On the Raising of Lazarus

On the Raising of Lazarus Memrā 20 of the Hosannas: Memrē on the Raising of Lazarus, and it is recited on the night of the first of the week of Hosannas. A blessed and sweet discourse, for on the day of his entry he stirred up the children. Let us praise him with Hosannas, my brethren. The tyrant of death, when his evil power raged against the race of men, subjected them under the yoke of his bitterness. The tyrant of his toil cast upon all unjustly, and without sparing, he performed servitude upon good and evil alike. The whole race of mortals and destructible beings he bound and brought into the bonds of Sheol, from which there is no longer any escape. The whole nature of the human race he cursed and sold into servitude to a dead lord. By the cause of death, mortals became servants to death, while the good of their nature was the poison of death that was mixed in it. As if by a chain, death was bound in the nature, from the time it heard the decree of the edicts of death. The herald passed by, summoned him, and awakened him as from sleep, and he began to speak and follow the decree to its fulfillment and its mystery. Then death, like a lion, raged against men and swallowed them up, and like a beast, he went and hid in the depths of Sheol. Sin summoned him and also urged him to rage for slaughter, and she taught him to destroy men without mercy. Like a harlot, she went out to meet him in the streets of the world, and as if to children, she led Adam to her defilement.

A heavy price he demanded from the one who was victorious with her, and he gave his body, and she his garment, into the hands of death. Death took the garment from the victor and ground it exceedingly, and left in it no remnant of truth. The sign of his casting down the body of man was seen to be justified, and he grieved over his labor, that it might not be mocked by the dissolute. Love bound him to the loss which the work of his hands had caused, and he turned his newness to the lamentation of those who were worn out with decay. Like a garment he clothed his will in the body of flesh, and showed his glory in something smaller than his greatness. Small is the human being compared to the maker of the unutterable, as the body that is inhabited is less than its clothing. In the body that is inhabited, the king saw the greatness of his rank, and the word of the Father in his body, that of Adam, without its covering. For the abolition of death, he put on the perishable body, so that in the form of a man he might snatch men from the mouth of death. After death, his will went forth on the feet of flesh, and he ran and seized him and snatched from him the captivity of men. In the form of men, he hunts the lion that hunts men, and with the food of man he gave him a morsel to eat of the dead. With the human being, his will journeyed to hunt the dead, and proclaimed in the land a new good news: that the dead live. Like a hunter he stood on the sea of death, and cast the net of the word of his mouth and caught death. The food of flesh he cast before him like a bait, and he swallowed his hook and ate, and bound him to the face of the dry land.

In one hour she wove a garment of love for the victor, and by the hand of the victor death destroyed the garment from the living. Victoriously he hunted the world with a net, and cast his net under his lordship without being broken. The hand of the victor cast his sign upon sinners, and he poured out his poison like beasts to destroy his love. He hunted sinners according to his will with his members, and spoke with them through the mouth of flesh spiritually. Gently he hunted the sons of the earth, and like children he enticed them to his teaching. He bound the bonds of love with them secretly, and they loved his love and the sons of his mysteries. He chose three lovers for himself from the living, and he spread his love over all richly. Jesus loved the loves of the wicked, Martha and Mary and Lazarus, three siblings. Not from every man did that lover of all love, but he cast a hook into the victor to love his name. He cast a hook into the two orders of the wicked, by which he chooses lovers for his love, men and women. Through Martha and Mary he enticed women to purity, and through Lazarus he urged men to hospitality. The wickedness of his love was revealed in the three to the whole company, and like a spectacle he established their love before the beholders. Through them the power of his greatness was magnified like that of lovers, and through them he healed the tremor of the spirit that he was offering in him.

