Transfiguration of Christ: August 6

On Mount Tabor Christ took Peter, James and John apart, and was transfigured before them: His face shone like the sun and His garments became white as light, and Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, the dead and the living, spoke with Him of His departure. The Church keeps it on 6 August, forty days before the Elevation of the Cross, and its kontakion explains why it was shown when it was: the disciples beheld Thy glory as far as they could bear it, so that when they saw Thee crucified they would understand that Thy suffering was voluntary. For the Orthodox Church the light of Tabor is the uncreated light of God, as St Gregory Palamas taught against Barlaam: not a created sign of glory, but the glory itself, which the saints see. In the icon the rays reach down to the three apostles, thrown to the ground. Grapes and the first fruits are blessed on the day, which falls in the Dormition Fast.