Why were Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration?
The presence of these two representatives of the Law and the Prophets points to their fulfilment in Christ.
The presence of these two representatives of the Law and the Prophets points to their fulfilment in Christ.
Editor’s Notes
In this piece, Fr. Coleridge tells us…
How the presence of Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration confirms Christ’s mission and doctrine
That these two saints represent the Law and the Prophets, testifying to Christ’s divine authority
Why their discussion of the Passion reveals the Cross as the path to glory.
He shows us that the Transfiguration was not merely a vision of glory but a confirmation of the necessity of the Passion, foreshadowing the triumph that follows suffering.
For more context on this episode, its significance and its place in the Roman Liturgy, see here:
The Transfiguration
The Preaching of the Cross, Part I
Chapter III
St. Matt. xvii. 1–13; St. Mark ix. 1–12; St. Luke ix. 28–36
Story of the Gospels, § 83
Burns and Oates, London, 1886
Headings and some line breaks added.
Sung on Ember Saturday of Lent, the Second Sunday of Lent and the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6)
Part I: Why did Christ reveal his transfigured glory before the Passion?
Part II: Why were Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration?
Part III: Why is the Transfiguration placed at the turning point of Christ’s public life?
Part IV: What’s the link between the Transfiguration and the Baptism of the Lord?
Part V: Why did Christ command secrecy about the Transfiguration until after Easter?
Moses and Elias
There must have been a special intention in the Divine counsels in consequence of which the two Saints of the Old Testament were summoned from their repose to bear a part in this wonderful vision.
It does not seem to be the belief of the Church that the presence of Moses and Elias was merely apparent and not real, at least as to the souls of these great saints, and as to the body in which Elias was seen. There is only question as to the actual resurrection of the body of Moses from the dead, and the reunion of his soul with his body, which, in that case, must probably have returned again to the grave after the mystery. Moses and Elias were really present with our Lord.
Considering them simply as saints of the Old Covenant, they would represent the truth that the glory of our Lord was, as has been said, to be communicated to the bodies of the saints hereafter, whether of the New Testament or of the Old. But the presence of these two saints in particular may seem to require some special explanation.
Many of the Fathers consider them as chosen because they would naturally represent the Law and the Prophets. Thus the truth of our Lord’s Mission and Kingdom would be testified to by the chief person in each of these dispensations. There could be no longer any ground for hesitating as to the claims of our Lord in general, or in particular, as to that doctrine of the Cross which He had lately been teaching, when He was seen in glory in company with these two greatest of the saints.
Moses had spoken in particular of the Prophet Who was to be like himself and to come into the world. We know that the coming of the one great Prophet was expected by the Jews, from the question that had been formally put to St. John Baptist by the priests of Jerusalem, asking him whether he were the Christ, or Elias, or the Prophet.1
The mention of Elias in the same question shows us a reason for his presence also, for our Lord is thus accompanied by the two whose testimony could be of most force, Moses who had predicted Him, and Elias who was expected to go before Him. We find the Apostles themselves asking, on their way down from the mountain, why the Scribes said that Elias was first to come? And his appearance in the mystery must have suggested the question which our Lord took the opportunity of answering.
Both had fasted forty days
Another reason for the appearance of these two saints may be found in their history, especially in the fact that of them alone, among all the saints, is it recorded that they anticipated our Lord in His long fast of forty days and nights. It seems to be for this that the Church sings the Gospel of the Transfiguration on the second Sunday in Lent, having used for the first Sunday the Gospel of the Fasting and Temptation of our Lord.
In this way there may possibly be some reference to the example of these saints in their selection as witnesses now, as if, though they had not typified our Lord in any actual passion or suffering unto death, they had won the right to be considered as patterns of those who bear their daily cross after Him, and so might naturally be considered as fit to be placed by His side in this mystery, in which the merit and reward of such suffering is set forth in the glory which is purchased thereby.
These seem to be the reasons which may be given for the presence of Moses and Elias in particular on this great occasion.
Conversation with our Lord
‘And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias, Elias with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.’
St. Luke here adds considerably to the account as given by the two former Evangelists. He tells us that the two men who were with our Lord appeared ‘in majesty,’ and that they spoke of ‘His decease which He should accomplish in Jerusalem.’ That is, they were seen in glorious bodies and shining raiment, like our Lord Himself, and they spoke with Him about His Passion, which was to take place in Jerusalem.
By this it seems to be meant that they conversed with Him of the details and the circumstances of the death that He was to die in the Holy City, although the mention of Jerusalem may be a note inserted by the historian to direct the attention back to our Lord’s own prediction about what was to take place there. It would seem in any case that it is meant that we should understand the connection of the whole mystery with the prediction of the Passion, and the doctrine of the Cross which had immediately followed on that prediction, as if it had been our Lord’s purpose to make the Vision a confirmation, in the minds of the Apostles, of that teaching in particular.
But there would not be required any special motive of this kind to guide the minds of these two glorious servants of our Lord to the thought and mention of the Passion, which was in itself so singular and unique in its importance in the scheme of salvation. For the Passion might naturally be the first thing of all on which the minds and discourse of such saints would dwell. Moreover, the glory in which they now found themselves for the first time was to be the direct fruit of the Passion in a peculiar way. For what He won in the Passion He won for our sakes, and the glory won by the Passion was already His by other titles, as we have seen.
Thus there would be a twofold reason for this subject of discourse, and it is easy to imagine the rapturous gratitude of servants of God so full of love and zeal at having our Lord before them in His glory, at being able to gaze upon His Sacred Humanity, and on finding themselves bound, by their own share in His Transfiguration, to pay Him especial thanks and honour for so great a blessing, which they were now to enjoy for a moment only, but which was to be the source to them of everlasting joys hereafter.