Against death and evil the just one sharpened his soul and shot two arrows at the living and the dead abundantly. Sin and death were embittering his victory, and he was troubled, strengthened, and subdued, though unwillingly. The living one prepared his fear before evil, and cast and revived him by the forgiveness of the evil of Mary. By harsh evil he was a snare for the just one, who gave him spirit, and he ate, bound after death, and his corpse cast him away. The great order he kept in the battle against the rebels: he killed the first ones, [lacuna] of the covenant of the living, and beautifully before the beginning he loosed in him the arrows of righteousness. Sin was ashamed and bore the fruits of righteousness, and when death saw, he fled and hastened to swallow men. Through Mary, sin descended before and its leaves withered, and through Lazarus it swallowed the harsh arrow of death. After both, death and the evil one learned his power, and many were broken, for this new thing that happened was new. The thought of the one who filled evil with evil, and the dead who was buried, he returns to life without decay. Through evil, the body of man is quickly changed to be turned, and by the chariot of death he drives their lives one after another. In this custom, death was a fierce lion, and he opened his mouth and swallowed the beloved of the one who revives the dead. He deceived him and descended to the depth of Sheol, where he was imprisoned, and he did not know that his food would soon return.

Like a just man, he sharpened his soul against death and evil, and like a hunter he shot two arrows at the living and the dead abundantly. Sin and death were embittering his victory, and he was troubled, strengthened, and subdued, though unwillingly. In the likeness of a physician, he hastened over the perfect wounds, and like a hunter, he snatched his brother from his sisters. He stood and cast the darts of his mind upon the hunter, the eloquent one who was devouring death. A great mourning he put on over the pains of his brother, because death had divided the wretched dwelling of the brotherhood of the living. He sent and revealed the secrets of his sickness to the good friend who loved him because of his love. Behold, our Lord sent to our Lord, the perfect one: "Your beloved is sick and near death; come, save his life." With faith and love he sent his messengers, as to a friend whose love is true, to his beloved. Even the evil one, in his thoughts, said that this sickness was not of death but of recovery. He had summoned death to his friend in custom, that which he raises up is destined to be praised by all for his name. The lover of all heard his friend's love and was destined to die, and he did not hasten to go and see him immediately. He commanded the love of his pleasantness in the drawing of breath, and he did not allow him to run quickly to health. Wisely, the wise one acted, making men wise, and like a knower of hidden things, he revealed his power. For he knew that the cross would work with the righteous one and take from him the captivity that had been taken from humanity. He was confident that he would conquer and humble death, the arrogant one, over this, rather than by going quickly.

It was not fitting for him to go and do battle with disease, for it was nothing to the power of his heroism. It was not possible for him to lower himself to contend with a cause, lest death think that the causes of the ailments were equal. It was not right that, when the victor had not gone forth and left, he should go forth and stand against him and not give him a place to enter. Thus he seemed to the greatness of the power that he was contending with, and what death swallowed, he would snatch from it. Thus it is fitting for a combatant, when he contends, to fight within the wounds of the enemy. Thus it is good for a spiritual athlete to show his skill in the stadium to the spectators. This is great: when in his city he loosed his saint, and the wicked captive passed over from him the captivity of the seven. This is fitting for the great wonder and the glory, that from within the house of death he plundered the spoil of men. By this sign he struck all wherever he was, until death swallowed the mercies and hid them in his depths. He mounted words before his disciples as if he did not know, though he knew that he knew well that which was future. "Come, let us go to the land of Judah," he was saying, and many of them were eager that the sacrifice of pain should lead him. "Behold, the Jews are very eager that your resurrection should be for what you seek, that you should go and cut off the hope of the living." He was going to snatch the dead from the mouth of death, and they were rejoicing that he had swallowed him like everyone else.

