19th February 2023, Transfiguration Sunday

Matthew 17: 1-9

[1]Καὶ μεθ᾿ ἡμέρας ἓξ παραλαμβάνει ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τὸν Πέτρον καὶ ᾿Ιάκωβον καὶ ᾿Ιωάννην τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀναφέρει αὐτοὺς εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν κατ᾿ ἰδίαν· [2]καὶ μετεμορφώθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔλαμψε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος, τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο λευκὰ ὡς τὸ φῶς. [3]καὶ ἰδοὺ ὤφθησαν αὐτοῖς Μωσῆς καὶ ᾿Ηλίας μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ συλλαλοῦντες. [4]ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ· Κύριε, καλόν ἐστιν ἡμᾶς ὧδε εἶναι· εἰ θέλεις, ποιήσωμεν ὧδε τρεῖς σκηνάς, σοὶ μίαν καὶ Μωσεῖ μίαν καὶ μίαν ᾿Ηλίᾳ. [5]ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος ἰδοὺ νεφέλη φωτεινὴ ἐπεσκίασεν αὐτούς, καὶ ἰδοὺ φωνὴ ἐκ τῆς νεφέλης λέγουσα· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα· αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε· [6]καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ μαθηταὶ ἔπεσον ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν σφόδρα. [7]καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἥψατο αὐτῶν καὶ εἶπεν· ἐγέρθητε καὶ μὴ φοβεῖσθε. [8]ἐπάραντες δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν οὐδένα εἶδον εἰ μὴ τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν μόνον. [9]καὶ καταβαινόντων αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους ἐνετείλατο αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς λέγων· μηδενὶ εἴπητε τὸ ὅραμα ἕως οὗ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῇ. 

Comments

The pericope is bathed in light seen by mortal eyes. Hence verbs of seeing and appearing and correlated adjectives are central. Even the breathless exclamation ἰδοὺ (‘behold!’), punctuating the narrative three times (once v. 3 and twice in v. 5), is visual.

[2] μετεμορφώθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν: μετεμορφώθη < μεταμορφόω/ μεταμορφῶ is ultimately visual, ‘trans-form’, first attested in the Roman imperial period (LSJ, s.v.). Cf. Engl. trans- (μετά) + form (μορφή).

Μορφή can mean ‘appearance’ (already in trag.) and in LXX Greek = ‘appearance’, ‘the way something or somebody looks’ (see Muraoka, s.v., 2, as in ἡ μορφὴ τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἠλλοιώθη). It is this sense that underlies Matthew’s μετεμορφώθη.

Μορφή in the sense  ‘outward form, guise’ (Pl. Republic 380d 4) is not quite the meaning required here, but a classicist may be is tempted to revisit it. In the Republic, loc. cit. Socrates asks his interlocutor whether god (ὁ θεός) can, like a wizard, change his form or shape (εἶδος, lit. ‘what is seen’) into many forms (πολλὰς μορφάς). Contrary to popular polytheism, Socrates holds that god is not multiform but unchanging and single or simple. God cannot shift shapes, he asserts. (See P. Murray, Plato on poetry…, Cambridge, 1997, pp. 145-6.)

 St Matthew immediately explains the change of Jesus’ μορφή—the ‘metamorphosis’– which happened before the three Apostles’ very eyes (μετεμορφώθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν). The two explanatory sentences occur in the same verse:

1. ἔλαμψε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος: λάμπω, ‘give light, shine’ (LSJ, s.v.); cf. Engl. ‘lambent’. In ancient Greek (as in English) the sun λάμπει (Solon fr. 13.23) as can a person’s face (Aristophanes Knights 550); see LSJ, s.v. 
2. τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο λευκὰ ὡς τὸ φῶς: λευκός, ‘bright, clear’, as of the sun (e.g., in Homer) or ‘shining white’, as of marble (Homer, etc.). Cf. the related archaic verb λεύσσω, ‘see’, ‘look’.

** Consider St Gregory Palamas on the ‘change’ that occurred:

‘According to the theologians, when Christ was transfigured He neither received anything different, nor was changed into anything different, but was revealed to His disciples as He was, opening their eyes and giving sight to the blind. Take note that eyes with natural vision are blind to that light. It is invisible, and those who behold it do so not simply with their bodily eyes, but with eyes transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The apostles were transformed, therefore…’

 — ‘Homily thirty-four: On the Transfiguration I’, in St Gregory Palamas, The Homilies, C. Veniamin, ed. & tr., Mt Tabor Publishing, PA, 2009, p. 273

[3] καὶ ἰδοὺ ὤφθησαν αὐτοῖς Μωσῆς καὶ ᾿Ηλίας: ὤφθησαν, pass. < ὁράω/ῶ. Ιn koine Greek the pass. = ‘become visible, present oneself’ c. dat. pers. (Muraka, p. 503 who cites ὤφθη κύριος τῷ Ἀβραάμ, Ge 12.7). So, Moses and Elijah ‘became visible’ to them, i.e. ‘were seen by them’.

[4] ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ: ἀποκριθεὶς  is aor. pass. of the vb ἀποκρίνομαι; the aor. passive ἀπεκρίθην is non-literary koine and common in the NT. At first reading we might think that Peter is answering a question put to him by Jesus. But see Muraoka, s.v. ἀποκρίνομαι,  ‘to act verbally in response to a circumstance’:e.g., ὠργίσθη… ἀποκριθεὶς… εἶπεν (Ge 31.36). Peter is speaking in reaction to an extraordinary circumstance indeed.

 Μωσεῖ μίαν καὶ μίαν ᾿Ηλίᾳ: chiasmus (a crosswise arrangement: AB~ ba).

[5] ἰδοὺ νεφέλη φωτεινὴ ἐπεσκίασεν αὐτούς, καὶ ἰδοὺ φωνὴ ἐκ τῆς νεφέλης: νεφέλη, ‘cloud’ (a poetic word that was common in later prose). One of Homer’s favourite epithets for Zeus is νεφεληγερέτα, ‘cloud-gathering’. Cf. Latin nebula.

φωτεινὴ (< φῶς, ‘light’) = ‘shining, bright’ (cl. Greek).

 ἐπεσκίασεν < ἐπισκιάζω (< σκιά, ‘shadow’, ‘shade’), ‘cast a shadow upon, overshadow’.

[8] [8]ἐπάραντες δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῶν οὐδένα εἶδον εἰ μὴ τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν μόνον: ἐπαίρω τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς = ‘lift my eyes to have a good look’ (Murakoa, s.v. ἐπαίρω who cites ἐπάρας …τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ, Ge 13.10).

The three disciples refocussed their eyes for a better look. They only saw (εἶδον, aor.) Jesus. The adj. μόνον coming at the end of the sentence is emphatic.