Lazarus, the Friend of Christ
By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani
By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani
Lazarus was a friend of Christ and the only one, outside the circle of the twelve disciples, who received directly from the Teacher Himself this very honorable designation, namely “friend.”
He was also the brother of Martha and Mary, whose house Christ had visited many times and had been present with them at the common table.
This Lazarus is the one whom Christ raised from the dead, and this resurrection is narrated with precise details in the Gospel according to John, and only there.
It is worthwhile, from the very beginning, to mention these detailed descriptions, which we find in the 11th chapter of the Gospel according to John, in order to refute certain rationalistic views.
First, in the Gospel a specific place is recorded, namely Bethany, a village that is only three kilometers away from Jerusalem on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives.
Second, Lazarus remained dead for four days — he is called “four-days-dead” — and of course was buried in the tomb according to Jewish customs.
Third, it is a fact that his two sisters were dominated by fear that there was a strong stench, after the burial that had taken place four days earlier.
Fourth, in the Gospel passage there is a most detailed description of the tomb and of the corpse of the dead man, namely: burial wrappings according to the custom of Jewish burial.
Fifth, we have the fact of the intense reaction of the enemies of Christ, the Sadducees, who generally denied the resurrection of man.
Sixth, it is also recorded the very strong desire of these enemies and of the Pharisees to put Christ to death, but also Lazarus.
Seventh, the view is unfounded that in this particular case of the resurrection of Lazarus we have a phenomenon of revival from some apparent death — a view which remains unsupported, since we have before us a man dead for four days.
+
History then presents to us the whole life of Lazarus after his resurrection from the dead by Christ, during which Lazarus departed from Palestine, avoiding the hostility of the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, who were seeking to kill him, and he went to Cyprus.
There he settled in the city of Kition (today called Larnaca). Later the Apostles Paul and Barnabas met him and ordained him Bishop of Kition.
After his resurrection from the dead he lived thirty years and died a second time there in Kition. Indeed, his entire episcopal stay and ministry in Larnaca has been connected with many traditions.
His relic was placed inside a marble sarcophagus upon which was inscribed: “Lazarus the four-days-dead and friend of Christ.” Later, over his tomb a small church was first built, which during the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise was enlarged into a great and very beautiful Byzantine church. And in the year 890 A.D., the emperor (Leo VI) transferred the relic to Constantinople.
This transfer of the holy relic from Kition to Constantinople was praised in two orations by the learned Bishop of Caesarea, Arethas of Patras, who was also a disciple of Saint Photios the Great.
His works are: “Festive Oration on the Honorable Relics of Lazarus, which Leo the Christ-loving Emperor Translated from Cyprus” (unpublished, in Codex Marcianus Graecus 524, folio 122, located in the Marciana Library in Venice), and “By the same, Description of a Sacred Procession, Which the Pious Emperor Leo Made for the Honorable Relics of the Friend of Christ, Which He First Translated from Cyprus” (ibid., fol. 123). In later years, especially in the 18th century, significant restorations were made to this holy church, where there is also an iconostasis of wonderful craftsmanship and other auxiliary buildings, so that today it constitutes the most important monument and holy pilgrimage site of the city of Larnaca.
There he settled in the city of Kition (today called Larnaca). Later the Apostles Paul and Barnabas met him and ordained him Bishop of Kition.
After his resurrection from the dead he lived thirty years and died a second time there in Kition. Indeed, his entire episcopal stay and ministry in Larnaca has been connected with many traditions.
His relic was placed inside a marble sarcophagus upon which was inscribed: “Lazarus the four-days-dead and friend of Christ.” Later, over his tomb a small church was first built, which during the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise was enlarged into a great and very beautiful Byzantine church. And in the year 890 A.D., the emperor (Leo VI) transferred the relic to Constantinople.
This transfer of the holy relic from Kition to Constantinople was praised in two orations by the learned Bishop of Caesarea, Arethas of Patras, who was also a disciple of Saint Photios the Great.
His works are: “Festive Oration on the Honorable Relics of Lazarus, which Leo the Christ-loving Emperor Translated from Cyprus” (unpublished, in Codex Marcianus Graecus 524, folio 122, located in the Marciana Library in Venice), and “By the same, Description of a Sacred Procession, Which the Pious Emperor Leo Made for the Honorable Relics of the Friend of Christ, Which He First Translated from Cyprus” (ibid., fol. 123). In later years, especially in the 18th century, significant restorations were made to this holy church, where there is also an iconostasis of wonderful craftsmanship and other auxiliary buildings, so that today it constitutes the most important monument and holy pilgrimage site of the city of Larnaca.
