matthew 16.28 17.9) Proclus of Constantinople, Homily on the Transfiguration Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 51 on Luke (on Luke 9.27 36) Pantoleon, Sermon on the Transfiguration of the Lord Leontius, Presbyter of Constantinople, Homily 14 on the Transfiguration Patriarch Anastasius I of Antioch, Homily on the Transfiguration (Homily 1) Timothy of Antioch, Homily on the Cross and Transfiguration of Jesus Anonymous, Incomplete Homily on the Transfiguration (7th-9th c.) Anastasius of Sinai, Homily for Feast of the Transfiguration Andrew of Crete, Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration John of Damascus, Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration Emperor Leo VI (the Wise), Three Homilies for the Transfiguration:10,11,39 Philagathos of Cerami, Homily 31 on the Feast of the Saving Transfiguration Neophytos the Recluse, Catechesis on the Transfiguration Theoleptos of Philadelphia, Catechesis for the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Nikephoros Choumnos, On the Holy Transfiguration of Christ Ps-Chrysostom, Discourse on the Transfiguration (Sicily, 14th c.?) Gregory the Sinaite, Discourse on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord Gregory Palamas, Two Homilies for the Feast of the Transfiguration (34 and 35)
If your parish is not keeping vigil today, you will be edified by this video from the most liturgically splendid Byzantine parish in all of North America.
On festal days, Christians are supposed to work less and feast more. In that spirit, on the vigil of this most lovely of feasts, the Transfiguration, which has long been my favourite of the year, I am re-posting a comment about Robert Slesinski's book:
This lovely little book is suitable for slow, rich meditation on the Transfiguration, which I have often thought the most felicitous feast of the year after Pascha, to which it is closely linked chronologically in the life of Christ, and liturgically in some traditions, such as the Latin, where the gospel pericope is read during Lent. (The Latins never celebrated the Transfiguration widely until, Slesinski tells us, 1457, but even today for them it is only a second-class feast and has “never carried the same importance and gravitas as in the Christian East.” Why this should be so is an interesting question not pursued by the author.) Slesinski examines the feast through numerous biblical texts as well as a close reading of the Byzantine liturgical texts, ending with a brief “mystagogical catechesis” of the feast.
The Transfiguration has long been my favourite feast of the year. I was therefore delighted when Eastern Christian Publications sent me a review copy of Robert Slesinski's new book:
This lovely little book is suitable for slow, rich meditation on the Transfiguration, which I have often thought the most felicitous feast of the year after Pascha, to which it is closely linked chronologically in the life of Christ, and liturgically in some traditions, such as the Latin, where the gospel pericope is read during Lent. (The Latins never celebrated the Transfiguration widely until, Slesinski tells us, 1457, but even today for them it is only a second-class feast and has “never carried the same importance and gravitas as in the Christian East.” Why this should be so is an interesting question not pursued by the author.)
as well as Andreas Andreopoulos' two books:
and then his forthcoming study, 
.
