Transfiguration Fruit Blessings
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The annual blessing of fruit on the Feast of the Transfiguration is an extremely ancient custom of our Church. The first written text is from 220 AD, written by Saint Hippolytus: “The oldest prayer for the blessing of fruits is registered by the Apostolic Constitutions in the fourth century. But there is also an older Prayer of Thanksgiving for the new fruits in the work of St. Hippolytus, the Apostolic Tradition, composed about 220 A.D. St. Hippolytus mentions the following fruits usually blessed: grapes, figs, pomegranates, pears, mulberries, peaches, and almonds.”
The first fruits of the harvest season are blessed both as a giving back to the Lord what is His and has come from Him (1 Chronicles 29:14) and as a celebration of the promise of the final transfiguration of all things in Christ. The Divine Light glimpsed by the Apostles on Mount Tabor will transform all creation to its most perfect flowering and fruitfulness. Today we bring samples of the fruits available to us for the priest to bless, especially grapes (symbol of the Precious Blood and of the new wine that Christ offers in His Kingdom) and apples (our redemption from original sin).