He was making ready to do battle with the disease, and the sick one thought that the powers of the mighty one were overcome by him. And the power of his greatness was not learned mysteriously; he mounted the cause of the deceiver, lightly, more than before. He lay down, the friend said to him concerning Lazarus: "Come, let us go and wake him from his sleep, and call him and he will rise." If he who slept, the children said to the acquaintance, was destined to rise as the order of the year requires. He upon the order of death said it was very harsh, and they said that this one who was accustomed to sleep like everyone else. He saw that it was not known from the sleep of ignorance, and he woke him by means of the daughter of the voice that died for Lazarus. Lazarus died, and a certain feast was not completed, because by his death the power of faith was established. The Egyptian did not hear the limit from him who was not, the word of the Father from whom heaven and earth are filled. How can the height and depth be measured from him, since in the house of the blind he was not as was said? The flesh could not stand against the rider who would be everywhere, for behold, the flesh cannot be everywhere. And if he were where he is, and in the house of the blind, behold, it was established that it was not the body that was visible. And if there is no visible and perceptible body, why was it said that a feast was not completed?

The merciful one ceased, not the time of which he spoke with you: "Do not seek me from the one who is the simple guide of the path." The bodily one of whom he said that he is not where he is not, and thus it is that everything that is made is not in every place. He is in every place, he is in every place, and without end, and the nature of his glory was not far from the house of the sick one. Two days he remained there, while he was, through his daughters, the death of his beloved was hastened. Four days he gave him space to rejoice in his food, and then he stirred him with a new voice of life from the dead. He arrived and reached, the Messiah, at the house of the sick one, and the perfect ears heard and went out to his way. Martha first, she alone went out to his way, and when she met him, she wept and informed him of the death of her brother. "If I had been present," she said before him reproachfully, "death would not have hastened to overcome and destroy my brother. If I had served him while he was alive with care, the life that was to dwell in him would not have passed away. If your pure body had approached this water of his, the inheritance of weeping would have been turned into joy at the scent of your body. If I had seen him when he saw the light of the sacrifice, he would have looked at you and been consoled for the pain that was in him. If your hearing, when I spoke as one who laments, the sound of the beautiful melody of the word of his mouth would not have been silent.

These words spoke the good news, the bearer of glad tidings without guile, when she supposed that it was difficult for her to raise her brother from the dead. If, if you do not believe, said the one who is the truth of faith, the future one who will see the great glory hidden in the words. Yes, she spoke truly to me: "You are the Messiah and the Son, you are that fountain, the giver of life." The word she spoke was according to the thought of the lawgiver, and it was not the truth that fits the divine name. The saying she spoke: "You are the Messiah who came into the world," not when the distinction of death of the one who passes away and the one who is to come. This was not revealed to men and to spirits until the spirit showed it to man in the form of light. "Messiah and Son" his lovers of his love used to call him, as was revealed by the prophets and anointed kings in goodness. With this thought Martha called the Messiah and Son, not knowing that he is of the essence of being and of humanity. These words she spoke in grief of soul and affection of love, and the reason she called the Lord the brother of the one who rose from the dead. Mary heard the good news of the Lord and went out to meet him, and fell down, worshipped, and spoke also the words of her sister. She worshipped love, Mary paid homage to the forgiver of her sin, for great was her affection of love for him beyond all things. Ask the men where they placed the body of their beloved, not that he might learn but that he might show that he knows where it is.

He asked, as if he did not know that he knew, and she showed him the way to the tomb, and he went with her, while he was weeping bitterly, and along with her steps, the tears of his eyes were flowing. Grief and weeping consumed him over his beloved, and he shed tears as he followed her. Nature, in its distress, followed him distinctly, and the mistress of his grief walked in the path of his steps. For it was nature that wept over her beloved, because she remembered that she had not shared in the nature of words. The man wept bitterly and groaned grievously, that death destroys his beauty and he becomes a corpse. He also hated the nature that death had made evil, and naturally he grieved over the fall of the sons of his kind. From him who was twice formed in grief, he also was agitated with the poison of death. From him of the taste that begets pains, his stream flowed, and as if to everyone, he felt the nature in himself. With this, she wept bitterly over her beloved, teaching everyone that she was the image of the servant of weeping. And when the pain of bitterness consumed him, in the order of tears and naturally he grieved and was troubled. He cast bitter commands into his limbs and his gates, and he himself hoped in the good hope of the life of the dead.