Ecstasy of the Apostles
It has been said that there seem to be reasons for thinking that this mystery of the Transfiguration took place at night, and one of them is that now, as in the Agony in the Garden, we find that the disciples, whom our Lord had taken with Him, were oppressed by sleep.
‘Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep. And waking, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.’
The order of the circumstances seems to have been, that, while our Lord was praying, the disciples, who may have been extremely fatigued by the labours or journeyings of the day, were overcome by sleep, but they were roused by the great brightness, and they enjoyed for some considerable time the glorious vision, which so entranced them as to produce a kind of ecstasy, in which they were hardly masters of themselves. They did not speak, but enjoyed the vision in silent awe and wonder, and in the most intense delight. They listened to the words of our Lord talking with His chosen saints, and of the saints speaking with Him, in gratitude and admiration of the coming Passion.
It must have been from their words that they understood who the two men were, unless they had some preternatural intimation as to this, which is by no means unlikely. For in such sublime states of prayer the saints seem ordinarily to know who those are whom they see or who speak to them. We do not know how long the ecstasy lasted, and indeed there seems to be no measure of time on such occasions, and the deep peace and concentration of the mind on the one object with which it is occupied makes it indifferent to, and unconscious of, the flow of time. But at last, sooner or later, there seemed to be an end, for the two men who were talking with our Lord seemed to be departing from Him. It was then that St. Peter spoke, as we are told in the sacred history.
Words of St. Peter
‘And it came to pass, while they were departing from Him, Peter answering said to Jesus,’ the interruption being made by way of answer, inasmuch as it was occasioned by the retirement of Moses and Elias, and was designed if possible to prevent it,
‘Master, it is good for us to be here, and if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias. For he knew not what he said, for they were struck with fear.’
The fear may have been the awe with which so much glory and majesty might naturally inspire them, or it may have been a kind of sudden terror and alarm at the thought that they were to be deprived of the most entrancing sight. But in any case, St. Peter spoke as one beside himself, and he remembered afterwards his own words with a kind of wonder how he could have uttered them. The object uppermost in his mind, as it is disclosed by the words, must have been a great desire to retain the Saints as long as possible, although it was a simple thought enough that those who were sharers in so much glory and majesty could be in any need of dwellings, made with hands, such as he and the other two could raise.
What they imply
The words indicate the rapture and entrancement of the Apostles, as if they would have been glad enough never to leave the mountain, if they could but have enjoyed for ever the same beautiful sight, and listened to the same marvellous words. Thus we may gather from this that a mere passing sight of the glories of the Sacred Humanity, and of what is communicated of those glories to the blessed in Heaven, can produce delight enough even to satisfy and more than satisfy the natural craving of our nature for such enjoyments.
And this may have been the effect which our Lord intended to produce when He vouchsafed this favour to the Apostles, as if He had wished to give them such a foretaste of the glory of which He had spoken, as would put an end, at once and for ever, to all their low and weak thoughts about the Cross and the sufferings which He had foretold for Himself and also for His followers, by raising their minds to the higher expectations of ineffable joy which would be founded on this great vision.
Spoken in entrancement
The words of the Apostle are commented on by the Fathers and Christian writers as showing in many ways how far he must have been from a full mastery of himself to speak them. To propose that they should remain in the holy mountain permanently, was to propose to find the enjoyment of Heaven upon earth, the happiness of the country to which we are on the road, while he was still on the road. Peter thought so much of the glory which he saw, that he imagined it was the essential glory in which the Beatitude of the next world consists.
But that Beatitude is the clear Vision of God, not the sight for a moment of the beautiful face of our Lord in His Humanity, shining as the sun, and the rest, which, after all, are but shadows of the ineffable glories on which we are to feed for ever. Moreover, his words imply that he and his companions were already ripe for everlasting joys without more ado, while their crowns were yet to be won, their battles yet to be fought, their work as yet hardly begun. The true life of blessedness can only be reached through death, and long years of labour and suffering for our Lord lay between the momentary joy of the Transfiguration and the crucifixion of this blessed Apostle on the Janiculum.
Still less reason was there in the imagination that the saints in glory and our Lord Himself could need the tabernacles which human hands could raise, or that the raising of them could detain for a moment the servants of God if the will of God called them elsewhere. The manifestation was to pass, as far as Moses and Elias were to have a part in it, though there was more to come for the faithful disciples to witness.
The words of Peter were not altogether unfruitful, for in later days, when the Holy Land became the chosen resort of Christian devotion, the three tabernacles of which the Apostle had spoken were raised on Mount Tabor in the form of three churches, one for our Lord, one for Moses, and one for Elias. And on the slope of the hill below another chapel was placed, on the spot marked out by tradition as that where our Lord afterwards gave the Apostles the charge to tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man was risen from the dead.
No answer was given to the words of St. Peter, but the glorious scene passed on to another stage of the mysterious manifestation of the greatness of our Lord which it was now the will of the Father to make.
In the next part, we’ll ask the question: Why did Christ command his Apostles to keep this event a secret until after his Passion and Resurrection?
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The Transfiguration
Part I: Why did Christ reveal his transfigured glory before the Passion?
Part II: Why were Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration?
Part III: Why is the Transfiguration placed at the turning point of Christ’s public life?
Part IV: What’s the link between the Transfiguration and the Baptism of the Lord?
Part V: Why did Christ command secrecy about the Transfiguration until after Easter?
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St. John i. 25.