On the light of Tabor

This article presents the previously unpublished French translation, made by Michel Stavrou, of an excerpt from the *First Refutation of Prochoros Kydones* by John VI Kantakouzenos (c. 1295–1383), the Byzantine emperor who became a monk and theologian after his abdication in 1354. The translated text concerns the nature of the light that appeared during the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor. Kantakouzenos refutes the thesis of Prochoros Kydones, influenced by Thomistic scholasticism, according to which this light would be created. Drawing on Christology, the patristic tradition, and the authorities of Pseudo-Dionysius and Basil of Caesarea, he defends the uncreated character of this light as the proper radiance of the divinity of the incarnate Word. This text constitutes an important piece of the Palamite dossier and illustrates Kantakouzenos's commitment to the doctrine of Gregory Palamas within the theological controversies of fourteenth-century Byzantium.