The Parish of St Kentigern celebrated The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ.

The parishioners were looking forward for Fr Gennadiy to return from his holidays. Transfiguration of Jesus Christ (Preobrazhenie) was the first service to be celebrated after the long break.

This Feast was established to commemorate The Transfiguration of Jesus in front of his disciples upon a mountain (Mount Tabor) Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36. The Gospels have similar description of this event. Shortly before his Crucifixion Jesus took Peter, James, John the Apostle and went to the Mount Tabor, where he started to pray. Soon the apostles became tired and fell asleep. As they woke up they saw that Jesus has transfigured before them: he became radiant, his face had light upon it as bright as sunshine and his clothes became dazzling white as snow. Moses and Elijah, two Old Testament prophets, appeared and talked with Jesus about his death that would soon take place .

Later the Gospels say that a cloud enveloped them, and a voice said, “This is My Son, listen to Him! After that the vision disappeared. The disciples fell down on the ground in fear. Jesus came closer to them, touched them and told them “Get up and have no fear”. They then got up and saw Jesus in his usual appearance.

The Feast of Transfiguration of Jesus is considered to remind people of the necessity of spiritual transfiguration. The Church teaches that with his Transfiguration The Saver allows us to see the Transfiguration, which a man can expect in the Kingdom of God.

Christ was also preparing the disciples for his death; they must have seen him in his heavenly glory not to hesitate later in the moment of trial.

The Transfiguration of our Lord is also a traditional harvest feast, when the fruits of the earth, such as apples, pears, plums, etc are being blessed in the Church. The apples are very popular for blessing and our parish is not an exception. At the end of the Service Farther Gennadiy blessed the fruits brought by the congregation.

The tea and conversations took place after the Service There was much to talk about; we have not seen each other for more than a month. During this time some of us visited Holy Land, Italy, some of us went to Estonia, Latvia, Russia. Now we are all back and together. Thanks God!

Translated by Julia Klein