Byzantine Spirituality
Transfiguration College was founded to form students within the distinctive spiritual traditions of Byzantine Christianity, including the traditions of iconography and chant. This formation will enable graduates to help restore the relationship between Christians of the East and West.
"To Breathe with Both Lungs"
The fullness of Christianity is not only to be found in those churches that grew out of Rome, but includes apostolic churches that developed in their own distinctive way in the Byzantine Empire and the Middle East. Both the Eastern and Western expressions of Christianity are valid and salvific, but neither is complete without the other.
Transfiguration College is a response to the call of Pope John Paul II, of happy memory, to revive the Eastern expression of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, so that the Church may "breathe with both lungs." Students will be immersed in the Byzantine Christian liturgical tradition, with Divine Liturgy, Matins, and Vespers contributing to daily campus life. Nourished by these ancient traditions, students will be prepared to contribute to Christian unity as "Lights of the East."
Iconography
Icons are central to the worship of the Christian East. They are not mere "religious paintings" but essential tools—or "books"—used to teach and to pass on the Byzantine Patrimony. Indeed, one does not speak of icons being "painted" but written.
An icon makes visible the invisible mystery of God, transforming and expanding the senses so that they can perceive spiritual realities. Icons are fundamentally incarnational. As Pope Benedict XVI has put it, "Icons are intended to draw us into an inner path, an eastward path, towards the Christ who is to return."
The study of iconography will be an integral part of students' liberal education at Transfiguration College. Students will write icons following the techniques, symbolism and ascetical preparations handed down through the ages.
Byzantine Chant
Just as the eyes are drawn into spiritual seeing through Byzantine iconography, the ears learn to hear the heavenly chorus through Byzantine chant.
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