In his weeping, the rocks were astonished and marveled, and the hearts of the onlookers were hardened, and they were not moved by the hand of the wise physician. He was not able to do this, that he should see other dead ones, that they might be pure in death, and not approach him to the sign of the beloved. He was silent and quiet, as if he did not know what to say, and he did not pursue the foolish opinion of their thoughts. He approached the tomb and cast his gaze upon the face of the height, and began to knock at that which concealed within it the one who had revealed his power. The face of my hearer, and again I know that he who hears me, reveal to me your power, that it may know every man what I am. It was not that he doubted the power of the one who raised the dead, but that he might reveal the power of your hiddenness to the eye of the beholders. It was not that he was troubled about the help of your call now, but that he might reveal that by the power of your might it is accomplished. How long did he stand over Lazarus, the limbs of his body, and how long did he pray and ask for power from the doer? And how long did he weep bitterly over his beloved, and how long did he cease from weeping in the hope of the life of the dead? How long, how long, did he give ear to him, and again he heard him, and from what to what was the fitting of words approaching? The mind of the Father was not praying to the Father who begot him, that he might be equal with him in his divinity, the one who is called and he. He was equal with his Father, he did not cease in the power of help, and he did not feel the senses, he did not weep from the depths of sorrows.

He raised himself above pains, not feeling the pains of men, and he knew everything, yet was not troubled as to where the grave was. He was a son of Adam who grieved in pain over his beloved, and he was one who shed tears over the loss of his faculties. It was death that he saw, the nature of which is fitting for death, and he sought and persuaded that his life might be brought up from destruction. He was a man for the hidden one who dwelt in him, who prayed that he might snatch the soul of a man from the mouth of the serpent. The hidden one was hidden within his members without knowledge, and with the power of his strength he cried out against death and entered into it. With the power of his spirit, the physician became strong and was strengthened against the limbs that were destined to see the wonder and his salvation. The physician became strong when he was strengthened by the power of the spirit, and he stirred himself and cried out against death with wrath. For what reason, then, did the physician become strong, and the sea of the abyss was strengthened, and upon what did he raise a loud voice full of life? Against the Jews, the oppressors of his power, he was strengthened, that he might raise the dead who lay in the grave, and they would not be hidden. For in that hour he would watch before he offered reconciliation to his father, and before he prayed that he might take the gate before their words. As if against God, they all stood against him, concerning that which he first gave to his father for that which was destined. The wise one built a wall of words before their faces, and he gave no place for the slander of their thoughts.

Through his thanksgiving he showed that he was equal to his sufferer, and by his actions he taught that he was able in the power of everything. He raised his voice [...] he called to the dead as to the living, so that every man might hear that at his command he lived and rose. A clear voice resounded in the earth of the earthborn, and death trembled and was confounded, taking flight from the daughter of his voice. To Lazarus the hero called in the regions of death, and he seized the cavern that held the one whom he called to the dead. The voice of a man calling to the dead as to the living was heard, and he began to move like a woman in the throes of childbirth. A new voice heard by the captor from the son of the captive, and he cried out and lamented: "What is this new thing that has happened? A new event has befallen me," said Death, "is it a body? A man who cries out and shakes the power of my heroism in Sheol." "Who are you?" said Death to the voice that called him, "and who are you that cries out in the confidence that the dead will come forth? Who are you that has trampled on my heroism, breaking my power, and you seek to remove the captivity of man from between my hands? Who are you that seeks to dissolve the order of mortality and to open the door that Adam shut in the face of every man? You are not from man, for you are clothed in sufferings, and like a stranger you come to the renewal of the nature of Adam. I have not heard the story of a man from humanity that from the time they were under the yoke of my dominion they have been placed.