+
Beyond, however, the historical descriptions, the case of the feast of Lazarus presents exceptional theological and spiritual interest. Thus, the raising of Lazarus by Christ, as is first stated in the hymnography, is “the saving prelude of regeneration” and is a forerunner of the Resurrection of Christ; for this reason both the Matins service and the Divine Liturgy on Lazarus Saturday have hymnographic elements of Resurrection Sunday.
More specifically: resurrectional “Eulogitaria” are chanted, “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ” is said, at the end of Matins the resurrectional troparion “Today salvation has come to the world” is chanted, as well as the refrain of the Sunday Entrance hymn “He who rose from the dead.” Also, in remembrance of the mystery of the baptism of catechumens that was performed in the early centuries, instead of the Trisagion hymn, the following is chanted: “As many as have been baptized into Christ.” And at the Dismissal it is said: “He who rose from the dead,” as on Sundays.
More specifically: resurrectional “Eulogitaria” are chanted, “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ” is said, at the end of Matins the resurrectional troparion “Today salvation has come to the world” is chanted, as well as the refrain of the Sunday Entrance hymn “He who rose from the dead.” Also, in remembrance of the mystery of the baptism of catechumens that was performed in the early centuries, instead of the Trisagion hymn, the following is chanted: “As many as have been baptized into Christ.” And at the Dismissal it is said: “He who rose from the dead,” as on Sundays.
+
Furthermore, the resurrection of Lazarus is also a foreshadowing of the general resurrection of all people at the Second Coming of Christ the Just Judge. Specifically, the Apolytikion says: “Confirming the common resurrection before Your Passion, You did raise Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God; therefore we also, like the children, bearing the symbols of victory, cry out to You, the Conqueror of death: Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
There is, however, a difference between the resurrection of Lazarus and the general resurrection. That is, Lazarus after his resurrection by Christ did not receive a spiritual body, but bore the same body he had before he died — a body corruptible and mortal; for this reason he died again after some years. But the bodies of all people after the Second Coming of Christ will be spiritual, without the necessities required for their biological maintenance.
Indeed, according to the Apostle Paul, “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies” (Rom. 8:11). Christians await the “resurrection of the body,” and as Saint John of Damascus says: “Resurrection is the rising again; and the body is that which is corrupted and dissolved and turned into dust. Therefore this reconstitution from above is rightly called resurrection; for of the immortal soul there is not resurrection, but a return to the body” (John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4,27, PG 94, 1228). And the resurrection of the dead will be universal, “both of the just and of the unjust.”
And for those who are alive in the present world at the time of the Second Coming, the Apostle Paul tells us: “We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep… the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15–17). This being caught up in the clouds is evidently connected also with the change of the bodies of those who are caught up, since the bodies will be transformed, made incorruptible — that is, we shall have bodies of another kind. And of course we do not know exactly what they will be like.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa writes specifically: “Human nature, when it has been left to death, having laid aside all its properties… is transformed to incorruption, and to glory and honor and power and complete perfection, and no longer has its life ordered by natural properties, but passes into a certain spiritual and passionless state” (On the Soul and Resurrection, PG 46,156).
There is, however, a difference between the resurrection of Lazarus and the general resurrection. That is, Lazarus after his resurrection by Christ did not receive a spiritual body, but bore the same body he had before he died — a body corruptible and mortal; for this reason he died again after some years. But the bodies of all people after the Second Coming of Christ will be spiritual, without the necessities required for their biological maintenance.
Indeed, according to the Apostle Paul, “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies” (Rom. 8:11). Christians await the “resurrection of the body,” and as Saint John of Damascus says: “Resurrection is the rising again; and the body is that which is corrupted and dissolved and turned into dust. Therefore this reconstitution from above is rightly called resurrection; for of the immortal soul there is not resurrection, but a return to the body” (John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4,27, PG 94, 1228). And the resurrection of the dead will be universal, “both of the just and of the unjust.”
And for those who are alive in the present world at the time of the Second Coming, the Apostle Paul tells us: “We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep… the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15–17). This being caught up in the clouds is evidently connected also with the change of the bodies of those who are caught up, since the bodies will be transformed, made incorruptible — that is, we shall have bodies of another kind. And of course we do not know exactly what they will be like.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa writes specifically: “Human nature, when it has been left to death, having laid aside all its properties… is transformed to incorruption, and to glory and honor and power and complete perfection, and no longer has its life ordered by natural properties, but passes into a certain spiritual and passionless state” (On the Soul and Resurrection, PG 46,156).
+
Then the question arises: Why did the resurrection of Lazarus take place four days after his death? The answer is as follows:
First, in order that it might be revealed to the unbelieving Jews that, since He, Christ, had the power to raise a man dead for four days, how much more certainly does He have the power and authority to raise Himself in three days.
