A Word about the Four-Day Lazarus

“The Sermon on the Four-Day Lazarus” was spoken by St. John Chrysostom in Antioch on the day of remembrance of the martyrs Vernika, Prosdoka and Domnina (April 20, year unknown). It examines the Gospel story about the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11), in which St. John sees clear evidence of the inseparable union in Christ of two actions (Divine and human), as well as the future resurrection of the dead. *The title of the work in Greek is Εἰς τὸν τετραήμερον Λάζαρον. *The title of the work in Latin is In quatriduanum Lazarum. Recently, before you, beloved, weaving a flowery wreath of spring and depicting this time of year in words, as if in a picture, we showed not only flowering groves and green meadows and revitalizing breezes, but also stated that our nature also shows signs of resurrection at this time, and wanting to find an object corresponding to the time, we attracted the revived Lazarus. But, being unable to fulfill our promise, we ended the speech at the very beginning. Investigating first of all why the other evangelists were silent about Lazarus, and only John wrote, we said that the Holy Spirit, stopping in advance the suspicion of fiction, allowed the evangelists to describe the miracles of the Savior in a similar and consistent manner, but at the same time arranged for one of them to omit one thing, the other - another, presenting in this obvious proof that the Gospels were written by them without evil intent, without preparation, not by agreement and not out of gratification to anyone, so that everything expresses the unartificial truth even when something is missing. But since this was sufficiently prepared by us then, let us see what the timely need was for the evangelist for the miracle performed on Lazarus. The Savior, talking a lot and often with his disciples about His suffering, saw that they were numb and horrified by such words, considered the foreshadowed suffering to be more a consequence of weakness than of economy, and still hesitated with human judgments and trembled. Therefore, when suffering is already approaching and the cross is ready to be erected, He resurrects the dead Lazarus in order to teach the students that the cross and death are not a consequence of weakness, in order to convince those present that He commands death and calls forth a soul that has renounced earthly bonds. For some purpose, He compares voluntary death, perhaps, delineating His three-day resurrection at Lazarus, comforting the faint-hearted with the shortened period of His stay underground, on the eve of the cross, properly weakening the fear of the disciples and showing that what He gave to another will easily be realized by Him for Himself, admonishing those who doubt by their very deeds, and thus adapting words to deeds, and by His deeds proclaiming approximately the following: never I left the perceived humanity unparticipated in the divine power; but now as a man, now as God, either revealing nature, or certifying the economy, and teaching the lower to assimilate to humanity, and the higher to elevate to the Divine, and through such an unequal mixture of affairs, explaining the unequal combination of natures, and through the power over suffering, showing the voluntariness of My suffering - I, as God, curbed nature, continuing fasting for forty days, and, like a man, then he was hungry and faint; I, like God, calmed the raging sea; I, as a man, was tempted by the devil and, as God, cast out demons by command; I, as a person, have to suffer for people; but, so that you do not attribute this to weakness, before the coming of death I call forth the one possessed by death, and having first revealed the power of the Divine, then I pay the ancient debt of humanity; Having loosed the bonds, then I myself accept the bonds, and with these very deeds (I show) that “I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it up again” (Jn. 10:17, 18). This is the teaching of the Savior, taught by works. If it had not been so, and if He had not put off working miracles on Lazarus for some purpose, then, undoubtedly, when on the way they told Him about Lazarus’ illness, “they sent,” says the evangelist, “his sisters” to the Lord, “to tell Him: Behold, the one you love is sick” (John 11:3), - He, having heard something like that, would not have put it off for long, but, as he did with the centurion and Syrophoenician and saved the son of the first absentee and the daughter of the last absentee, he would have done the same with Martha, who informed about her brother that he was sick. Now He deliberately awaits his death, and hesitates for a long time, and deliberately postpones his arrival in order to show victory over death before his struggle with death; He delays for three days to confirm