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6 And longing for our salvation, he cries out elsewhere, saying: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth," he who desires mercy, who thirsts to be thirsted for, who swore by himself "that he does not desire the death of a sinner, but that he should turn and live;" the Savior came to cast fire upon the earth which he formed with his own hands and hallowed with the divine breath; the Savior came to cast fire upon it and to rekindle its free will with which it was honored by him from the beginning, which the inventor of malice and deceit took away from it and enslaved in shameful passions; the Savior came to cast fire upon it, that illuminating fire, that life-giving fire, the fire of the knowledge of God, that which consumes the thorns of impiety, that which makes the seeds of piety grow, that which cuts away and roots out things contrary to nature, and plants and cultivates goods according to nature, so that just as man was voluntarily led away by deceit and willingly drew upon himself the forewarned death from disobedience, so again, having washed himself clean of his stupor, he might recognize what is right, and be reconciled to God through confession and inclination toward him.

7 This divine and illuminating fire the Lord also kindled and fanned into flame in Lazarus for the salvation of the Jews, providing them with a perception worthy of faith so that they might be saved. For signs are always given to the unbelieving and not to the believing as an occasion for salvation. For as they contradicted and fought against the truth, through his divinely powerful works he revealed himself to be God irrefutably, as he himself says somewhere: "if you do not believe me, believe my works, that you may know that the Father is in me and I in the Father;" that is, as the radiance of the sun is in the sun and as the sun is in the ray, indivisibly and unchangeably, on account of their being consubstantial and self-sufficient; and elsewhere: "he who has seen me has seen the Father;" just as the tree is recognized in the fruit; and elsewhere: "I and the Father are one;" demonstrating what is of equal honor and equal power; but let us return to the subject at hand.

8 "They made him," it says, "a supper; and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him;" most magnificently for the true confirmation of the non-phantasmal resurrection of the one who was saved; for thus also the Lord himself, after his saving resurrection, revealed himself to his own disciples, taking and eating in their sight according to the law of human nature. For this reason also now he who by the master's command conquered the law of nature and of death, he was supping with the master, the one who was raised rejoiced with the one who raised him, the clay reclined with the potter, the one who had escaped darkness celebrated with the light, he who had leapt in bonds rejoiced with him who loosens those bound in might, he who in the very reins of death, I mean the swaddling clothes, had mightily cheated Hades with a whirring sound, was feasting with the Lord who raised him.

9 But I will say to you: open for us, O divine head, John, your sacred tablets; for we are unable to grasp the gaping depth of the miracle. Yes, he says, Lazarus was reclining with Jesus, the old and new man, whom he called from corruption to life by a living and all-powerful word; the newly-formed one reclined as if with a wet-nurse with him who by a command had shown a new birth of men; for it is a custom for the offspring of the Jews to recline with the women in childbed, who are filled with joy. "For when a woman is in labor she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she has delivered the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a man has been born into the world."

10 Thus also our Lord, when he was about to raise Lazarus from Hades, the merciful one wept and was moved with compassion, seeing human nature perishing and at the same time grieving with those who had come together, but he was invisibly angry with the

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6 Ἐπιποθῶν δὲ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν, κέκραγεν ἀλλαχοῦ λέγων· «πῦρ ἦλθον βαλεῖν εἰς τὴν γῆν,» ὁ θελητὴς ἐλέους, ὁ διψῶν τὸ διψᾶσθαι, ὁ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ ὀμόσας «μὴ βούλεσθαι τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέφειν καὶ ζῆν αὐτόν·» πῦρ ἦλθεν βαλεῖν ὁ σωτὴρ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἣν ἰδίαις χερσὶν ἔπλασεν καὶ ἡγίασεν τῷ θείῳ ἐμφυσήματι· πῦρ ἦλθεν βαλεῖν ὁ σωτὴρ ἐπ' αὐτὴν καὶ ἀναζωπυρῆσαι τὸ αὐτεξούσιον αὐτῆς ᾧ ἐτιμήθη παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ὃ ἀφεῖλεν ἐξ αὐτῆς καὶ κατεδούλωσεν ἐν πάθεσιν ἀτιμίας ὁ τῆς κακίας καὶ ἀπάτης εὑρετής· πῦρ ἦλθεν βαλεῖν ὁ σωτὴρ ἐπ' αὐτὴν, πῦρ ἐκεῖνο τὸ φωτιστικὸν, τὸ ζωοποιὸν, τὸ τῆς θεογνωσίας πῦρ, τὸ τῶν ἀκανθῶν τῆς ἀσεβείας δαπανητικὸν, τὸ τῶν εὐσεβῶν σπερμάτων αὐξητικὸν, τὸ τῶν παρὰ φύσιν τμητικὸν καὶ ἐκριζωτικὸν, καὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἀγαθῶν φυτουργικὸν καὶ γεωργικὸν, ἵνα ὥσπερ ἑκουσίως τῇ ἀπάτῃ συναπήχθη καὶ τὸν προμεμαρτυρημένον ἐκ παρακοῆς θάνατον αὐθαιρέτως ἐπεσπάσατο ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὕτως αὖθις ἐκνίψας τῆς καρώσεως ἐπιγνῷ τὸ δέον, καὶ θεῷ διὰ τῆς ἐξαγορεύσεως καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν νεύσεως προσοικειωθῇ.

