Shortly before he was crucified, scripture tells us that Christ asks Peter, James, and John to accompany him to “the mountain,” possibly Mount Tabor, to pray. While praying, Christ turns bright with dazzling light; Moses and Elijah appear and converse with him; a cloud envelops the disciples; and a voice is heard from heaven that says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5 ESV).
Called the Transfiguration, this event invites the painter of icons to bring to bear everything he or she knows about color and light. In the center of the image, Christ radiates light and transfigured color. Close to Christ, colors are vivid and bright. Farther away, colors dull, soften, and dissipate, not only among the human figures but also in the heavens above, for the transfiguration of Christ is not just a historical event for the disciples but also an event that reverberated in the heavens. The circular diminution of light and color reinforces the central transfigured light of Christ.
The seven dark or colorless places in the icon are the six caves in the bottom third of the image, with a seventh in the deep star-like shape behind Christ. These caves represent the five senses of a human being plus our ability to reason. Their craggy shapes and haphazard arrangement seem to pull away from the beautiful circle shape that radiates from Christ, extending to the rounded arc of the heavens and even to the positions of the five human beings around him. Yet, at the same time that the caves pull the viewer’s eye away from the harmony of that circle, the equally “craggy” yet gorgeously ordered and ornamented points of the deep dark star behind Christ call the eye back to himself and visually declare that all things find their fullness in him. This reflects the Orthodox belief that God became man so that man, by grace, might become like God.
Thus, when Christ asks the disciples to come with him to the mountain, he is inviting them to embark on a vast journey of ascent that will require the entirety of their personhood to complete.
On the mountain were you 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!
~ Festal Kontakion