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snatching the dead from death. How many gifts have you given, seeking to find a helper in sorrows? You found this one without pay and you close your eye to the discovery. Therefore, since you are a lover of loss, leave the gain to those who want it; permit Lazarus to live; do not become more bitter to men than death, from which he released them by driving it away from himself; do not make living with you more hopeless than the tomb. The dead man had hope of life in the tomb and came back to life without even losing his grave-clothes; but living with you, he is in danger of losing the gift he had in the tomb.
9 Why do I occupy my discourse with the wickedness of the Jews, when the raising of Lazarus directs me to the memory of the resurrection? When tombs are shaken, being required to give up the dead, the earth is troubled, trembling with fear, blasts of trumpets from heaven shout to men; “For the trumpet will sound,” it says, “and the dead will be raised incorruptible.” Flashing with lightning from there, from heaven the judge descends, the armies of the judge's angels run before, troubled by fear of the things taking place; “for the powers,” it says, “of the heavens will be shaken”; a meeting of the just on high in the clouds, a lament of demons being dragged to judgment, the mournful devil brought forward in bonds, tyrants being dragged to a fearful tribunal, the plunderings of the rich being punished, the endurance of the poor being crowned, companies of kings confessing, the lives of priests being examined, orders of virgins being honored, hidden fornications being made a public spectacle, the dignity of the temperate being honored, the intemperance of adulterers being punished, the goodness of the long-suffering being crowned, the hidden conviction of slanderers, the peoples of those who genuinely repented being called blessed, the dissimulation of hypocrites being scourged.
10 The word is not mine; you have all heard Paul crying out to all: “We shall all stand before the judgment seat” “of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Therefore, all being regulated by the memory of these things, make your pleasure wither, you lover of pleasure; for it is the fuel of the fire of Gehenna. Punish your stomach, you who live in luxury; for gluttony is a combustible burden, and faulting this the prophet cried to the Sodomites: “But,” he says, “this was the iniquity of Sodom, that in prosperity and fullness of bread they lived wantonly.” Hate avarice, O rich man, as the stubble of the unquenchable flame. Be strengthened for endurance, O poor man; for pious patience is a cooling from Gehenna. Unlearn impiety, O Greek; for thorns are useful only for fire. Rise up from heretical doctrines as from tombs, O heretic, before that voice comes which cries to the dead: “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him,” Christ our God, “who is to judge the living and the dead.” Let us glorify him with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
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θανάτου τοὺς νεκροὺς ἀποσπῶντα. Πόσα ἀνέδωκας δῶρα, ζητῶν εὑρεῖν ἐν λυπηροῖς βοηθόν; Ἀμισθὶ τοῦτον εὗρες καὶ τὸ βλέμμα πρὸς τὴν εὕρεσιν κλείεις. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ σὺ φιλοζήμιος, ἄφες τοῖς βουλομένοις τὸ κέρδος, συγχώρησον τὸν Λάζαρον ζῆν, μὴ γένῃ τοῦ θανάτου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πικρότερος οὓς ἐκεῖνος ἀπέλυσε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀπελαύνων, μὴ ποιήσῃς τό σοι συζῆν ἀνελπιστότερον τάφου. Ἔσχεν ἐλπίδα ζωῆς ὁ νεκρὸς ἐν τῷ τάφῳ καὶ οὐδὲ τὰ σπάργανα ζημιωθεὶς ἀνεβίω· σοὶ δὲ συζῶν ἣν ἔσχε δωρεὰν ἐν τῷ τάφῳ κινδυνεύει ἀπολέσαι.
9 Τί τὸν λόγον περὶ τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀσχολῶ πονηρίαν, τῆς ἐγέρσεως Λαζάρου πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως μνήμην με παραπεμπούσης; Ὅταν τινάσσωνται τάφοι τοὺς νεκροὺς ἀπαιτού μενοι, ταράττεται γῆ σειομένη τῷ φόβῳ, σαλπίγγων ἐξ οὐρανοῦ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀλαλάζουσι κτύποι· «Σαλπίσει γάρ», φησίν, «καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐγερθήσονται ἄφθαρτοι.» Ἀστράπτων ἐκεῖθεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ὁ κριτὴς καταβαίνει, τὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ κριτοῦ προτρέχει στρατόπεδα τῷ τῶν γινομένων ταραττόμενα φόβῳ· «αἱ δυνάμεις γάρ», φησίν, «τῶν οὐρανῶν σαλευθήσονται»· ἀπάντησις δικαίων ἐν νεφέλαις μετάρσιος, θρῆνος δαιμόνων συρομένων εἰς κρίσιν, πενθήρης διάβολος προσαγόμενος δέσμιος, ἑλκόμενοι τύραννοι πρὸς φοβερὸν λογοθέσιον, πλουτούντων ἁρπαγαὶ κολαζόμεναι, πενήτων ὑπομοναὶ στεφανούμεναι, ἐξομολογούμεναι συμμορίαι βασιλέων, ἱερέων ἐρευνώμενοι βίοι, τάγματα παρθένων τιμώμενα, πομπευόμεναι κεκρυμμέναι πορνεῖαι, σωφρόνων τιμωμένη σεμνότης, ἀκολασία κολαζομένη μοιχῶν, χρηστότης μακροθύμων στεφανουμένη, καταλάλων ἔλεγχος ἀφανής, μετανοησάντων γνησίως μακαριζόμενοι δῆμοι, ὑποκριτῶν εἰρωνεία μαστιζομένη.
10 Οὐκ ἐμὸς ὁ λόγος, ἠκούσατε πάντες πᾶσι κεκραγότος τοῦ Παύλου· «Πάντες παραστησόμεθα τῷ βήματι» «τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν εἴτε ἀγαθὰ εἴτε κακά». Τῇ τούτων τοίνυν πάντες ῥυθμιζόμενοι μνήμῃ, μάρανον τὴν ἡδονήν, ὁ φιλήδονος· ὕλη γάρ ἐστι τοῦ τῆς γεέννης πυρός. Κόλασον, ὁ τρυφητής, τὴν γαστέρα· καύσιμον γὰρ γαστριμαργία φορτίον, καὶ τοῦτο μεμφόμενος ὁ προφήτης Σοδομίταις ἐβόα· «Πλήν», φησίν, «τοῦτο ἀνόμημα Σοδόμων ὅτι εὐθηνίᾳ καὶ πλησμονῇ ἄρτων ἐσπατάλων.» Μίσησον πλεονεξίαν, ὁ πλούσιος, ὡς καλάμην τῆς ἀσβέστου φλογώσεως. Νευρώθητι πρὸς καρτερίαν, ὁ πένης· ὑπομονὴ γὰρ εὐσεβὴς γεέννης κατάψυξις. Μετάμαθε τὴν ἀσέβειαν, ὁ Ἕλλην· μόνῳ γὰρ πυρὶ χρησιμεύου σιν ἄκανθαι. Ἀνάζησον ἐξ αἱρετικῶν δογμάτων ὡς ἐκ τάφων, αἱρετικέ, πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὴν τοῖς νεκροῖς βοῶσαν ἐκείνην φωνήν· «Ἰδοὺ ὁ νυμφίος ἔρχεται, ἐξέλθετε εἰς ἀπάντησιν αὐτοῦ», Χριστὸς ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν, «ὁ μέλλων κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς». Αὐτὸν δοξάσωμεν σὺν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.