Second, in order to demonstrate Christ’s sovereign authority over corruption, since by the miracle He performed He halted the decomposition, the decay of the body, which had already begun to appear when Martha said to Him: “Lord, by now he smells, for he has been dead four days” (John 11:39).
Saint Amphilochios of Iconium writes beautifully: “Did you not see Lazarus, shaking off death again as if it were sleep? Did you see how he walked even with the grave-bands upon him, when he heard ‘Come forth’? Did you see how the dead man obeyed the command, and yet the bonds did not hinder him? Did you see how the voice was fitted to him whose death had been dissolved? He who was able to do those things will also be able to do these; He who raised the servant will much more raise Himself. He who gave life to the decayed one will not leave Himself among the dead” (On Holy Saturday, Homily V, PG 39, 92–93).
And third, in order that it might become evident that, since Christ as God has the power to raise the four-day-dead Lazarus, He can also raise all the dead whose bodies have already been dissolved. As Saint Cyril of Alexandria says: “For the Lord is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep and the firstborn from the dead, making, as it were, a most smooth path for those who come after Him through His own Resurrection toward incorruption” (On John 18, 7–9, PG 74, 585).
Then the question arises: Why did the resurrection of Lazarus take place four days after his death? The answer is as follows:
First, in order that it might be revealed to the unbelieving Jews that, since He, Christ, had the power to raise a man dead for four days, how much more certainly does He have the power and authority to raise Himself in three days.
Second, in order to demonstrate Christ’s sovereign authority over corruption, since by the miracle He performed He halted the decomposition, the decay of the body, which had already begun to appear when Martha said to Him: “Lord, by now he smells, for he has been dead four days” (John 11:39).
Saint Amphilochios of Iconium writes beautifully: “Did you not see Lazarus, shaking off death again as if it were sleep? Did you see how he walked even with the grave-bands upon him, when he heard ‘Come forth’? Did you see how the dead man obeyed the command, and yet the bonds did not hinder him? Did you see how the voice was fitted to him whose death had been dissolved? He who was able to do those things will also be able to do these; He who raised the servant will much more raise Himself. He who gave life to the decayed one will not leave Himself among the dead” (On Holy Saturday, Homily V, PG 39, 92–93).
And third, in order that it might become evident that, since Christ as God has the power to raise the four-day-dead Lazarus, He can also raise all the dead whose bodies have already been dissolved. As Saint Cyril of Alexandria says: “For the Lord is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep and the firstborn from the dead, making, as it were, a most smooth path for those who come after Him through His own Resurrection toward incorruption” (On John 18, 7–9, PG 74, 585).
+
But several more points are worthy of attention, which arise from the words of Christ.
First, there is the phrase which Christ said to His disciples: “Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep, but I go that I may awaken him” (John 11:11). Here we learn that Christ calls death a sleep. This is the truth of the Christian teaching. Death is characterized as sleep, and the dead as those who have fallen asleep. The Lord expresses the truth about death. For the sisters Martha and Mary, Lazarus was dead. For Christ, however, he was asleep, and He awakens him. Thus, the death of the body is like a sleep, longer than usual, since it is destined to be abolished and conquered by the Resurrection of Christ.
Second, the command of Christ before the tomb is very characteristic: “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:44). He did not say, as in the case of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, simply: “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:41), nor as in the case of the dead son of the widow of Nain: “Young man, I say to you, arise” (Luke 7:14), and this because those two dead persons were lying before Him on the bed or the bier respectively. But Lazarus was enclosed within the tomb, already dead for four days.
And the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection took place quickly, “in the twinkling of an eye.” Saint Amphilochios of Iconium writes in this regard: “Do not think that the Lord uttered many words. He spoke once, and the one whom He had created He raised. For He did not weep like Elijah, nor was He perplexed like Elisha. With a single utterance He awakened the one sleeping before Him, saying, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ One word, and diverse miracles. The Lord only cried out, ‘Lazarus, come forth,’ and immediately the flesh was restored; the hair sprang forth again; the joints were reassembled; the veins were filled again with pure blood; Hades, being struck below, sent Lazarus forth; the soul of Lazarus, being held back and entreated by the angels, was reunited to its own body; and most wondrous of all, though bound hand and foot and with his face wrapped in grave-cloths, he walked unhindered” (Homily on the Four-Day-Dead Lazarus, PG 39, 65).
