There was a time when sunlight was not contained within an orb as within a vessel.  Light was first-born, while the orb was made on the fourth day of Creation by the One Who made everything.  He united the light with the orb and thus created a luminary which gives day to people and shines during the day.  In the same manner the Divine light existed before it became contained in the body of Christ as in a vessel.  This light is pre-eternal, while the adjunct obtained from us by the Son of God – human flesh – was created later, for our sake; having taken on Himself the fullness of Divinity, He – the Son of man – became a divinely creative and divinely radiant luminary.  Christ’s face shone like the sun, while His garments became white as snow.  The Evangelist Mark says: “…His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can whiten them.”  Thus, both the body of Christ and His garments shone with the same light, but unequally: His face became radiant as the sun, while His garments shone from contact with His body.  He thus showed us the nature of that garment of glory, in which will be clothed those who will be with God in the eternal age, and also the nature of that garment of sinlessness, which Adam lost through his transgression and, seeing his own nakedness, was ashamed.

Saint Gregory Palamas