4

For this reason blessed are those who weep, and blessed are those who mourn, because they shall be comforted, and they shall laugh. But by laughter He means not the sound that bursts forth from the cheeks in a boiling of the blood, but unmixed and pure cheerfulness, unmingled with any gloom. Therefore, the Apostle permits us to weep with those who weep, since this tear becomes, as it were, a seed and a loan for eternal joy. Ascend with me in thought, and behold the angelic state, whether any other state befits them, except to rejoice and be glad; for they have been deemed worthy to stand by God, and to enjoy the ineffable beauty of the glory of Him who created us. Urging us, therefore, toward that life, the Apostle commanded us to rejoice always. But regarding the Lord's weeping over Lazarus and over the city, we can say this: that He also ate and drank, not needing these things Himself, but leaving for you measures and limits for the necessary passions of the soul. Thus, indeed, He also wept, correcting the excessively passionate and base nature of lamentations and dirges. For if anything else, weeping also requires the symmetry that comes from reason: for what things it should happen, and for how long, and when, and how it is fitting. For that the Lord's tear was not from passion, but for teaching, is clear from this: Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep, but I am going to awaken him. Who among us mourns a sleeping friend, whom he expects to awaken a little later? Lazarus, come out. And the dead man was brought to life; and he who had been bound walked about. A wonder within a wonder: to have his feet bound with burial cloths, and not be hindered from movement.

For what strengthened was greater than what hindered. How then did He who was about to perform such things judge the event worthy of tears? Or is it clear that, supporting our weakness from all sides, He encompassed the necessary passions with certain measures and limits? shunning the unsympathetic as beastly, while rejecting the fond of grief and much-lamenting as ignoble. Therefore, by shedding a tear for His friend, He both demonstrated His communion with human nature, and freed us from excesses on either side; permitting us neither to be softened toward passions, nor to be insensitive to sorrows. As, therefore, the Lord accepted hunger, when His solid food was exhausted, and received thirst, when the moisture in His body was consumed; and He grew weary, when His muscles and sinews were overstrained from the journey; not His divinity being overcome by weariness, but His body receiving the symptoms that naturally follow, so also He received the tear, allowing the phy 31.229 sical symptom to occur in the flesh. Which happens when the hollows of the brain, having been filled with the exhalations from grief, as if through certain channels of the pores around the eyes, discharges the weight of the fluid. Whence certain sounds, and dizziness, and darkness occur upon the unexpected hearing of sorrows, as the head is spun around by the vapors, which the contraction of heat into the depths sends up. Then, I think, just as a cloud dissolves into a drizzle, so the thickness of the vapors dissolves into a tear. From this there is also a certain pleasure for those grieving in their lamentation, as that which weighs them down is imperceptibly emptied from them through weeping. And experience of what happens establishes the truth of this account. For we have known many in incurable misfortunes who have forcefully restrained themselves from shedding a tear; and then some fell into incurable afflictions, apoplexy or paralysis, and others, even completely expired, as if their strength, like a weak support, had been broken by the weight of the grief.

For what can be seen in the case of a flame, that it is choked by its own smoke when it does not escape but is confined around it, this they say also happens to the power that governs a living being; for it is withered by sorrows,

4

∆ιὰ τοῦτο μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες, καὶ μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται, καὶ αὐτοὶ γελάσουσι. Γέλωτα δὲ λέγει οὐ τὸν διὰ τῶν παρειῶν ἐκπίπτοντα ψόφον ἐν τῷ αἵματος ἀναβρασμῷ, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἄκρατον καὶ ἀμιγῆ παντὸς σκυθρωποῦ ἱλα ρότητα. Κλαίειν οὖν μετὰ κλαιόντων συγχωρεῖ ὁ Ἀπό στολος, ἐπειδὴ τὸ δάκρυον τοῦτο οἱονεὶ σπέρμα καὶ δάνεισμα γίνεται τῆς αἰωνίου χαρᾶς. Ἀνάβα μοι τῇ διανοίᾳ, καὶ θέασαι τὴν ἀγγελικὴν κατάστασιν, εἰ ἄλλη τις αὐτοῖς πρέπει κατάστασις, πλὴν τοῦ χαί ρειν καὶ διευθυμεῖσθαι· ὅτι ἠξίωνται παρεστάναι Θεῷ, καὶ ἀπολαύειν τοῦ ἀποῤῥήτου κάλλους τῆς δόξης τοῦ κτίσαντος ἡμᾶς. Πρὸς ἐκεῖνον οὖν τὸν βίον παρορμῶν ἡμᾶς ὁ Ἀπόστολος, πάντοτε χαίρειν ἡμῖν διετάξατο. Ἀλλὰ μὴν πρός γε τὸ δακρῦσαι τὸν Κύριον ἐπὶ Λαζάρῳ καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πόλει ἐκεῖνο εἰπεῖν ἔχομεν, ὅτι καὶ ἔφαγε, καὶ ἔπιεν, οὐκ αὐτὸς τούτων δεόμενος, ἀλλά σοι μέτρα καὶ ὅρους τῶν ἀναγκαίων τῆς ψυχῆς παθημάτων καταλιμπάνων. Οὕτω γοῦν καὶ ἐδάκρυσε, τῶν ὀδυρτικῶν καὶ φιλοθρήνων τὸ ἄγαν περιπαθὲς καὶ ταπεινὸν ἐπανορθούμενος. Εἰ γάρ τι ἄλλο, καὶ τὸ δακρύειν τῆς ἐκ τοῦ λόγου συμμετρίας προσδεῖται· ἐπὶ τίσι γίνεσθαι, καὶ ἐπὶ πόσον, καὶ πότε, καὶ ὅπως προσῆκεν. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐκ ἐμπαθὲς ἦν τὸ δάκρυον τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀλλὰ διδασκαλικὸν, ἐκεῖθεν δῆλον· Λά ζαρος ὁ φίλος ἡμῶν κεκοίμηται, ἀλλὰ πορεύομαι ἵνα ἐξυπνίσω αὐτόν. Τίς ἡμῶν κοιμώμενον ὀδύρεται φίλον, ὃν μικρὸν ὕστερον προσδοκᾷ διυπνί ζειν; Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω. Καὶ ὁ νεκρὸς ἐζωοποιεῖτο· καὶ ὁ δεδεμένος περιεπάτει. Θαῦμα ἐν θαύματι· κει ρίαις δεδέσθαι τοὺς πόδας, καὶ μὴ κωλύεσθαι πρὸς τὴν κίνησιν.

