Transfiguration Sunday, 15th February 2026

Matthew 17:1-9

Christ revealed as God’s beloved Son

17:1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.

17:2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light.

17:3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

17:4 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will set up three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

17:5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

17:6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.

17:7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”

17:8 And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

17:9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

[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 in 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); metamorphosis.

Μορφή can mean ‘appearance’ (already in trag.) and also 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’ (Plato, Republic 380d 4) is pretty much the meaning required here. 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.). 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, ‘brilliant’, as of the sun (e.g., in Homer) or ‘luminous white’, as of marble (Homer, etc.). Cf. the related archaic verb λεύσσω, ‘see’, ‘look’; the Latin lux is related.

** 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. means ‘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’, ‘appeared to them’

[4] ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ: ἀποκριθεὶς  is aor. pass. of the middle-voice 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.

 σοὶ μίαν καὶ Μωσεῖ μίαν καὶ μίαν ᾿Ηλίᾳ: ‘for you one (sc. tent) and for Moses one (sc. tent), and one for Elijah’. Jesus and Moses are parallel members; Moses and Elijah are interlaced chiastically (in 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] 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.