The Glory of Jesus Christ in the Context of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor – Biblical, Patristic, and Artistic Approach

Abstract

This study examines the glory of Jesus Christ in the Transfiguration episode on Mount Tabor through an integrated exegetical, patristic, and art‑historical lens. Beginning with close readings of the Synoptic accounts (Mt 17; Mk 9; Lk 9), it considers the narrative elements—Christ’s radiant face and garments, the luminous cloud, the voice of the Father, and the presence of Moses and Elijah—as theological signs that disclose Christ’s divinity, fulfilment of Law and Prophets, and anticipation of paschal and eschatological glory. The work traces reception in the patristic tradition, contrasting Eastern hesychastic and Palamite emphases on experiential access to uncreated light with Western medieval and scholastic readings that stress pedagogical and eschatological functions of the vision (Aquinas, Bonaventure, Hugh of Saint‑Cher). An extended iconographic survey explores how Byzantine and Western visual vocabularies—mandorla forms, compositional schemes, and the depiction of Taboric light—mediate theological claims and shape liturgical imagination. Methodologically, the study combines literary‑philological interpretation, reception history, and semiotic analysis of images, aiming to show how textual, doctrinal, and visual registers interact. Its principal contribution is a systematic integration of these three dimensions, demonstrating that the Transfiguration functions simultaneously as a doctrinal revelation, a model of mystical participation in divine light, and a formative visual grammar within the Christian tradition. The study points toward further interdisciplinary research on the visual reception of dóxa, the theology of uncreated light, and the liturgical‑performative role of Transfiguration imagery in East and West.