The icon "Transfiguration of the Lord" is a sign of the event described in the Gospel. What is the significance of this icon and what are the varieties of its writing, this article will tell.
The icon "Transfiguration of the Lord": a plot
This image depicts the Gospel event,which occurred with Jesus Christ and his disciples: John, Peter and James. Six days before the meeting, the Savior spoke with his apostles. He told them that He would soon be killed, but three days after His death would rise. Noticing that some of his disciples were distressed by these words, Christ decided to show them all His greatness and divinity. The Son of God invited the apostles to go up Mount Tabor for prayer. During the prayers a miracle happened, namely, the Christ transfiguration. The Savior's face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. In this event, the appearance of the Old Testament prophets of Moses and Elijah occurred, who spoke with Jesus about his outcome. Subsequently, all three came a bright cloud, from which the Voice of God was heard, which proclaimed that Christ is the Son of the Lord. The Savior asked his apostles not to tell anyone about this event before his miraculous Resurrection.
В настоящее время имеется много вариаций этого image. Let's consider some of them. So, to this day the image created in the XV century, which, according to some sources, was written by Theophanes the Greek, is preserved. He depicted the Transfiguration of the Lord dynamically and moveably. A characteristic feature of this icon is the depiction of the apostles, blinded by the divine radiance, in rather sharp foreshortenings. And the icon depicts not only the Transfiguration itself, but also the events that precede it. Thus, the left part of the image shows how Jesus Christ leads his disciples to Mount Tabor. The Transfigured Body of the Savior is in the center of the icon. You can also note the symbolic division of the image into two parts: the upper (heavenly) and the lower (terrestrial). The icon on the right shows the final event - the departure from the mountain of Jesus and the apostles. That is, in one image, three plots that make up the Transfiguration of the Lord found their place.
The icon "Transfiguration of the Lord": meaning
It is very difficult to overestimate the significance of this imageand even impossible. After all, the icon reflects the events that formed the basis of one of the twelve, the most important Christian holidays, which is celebrated annually on August 19. The images created by Theophanes the Greek and Andrei Rublev are now valuable relics not only of Christians, but of the entire population of the Earth.
