John Chrysostom, On the widow's son

nothing good is left for me; I have been deprived of all joy. I would look at the image of the child, and I would behold his archetypal father; having this one, I imagined that one; I never considered myself a widow. For the one from him lightened my misfortunes, and the one born of me cared for me more than my husband, and when I was grieving I had him for a comfort. If ever despondency encompassed my mind, he would embrace me; and wrapping his arms around me, kissing me, delighting me with childish words, he would make the cloud of despondency disappear; and you say to me, Do not weep for your son? who are you who exhorts me in such things? But some of the crowd, approaching, said to her: Why do you dare, O woman, to speak against God? The Lord is present; he himself is speaking with you; approach, entreat, supplicate; for his presence is not without effect. But she, wiping her eyes, and gathering her garment, and covering her breast, fell at the feet of the Master, and answering the Lord, she said: Give me the child, and I accept your counsel; for I am tested in the old age of my nature; for I see Sarah, and I reap my hopes. And approaching the feet of Jesus, she was saying: Forgive the rashness of your handmaid, Master, and the words that were steeped in my grief. For you are not ignorant of a mother's pain in the sorrow for her children; for this is your command. I nourished him on hopes. I suffered the loss of my husband, at least grant me my child; comfort my old age; for I am already failing. I do not say as Martha did, If you had been here, my brother would not have died; for even now, being present, you hold his soul, and seeming to depart, you do not abandon anyone. For a little while, Master, bear with your handmaid. You wept for Lazarus, whom by your power you raised from the dead; and shall I not weep for my son? And Jesus, approaching, touched the bier, he who touches the mountains, and they smoke. And the pallbearers stood still. And he said: Young man, arise; take up the mind of a young 61.793 man, and trample death. To you I say, arise; do not delay for the resurrection; For I am the life and the resurrection. I called Lazarus from the tomb, and he immediately leaped from the sepulcher, though he had been decaying in the sepulcher for the fourth day, and many of his entrails had been ravaged by worms. But the voice of life reached the dead man and re-forged the dissolution of his flesh into a sweet fragrance, and the tomb became a womb for him who lay there. But for you death has schemed recently; to you I say, do not delay for the resurrection; For I am the resurrection. The one being watched was dead, and the Lord spoke to the dead man as to one who could hear. When does a dead man hear? And what does the Master say? To you I say, arise; and immediately the dead man sat up; so that the crowds watching became as if dead, first because of disbelief, and second because of the truth.

For why did he not jump down, but sat up? So that all might behold the resurrection unobscured, and what was happening might not be recognized as an apparition. Almost saying to them: I assure you who have heard, that it is he himself who was dead for a short while. And Jesus, stretching out his hand, took hold of the dead man, and gave him alive to his mother. But she, having received her son, was overcome by joy and disbelief; rejoicing on the one hand at the resurrection of her child; disbelieving on the other hand at the thought of the events. With haste the woman was examining her son closely, she felt him with her hands, investigating the position of his eyes, his sense of smell, his lips, his forehead, and the form of his whole face; then his hands and his feet, and simply put, his whole body; and she reasoned with herself, saying: Can it be, she says, that I am being 61.794 deceived? Am I holding another in place of another? Has he devised this concerning my son's death for my consolation, and the abatement of my grief, and in response to the excess of my pain? and has Jesus delivered some stranger as my own, wishing to lighten my pain? No one of the

