Transfiguration

Categories: friends, hymns, monasticism, feast-days

Date: 04 August 2006 23:44:40

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the Feast Day of the Transfiguration.

Troparion:
You were Transfigured on the Mount, O Christ God,
Revealing Your glory to Your disciples as far as they could bear it.
Let Your everlasting Light shine upon us sinners!
Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Giver of Light, glory to You!

Kontakion:
On the Mountain You were Transfigured, O Christ God,
And Your disciples beheld Your glory as far as they could see it;
So that when they would behold You crucified,
They would understand that Your suffering was voluntary,
And would proclaim to the world,
That You are truly the Radiance of the Father!

My sponsor and I are off to the Greek Orthodox monastery of the Holy Mother of God Pantanassa (Queen of all) Sunday morning: we will be leaving at 4am and, God willing, gettting there around 5:30am, half-an-hour after Matins starts. Divine Liturgy begins at 6am. Getting there at 5:30am should at least ensure we not only hear some of Matins, but also can have time to quieten our souls and bodies before Liturgy.

This will be my first visit to a men's Orthodox monastery: and I am greatly looking forward to it. Our parish has an annual day out to the women's monastery of The Holy Cross, also at Mangrove Mountain, which is always a wonderful time. Please pray for us for safe travel and for a spiritually blessed and refreshing time. My sponsor will be married soon, and the pressures of all the organisation, combined with a high-pressure job, have seen him stressed of late. May this be a time of quiet and of comfort for him, who has been for me a most wonderful sponsor and guide in Orthodoxy.