the reality of death; in the presence of the Jews he opens the tomb to make those who persecuted Him the messengers of a miracle; through prayer and invocation of the Father, he awakens Lazarus, so that it does not seem as if He is rebelling against the laws of the Creator. Look at this feature: He did not say: Revive Lazarus; but what? "Lazarus! get out" (Jn. 11:43), to teach those present that He is the One who calls “things that are not as if they are” (Rom. 4:17), to show those present that He is the God of the living, and not of the dead, to show in time that there are no obstacles to the divine command, and to remind those present of the One who said: “let there be a firmament... let the waters be gathered together... in one place... let the earth produce greenery... let it produce water reptiles, a living soul” (Gen. 1:6, 9, 11, 20). “Lazare! get out" ; this is to increase and strengthen the faith of those gathered, so that clothing and bandages testify to death, and immediate obedience and unhindered fear announce the power of the Lord. Lazarus, come out, and the decayed one stood up, the rotten one began to feel, the dead man obeyed, the bound one ran, and the mourned one jumped. But why did the Savior use a loud appeal in this case? The Evangelist says: “Having said this, He cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus! get out” (John 11:43). With this proclamation He may have foreshadowed the future resurrection; “For the trumpet will sound,” it is said, “and the dead will rise” (1 Cor. 15:52). I could say a lot more about this, but I am distracted by another subject, and I am forced to move from the coffin to the coffin. It is truly timely to compare the tomb of Lazarus with the tombs, and not untimely, it seems, the death of the wives is celebrated at his very tomb. There is a coffin, and there is a coffin; but the tomb of Lazarus, which is opened, reveals the power of Christ, and the tomb of these women, closed to the active one, preaches the grace of the Savior; there the dead supernaturally emerge from the coffin, here the wives unnaturally resort to the coffins; there is a sign of divine power, here a proof of valiant will; there Lazarus... of death... boldly enters; there is revival after death, here is life; there death is forcibly robbed, here death is clearly trampled upon; that (Lazarus) death, having condemned life, soon took back again, or - better - as it is said: “the wives received their dead raised again” (Heb. 11:35), according to the command of God, and these from temporary life jumped into eternal life, the mother and daughters who have gathered us today - the pious mother who endured the diseases of birth, and the daughters who did not experience these diseases, the mother who allowed virginity for birth virgins, the mother who gave birth to purity, the mother who gave birth to virgins according to the natural law. The tormentor who everywhere fought against the pious, who turned the sword of barbaric murders against their own blood, the tormentor who persecuted the invisible Christ, the tormentor who thought to defeat the Shepherd through the herd, the tormentor who tried to throw arrows into the sky, the tormentor who was jealous of the spread of the kingdom of Christ, this tormentor was a persecuting and incompatible man, while unapproachable virgins were combined in the struggle. Property was plundered, the fatherland was taken away, wicked warriors attracted lovers of chastity and modesty like robbers, forcing them to bow to the image of the mental Nebuchadnezzar. But this Babylonian oven did for the three martyrs the same thing as that one, loosening the bonds of both body and soul, letting the souls fly freely to heaven. And the ancient serpent, who pursued Eve in paradise, who ensnared simple and innocent souls, seeing the river become a bloody font, and the stream filled with the divine Spirit, and pursuing the blessed to the very river, was repelled by the waters dissolved by spiritual fire, and, hiding his pride in himself, mourned the failure of his ancient cunning, saw how those wives who had previously been easily seduced and horrified, self-confidently speaking out against death, and watched as that heel, which he guarded to hurt, flew up from the earth to heaven. However, having sufficiently praised the victorious women, added useful remarks everywhere to the subject of speech, adorned the ancient tomb with a new coffin, united extraordinary revival with a patient death, offered examples of virtue and piety to husbands and wives, and shown the praised death and longed-for resurrection, let us give thanks to Christ, who has the power of life and death, to whom be glory and dominion, with the Father and the Holy and Life-giving Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.