Transfiguration: Feast Day, Iconography and Traditions
August 6th — the Transfiguration. Christ reveals His uncreated light on Mount Tabor, one of the most luminous scenes in iconography.
The Feast of the Transfiguration
On the sixth of August the Orthodox Church celebrates the Transfiguration of the Saviour — the day Christ took Peter, James and John up Mount Tabor and, as the Gospel says, "was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light" (Matthew 17:2). Moses and Elijah appeared beside Him, the Law and the Prophets standing with the One they had foretold, and from the overshadowing cloud came the voice of the Father: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."
The three disciples fell on their faces, and Peter — not knowing what to say — offered to build three tabernacles so that the moment might last. It did not last. But the Church has never stopped returning to it, because what the disciples saw on Tabor was not a miracle performed on Christ. Nothing was added to Him. The veil was drawn back for a moment, and they were given the grace to see what had been there all along.
Until the fourth century the Transfiguration was commemorated shortly before Pascha, close to the events it prefigures — the Cross that the Lord had just foretold to His disciples, and the glory of the Resurrection. The date moved after the dedication of the Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, built by St Helena, and from then on the sixth of August prevailed. Forty days later, on the fourteenth of September, the Church keeps the Exaltation of the Holy Cross — the same forty-day interval that separates Tabor from Golgotha in the Gospel narrative, preserved in the calendar.
The feast stands at the heart of Orthodox theology of the divine light. In the fourteenth century, St Gregory Palamas defended against Barlaam of Calabria the conviction that the light of Tabor was not a created radiance but the uncreated energy of God — that God, unknowable in His essence, truly gives Himself to be known in His energies. What the apostles saw with their own eyes is therefore the promise of what awaits every Christian: not merely forgiveness, but transfiguration.
The Apolytikion of the Feast
Μετεμορφώθης ἐν τῷ ὄρει Χριστὲ ὁ Θεός, δείξας τοῖς Μαθηταῖς σου τὴν δόξαν σου, καθὼς ἠδύναντο. Λάμψον καὶ ἡμῖν τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς, τὸ φῶς σου τὸ ἀΐδιον, πρεσβείαις τῆς Θεοτόκου, φωτοδότα δόξα σοι.
"Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God, showing Thy disciples Thy glory as far as they could bear it. Let Thine everlasting light shine also upon us sinners, through the prayers of the Theotokos. O Giver of Light, glory to Thee."
In Byzantine iconography
Every element in an Orthodox icon carries meaning — the colours of the garments, the position of the hands, the objects held, the gold ground that stands for uncreated light.
The Transfiguration is one of the few subjects where the icon must paint light itself, and Byzantine iconographers solved the problem with a device found almost nowhere else: the mandorla, an almond or circular aureole of glory surrounding Christ at the summit. Its layers characteristically grow darker toward the centre rather than brighter — the "divine darkness" of Dionysius the Areopagite, the deliberate confession that the closer one comes to God the less the eye can comprehend. From the mandorla three, six or eight rays strike downward onto the disciples.
The composition is read vertically. Christ stands at the top in white or gold garments, His right hand blessing, His left holding a scroll. To His right stands Moses, holding the tablets of the Law, representing the dead who are raised; to His left Elijah, the prophet taken up alive in the fiery chariot. Below, on the lower register, the three disciples are shown in disarray: Peter often shielding his eyes or gesturing upward, James falling, and John — traditionally the youngest — thrown headlong down the slope. Their tumbled postures are not a failure of drawing but the whole point of the icon: the apostles are painted in motion and confusion, while Christ is painted in absolute stillness. Tabor itself is rendered as stylised rocky peaks, three of them, echoing the three tabernacles Peter proposed.
Workshops differ in the details — some Cretan-school variants add the ascent and descent of the mountain in the margins, showing the disciples climbing on one side and returning on the other; Macedonian-school icons often favour a starker mandorla with sharper rays. The gold ground, present in nearly all of them, is not decoration. It is the same uncreated light, filling the space in which the whole scene stands.
For example, in our The Transfiguration Serigraphy Icon on carved wood, you can see the traditional composition rendered in the classic Byzantine manner.
Traditions and customs
The Transfiguration is one of the brightest days of a demanding fast. The strict fast of the first fifteen days of August — the Dormition fast — is relaxed on the sixth, when fish is permitted, and families across Greece mark the day with a proper table after two weeks of abstinence.
In the countryside the feast has always been the day of the first grapes. The first bunches of the year's harvest are carried to the church on the morning of the sixth to be blessed with a special prayer, then distributed to the congregation — the year's first fruits offered before they are eaten, and the vine of the new harvest touched by the blessing before the vintage begins. In many villages nobody would taste the new grapes before that morning.
The sixth of August also closes the drimes — the first six days of the month, held in popular belief to be governed by unaccountable forces. Tradition warns against swimming in the sea during those days, and against washing clothes, which are said to be ruined; the folk remedy is to throw a nail into the water, "nailing" the drimes and neutralising them. The custom probably preserves an older, practical memory of the sudden squalls and hard meltemi winds that make early August seas treacherous.
The day is also the name day for those called Sotiris, Sotiria and Metamorfosi, and the feast of the many monasteries and churches dedicated to the Metamorphosis — most famously the great monastery on Mount Tabor itself, and the Metamorphosis at Meteora.
Many families mark the day by placing an icon in the home's prayer corner — such as this Metamorphosis Jesus Christ icon of the Transfiguration — and lighting a vigil lamp before it.
Choosing an icon as a gift
For name days and feast days, a handmade icon is the gift that outlasts every other. Sizes range from small desk icons to large wall pieces, so there is something for every home and every budget.
A few practical things worth knowing before you choose:
Size. Our Transfiguration icons run from roughly 7x9cm up to 50x70cm. As a rule of thumb: 7–11cm pieces are for a desk, a car, a bedside or a christening favour; 15–21cm is the classic size for a home prayer corner, large enough to venerate but not to dominate; 30cm and above belongs on a wall, in a hallway or above an iconostasis shelf. If the icon is going into an existing prayer corner, measure the shelf first — icons are almost always ordered a size smaller than people imagine.
Technique and material. Serigraphy on carved wood gives a tactile, raised surface and a warm depth, printed with UV-resistant inks that will not fade; lithography on wood with a double varnish layer and handmade artificial ageing reproduces the look of an old Byzantine board very faithfully; silver-clad icons carry a formality that suits weddings and major anniversaries; gold leaf carries the light of the feast most literally, which makes it a natural choice for this particular subject.
Matching the occasion. For a baptism, a small icon of the child's patron saint is the traditional choice, often accompanied by small favour icons for the guests. For a wedding, a larger piece intended for the couple's new home — Christ and the Theotokos as a pair is the classic gift. For a name day, an icon of the feast itself. For a home altar, think about the whole corner rather than the single piece: an icon, a vigil lamp and an incense burner together make a far better gift than a larger icon alone.
Every piece is made to order in our workshop in Greece, so allow a few days for production before shipping; we ship worldwide, and for customers in the United States duties and import taxes are prepaid, with nothing extra to pay on delivery.
Icons for this feast
Every icon in our workshop is made by hand in Greece, in the Byzantine tradition, and shipped worldwide. If you have a question about a particular saint or size, we are always glad to help.