But what of
the bright Cloud of Tabor? Firstly, like Origen before him, Chrysostom regards
the appearance of the Cloud as a direct reply to St Peter’s proposal to build
three tabernacles. The Cloud appears, therefore, as a divine tabernacle; a
tabernacle, as Chrysostom puts it, which is not made by the hands of man (αχειροποιητος,
cf. Acts 7:48, 17:24; Isa. 16:12). (Christopher Veniamin, The
Transfiguration of Christ in Greek Patristic Literature from Irenaeus of Lyons
to Gregory Palamas [Dalton, Pa. Mount Tabor Publishing, 2022], 106)
Veniamin references Homilia 56 in Matthaeum 3
in PG
58:553. Here, we read:
Και ο μεν Πετρος
ελεγε, Ποιησωμεν τρεις σκηνας αυτος δε αχειροποιητον εδειξε σκηνην. Δια
τουτο εκει μεν καπνος και ατμις καμινου ενταυθα δε φωσ αφατον και φωνη Ειτα ινα
δειχθη, οτι ου περι ενος απλως των τριων ελεχθη, αλλα περι του Χριστου μονον,
οτε η φωνη ηνεχθη, εκποδων εγενοντο εκεινοι. (And Peter was saying, "Let us make three
tents" and he pointed to the tent without hands [ἀχειροποίητος]. . . .)
