Page 37 - Holyland Magazine - 2009 Edition
P. 37
ATIVEEXPERIENCE to be the very site of the
Transfiguration. Stretching north
Hillel Sussmanand south of the church,
one can still see the remains
of the extensive buildings Photos clockwise: Left, the
of a Benedictine monastery, breathtaking view of the
including a chapel and a small Jezreel Valley spread out
bath house and on the mountain below Mt. Tabor. Above:
slopes nearby, many caves and riding up the serpentine
cells were added by hermits who road to the top is a grueling
lived in them. experience but well worth
every minute. In the
This ascetic hermit tradition background you can see
on Mt. Tabor is represented the city of Nazareth to the
in the Church of St. Melchizedek, located on the North. Below, architectural
northwest side of the upper plateau. The name derives details of the Church of the
from a 4th-century tradition in which Melchizedek Transfiguration.
spent seven years as a hermit on Mt. Tabor before
meeting and blessing Abraham.
Walking the circular path at the top of Mt. Tabor
offers a panoramic view of the area, with Nazareth
nearby to the northwest, Mt. Carmel to the west, the
Hill of Moreh and Mt. Gilboa to the south. Below to
the southwest, you can see the fertile land that once
was submerged under the swamps of the Kishon
River headwaters.
The Transfiguration of Jesus took place Hanan Isachar Currently dominating Mt. Tabor’s
as “the appearance of his face changed, summit is the Franciscan Church
and his clothes became as bright as a flash of the Transfiguration, built by
of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, the famous church architect
appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Antonio Barluzzi in 1924 over
Jesus. They spoke about his departure, the ruins of the Byzantine and
which he was about to bring to fulfillment Crusader churches, whose
at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:28-36). archaeological remains are visible
throughout the site.
As Matthew describes it, “While he was
still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped The theme of the Transfiguration
them, and a voice from the cloud said, can be seen in the architectural
‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him details of the church façade,
I am well pleased. Listen to him!’ When such as the ribbed pillars that
the disciples heard this, they fell face down metamorphose from vertical ribs
to the ground, terrified” (Mt 17:1-9). into spiral ones midway up the
wall.
By the 6th century, three Byzantine
chapels dedicated to Christ, Moses and Having a Bible in hand and reading
Elijah were added to the hilltop church. the biblical accounts while walking
However, during the Crusader period the paths is an awesome
(12th century), the old Byzantine triple experience, inspiring the feeling
church was replaced with a basilica with that “Tabor rises up to heaven like
three aisles, six bays and three apses. It an altar that the Creator has built
enclosed the sacred rock that was believed for himself” as 19th century scholar
Victor-Honore Guerin once put it.
Carmel by the sea” (Jeremiah 46:18)