7 Τοῦτο τὸ θεῖον καὶ φωτιστικὸν πῦρ ἀνῆψεν καὶ ἀνεπύρσευσεν πρὸς τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων σωτηρίαν καὶ ἐν Λαζάρῳ ὁ Κύριος, ὡς ἀξίαν πίστεως αἴσθησιν παρέχων αὐτοῖς εἰς τὸ σῴζεσθαι. Τοῖς γὰρ ἀπίστοις ἀεὶ τὰ σημεῖα καὶ οὐ τοῖς πιστεύουσιν δίδοται σωτηρίας ἀφορμή. Ἀντιλεγόντων γὰρ αὐτῶν καὶ ἀντιμαχομένων τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, διὰ τῶν θεοδυνάμων ἔργων ἑαυτὸν ἐνεφάνιζεν θεὸν εἶναι ἀναντιρρήτως, ὥς που αὐτός φησιν· «εἰ ἐμὲ οὐ πιστεύετε, τοῖς ἔργοις μου πιστεύσατε, ἵνα γνῶτε ὅτι ἐν ἐμοὶ ὁ Πατὴρ κᾀγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρί·» τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὡς ἀπαύγασμα ἡλίου ἐν ἡλίῳ καὶ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος ἐν ἀκτῖνι ἀμερίστως καὶ ἀπαραλλάκτως διὰ τὸ ὁμοούσιον καὶ αὐτοσθενές· καὶ ἑτέρωθι· «ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα·» καθάπερ ἐν τῷ καρπῷ τὸ δένδρον ἐπιγινώσκεται· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· «ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν·» τὸ ἰσότιμον καὶ ἰσοδύναμον ὑπερδεικνύων· ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον ἐπανέλθωμεν.

8 «Ἐποίησαν αὐτῷ, φησὶν, δεῖπνον· ὁ δὲ Λάζαρος εἷς ἦν τῶν ἀνακειμένων αὐτῷ·» μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἄγαν πρὸς πίστωσιν ἀληθινὴν τῆς ἀφαντασιάστου ἀναστάσεως τοῦ σεσωσμένου· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος μετὰ τὴν σωτήριον αὐτοῦ ἀνάστασιν ἐνεφάνιζεν ἑαυτὸν τοῖς γνησίοις αὐτοῦ μαθηταῖς, λαβὼν καὶ φαγὼν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτῶν νόμῳ φύσεως ἀνθρώπων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ νῦν ὁ τῷ δεσποτικῷ προστάγματι φύσεως καὶ θανάτου νόμον νικήσας, οὗτος τῷ δεσπότῃ συνεδείπνει, ὁ ἀναστὰς τῷ ἀναστήσαντι συνευφραίνετο, ὁ πηλὸς τῷ πλαστουργῷ συνανέκειτο, ὁ τὸ σκότος ἀποδράσας τῷ φωτὶ συνεώρταζεν, ὁ ἐν δεσμοῖς ἐφαλλόμενος τῷ λύοντι πεπεδημένους ἐν ἀνδρείᾳ συνέχαιρεν, ὁ ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἡνίαις τοῦ θανάτου, λέγω δὴ τοῖς σπαργάνοις, τὸν ᾅδην ῥοιζήματι εὐτόνως ἀπατήσας τῷ ἐγείραντι Κυρίῳ συνειστιᾶτο.

9 Ἀλλ' ἐρῶ πρὸς σέ· διάνοιξον ἡμῖν, ὦ θεία κεφαλὴ, Ἰωάννη, τὰς ἱεράς σου πλάκας· ἀδυνατοῦμεν γὰρ περιδράξασθαι τὸ ἀχανὲς βάθος τοῦ θαύματος. Ναὶ, φησὶν, συνανέκειτο τῷ Ἰησοῦ Λάζαρος, ὁ παλαιὸς καὶ νέος ἄνθρωπος, ὃν ἐκάλεσεν ἐκ τῆς φθορᾶς διὰ λόγου ζῶντος καὶ παντοδυνάμου εἰς ζωήν· συνανέκειτο ὁ νεοπαγὴς ὡσεὶ τίτθῃ τῷ νεὰν γέννησιν ἀνθρώπων ἐν προστάγματι ἀναδείξαντι· νόμος γὰρ τοῖς Ἰουδαίων γεννήμασι ταῖς λεχοῦσι συνανακεῖσθαι ἐμπιμπλαμέναις χαρᾶς. «Ἡ γὰρ γυνὴ ὅταν τίκτῃ λύπην ἔχει ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα αὐτῆς· ὅταν δὲ γεννήσῃ τὸ παιδίον οὐκέτι μνημονεύει τῆς θλίψεως διὰ τὴν χαρὰν ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ἐγεννήθη εἰς τὸν κόσμον.»

10 Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν μέλλων ἐγείρειν ἐξ ᾅδου τὸν Λάζαρον, ἐδάκρυε μὲν ὁ φιλοικτίρμων καὶ κατεσπλαγχνίσθη, τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φύσιν φθειρομένην ὁρῶν καὶ τοῖς συνελθοῦσιν ἅμα σκυθρωπάζων, ἐνεβριμήσατο δὲ ἀοράτως τῷ