Just as at the moment of Christ's Baptism there is also a manifestation of the Holy Trinity, so also at the moment of His Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor the Trinitarian God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is revealed. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Who was made man, shone before the holy Disciples and manifested the glory of His Divinity. The Father affirmed that this was His Beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit was the bright cloud which overshadowed the Holy Disciples.

It is a teaching of the Holy Fathers that Christ on Mt. Tabor showed men the archetypal beauty of their image. Christ is the model of the creation of man, because man was formed in the image of the Logos/Word. By this we see the glory of the image and what a great honor it is that we are in the image of God. Our lineage is not low, but high, because the glorified Christ is the prototype of our creation, but also because He is our artificer and creator.

The holy Disciples of Christ were granted to see the deification (theosis) of the human nature of Christ, precisely because they themselves were transfigured. The Holy Fathers speak of a change in the Disciples. "They were changed, and so they saw the change" (Saint Gregory Palamas). This means that there was a change, a Transfiguration of Christ, but this became known because there was also a change, a transfiguration of the Disciples.

The Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos is one of the oldest Marian feasts in the Church. The roots of the feast go back to Jerusalem where the holy Apostles and the Christians of Jerusalem honored and kept the memory of the falling asleep (death) of the Theotokos. Consequently, quickly, her empty tomb, in Gethsemane, become a destination for pilgrims from Jerusalem and the surrounding neighborhoods.

The Holy Dormition Fast was established as preceding the great feasts of the Holy Transfiguration (Metamorphosis) of the Lord and of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Mother of God) it lasts two weeks--from August 1st - August 14th.

There are two forms of the Paraklesis (Supplication) Canon to the Theotokos (Mother of God), The Small Paraklesis which was composed by Theosteriktos the Monk in the 9th century (or some say Theophanes), and The Great Paraklesis. During the majority of the year, only the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos is chanted. However, during the Dormition Fast (Koimisis Nesteia) (August 1-14), the Typikon prescribes that the Small and Great Paraklesis (Supplication) be chanted on alternate evenings, according to the following regulations: