About spiritual resurrection. Lazarus four days

All of you, dear brothers and sisters, Happy Lazarus Saturday! Today we honor Saint Lazarus of the Four Days. But more, of course, we honor the event that is directly related to it, about which we read in the Gospel of John (John 11, 1-45), which says that almost on the eve of His Suffering on the Cross, the Savior, having come to Bethany, resurrected the dead who had been in the tomb for four days.

The event is very simply stated by the Evangelist John. And in it we receive a revelation that it is absolutely no problem for our Lord Jesus Christ to raise the dead. Moreover, Holy Scripture stipulates that the Lord, being with the disciples far from Bethany, deliberately waits for the time for Lazarus the Four Days to die, while still ill. And only after he dies, after he is buried, the Lord goes with his disciples to Bethany, practically already to Jerusalem, in order to resurrect Lazarus.

The words of Christ: “Our friend Lazarus succeed” (see: John 11, 11) testify that it is just as easy for God to raise the dead as it is to wake the sleeping one. And the disciples don’t even understand: when they hear that the Lord said to them: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,” they rejoice and say: “Well, if you fell asleep, then to recovery” (see: John 11, 12). And only after the Savior realized that the disciples did not understand that Lazarus had died, He already openly said to them: “Our friend Lazarus is dead” (see: John 11, 14).

The disciples of Christ, in spite of all their biased attitude towards that Kingdom of the Messiah, which they dreamed of, perfectly understand that Christ in Jerusalem and in Bethany is already in premature danger. And Thomas, the apostle, says: “Very well, let us also go with Him and die there together” (see John 11:16).

This, of course, indicates that not everything was so flatly understood by the apostles. They already realized that Christ must enter Jerusalem in order to die. And in this sense, the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus very clearly answers each of us the question of how the apostles answered, why else does Christ perform this miracle. In the troparion of this holiday, we read: “Common Resurrection, before your passion, assuring you, raised Lazarus from the dead, Christ God.” That is, in this case, this resurrection of Lazarus testified to the extraordinary, extraordinary power of Jesus Christ, power as God. About the fact that if He has the ability to easily raise a four-day dead man, such a dead man, about whom his own sister testified that he was four days old and already stinks, then it means that God will have the strength and ability to resurrect Himself - no matter how weird, not even crazy.

Indeed, a great miracle is taking place. A miracle that is unlikely to ever be repeated by anyone, because the corpse has already begun to decompose. This means that all the physiological processes that took place in a person were completely disturbed, atrophied; they have already disappeared. The man began to smolder. What should be the Divine stream of grace that entered this dead man, if he did not just resurrect, came to his senses and remained lying on his bed, let's say - no! — and when the Divine power carried this dead man, bound by hand and foot, into an open cave with a rolled stone! It was impossible for him to go out like an ordinary person, because the binding was so strong and so saturated with balsamic resinous substances that it was not possible for a man with his hands tied to untie himself. In this case, all this testified to the extraordinary power of the Resurrected this dead man.

And for each of us, this is also an assurance that someday the Lord, by His Divine power, will find an opportunity, without consulting with our mind or with the mind of scientists, biologists and chemists who talk about stopping some biological processes, will be able to resurrect each of us. and put before you. And the Divine power, no matter where, how, when we are, will recreate the nature again, unite it with the spirit and soul and place it before the Lord.

Another very interesting fact speaks about why the Lord performs this miracle of resurrection. This gospel, biblical scholars say, contains the shortest verse, that is, the shortest numbered sentence, that is found in the entire New Testament. These are two words: Weep Jesus(John 11:35). That is, the God-man wept on the tomb of Lazarus.

"Why?" many researchers and interpreters ask. To say that He felt sorry for Lazarus due to the fact that death reaped him as its own fruit? Probably shouldn't say that. Already at the dawn of Christianity, the Apostle Paul, addressing the believers, said the following words: Brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant of the dead, but do not grieve, like others who do not have hope(1 Thess. 4, 13; see also "Following the funeral of the laity"). Then we must admit that Christ, like no one else - like the one who has hope - could not grieve over this. Why did he cry? Of course, for love.

Scripture says that He loved Lazarus, He loved Martha and Mary. As a human being, He was attached to them, and they were attached to Him. And the Lord wept for the reason that He was very clearly aware that humanity is so entangled in bonds, the web of eternal death, that it is not possible for humanity to break this web, these bonds on its own. Your own strength will not be enough! And the way a person dies not from physical death, but from eternal death - that's what horrified Christ!

The very fact of the Incarnation testifies to us precisely that out of love, out of mercy for man, Christ comes to the human race in order to deliver it from the bonds of eternal death. But what a wonderful thing Christ does! After all, He is not only a man, He is also God. He could be a blessing - from heaven! - over all mankind to save everyone from eternal suffering and torment. Or He, not only the Almighty, but also the Omnipresent, realizing that not only the Jewish people suffer from eternal death; there are, perhaps, much worse centers where humanity exists (after all, it was God's chosen people after all), could come and incarnate somewhere in another people. Or, at least, having been incarnated (hypothetically, we admit this), He could have done this: preach to the Jews, then go to the Gentiles and teach them how to act and what to do. But no, the Lord doesn't do that! He labored in a little-known people at that time for the universe, for the Roman Empire. In an unknown people.

He sheds His Most Pure Blood, and, of course, we can confidently say that at that moment, few people in the universe knew about this event. This means that the God-man has and had the greatest faith that His cause will not perish or perish. “Of course, how could it be otherwise?” we say. But this reveals another very important point. The God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, has great faith in us. He believes that we will accept His word, that we will respond with our hearts to His feat accomplished for each of us, and we will follow the path that He prescribed for us and for our salvation. That is, it turns out that if not every person believes in God and wants to believe in Him, then God, on the contrary, believes in every person and hopes - and therefore He does what He did.

And today, when we see, when we experience it as a spiritual reality; when, probably, the heart of every believer rejoices from the realization of what has been done, as evidenced in this miracle, we, of course, thank the Lord for the fact that He gives each of us the opportunity to join those most important, most important - spiritual - experiences .

“The common resurrection, before His passion, assuring ...” He assures today, He assured many of us that it will be, that we will not go anywhere, and the Lord, with His strength, His omnipotence and love, regardless of when we die, after how long will the general resurrection, [raise us up from death], we will be put on this judgment. And this means that there is something to strive for; there is something to think about; there is a way to be saved.

We wish all of us that these bright moments that today's worship gives us, when we honor Lazarus the Four Days, when we talk about his resurrection by our Lord, go as deep as possible into our minds and hearts, enlightening them and inspiring us to the true, not lazy, and, most importantly, on the unhypocritical fulfillment of the commandments of God. Amen.

A sermon delivered in the templeicons of the Mother of God
"Unexpected Joy" in Maryina Grove
on Saturday of the 6th week, vaiy.
(Lazarus Saturday. Resurrection of the righteous Lazarus).

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

“The general resurrection, before your passion, assuring you, raised Lazarus from the dead, Christ God. The same and we, like the youths of victory bearing the sign, to You, the Conqueror of death, we cry: Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

All Jerusalem was in motion, amazement, joy from what happened to Righteous Lazarus. The fourth day he was in the coffin, he had already begun to stink, decompose, and, being embalmed, he was able to get out of the cave in which he was laid. And we watched with fear as the Lord performed this resurrection: "Lazarus, come out."

Nothing can be disobedient to the word of the Lord. And even the dead come out of the tombs, and the Lord can whiten even an impure life. Everything is subject to Him. But not subject to Him, according to His own will, according to His own desire, not subject to Him, only human will remains, only our desire, the direction of our will remains not subject to Him.

And we wonder how the people who saw this resurrection, an obvious miracle, which cannot be compared with anything else, how they could still make up some kind of advice against the Lord, the Ruler of the world. What could happen in their souls, in their hearts such that they did not submit to God? Sometimes it even seems that this is some kind of hypertrophied narrative, that in fact this cannot be. If people see a miracle, they will be saved, they will turn to God.

But, my dears, we can make sure from our own experience that this is far from being the case. Miracles in our lives - there were countless of them, just to remember, so the memory is short. And there were many such incidents.

From the Gospel story, we remember how a man who lay at the pool of Siloam for forty years, waiting for healing. Remember, there's the first person to get into the disturbance of the water, healed of whatever disease he was possessed with. This man lay for forty years. The Lord healed him in an instant. Now, this man went and told the Jews Who healed him (it happened on Saturday), and Who told him to take a bed and go. According to Church Tradition, the man who struck Christ in the courtyard of the high priest with some kind of iron glove, brass knuckles, this man was the same healed and relaxed. How can this be?

In the early 2000s, there was such a note, a whole story about how parents, a priest and mother, took an adopted child from an orphanage into their family, raised him, gave him an education, raised him “on his feet”. And this father was building a temple, there was no iconostasis, and one benefactor gave him some large amount of money for the iconostasis. And you can imagine, having learned about this, this man who had already grown up, approached his father and said: “Give the money here.” “What money? They are in my account, I transferred them by bank transfer, they are in the bank, I don’t have them.” And this young man tied him up, began to beat, beat, put needles under his nails: “Give me money.” He says: “Well, there are none. What are you doing to me, son? "Come on, I know." In the end, he killed him. And he did not receive any of this money, unlike Judas, Judas also did not receive anything in the end. This man received only a term.

There are many such examples, only they may not be as bright as the Gospel tells or occur in our history. Such examples - they are made on a smaller scale. And we are blessed by God. After all, the man is relaxed, he didn’t just start walking, he was taken into the army, for his denunciation he was given a place in the protection of not some person there, for example, a priest, he was taken into the army. And here is such an amazing ingratitude. It happens to those people who, we understand, are cruel, hard-hearted.

And, you know, the Lord gives us the opportunity to soften our hearts through the ability to weep. He himself wept when he saw the Jews weeping, when he saw Martha and Mary in such a terrible grief. And as a human being, this is very clear to us.

The gospel story is very touching. The Lord gives us the opportunity to cry ourselves. After all, Lazarus died, because according to the law, which was given by God before the Creation of the world, the punishment for sin is death.

And we mourn, in the end, and our sinfulness. And those of us who do not know how to cry, cannot express their feelings and sorrows, they find themselves in a very deplorable state. A person who cannot cry out his grief before God, before people, this person is not even fully complete, a person who cannot cry is a robot. And the critics of Christianity in the first centuries, they accused Christianity of femininity, that Christianity makes civilization, suits it with a "feminine face." Martha and Mary wept over Lazarus, the Jews wept, and Christ also wept. And when a person does not have the opportunity to express his feelings, he suffers very, very much.

Here we take care of our wards. Some of them can express themselves somehow, some cannot. And those who are deprived of such an opportunity are in some kind of capsule. And from the diaries of autistic people, who slowly began to return to life, they were able to express their experience and remember, from these diaries we see how they suffer. The most important suffering of a person who is imprisoned as if in some kind of shackles in a prison is that he cannot somehow turn to the people around him, and his expression of his inner state is inadequate, and people do not understand him. When we cry, we feel better. The Lord gave us this relief. Because the fact that tears flow from our eyes indicates our weakness, our inability to do anything. All that's left is to cry. When a person cries, he knows the measure of his strength, a person sees himself in such a state, helpless, but there is nothing left to do but turn to God. Even if he does not consciously turn to God at this moment, all the same, relief comes from humility.

And imagine how hard it was for Christ that He wept, “became troubled in spirit” and “strengthened,” as it is said in the Gospel, that is, holding back these sobs in Himself, he approached the tomb. How does Christ feel about our iniquities that lead us to the grave? But, he does nothing, does not undertake anything in order to turn us into robots. He leaves the choice to us. And it’s up to us to decide whether to be with Christ, with these youths who are “banners of victory”, that is, they brought palm branches with exclamations to Christ, or remain more or less tough, you know, so rational, Satan is very cunning, of course, he is to blame for the fact that the Jews crucified Christ, but if they had not been inclined to this through hostility, if they had not been inclined to this through envy, then Satan could not have done anything with them.

It is the same with our destiny. The Lord has shown us many miracles, but we remain as we are, uncorrected. Pride sometimes slips through us, vanity slips through us: here I am, well done, I did something there, and Satan gradually takes power over us.

