The great feast of the Transfiguration of the Savior resembles a Pascha before Pascha, the Transference. The Dormition and Resurrection of the Mother of God, or the 'Summer Pascha,' as we call it.
And indeed, it resembles a supreme meeting of the Lady Theotokos with Christ just before her glorious reign, at the peak of the year and the summer.
Thus, the Transfiguration appears as a Christocentric, Lordly Pascha inserted into this Theotokian period, with its own sovereign, essentially, Pascha.
The feast of the Transfiguration also seems to us like an extraordinary break within the strict fast of the days, since this inserted Pascha is combined with the consumption of fish.
The ICHTHYS (Jesus Christ, God, Son, Savior) allows or even "imposes" this consumption, both of His symbol, namely fish, as ICHTHYS, and of Himself, as His body and blood through the divine communion.
In any case, it is a special meeting of two very great feasts, one Lordly and one Theotokian, with distinct and impressive content. And all of this is offered to us in their various depictions, in their icons, as particularly interesting stories-'scenarios' and with a distinct-'cinematic' delivery.
Magnificent images that overflow from the world of narratives-stories-events, as well as from the abundant life they breathe. At the same time, indeed, the depiction of these events does not strip them of their liveliness, but rather projects it, vivid and wholehearted.
These are direct projections on portable icons, on wall paintings, and even mosaics, written by skilled painters, known or anonymous. Or even by less skillful painters.
Stately and majestic—in essence, super-productions—of theological, artistic, and heartfelt sensitivity that we could also characterize as visual 'ceremonies,' which, without any intention of mere impression, represent their sacred themes in a continuous and endless flow and duration for our sake.
(Or sometimes you think it is simply an incense burner located somewhere that emits a continuous spiritual fragrance)!
And we observe them on-site within the corresponding space for which they were called to adorn, capturing and piercing through the glories of a world that passed through death, but also through the Transfiguration, into life. Into the Resurrection!
Because only there is life, and only thus is every breath and effort of ours justified.
Remaining, then, before the icons of the Transfiguration and the Dormition, we communally experience the events that are recounted so tangibly. It is a cinematic narrative, where the frames are offered condensed, almost instantaneously. Or instantaneously and through direct contact!
And we say cinematic because, in essence, it is a montage of 'episodes'-events on a screen. On a piece of wood, on a wall, which unsparingly and with particular creative dignity projects this composition.
These majestic artistic and experiential iconographic offerings of faith, life, and philokalia can be seen and experienced in museums, in publications, and on the internet in a multitude of variations. And there you feel that every encounter with them constitutes a visit to their tender, life-giving, and life-bestowing world.
That is why, when you stand before them, you do not merely palpate the exquisite beauty of the divinely projected events and the corresponding protagonists who compose them, but they themselves have the capacity, the opportunity, to transport you within them, into their world.
That is to say, they are simultaneously impactful and interactive! Always, however, with that politeness with which they attempt to activate, to implore from you, your own deeper motives for visiting and meeting them.
They do not merely constitute the narration or the storytelling of some sacred dramatic scene, but they also create and offer you an alteration of the senses. Just as the hymns of the feasts do, when you let yourself go into their world and they, too, draw you into their contemplative, festive, and revelatory world. Into their celebration.
'We don't want sadness at our celebration...', as the song goes, sung by Giannis Angelakas with the band 'Trypes.' That is why the icons, these fiery living eyes and corresponding God-bearing tongues, take up the visual communication. That is why they speak directly to the hearts, governing them unperceptibly and decisively with unuttered, silent verbs.
Shall we remember the words of Saint John of Damascus that icons are the books of the illiterate? Although I, of course, think that perhaps something else is happening. That icons, perhaps, constitute the books of sensitive people: both illiterate and literate.
And if I wanted to extend this further, I would say they resemble the most extraordinary sacred... traps or even ignition funnels. For, suddenly, they have a way of distracting you from mundane reality and transporting you to their own wholehearted world. A secret, hidden, stormy, and genuinely—more than anything else—spiritual and erotic world.
(How 'right' the iconoclasts, the heretics, and the atheistic regimes were, who destroyed them or hid them! Clearly, they too understood their impactful value, as did those who honored and loved them. And when they realized their historical and artistic value and brought them to the fore, then, they 'hit the mark.'
Art halls, galleries, and museums became secret places of worship and direct communication with the Divine in its most sensitive and beautiful aspect. The meeting with the heartfelt and artistic ritual. And thus, many incense burners together exhaled their spiritual fragrances to the whole world. And, perhaps, primarily for those who hunted them. After all, they did not know what they were truly doing, while no one hated their own flesh).
The robustness of the direct visual communication of the icons, as well as the transcendence of their cinematic narrative, is seen in the absence of words, commentary, or subtitles beyond the title of the event. That is, they did not feel the need to explain the other 'episodes' that comprised the central event. And this we can justify by saying that all of this was common knowledge.
Furthermore, the icons do not constitute an illustrated history, a visual narrative, or a graphic novel accompanied by extensive or brief narration.
In the icons—and specifically those of the Transfiguration and the Dormition—it seems that unuttered words prevail, which anchor souls to the inner heart, in an outburst of divine... suspicion, encounter, and taste—if not a sober intoxication. An asymmetrical function, which transcends various defining obstacles to convey blessings and graces that disperse the breezy heat of the days we are living through—psychological, physical, personal, collective...
The icons of the Transfiguration and the Dormition are an endless world, a festival of festivals that is never satiated, even when it incorporates you like a massive screen that encloses you, surrounds you, embraces you, animates you, caressing you and lighting you up internally. And so, you let yourself go. Because, as the hymn of the days says: 'To whom else shall I fly, O Pure One...'
Let us stay here for now, without putting a period, so that we may return soon.
Many years!
Every blessing through the Mother of God!