Transfiguration of the Lord among the Orthodox

On August 19, the long-awaited Christian holiday begins - the Transfiguration of the Lord The basis of the significant day is described in the Gospel when Christ revealed to his three closest disciples his true appearance as the Son of God This happened on the top of Mount Tabor shortly before the last Old Testament Passover in the earthly life of Jesus Knowing his fate and wanting to strengthen the faith of the apostles before passionate events, the Teacher shows himself in Glory, as a king of heaven, but not of earth While praying on Tabor, the disciples saw the real appearance of Christ and heard the voice of the heavenly father: “This is my beloved son” After descending from the mountain, Jesus commands the apostles who saw the truth not to tell anyone about what happened until his miraculous resurrection Empress Helen, the mother of the first Byzantine Christian ruler Constantine, remembered this event from the life of Christ when she made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem There, a woman devoted to the Christian religion devoted herself to finding holy places and relics associated with the earthly existence of the Son of God Having climbed Tabor, Elena decides to establish a temple there in honor of the miracle of the Transfiguration of Christ before his disciples The plot gradually becomes canonical, and already in the 6th century separate icons were dedicated to it The festive church liturgy is performed by church ministers in snow-white robes in memory of the unearthly radiance of Christ on Mount Tabor Christians on this day should turn to prayer and repentance in the hope of getting closer to the image of Christ and acquiring spiritual cleansing Popular beliefs linked the miracle of the Transfiguration with the change of seasons and the ripening of fruits The holiday received many accompanying names: “Spas on the Mountain”, “Middle Spas”, “First Autumns”, “Pea Spas”, and of course the most common name is “Apple Spas” It was with the ripening of this biblical fruit that the people’s consciousness connected the day of the second Savior, located between Medov and Orekhov And of course, Yablochny began to be revered as the main of the three Spas Illumination of the summer harvest is typical not only for Russian lands In Byzantium and Greece, peasants brought bunches of ripe grapes to church In Russia, rich in apple harvests, it has become customary to bless this fragrant fruit under the arches of churches And how many cheerful and kind customs have spread to Apple Spas among ordinary people A good housewife was obliged to prepare pastries filled with apples, treat her family and neighbors, and not ignore the poor and beggars Part of the meal should have been taken to the ancestors at the cemetery, joining their souls to the bright holiday Young girls got together, made wishes and secretly told fortunes from the priests using apples On Transfiguration, it was customary to say goodbye to the setting sun, seeing off its summer power We welcomed autumn and noticed weather signs A clear and sunny day promised a warm autumn, a rainy day promised a damp one There are still many church dates ahead for Christians, strict and joyful, but the Middle Savior turns his thoughts to the approaching cold weather, for which we must thoroughly prepare by collecting and processing the harvest, taking care of a well-fed winter and not forgetting about the spiritual food bequeathed to us by Christ