Dear ones, let's stay awake. We rejoice that Christ raised Lazarus. In the same way, this paralyzed man rejoiced, jumped up to the ceiling, probably when he realized that he had been lying in bed for forty years, and that they were even taking him into the army. What happened next? He rejoiced, and the fruits of this joy all turned against him.

My dears, let's try in these last days, our 40-day fast has already ended, and we must already come to Holy Week with the fruits of this fast, enter it. And looking back at ourselves, at these fruits, we cannot but be horrified, of course. And we do it right. Because “God opposes the proud, gives grace to the humble,” gives grace not to crucify Him with sins. Amen.

Save me, God!

Archimandrite Zacchaeus (Wood)

Sermon on Lazarus Saturday
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Beloved brothers and sisters!

We have just heard a reading from the Gospel of John the Theologian, which tells us a very important event in the life of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, namely, the rising of Lazarus from the dead. This event is so important in the mind of the Church that it is commemorated on the eve of the very celebration of the Entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, or, as it is called by the people, Palm Sunday, followed by the commemoration of His great and saving Passion, death and the three-day Resurrection. In fact, the Church even proclaims that this feast of the resurrection of Lazarus confirms the Resurrection of the Lord. In the troparion of the feast, it is sung: “The common resurrection, before your passion, assuring you, from the dead raised up Lazarus, Christ our God.”

We should understand that this event also had an “earthly” significance, for, as the Gospel of John says, it was after the resurrection of Lazarus that the Jews believed in Jesus and for this reason did not obey the orders of their leaders, who were more and more overwhelmed with envy and anxiety. because of Jesus the Nazarene. We see that with the increase in the number of His followers, the number of His adversaries also grew. The high priest and the Pharisees were also among the enemies of Jesus, jealous of His popularity and worried that it might attract the attention of the Romans, who, under the pretext of fighting the Messiah, could destroy the holy places of Jerusalem and persecute the entire Jewish people. The high priest Caiaphas even declared: “It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to perish” (John 11:50). These very important words, spoken from the point of view of a politician, acquired a completely different meaning after the resurrection of Christ. Christ died so that the whole human race might live.

As we heard from the Gospel, Jesus was told by Martha and Mary that His friend Lazarus was mortally ill. These two sisters came to Jesus and asked Him to come and heal their brother Lazarus. Jesus was intimate with this family, and therefore His slowness in fulfilling their desire seemed strange to the disciples. When at last Jesus arrived in Bethany at the house of Lazarus, who had already died for four days, the sisters who turned to Him with requests now seemed offended. Martha, upon greeting Jesus, says: "If You were here, my brother would not die." Such accusations can sometimes come from the lips of us sinners. We tend to expect whatever we want from the Lord, but most importantly, we ask that it be given to us immediately. We naively believe that whatever we ask, just because we ask for it, will be granted to us by the merciful Lord Jesus Christ. Martha and Mary considered themselves friends of Jesus. In the same way, we consider ourselves, in our own way, "friends" of the Lord, or at least His disciples. We know that we will be recognized as disciples if we "have love for one another." And, being friends and disciples, we hope that Jesus will fulfill all our petitions, as Martha and Mary thought in today's Gospel reading. We need to realize, like Martha and Mary, who were just waiting for their brother to be healed, that Jesus always gives more than the believer expects. This is what happened to Lazarus, and it is happening to us. We ask for something, expect it to be given immediately at our request, and then, perhaps, we are offended when it is not sent, and only later do we understand that the Lord, in His love and mercy to the human race, gives us something better. , something more sound for our spiritual life, something higher than our limited mind could imagine in the first place. We tend to just ask for healing, and the Lord gives the resurrection!

