Our next sermon on the Transfiguration is from Varvara Gulina:
The Transfiguration of Christ means that we can now be transfigured as well. Christ invites all human persons—including women—to shine.
At the Transfiguration, Jesus Christ takes his disciples and journeys up a mountain. There, he reveals Himself to them. Just like Moses when he encountered the Divine on Mt. Sinai, Jesus’ radiated light. ‘There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light’. In our celebration of the Transfiguration, we are called to participate in this light. Christ was both fully divine and fully human at the same time. God becoming human in Christ allows for humans to partake of divinity and become like God. But what I find we often do not speak about, is how even in our earthly presentation here within our Church, we seem to denigrate the beauty and radiance of women. How the limitations that we often place on women, are dulling that ‘shine’.
For example, women will often be told to cover up, to crucify the ‘flesh’, and engage in certain forms harsh of asceticism, to self-sacrifice; to stay modest. Humble. We often discourage women who are called to diverse forms of ministries to give up on their hopes and aspirations, often using religious language to justify the dulling of this ‘shine’-sometimes erasing it completely. Yet, we hear in the Transfiguration story, Christ took the disciples up the mountain. During the moment of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah are with Christ. Tradition suggests that they represent the law and the prophets which are now fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Old ideas are transformed. They are transfigured in the light of Jesus Christ. Christ’s transfiguration reveals what has always been true about him—and therefore, we discover what has always been true about us - including women- all along.
For me, this discovery, this moment of transfiguration, came through my daughter. God showed me, through her participation as an altar girl, what a transfigured liturgy may look like. I saw a little girl serve and shining to others, bringing them light, joy, and hope.
And through this, I saw a liturgy where we finally see girls and women participate in beautiful and creative ways. It was joyous. It was life-giving. My daughter’s bravery and love for the church helped me to see something in a newly illumined way. As my daughter recalls of the experience: ‘It was a really big change. For once, I actually wanted to come to church. It changed my life. It was a big thing to do. Like a rollercoaster. You're scared to go. But then it's so fun’.
This experience, along with the insights from God from scripture and other theological works, and through the stories of ordained female saints in our tradition like Saint Barbara, God illumined and transfigured my own mind about who I am as a woman of God. Over the course of a few years, I’ve come to realize that God transforms us—just like he did in the transfiguration—to become a new creation, worthy of delight, ‘worship’, radiance, awe, inspiration, and illumination of others.
In the Akathist of Thanksgiving we read: ‘The reflection of the glory (light) of Mount Tabor brings the whole of nature to smile and fills our hearts with a heavenly gladness’ It is in this joy and gladness that others can see our love for God. This is what we ask of God when we sing ‘give light to our souls’.
It is interesting then, that even as Orthodox Christians, just like the apostles who fell to the ground at the sight of transfigured Christ, we too are afraid of God. We are afraid of seeing God, in all of His glory and splendor. Our brains are predisposed and wired to focus on negativity, and to become risk averse. We seem to be comfortable with speaking about the language of repentance and sorrow. But boy are we afraid of joy. Of light. Of overwhelming awe, of things that often seem ‘too good to be true’, ‘too much’ or ‘too beautiful’? And could it be that we are afraid to see girls and women that way, both liturgically and non-liturgically, because seeing that light would be too scary for us?
Unfortunately, we often do this ‘hiding’ by limiting what the Holy Spirit, in the Church, can and cannot do. We limit girls and women, and who they may be if we gave them a chance to fully show their beautiful, transfigured selves— in body, spirit, and callings.
How powerful would it be to allow women to participate spontaneously in the life of the Church through the promptings of the Holy Spirit–in whatever forms that may take place. Even if it is ‘scary’. To be allowed to full express themselves – whether as deaconesses, altar girls, as readers, spiritual guides, and leaders. And not to be ashamed in how we dress and present themselves, allowing our beautiful transfigured female bodies to shine, and be seen.
So what does the transfiguration mean for our own lives? I would say, for those of us who are in positions of authority, to allow our minds to be transfigured by this truth . And for the rest of us–and especially girls and women–, I would say that we have full permission, and even a duty, to shine. To boldly shine even when it is scary to those around us. To shine in order to bring hope and light to those who are desolate of hope. To shine, because Christ, through His transfiguration, invites us to do so.
Varvara Gulina earned her B.A. in Psychology from California State University Fullerton and her M.P.H. from the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Center, with a concentration in Leadership and Public Health Practice. Her work and research focus on gender-based violence, perceptions of abuse among trafficking victims, negative cognitive schemas in women, and adolescent dating abuse. Varvara holds certifications in both sexual assault and domestic violence advocacy and initiated a novel experiment on belittling of women, for which she was awarded the Women in California Leadership Award in 2020. As a Ph.D. student at San Diego State University, in the School of Social Work, she investigates the intersection of violence against women and substance use disorders, aiming to inform programs and policies that protect girls and women. Varvara deeply loves the Orthodox Church and is passionate about helping girls and women to encounter who they are in Christ—encouraging and inspiring them to pursue their God-given purposes.