Not as if you asked by what cause the dead were placed to the dead; offer, go, that they might be passers-by. And if you do not know what the cause of the action of your body is, hear from me and learn that as it happened from the beginning. The debt of debts your father bound with his word, that of the evil one, and since he did not pay it, he delivered his limbs in place of his debts. The slanderer delivered you to me as a pledge, and behold, all the generations of your offspring serve me. With the pledge I took, I go, a man, into the midst from the ribs, and if they do not pay, the bond of your debts is not cancelled. If it is possible that the action of your body you wish to set free, pay its debts and then take its joys. The debt of debts of the usurers of their dead is not to be paid; how much, if death pays, it is death. Cease from casting a tumult among the dead and disturb them with a new voice that is not accustomed to them. Since I appointed you apostle of death, behold, in my hands is placed the decree of the end of life. Go, see, do not delay the stichos for me, for the man, that whether they wish or do not wish, they obey me. I do not give a man to men who are outside my dominion until they pay the debt of debts of their deeds. If you are the one who is just, judge justly between me and them, and weep and see that for the debts that are bound, they are pressed against you.

These words death speaks, though it does not speak, for it is not it that speaks, but the sign of mortality. A sign you placed from the person of mortality, that the cause of evil made its evil servants and death. "Give me," said our Lord to the one who spoke, "Give me the debts and I will pay, I will cancel the debt of their sins." "Give the ability to roll away the stone from before your companion, and I will pay, I will cancel the debt of the bonds in which you are bound." When you worked with the instrument of the body in a hidden way, and as a structure you made its members subject to the law of your death. These words Adam spoke, who cried out against death, not in a loud voice but in silence, mysteriously. "Come out," said a man to a man, to the one who called him, "Come out, go forth, and be a witness to my words before the dead." "Come, mortal whom death has swallowed like everyone, show to man the fear of life, that a man might confess." "Come, the one who is accustomed, whose voice has cut off hope, cast a hand upon the life of the dead, which is proclaimed through me." "Come, go forth, proclaim the good news to the evil-hearted, and to the heart of men, that they might not be frightened by the voice of death." The mortal heard the voice of the feeler that resembles its own, and it rose from stillness at the voice that mingled with the power of the covenant. The cry of the soul you heard, the soul that cries out with her, and she entered, went into the temple of her body to dwell in it. It followed its will in the tomb of its life as before, and voices were heard, feelings, the dead felt.

O what a wonder that Lazarus is proclaimed, that he hears the voice of his daughter while the voice is silent, while the senses of his body are stilled. O what a wonder that he casts off the harsh bonds and is loosed from Sheol, that he breaks the gate of death without the hands of the living. O what a wonder that he was shut in the rebellious prisons of mortality, that he opens the gate and shines and laughs at its walls. A new voice death heard from its prison, and it began to roar like a lion in the depth of Sheol. A great wonder was wrought by the hand of the physician, that at the voice of the physician the dead and buried arose. Never before was seen the wonder of the word, the miracle: the physician who commands the dead, "Come out," and they are not hindered. Even the physician warmed the physician from the house of the dead, but not according to the order that was in the hands of our Lord. The dead also warmed: both Elijah and Elisha, but they sought much and labored and thus accomplished it. For they were servants, and to the Creator they were laboring, and as servants it was heavy for them because of their bond. Christ, who is master, even from his own person, not as a servant sought and labored and thus warmed. Even he commanded as a commander, not as a suppliant; it was not a petition, but he accomplished it while he was in the bonds of the grave. He did not groan, the physician, over the life that was rejoicing in him. But words that fill the power of the greatness of his rank. "You have heard me," he says, "before.

By his prayer, again he hears, and this one hears from him more than he was able to hear. Because of the stone that stands, he said, "I said these things." It is manifestly clear that it is not the one who prays who stands to pray. He ceased and sought that this one be fitting for all that was done, and he called to death and brought forth, giving to him the dead one who was his. The dead buried one heard the voice that called him by name, and he cast off and threw away mortality and put on life. Lazarus went forth and was walking about in the passages of his tomb, bound entirely and walking slowly. The accustomed one went forth while the senses of his body were bound, and he was loosening himself entirely and running entirely. The stones were amazed at the great power of that one who [...] his word, that his bonds were not loosed until he brought him out from the tomb. To the Jews he commanded that they lift the stone from him, that they not be divided, for it was not his blood but another's. To the Jews he commanded that they quickly roll away the stone of his tomb, that they might cover up what they saw of the body of the dead one, which had been corrupted. They opened his tomb, which they had sealed at the time of his death, and they lifted the stones that they might clothe his limbs. In their division, the knower of all was being sought concerning this: that they lifted the stone and departed and went. That sign by which he raised him from within the tomb was simple: that he lifted his stone and thus brought him out to the beholders. He was able to roll the stone before the mouth of the tomb and thus to loose the bonds of death from the limbs.