This gospel reading clearly shows the two natures in Christ - both God and man. The God-man, according to His humanity, weeps from the love of His friend in vain, dead in the tomb. The same God-man calls later: “Lazarus, come out!” and resurrects him from his deathbed. On the example of the resurrection of Lazarus, we can see a very human side of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see how He loved Lazarus, how He weeps with Mary and those who were with her, how worried and deeply moved He is. All these are human experiences that the God-man Jesus Christ experienced for His friends. The same experience can also be transferred to divine principles when we see that the resurrected Lord loves each and every one of us, and how he worries and weeps for us who are steeped in sins. But it is important that these human feelings of the God-man Jesus Christ are balanced by the fact that He is the same God-man who has power over the living and the dead and who transcended the laws of nature and raised His friend Lazarus from the dead. The God of all, omniscient, in humility "asks where Lazarus was laid." This seeming contradiction will continue throughout the history of the Lord's sufferings. These contradictions are revealed in the beautiful poetic words of the Liturgy of Passion Week. We will hear: “The Creator of all is betrayed to the Cross”, “The Redeemer of the world bows down, and the slave will scold from His own”, and even “He who hangs the earth on the waters is lifted up on a tree” (stichera on the Lord cried the Great Heel). These truths resonate in what we hear today - the same God-man who mourns for his friend Lazarus raises him from the dead. Our God is wonderful, brothers and sisters, truly wonderful!

May this celebration of the resurrection of Lazarus bring us hope. May it strengthen us before what awaits us from this evening, from the solemn entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, and almost simultaneously His betrayal, persecution and death. Let us remember today's feast during Holy Week, knowing that even in times of deepest and darkest sorrow, Christ is Life. And, most importantly, He lays down this life for each and every one of us. Today's gospel shares with us the eternal truth that Jesus clearly affirmed when he said, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

Let us always remember these words so that we may have life in Christ, and have it abundantly.

Amen!

Metropolitan of Tashkent and Central Asia Vladimir. Sermon on Lazarus Saturday

WORD
on Lazarus Saturday

The common resurrection, before your passion, assuring, from the dead raised the ecu of Lazarus, Christ God.

From the troparion to the resurrection of Lazarus

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord!

Death and joy - what an incomprehensible neighborhood for the earthly mind! Death appears to us as a scarecrow, a monster that threatens us and kidnaps our loved ones. We are accustomed to mourn the relatives of the dead, indulge in grief over their graves. But this is what the Savior says about the death of His friend, whom He loved with His infinite love: Lazarus is dead; and I rejoice for you... that you may believe(John 11:14-5).

Righteous Lazarus was undoubtedly a man of high soul and pure heart. How could it be otherwise if he became a friend of the Lord? The house of Lazarus, located in the village of Bethany, was one of the few havens in which the Son of Man found joy and rest, so rare in His earthly wanderings. This house breathed hospitality and cordiality, warmed by the soft warmth of a family hearth. Lazarus lived with his two sisters, and both of them were also dear to the heart of Jesus Christ. The first, caring Martha, tried with all her might to please, to create comfort for the Divine Guest who visited them. Second, meek Mary, chose the good part(Luke 10:42) - she caught every word that came from the lips of the Savior, opened herself with her whole soul towards the Teaching of Divine love. Lazarus himself, referring to him to Jesus Christ, was called simply: the one who do you love(John 11:3).

And so, this kind and generous house was visited by trouble. Lazar was seriously ill. The illness was so cruel that one could fear for the life of the patient - but neither he nor the sisters were afraid: after all, they had such a Friend with whom nothing was scary. The miracles of healing performed by the Divine Savior began to seem to them something ordinary and everyday. It was enough to resort to His help, and Lazarus would recover. With such confidence, Martha sent a messenger to tell Jesus Christ: God! that's who you love, sick(John 11:3) - without any requests, without doubting that the Savior would heal His friend. And this confidence of the Lazarus family was further confirmed by the answer given by the Lord: this disease is not unto death, but to the glory of God, may the Son of God be glorified through it (Jn. 11,4).

However, Lazar was getting worse and worse, and grace-filled help did not come. And now the patient's body shuddered for the last time and began to freeze. The sisters did not want to, could not believe it - but cruel evidence testified: the heart did not beat, the lips did not breathe - their beloved brother had died. The quiet dwelling of Lazarus resounded with sobs. The great sorrow of Martha and Mary was mixed with the thought that pierced their souls: “Why did Jesus Christ, who healed strangers and random people he met, allow His friend to die?

But the Savior, who usually hurried to the call of all who needed His help, this time hesitated, was delayed for two days. He and his disciples are away from Bethany, where Lazarus was dying. And at the moment when the friend of God breathed his last, the Lord said to the Apostles: Lazarus, our friend, fell asleep(John 11, 11).