καλὸν ὑπολέλειπται, πάσης εὐφροσύνης ἐστέρημαι. Ἔβλεπον τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ παιδὸς, καὶ ἐθεώρουν τὸν ἀρχαιότυπον αὐτοῦ πατέρα· τοῦτον ἔχουσα, εἰς ἐκεῖνον ἐφανταζόμην· οὐδέποτε χήραν ἐμαυτὴν ἐνόμισα. Ὁ γὰρ ἐξ ἐκείνου τὰς συμφοράς μοι ἐπεκούφιζε, καὶ πλέον με τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὁ ἐξ ἐμοῦ τεχθεὶς ἐθεράπευσε, καὶ λυπουμένη τοῦτον εἶχον παράκλησιν. Εἴ ποτε ἀθυμία τὸν λογισμόν μου περιέσχε, περιελάμβανέ με· καὶ περιπτυσσόμενος, καταφιλῶν, λόγοις παιδικοῖς τέρπων με, τὴν νεφέλην τῆς ἀθυμίας ἠφάνιζε· καὶ λέγεις μοι, Μὴ κλαῖε τὸν υἱόν σου; τίς εἶ σὺ ὁ τὰ τοιαῦτά μοι παραινῶν; Τινὲς δὲ τοῦ ὄχλου προσελθόντες εἶπον πρὸς αὐτήν· Τί τολμᾷς, ὦ γύναι, τῷ Θεῷ ἀντιλέγειν; Ὁ Κύριος πάρεστιν; αὐτός σοι διαλέγεται· πρόσελθε, δεήθητι, ἱκέτευσον· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἄπρακτος αὐτοῦ ἡ παρουσία. Ἡ δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐκμάξασα, καὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα ἑαυτῆς περιστείλασα, καὶ τὸ στῆθος καλύψασα, προσέπεσε τοῖς ἴχνεσι τοῦ ∆εσπότου, καὶ ἀποκριθεῖσα τῷ Κυρίῳ ἔφη· ∆ός μοι τὸν παῖδα, καὶ λαμβάνω τὴν συμβουλίαν σου· καὶ γὰρ ἐν παλαιότητι φύσεως ἐξετάζομαι· βλέπω γὰρ τὴν Σάῤῥαν, καὶ τρυγῶ τὰς ἐλπίδας. Καὶ προσελθοῦσα τοῖς ποσὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἔλεγε· Σύγγνωθι τῇ προπετείᾳ τῆς δούλης σου, ∆έσποτα, καὶ τοῖς λόγοις τοῖς βαπτισθεῖσιν ἐν τῷ πένθει μου. Οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοεῖς μητρὸς ὀδύνην ἐν λύπῃ τέκνων· τοῦτο γὰρ σὸν πρόσταγμα. Ἐπ' ἐλπίσιν ἔτρεφον τοῦτον. Τὸν ἄνδρα ἐζημιώθην, κἂν τὸν παῖδά μοι χάρισαι· ψυχαγώγησόν μου τὸ γῆρας· ἤδη γὰρ ἐκλείπω. Οὐ λέγω ὡς ἡ Μάρθα Εἰ ἦς ὧδε, οὐκ ἂν ἀπέθανέ μου ὁ ἀδελφός· ἄρτι γὰρ καὶ παρὼν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ βαστάζεις, καὶ ἀπιέναι δοκῶν οὐκ ἀπολείπῃ τινός. Μικρὸν, ∆έσποτα, συγχώρησον τῇ δούλῃ σου. Σὺ τὸν Λάζαρον ἔκλαυσας, ὃν τῇ σῇ δυνάμει ἤγειρας ἐκ νεκρῶν· κἀγὼ τὸν υἱόν μου μὴ κλαύσω; Καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἥψατο τῆς σοροῦ, ὁ ἁπτόμενος τῶν ὀρέων, καὶ καπνίζονται. Οἱ δὲ βαστάζοντες, ἔστησαν. Καὶ εἶπε· Νεανίσκε, ἀνάστηθι· ἀνάλαβε φρόνημα νεανί 61.793 σκου, καὶ τὸν θάνατον καταπάτησον. Σοὶ λέγω, ἐγέρθητι· μὴ βραδύνῃς πρὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν· Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις. Ἐκάλεσα τὸν Λάζαρον ἐκ τάφου, καὶ οὗτος εὐθέως ἐξήλατο τοῦ μνήματος, ὡς τετάρτην ἡμέραν κατασαπεὶς ἐν τῷ μνήματι, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν σπλάγχνων ὑπὸ τῶν σκωλήκων πεπορθημένος. Ἀλλ' ἡ φωνὴ τῆς ζωῆς τὸν νεκρὸν ὀσφράνασα εἰς εὐοσμίαν τὴν τῶν σαρκῶν ἀνεχάλκευσε λύσιν, καὶ γέγονε μήτρα τοῦ κειμένου τὸ μνῆμα. Σοὶ δὲ προσφάτως ὁ θάνατος ἐμεθόδευσε· σοὶ λέγω, μὴ βραδύνῃς πρὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν· Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις. Νεκρὸς ὑπῆρχεν ὁ θεωρούμενος, καὶ ὡς ἀκούοντι τῷ τεθνεῶτι διελέγετο ὁ Κύριος. Πότε νεκρὸς ἀκούει; Καὶ τί φησιν ὁ ∆εσπότης; Σοὶ λέγω, ἐγέρθητι· καὶ εὐθέως ἀνεκάθισεν ὁ νεκρός· ὥστε οἱ θεωροῦντες ὄχλοι ἐγένοντο ὡσεὶ νεκροὶ, πρῶτον μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν, δεύτερον διὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν.

∆ιὰ τί γὰρ μὴ κατεπήδησεν, ἀλλ' ἀνεκάθισεν; Ὅπως ἂν ἀνεπισκίαστον τὴν ἀνάστασιν θεωρήσωσιν οἱ πάντες, καὶ μὴ φαντασία γνωρισθῇ τὸ γινόμενον. Μονονουχὶ λέγων πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς πληροφορῶ τοὺς ἀκηκοότας, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ πρὸς βραχὺ ἀποθανών. Καὶ ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἐπελάβετο τοῦ τεθνεῶτος, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν ζῶντα τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ. Ἡ δὲ λαβοῦσα τὸν υἱὸν, ὑπὸ χαρᾶς καὶ ἀπιστίας συνείχετο· χαίρουσα μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ παιδὸς ἀναστάσει· ἀπιστοῦσα δὲ τῇ διανοίᾳ τῶν πραγμάτων. Μετὰ σπουδῆς τὸ γύναιον ἀκριβῶς τὸν υἱὸν κατενόει, ταῖς χερσὶν ἐψηλάφα, ὀφθαλμῶν θέσεις διερευνῶσα, ὀσφρήσεως, χειλέων, μετώπου, καὶ τοῦ παντὸς προσώπου τὴν διατύπωσιν· εἶτα τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τοὺς πόδας, καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ὅλον τὸ σῶμα· καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν διελογίζετο λέγουσα· Ἆρα, φησὶ, μήποτε πλα 61.794 νῶμαι; μὴ ἄλλον ὑπὲρ ἄλλου κρατῶ; μὴ πρὸς παραμυθίαν τὴν ἐμὴν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ πένθους ὑποστολὴν, καὶ πρὸς τοῦ ἄλγους ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ υἱοῦ μου τὸν θάνατον ἐσοφίσατο; καὶ ξένον τινὰ ὡς οἰκεῖον παρέδωκεν Ἰησοῦς, τὴν ἐμὴν ὀδύνην ἐπικουφίσαι βουλόμενος; Οὐδένα τοῦ