The Transfiguration. Getty Museum
COMMENT:
The three apostles below react with dramatic expressions and gestures. Maybe thoughts come From a sermon on the transfiguration of the Lord by Saint Anastasius of Sinai, bishop. (Nn. 6-10: Melanges d’archéologie et d’histoire 67 [1955], 241-244) It is good for us to be here Let us run with confidence and joy to enter into the cloud like Moses and Elijah, or like James and John. Let us be caught up like Peter to behold the divine vision and to be transfigured by that glorious transfiguration. Let us retire from the world, stand aloof from the earth, rise above the body, detach ourselves from creatures and turn to the creator, to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: Lord, it is good for us to be here. It is indeed good to be here, as you have said, Peter. It is good to be with Jesus and to remain here for ever. What greater happiness or higher honor could we have than to be with God, to be made like him and to live in his light? St. Matthew seems to have given the script to St. Peter. The beardless John is at centre again and the his expression of heart. James the senior brother and in hierarchic lifted hand of two of the Incarnate and inner Trinity. The Transfiguration
Unknown
Byzantine, Nicaea or Nicomedia, late 1200s Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment 8 1/8 x 5 7/8 in. MS. LUDWIG II 5, FOL. 45V
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 In the miniature, Jesus stands in a mandorla with the two Old Testament figures perched on mountain peaks on either side. The three apostles below react with dramatic expressions and gestures. The artist used vivid contrasting colors and careful modeling to give the figures a sense of three-dimensionality against the glowing gold background.
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COMMENT:
--- Forwarded Message -----
From: William J. ...
To: Donald ....
Sent: Wednesday, 7 August 2013, 20:55
Subject: Re: [Blog] The Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour of Christ
From: William J. ...
To: Donald ....
Sent: Wednesday, 7 August 2013, 20:55
Subject: Re: [Blog] The Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour of Christ
Dear Father Donald,
There is a feast of reflection for us as we gaze up at this illuminating painting !
It is as if we are looking up and experiencing the moment ourselves, for the apostles seem to be communicating their feelings to us!
Peter and John having seen the vision, seemed to be wrapt up in their own thoughts; Peter gesticulating his own words of awe, John drawing the vision to his heart.
And James... he is pointing, has he seen that Christ's feet are rising above the ground? Perhaps his arm is raised in excited alarm, "Look Peter, look John, Jesus is ascending..."
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| John drawing the vision to his heart |
And what is in Peter's left hand - his cloak caught up by him in excited movement as if ready to erect the shelters? Moses and Elijah are holding certain symbolic articles (Law and the Prophets, scripts perhaps), and Christ Himself has a scroll in His Hand.
The thought that stirs me especially is that of the possible representation of each apostle, and the answer lies in St Anastasius' sentence, to their "dramatic expressions and gestures" :Let us retire from the world, stand aloof from the earth, rise above the body, detach ourselves from creatures and turn to the creator, to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: Lord, it is good for us to be here.
This will hold me in the wonder and the mystery of it all, and I am hoping that you may 'illuminate' it further!
Thank you for such a gem for the discovering!
... in Our Lord,
William
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