The students rejoiced. They also loved kind Lazarus very much and, judging by the earthly, they decided that the sleep of the sick often precedes recovery. God! if he falls asleep, he will recover(Jn. II, 12) - they shared this pleasant thought with the Teacher. But the answer of the Savior, which exceeded earthly understanding, stunned them. Lazarus is dead said the Son of God, and I rejoice for you that I was not there, that you might believe; but let's go to him(John 11:14-15).

Hearing this, the Apostles were at a loss, not knowing what to do: whether to grieve for a dead friend or rejoice at some incomprehensible joy proclaimed by Jesus Christ. And one of them, the loving but unbelieving Foma, exclaimed in a fit of grief: let's go and we will die with it(John 11, 16). The Savior did not answer, He turned and silently walked along the road leading to Bethany.

The disciples, overwhelmed by vague feelings, wandered after the Lord. They went on like this for four days. Meanwhile, in Bethany, a mournful funeral ceremony was performed, and Lazarus' sister, tormented by the acute pain of loss, no longer expected any miracles. When Jesus Christ finally stepped on the threshold of the house of His dead friend, Martha turned to Him with a quiet reproach: God! if you were here, my brother would not die(John 11:21).

Your brother will rise(John 11:23), the Lord answered. To the grief-stricken woman, these words seemed to be a common consolation for a believer, a promise of an afterlife meeting with her beloved brother, which softened her current grief. I know that he will rise on Sunday, on the last day(John 11:24), Martha answered. She called the Son of Man the Lord, but her faith was still not enough to understand: the Almighty Lord is able to easily return her dead brother to earthly life.

Martha knew that Jesus Christ is the greatest Healer, but with her earthly mind she still did not understand that before her was the Almighty, Who might not wait for the Day of Judgment to perform the resurrection of the dead. And the Son of God, breaking her lack of faith, directly told her about this: I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (Jn. 11, 25-26).

Resurrection of the dead? It was unseen, unheard of, incomprehensible. "He who is dead will not rise," - all earthly life, the whole material world spoke about this, it was "an immutable law of nature." But in the words of the Teacher there was a force that rejected any “laws of nature,” and Martha's heart responded to the promise of the Savior with a flash of joyful hope, faith in an incredible miracle. I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, coming into the world(John 11, 27), - Martha confessed, and grief receded from her.

As if on the wings of an incomprehensible hope, Martha hurried to her sister with the news of the coming of the Savior. However, she still did not dare to tell Mary about the impending miracle of miracles, and she went out to meet the Lord, still in tears of lasting grief.

Meanwhile, Jesus Christ was heading to the tomb, where they laid the body of His friend Lazarus. Many people came in those days to honor the memory of Lazar - he was known for his kindness, famous for his pious life. Many shed sincere bitter tears over the grave of their friend and benefactor. Some Pharisees also came here. For these, the death of Lazarus was an occasion to show off: wiping dry eyes, admiring their own eloquence, they spread about the merits of the deceased, "led" at the wake. But those who were hypocritical even next to death, nevertheless, there were few at the tomb of the righteous - the grief of the majority was unfeigned.

The Savior approached this crowd of mourners and mourners. He saw sad faces, heard sobs, and rushed to Him, shedding tears, meek and loving Mary... At the sight of the common grief, Jesus Christ shed a tear. He knew that in a few moments Lazarus would come out to them alive and unharmed. But the Loving Savior with all his heart sympathized with both the temporary grief of these good people and the mortal horror that the righteous Lazarus had to experience before his death. Yes, the Son of God sent His friend Lazarus to this feat - so that the Almighty of God would be glorified. But the All-seeing Savior Himself suffered, together with His friend, his mortal pain and mortal agony.

The Lord paid tribute to human grief with His Most Luminous tears at the tomb of righteous Lazarus. The moment has come for the manifestation of the power of God. Take away the stone(John 11:39), the Lord commanded. Hearing this, the Pharisees murmured: “Bladiction! disrespect for the ashes!” - but the rest did not dare to disobey the Miracle Worker from Nazareth and began to remove the heavy stone from the tomb cave. He breathed a terrible smell of decay, the smell of death. Here Martha again succumbed to crafty doubt: God! already stinks; for four days he has been in the tomb(John 11:39). And again the Son of God humbled her unbelief: Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?(John 11:40).

