August 19, Minsk /Anna Gromyko - BELTA/. Orthodox believers today celebrate one of the twelve most important Christian holidays - the Transfiguration of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
August 19, Minsk /Anna Gromyko - BELTA/. Orthodox believers today celebrate one of the twelve most important Christian holidays - the Transfiguration of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It is established 40 days before the Exaltation of the Cross. It is associated with the biblical event when Jesus, shortly before his crucifixion, ascended Mount Tabor with his three closest disciples, John, James, and Peter, to pray. There, the apostles saw the Divine Transfiguration of Christ. The Saviour's face became like lightning, his clothes white as snow. He stood, surrounded by radiance like the sun with its rays. Two prophets, Moses and Elijah, appeared to the Saviour and conversed with him. This conversation was about the sacrifice on Golgotha, about the suffering that Christ was to endure, and about how human sins would be redeemed by the blood of the Son of God and Saviour.
Through His Transfiguration, the Saviour showed people what they would become in the afterlife, in the Kingdom of Heaven, and how our entire earthly world would be transformed then.
An ancient custom is associated with this day – the blessing of the fruits of the new harvest. In Belarus, these are usually apples. Therefore, the holiday is also popularly called Apple Spas. On this day, by consecrating apples and honey, people appease the approaching autumn. Among all fruit trees, the apple tree is especially revered by the Eastern Slavs. It not only symbolises life, eternity, and immortality but was also believed to be able to bestow these qualities upon a person by gifting its fruits.
On Spas, in many places, apples consecrated in church were taken to the cemetery, where one fruit was placed on the grave of each relative. "Spas" was also explained by its similarity to the verb "to sleep". It was claimed that the earth sleeps on this day, and therefore it was forbidden to disturb its slumber and work. In ancient times, it was customary on this day to give gifts to the destitute from the gathered harvest. Folk wisdom states: "On the Second Spas, even a beggar will eat an apple", "From the Transfiguration of Spas – the weather transforms!", "The Second Spas has come – get your mittens ready!".
The second Spas is also called Osenniny. It marks the welcoming of autumn. Nights become colder from this day on, and the departure of storks begins. If storks gathered for the south a week before Spas, it meant that winter would come earlier and be frosty, while spring would be warm; if autumn turned out to be warm after Spas, winter would be late, and spring would be cold.-0-
News of Belarus (BELTA)