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The Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ
Come, let us ascend the
mountain of the Lord, and go into
the house of our God.
 Let us
contemplate the glory of His
Transfiguration, the glory of the
only begotten Son of God the Father.
From His light, let us receive
light; and raised up by the Holy
Spirit, let us sing the praises of
the consubstantial Trinity forever.
Litiya verse for the Feast
On August 6th we celebrate in
our Holy Churches the
glorious
Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus
Chris. This day is one of the 12
major feast days of our Holy Church.
By His Transfiguration, the Savior
has showed us how people become in
the future life, in the Kingdom of
Heaven, if they follow God’s Law and
how the entire earthly world would
be transfigured. The Lord also
reminds us that we can be
transfigured even now if we lead a
truly Christian life.
This
important event in Christ’s life on
earth occurred not long before His
Crucifixion. In order to sustain His
disciples’ faith when they would see
Him suffering, the Lord first showed
them His d ivine glory. Taking along
three of His disciples – Peter, John
and James, the Lord ascended a high
mountain, called Mount Tabor, to
pray. While Christ was praying, the
disciples fell asleep from fatigue.
When they awoke, they saw that
Christ was transfigured: His
face shone like the sun, while His
garments had become radiant as
light. Two prophets – Moses and
Elijah – appeared to Him in their
heavenly glory and spoke with Him
about His forthcoming suffering and
death. Seeing all this, the
disciples’ hearts were filled with
extraordinary joy. When they saw
that the prophets were about to
withdraw from Christ, Peter, trying
to hold them back, cried out: “Lord!
It is good for us to be here; if You
wish, we will make three tents here:
one for You, one for
 Moses and one
for Elijah.”
Suddenly a
bright cloud enveloped them and out
of the cloud they heard the voice of
God the Father: “This is My beloved
Son, in Whom I am well pleased;
listen to Him!” In great fear the
disciples fell to the ground. Christ
came and touched them, and said:
“Arise and do not be afraid.” The
disciples arose and saw Christ in
His usual appearance. (Read the
Gospel reading for this Feast:
Matthew 17:1-9)
On the Feast
of Transfiguration, fruit is brought
to our Churches to be
blessed
for eating. Traditional practice
includes the blessing of grapes (a
reminder that we must abide in the
True Vine, Jesus Christ). Local
customs also include other fruit.
The blessing of grapes, as well as
other fruits and vegetables on this
day is the most beautiful and
adequate sign of the final
transfiguration of all things in
Christ. It signifies the ultimate
flowering and fruitfulness of all
creation in God’s Paradise where all
will be transformed by the glory of
the Lord. Below is the Prayer for
the Blessing of Fruit:
Priest/Deacon: Let us pray to the
Lord.
People: Lord, have
mercy.
Priest: Lord, Our God and
Master, You decreed that from the
gifts that You have given us, we are
to offer You what is Yours. You
reward those who give of their
perishable goods with eternal goods.
You were pleased to accept the
widow’s mite. Be pleased to accept
offerings also of us, Your servants.
Place them among Your everlasting
treasures. Grant us an abundance of
earthly things along with all that
is beneficial for our well-being.
Bless these fruits. Grant health of
soul and body to all who partake of
them. For glorified is Your Kingdom
and Blessed is Your Name, of the
Father, and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, now and for ever and
ever.
People: Amen.
Priest: These fruits are blessed and
sanctified by the sprinkling of this
holy water in the Name of the
Father, and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit
Amen.
The Holy
Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus
Christ
You
were transfigured on the Mountain,
Christ, our God, revealing Your
glory to Your Disciples insofar as
they could bear it. With the
intercessions of the Theotokos, let
Your everlasting Light shine out
also on us sinners, Giver of light;
glory to You! -Troparion of the
Feast
This year in
anticipation of the Feast of the
Transfiguration, the blessing of
Fruit in our parish family took
place on the Prefeast of the
Transfiguration of Our Lord on
Sunday, August 5th, 2007.
Traditional practice includes the
blessing of grapes (a reminder that
we must abide in the True Vine,
Jesus Christ). Local customs also
include other fruit. The blessing of
grapes, as well as other fruits and
vegetables for this Feast is the
most beautiful and adequate sign of
the final transfiguration of all
things in Christ. It signifies the
ultimate flowering and fruitfulness
of all creation in God’s Paradise,
where all will be transformed by the
glory of the Lord. As part of our
celebration we also had the blessing
of blue Sticharions for our
Acolytes. Below are pictures from
the blessings that took place on
this Sunday:
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