And over the bewildered, bewildered crowd of mourners, the prayer of the Son of God, filled with unearthly majesty, burst forth: Father! thank you that you heard me. I knew that You would always hear Me; but I said this for the people standing here, that they might believe that you sent me(John 11:41-42).

This prayer sounded even before the miracle of the resurrection. The Divine Son thanked the Heavenly Father in advance, knowing that, according to His word, the dead would easily and simply be resurrected, for where is the limit to the Omnipotence of the Creator, who called the entire universe into being with a single word? And so, in simple everyday words, the Son of God commanded: Lazarus! get out(John 11:43).

An indescribable horror seized the people when Lazarus emerged from the tomb, wrapped in funeral shrouds. People shied away in different directions, giving way to the resurrected dead man - it seemed to many that they were seeing a ghost. But no: it was a living man, a living Lazarus, with the same kind and bright face, from which at that moment the expression of suffering gradually disappeared. Gradually, people began to recover from fear - they approached Lazarus, touched him, spoke to him, heard his embarrassed answers - and, finally, were convinced of the accomplishment of an incredible miracle. Then instead of sorrow came jubilation, the eyes of all turned to the Savior, and, many who saw what Jesus did believed in him(John 11:45).

The miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus took place when the world had not yet been redeemed by the Most Pure Blood of the Savior, and was still lying in the darkness of the Old Testament "Sabbath". But on the Saturday of the resurrection of Lazarus, the gloomy kingdom of Satan was already shuddering, beginning to lose its captives, foreseeing its defeat. St. John Chrysostom says: “Hell, having returned the deceased from the underworld, began to cry out: “Who is it with His voice that calls the dead from the tomb, as if sleeping? I see that the power of my dominion over the earthly is slipping out of my hands. Yes, the end of the power of the devil over the human race was approaching - from the day of the resurrection of Lazarus, it was not long before the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Resurrecting the dead, the Savior immutably showed people His divinity, preparing them to perceive the miracle of His Resurrection. Alas! human lack of faith, earthly reasoning resisted even the most glorious miracles of the Lord. Even the chosen Apostles failed to understand that Jesus Christ, having resurrected His friend, is able to resurrect Himself. Their weak-hearted apostasy tormented the Savior at the terrible hour of the Cross, and it took the fullness of the goodness of the Holy Spirit to turn weak, unbelieving disciples into courageous, unwavering evangelizers.

But on the day of the resurrection of Lazarus, there were no doubters yet. The jubilant crowd greeted the Savior and the righteous man resurrected by Him, and only a few people shunned joy, hatching black plans. Even this miracle did not force the Pharisees to worship the Son of God, but only increased their envious malice. Did these hypocrites, having learned that the Savior raises the dead, did not understand that they were opposed not to an ordinary person, but to God Himself? And yet, in the corridors of the Sanhedrin, the hiss of intruders was heard: what should we do? This man does wonders(John 11:47). And these fools encroached not only on the Savior Himself, but plotted the murder of the resurrected Lazarus, the “dangerous witness” of the miracles of the Son of God. Jesus Christ saved His friend who had returned to life from their deceit, He gave Himself alone to be torn to pieces by human malice.

Righteous Lazarus was raised from the tomb by the miracle of the Savior only for a temporary life, he had to go through his earthly path and die again. However, allowing the first untimely death of His friend, the Son of God thus rendered him a great blessing. Church tradition knows examples of how zealous in deeds of piety those who returned to earthly life from beyond the threshold of death became zealous. Such people saw in reality the horrors of the underworld, saw the blissful Kingdom of Light - and the memory of another world made them insensitive to the temptations of this world, tireless in the service of the Merciful Lord. Death and resurrection bestowed this spiritual fortress on Lazarus - being righteous and until his first death, all the long years of the earthly period remaining to him, Saint Lazarus performed feats of piety, acquiring ever greater glory in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The friend of the Lord, the righteous Lazarus, lived thirty years after his resurrection. He was the Bishop of China (Cyprus), an educator, a good shepherd of a large Christian community. The imperishable relics of St. Lazarus were found in Kitia in a marble reliquary with the inscription: "Lazarus of the Four Days, friend of Christ."