He saw the dead man who had been in Sheol for four days, and at his tomb he witnessed signs of his death and his life. The Jews were astonished, utterly amazed, at the dead man who ran while his hands and feet were bound. The onlookers beheld a great wonder, one not to be wept over, and while that wonder was good for them, his action became even more wondrous. For it was a wonder, and the more he spoke, again it was a wonder, that the buried dead man stretched out his person in the likeness of a living man. Never had he seen such a thing as Lazarus, who bore his own limbs on his shoulders and brought them out with him. How was the dead man released from the dead senses of the body, which had been bound and could not be moved by the stimulus? The whole body was bound in the bonds of the grave, and the door was shut upon the openings of his eyes, and he could not be moved. He was afraid and came out from within his dwelling slowly, and the Jews were afraid to touch him with certainty. Everyone's eyes were directed toward his exit, and they were not sated with seeing the body that death had brought forth. Their eyes were insatiably fixed upon his body, and the more they looked, again they looked to see whether it was he or not. When the dead man died, they placed all of him before their eyes, and the more they saw his face, again they saw it.

Toward his person his eyes were astonished, his eyes amazed, for they saw and perceived and knew by his senses the sound of the voice. Earnestly they hastened, the good of their nature, while they wondered how he heard the voice that called him. And the dead man of the wicked one asked the dead man of the living one about the order that he saw in Sheol among the departed. And the dead man of the living one related to the living one about the dead one, the order in Sheol: silence and stillness without movement. A great silence without life upon the limbs, and stillness in the power without activity in the motions of the soul. The body silent in the likeness of a deaf man according to its deafness, and the soul living according to its life without function. Good hope the dead man placed in the hands of the living one, that he might go to the teaching that sows life. New life the Lord sowed among the dead in Bethany, and he showed that he might go like a runner by means of Lazarus. He filled the whole creation and the firmaments confessed, and he sealed his word with three dead whom he warmed and revived. Three witnesses cast their hand on the bond of my life: one Lazarus, and the son of the widow, and the daughter of Jerusalem. Three pledges that the son took from death, the destroyer of affliction, until he claims all his captivity at the end of times. By their life he taught the power of his might, that it might not be divided over the victory at the end.

He revealed to you openly at the beginning of the contest that he performed with him, that he knew that the voice of the flesh would seek after his hands. He set a limit for him from that day when he raised Lazarus, that he would keep for me the captivity of your face until the flesh comes. Behold, I show you that the captivity of the flesh is not yours, and you are not ruler over their lives as you thought. You are a ruler over their limbs in the full measure; see that you do not again lose even a hair from their heads. See also you, captives who have escaped from servitude; keep the keys of the life of the dead in your minds. See that you do not err as you erred from the beginning, that you do not make the power of death strong over your lives. See the great battle that has been waged upon your faces with the two righteous ones who overcame death and evil. See that by the death of my standing I descended to the depth of Sheol and broke the gates and shattered the bolts that locked you in. Behold, death has turned and bound a measure in the house of the bound; do not be shaken that you may not be shaken from their bonds. Behold, I have shown you by what means and how you conquer; prepare the ways that are fitting for the contest that is set before you. Put on the breastplate of good hope that does not deceive, and take up the shield of faith that is not loosened. Place the helmet of great love upon the head of your minds, and take up the sword of the word of truth in your tongues.

He brought near and conquered the tremors of pains and afflictions. And he set a limit for the reward of the endurance of life without end. The end.