Μεῖζον γὰρ ἦν τὸ ἐνισχύον τοῦ ἐμ ποδίζοντος. Πῶς οὖν ὁ τοιαῦτα ἐνεργεῖν μέλλων δα κρύων ἄξιον τὸ συμβὰν ἔκρινεν; Ἢ δῆλον, ὅτι, παν ταχόθεν τὸ ἀσθενὲς ἡμῶν ὑπερείδων, μέτροις τισὶ καὶ ὅροις τὰ ἀναγκαῖα περιέλαβε πάθη; τὸ μὲν ἀσυμπαθὲς ὡς θηριῶδες ἐκκλίνων, τὸ δὲ φιλόλυπον καὶ πολύθρηνον ὡς ἀγενὲς παραιτούμενος. ∆ιό περ, ἐπιδακρύσας τῷ φίλῳ, αὐτός τε τὴν κοινωνίαν τῆς ἀνθρωπείας φύσεως ἐπεδείξατο, καὶ ἡμᾶς τῶν ἐφ' ἑκάτερα ὑπερβολῶν ἠλευθέρωσε· μήτε καταμα λακίζεσθαι πρὸς τὰ πάθη, μήτε ἀναισθήτως ἔχειν τῶν λυπηρῶν ἐπιτρέπων. Ὡς οὖν κατεδέξατο τὴν πεῖναν ὁ Κύριος, τῆς στερεᾶς τροφῆς διαπνευσθείσης αὐτῷ, καὶ τὴν δίψαν προσήκατο, τῆς ὑγρότητος ἀνα λωθείσης τῆς ἐν τῷ σώματι· καὶ ἐκοπίασε, τῶν μυῶν καὶ τῶν νεύρων ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας ὑπερταθέντων· οὐ τῆς θεότητος τῷ καμάτῳ δαμαζομένης, ἀλλὰ τοῦ σώ ματος τὰ ἐκ φύσεως ἐπακολουθοῦντα συμπτώματα δεχομένου οὕτω καὶ τὸ δάκρυον προσήκατο, τὸ φυ 31.229 σικὸν τῇ σαρκὶ ἐπιγίνεσθαι σύμπτωμα συγχωρῶν. Ὅπερ συμβαίνει, ὅταν τὰ κοῖλα τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου, τῶν ἐκ τῆς λύπης ἀναθυμιάσεων πληρωθέντα, οἷον δι' ὀχετῶν τινων τῶν κατὰ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς πόρων τοῦ ὑγροῦ τὸ βάρος ἀποσκευάζηται. Ὅθεν ἦχοί τινες, καὶ ἴλιγγοι, καὶ σκοτώσεις ἐπὶ ταῖς ἀδοκήτοις τῶν λυπηρῶν ἀκοαῖς ἐγγίνονται, περιδονουμένης τῆς κε φαλῆς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀτμῶν, οὓς ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ βάθος τοῦ θερμοῦ συστολὴ ἀναπέμπει. Εἶτα, οἶμαι, ὥσπερ τὸ νέφος εἰς ψεκάδα, οὕτως τὸ πάχος τῶν ἀτμῶν εἰς δάκρυον διαλύεται. Ἔνθεν καὶ ἡδονή τίς ἐστι τοῖς λυπουμένοις περὶ τὸν θρῆνον, λανθανόντως διὰ τοῦ κλαίειν κενουμένου αὐτοῖς τοῦ βαρύνοντος. Συν ίστησι δὲ τοῦ λόγου τὸ ἀληθὲς ἡ πεῖρα τῶν γινομένων. Πολλοὺς γὰρ ἔγνωμεν ἐν συμφοραῖς ἀνηκέστοις ἀπο στάξαι τὸ δάκρυον βιαίως ἐγκαρτερήσαντας· εἶτα τοὺς μὲν εἰς ἀνήκεστα ἐμπεσόντας πάθη, ἀποπληξίας ἢ παραλύσεις, τοὺς δὲ, καὶ παντελῶς ἀποψύξαντας, ὥσπερ ἐρείσματος ἀσθενοῦς, τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτῶν τῷ βάρει τῆς λύπης ὑποκλασθείσης.

Ὃ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς φλογὸς ὁρᾷν ὑπάρχει, ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκείου αὐτὴν καπνοῦ καταπνίγεσθαι, μὴ ὑπεξιόντος, ἀλλὰ περὶ αὐτὴν εἱλου μένου, τοῦτό φασι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκονομούσης τὸ ζῶον δυνάμεως γίνεσθαι· ἀπομαραίνεσθαι γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν ὀδυνηρῶν,