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Sts.
Peter
&
Paul Greek Orthodox Church
5640 Jay Road Boulder, CO 80301 Church Phone 303-581-1434 Orthros Sunday, 9:00 am Divine Liturgy Sunday, 10:00 am Vespers & Confessions Saturday, 5:00 pm |
Welcome
to our Parish!
The mission of Sts. Peter and Paul is to be a
beacon of Orthodox Christian spirituality in the greater Boulder
area. Our diverse church family encompasses many
converts to the Faith, as well as Greek, Arab,
Romanian, Serbian and Russian Orthodox members. We strive
together to live our
Orthodox Christian Faith by having a devoted prayer life, through
fasting and almsgiving, and by participating regularly in the services
and Sacraments of the Holy Orthodox Church.
We welcome everyone to visit our parish to experience the ancient forms of worship that existed in the early centuries of the Christian Church - which we continue to practice unchanged today. Please take a moment to look through this website to learn more about our parish and our Faith, and if you have any questions, feel free to call Fr. George at 303-581-1434.  Summer Greeting from Fr. George On the sixth day of the eighth month of August,
on which day we
celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus
Christ, two Gospel readings are appointed to be proclaimed. The first,
read during the Orthros service, is from the Gospel according to Luke
(9:28-36). The second, read during the Liturgy, is from Matthew’s
Gospel (17:1-9). Both Gospels are accounts of this manifestation of
Christ’s uncreated light and glory to His disciples, and to us. Both
tell us that Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him up onto a
mountain. Both tell us that Moses and Elias appeared and spoke with
Christ. Both Gospel accounts relate to us how the divinity of Jesus
radiated forth from His human body. Both Matthew’s Gospel and Luke’s
Gospel have recorded for us the thundering words of God the Father
speaking forth from heaven: “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well
pleased. Listen to Him.” But for all the similarities between these two
Gospel accounts of the same event of the Transfiguration, one
significant difference is how Matthew and Luke introduce this glorious
demonstration of Jesus’ divinity.
 Luke begins this way: “Now about eight days after these sayings He took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.” But Matthew starts by saying: “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart.” Why does Luke say eight days, while Matthew says six? Are they contradicting one another? Or could there be a deeper, mystical meaning to these two numbers – six and eight – which are not only to be taken in the historical, literal sense, but also in an allegorical sense? Indeed, this is the case. There were eight on the mountain, but only six were visible. Three – Peter, James, and John – had gone up with Jesus, and they saw Moses and Elias standing there and conversing with Him, so altogether there were six of them. However, the Father and the Holy Spirit were invisibly with the Lord: the Father, with His Voice testifying that this was His Beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit shining forth with Him in the radiant cloud. Thus, the six are actually eight, and there is no contradiction with the Evangelists when one says “six,” and the other says “eight.” And there is a further mystery attested to by these numbers. Just before Jesus radiated His glory at the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, He had said to His disciples: “The Son of Man shall come with His angels in the glory of His Father;” and further: “Amen I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death, until they have seen the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.” Thus, He was speaking to them of the Day of His Second Coming, the Day on which the Eternal Kingdom would be inaugurated, the Day which will never see night – the Eighth and everlasting Day which will have no end. On that mountain, those three disciples had a glimpse, a foretaste, of what we ourselves will be like in the resurrection, which is the Eighth Day, the Eighth and eternal Age, as we hear Jesus say elsewhere in the Scriptures: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43). Yes, brothers and sisters, this transfiguration and glorious metamorphosis is not for Jesus alone, it is also ours to be had, if we want it, and prove our desire for it by obeying God’s Son, as the Father commanded us by saying to us: “Listen to Him!” Christ allowed the glory of His uncreated and divine Nature to shine through His humanity, not simply to impress us, but to encourage us; not simply to perform some supernatural miracle, but to entice us to desire that for which we were created; not merely to show us that He Himself is “true God of true God,” but to remind us of our great and majestic calling, which is to become gods by grace and participate in the eternal glory and uncreated light of God. Such is the Christian destiny – to enter with the righteous into the glory of the Eighth Day, “where there is no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb, and there shall be no night there” (Rev. 21:23-24). Clearly, then, when the Evangelist Luke said, “eight days after these sayings,” he was mystically referring to the glory and light of the everlasting Eighth Day, which glory was manifested at the Transfiguration of Christ. But what of Matthew’s, “after six days?” If, by saying “eight,” Luke’s intent was to bring our minds to the Day of the Lord’s Coming, the Day of the general resurrection, the Day without end, what is Matthew drawing our attention to by saying “six?” Well, for one thing, humanity was created on the Sixth Day of Creation, and Matthew is showing us what glory awaits humankind, what God created us ultimately to become, and to be. Jesus is the supreme example of the truly authentic and transfigured human being. And the Kontakion of the Feast also helps solve the puzzle for us. It reads: “You were transfigured upon the mountain, O Christ our God, and Your disciples, in so far as they could bear, beheld Your glory. Thus, when they see You crucified, they may understand Your voluntary passion, and proclaim to the world that You are truly the brilliant radiance of the Father.” Therefore, the Transfiguration is also intimately linked with the Lord’s voluntary passion, with His Cross, and with His crucifixion which took place on Friday, the sixth day of the week, and which took place during the sixth age of the world (for the seventh age is the present time of the Church, the symbolical “one thousand year reign of Christ” of which the book of Revelation speaks, that which is in between the sixth and the eighth). And how else do we know that the Transfiguration is linked to the Cross and the Lord’s passion? The Gospel clearly tells us that Moses and Elias were speaking with Jesus about His “exodus,” the sufferings and death which were awaiting Him at Jerusalem. And if we count the days between August 6th and September 14th, which is the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we will see that it is exactly forty days, the length of Great Lent, indicating to us that we are also to focus upon, not only the glory of the day of resurrection, but upon the glory of the Cross and the crucifixion, which took place on that Great and Holy Friday. There is an ancient church in Ravenna, Italy, which has a most stunning mosaic of the Transfiguration, unlike any other icon of this Feast. On the mountain you see three lambs representing Peter, James, and John. Above them you see, as expected, Moses and Elias. But in between these two prophets, instead of the Person of Jesus, is a magnificent Cross surrounded by light, with the face of Christ in the center of the Cross. The link between the Transfiguration and the Cross is thus clearly depicted, showing us that the Cross is the glory of Christ, as He Himself said when speaking about His imminent crucifixion: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). Glory, light, resurrection – my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, come only through the Cross – the Cross of Christ, first and foremost – and through that cross which each of us is called to take upon our shoulders in imitation of Christ, but which also transfigures our lives here and now. That cross which means that we have crucified the passions of the flesh and transfigured our minds to think as God thinks. That cross which means that we no longer selfishly live to satisfy our self-centered desires. That cross which we took upon ourselves at our baptisms when we were mystically crucified and buried with Christ, dying to the old man and to sin. That cross which beckons us to love our neighbor as ourselves, no matter how painful. That cross which cries out that we forgive the trespasses of our brother, no matter what the offense. That cross of involuntary afflictions, sicknesses, and hardships which we must learn to voluntarily embrace. “For this reason we do not lose heart,” writes St. Paul. “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; because the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). And again he writes: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). And the Acts the Apostles preach that “through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Through the Cross have come the resurrection and the transfiguration of our mortal nature. Only through mounting our own cross can our lives be transfigured – only through the sixth do we enter into the eighth – and thus enter into glory with our Savior, to Whom be the power and the dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen. Wishing you a blessed summer, +Fr. George |