And that tomb cave in Bethany, where the Son of God prayed for the resurrection of Lazarus, became a temple. The tomb, the abode of sorrow and hopelessness, at the behest of the Conqueror of death, turned into a shrine, giving the hope of blissful eternity. In the resurrection of righteous Lazarus, the general resurrection of all the sons and daughters of the human race is foreshadowed, when the righteous friends of God rejoice in the Kingdom of Light given by the Savior.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

As the Lord once stood at the tomb of the deceased Lazarus, so now He stands at the stones with which our souls dying in sins are littered. The smell of decay emanating from a decomposing dead body seems unbearable to us, but much more terrible is the stench emanating from a soul stinking with sins. But the Most Pure Savior in His humble goodness endures this stench. Lazarus, get out! (In. 11:43), called the Son of God, and the righteous dead man immediately obeyed. May we, finally, hear the call of the All-Merciful Lord, who wants to lead us out of darkness to light - let us rise from spiritual death, into which our impurity, impenitence, and carelessness plunge us. Thus, having left the fetid cave of passions and lusts, having unleashed the coffin shroud of sins on ourselves with repentant tears, we will be able, following the righteous Lazarus, to join the great family of God's friends.

It is not death itself that is terrible - that inevitable inevitable hour is terrible when we all rise again in order to stand before the Court of the All-Seeing Lord. Blessed is he who in this life will be able to gain spiritual resurrection, to say with the Apostle: for me life is Christ, and death- acquisition(Philippians 1:21). Amen.

At the time of Christ, in the small village of Bethany near Jerusalem, there lived two sisters, Martha and Mary, and with them a brother, Lazarus. We know that the Lord repeatedly visited their house, and the sisters once almost quarreled, because while Mary listened to the words of the Teacher, Martha had to take care of the housework alone. In a word, an ordinary human family... But one day Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, fell ill and died. It would seem that the death of a person is also a common thing, but in the Gospel the usual course of things is suddenly disrupted: four days later the Lord comes to Bethany, goes to the tomb of Lazarus, and ... resurrects him. What for? Is it really just because Lazarus is a friend, and all the rest for Christ are “just people”, and it is possible to postpone their resurrection? Can Christ really have "favorites", doesn't God love everyone equally?

Each of us not only may be favorite of God, but, moreover, is them. The Lord knows each of us by name (Jn. 10 , 3), and it is hardly possible to say that God has some especially close friends, the same Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and all the rest are “just people”, “crowd”. Christ Himself always wants to be a Friend to each of us; but we do not always desire this friendship. Closeness to Christ is often understood by us as a kind of disciplinary and ritual function: subtracting the prescribed number of prayers means being close to Christ, and not subtracting it means not being close. The Church tells us that each of us can and should strive to “acquire a friend of the Lord,” as one of the church hymns sings. And if Christ were for us the measure of all things, and we would perceive Him not only as the Creator, Judge, Arbiter of our destinies, but also as a Friend, perhaps we would be more alive and real Christians.

In patristic interpretations of the Gospel, one can find a metaphorical understanding of the image of Martha as an activity inherent in man and the image of Mary as contemplation. But then Lazarus is friendship, a heartfelt disposition towards God, and it would be nice if, in addition to our vigorous activity and deep contemplation, there would be added at least a little desire to become a friend of Christ.

The event that took place two thousand years ago in Bethany turned out to be so important that at the very end of Great Lent, on the last Saturday before Holy Week, the Church commemorates the resurrection of the righteous Lazarus by Christ. And it is not for nothing that in our calendar Lazarus Saturday is closely connected with the feast of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem and Holy Week. The Lord is able to resurrect any dead person, but then, having resurrected Lazarus, He aroused even greater hatred of the Pharisees, and it was after this miracle that they finally decided to kill Him. Christ saved a friend from temporary death at the cost of his own death on the Cross. Yes, Lazarus died a second time later, as we all die, but he served the cause and our salvation: after all, Christ, by His word, resurrected him to temporary life, so that a little later - through death on the Cross - to resurrect all of us already forever to eternal life. Amen.