With this sovereign command Christ also wishes to show how the general resurrection will take place. That is, just as after the firm and decisive command of Christ Lazarus received life from death, in a similar way, with one command, the same will happen to all men at the Second Coming. This command, therefore, is a type of the trumpet of the Archangel, which will be heard at the end of the world, and all mankind will be gathered before Him for the final and just judgment by Christ the Righteous Judge (Matt. 24:30–31 and 25:31–32).
Third, the phrase of Christ: “Loose him and let him go” (John 11:44). Christ wanted the Jews to loosen him from the bonds, and Lazarus himself to walk. And this, so that the very people themselves might receive proofs of the miracle and see Lazarus, the formerly dead man, alive and walking on his own. The death of Lazarus was neither apparent, nor imaginary, nor false. Thus, with this word Christ accomplishes what is impossible for men and leaves what is possible for men to do, as a synergy (cooperation) in the divine work.
And fourth, supreme is the divine proclamation of Christ to Martha and to all the faithful of all ages: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). These words declare that through His Resurrection, “from death to life and from earth to heaven Christ our God has translated us” (Irmos of Ode 1 of the Paschal Canon at Orthros). The risen Jesus Christ abolishes death, crushes Hades, frees those held there, and saves man. Thus Christ continues His proclamation: “He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:26). This is the soteriological meaning of the Resurrection.
First, there is the phrase which Christ said to His disciples: “Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep, but I go that I may awaken him” (John 11:11). Here we learn that Christ calls death a sleep. This is the truth of the Christian teaching. Death is characterized as sleep, and the dead as those who have fallen asleep. The Lord expresses the truth about death. For the sisters Martha and Mary, Lazarus was dead. For Christ, however, he was asleep, and He awakens him. Thus, the death of the body is like a sleep, longer than usual, since it is destined to be abolished and conquered by the Resurrection of Christ.
Second, the command of Christ before the tomb is very characteristic: “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:44). He did not say, as in the case of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, simply: “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (Mark 5:41), nor as in the case of the dead son of the widow of Nain: “Young man, I say to you, arise” (Luke 7:14), and this because those two dead persons were lying before Him on the bed or the bier respectively. But Lazarus was enclosed within the tomb, already dead for four days.
And the miracle of Lazarus’ resurrection took place quickly, “in the twinkling of an eye.” Saint Amphilochios of Iconium writes in this regard: “Do not think that the Lord uttered many words. He spoke once, and the one whom He had created He raised. For He did not weep like Elijah, nor was He perplexed like Elisha. With a single utterance He awakened the one sleeping before Him, saying, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ One word, and diverse miracles. The Lord only cried out, ‘Lazarus, come forth,’ and immediately the flesh was restored; the hair sprang forth again; the joints were reassembled; the veins were filled again with pure blood; Hades, being struck below, sent Lazarus forth; the soul of Lazarus, being held back and entreated by the angels, was reunited to its own body; and most wondrous of all, though bound hand and foot and with his face wrapped in grave-cloths, he walked unhindered” (Homily on the Four-Day-Dead Lazarus, PG 39, 65).
With this sovereign command Christ also wishes to show how the general resurrection will take place. That is, just as after the firm and decisive command of Christ Lazarus received life from death, in a similar way, with one command, the same will happen to all men at the Second Coming. This command, therefore, is a type of the trumpet of the Archangel, which will be heard at the end of the world, and all mankind will be gathered before Him for the final and just judgment by Christ the Righteous Judge (Matt. 24:30–31 and 25:31–32).
Third, the phrase of Christ: “Loose him and let him go” (John 11:44). Christ wanted the Jews to loosen him from the bonds, and Lazarus himself to walk. And this, so that the very people themselves might receive proofs of the miracle and see Lazarus, the formerly dead man, alive and walking on his own. The death of Lazarus was neither apparent, nor imaginary, nor false. Thus, with this word Christ accomplishes what is impossible for men and leaves what is possible for men to do, as a synergy (cooperation) in the divine work.
And fourth, supreme is the divine proclamation of Christ to Martha and to all the faithful of all ages: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). These words declare that through His Resurrection, “from death to life and from earth to heaven Christ our God has translated us” (Irmos of Ode 1 of the Paschal Canon at Orthros). The risen Jesus Christ abolishes death, crushes Hades, frees those held there, and saves man. Thus Christ continues His proclamation: “He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:26). This is the soteriological meaning of the Resurrection.
+
In this case, “on this same day, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, we celebrate the Raising of Lazarus, the four-day-dead, holy and righteous friend of Christ.” That is, Lazarus “ministered” two mysteries: that of death and that of resurrection. Christ comes and through Lazarus foretells and demonstrates that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26), and “Do not fear… behold, I am alive forever and ever” (Rev. 1:17–18). He is “the ear of life.”
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
