Leo Presbyter, On Palm Sunday

I said to my disciples: Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep, but I am going to awaken him. To God you say, Martha: If you had been here, my brother would not have died. Cease therefore, Martha, I forgive you for your error, partly because of nature, and partly because of your affliction. Your brother will rise again. Martha, still stumbling in faith, says to him: I know, Lord, that my brother will rise again on the last day, when the gift is universal, and not the grace partial. And Christ to her: Why do you travel so far, O Martha? I am the resurrection and the life. If you believe, pray; but if you disbelieve, go away, woman; for I do not permit you to teach. Do you believe this? Martha says to him: Yes, Lord; for since you began to speak to your servant, I have become one person instead of another. Then the Lord, answering, said to those present: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Come and see. And Jesus went, as if not knowing the tomb, he who was holding the soul of Lazarus; for he went not ignorant of the tomb, but wishing to draw more witnesses to the resurrection. Then as Jesus was going, Martha, again tempted, came to the Savior saying: Lord, where are you going? He already stinks, for it is the fourth day. Where are you going? You are about to be mocked, it is not possible for him to rise. He already stinks, for it is the fourth day. The hairs have fallen out, the flesh has diminished, the veins have dissolved, the flesh of the bones has denied its nature. Lord, where are you going? We are becoming a laughingstock; worms are feeding, ichors are pooling. You raised the son of the widow, Master, because the dead man was recent and his soul still fluttered about the body and the flesh possessed a moisture of warmth. But this one already stinks, for it is the fourth day. Even if you yourself wish it, yet the soul will not accept to enter a smelly vessel. He already stinks, for it is the fourth day. And Christ to Martha: Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God, and you said: Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world? Who has tempted you again not to believe? Did you not meet with Eve? Did you not encounter the serpent? Cease therefore, faint-hearted Martha, and know that no word is impossible with God. To God you say: He already stinks. When does ointment respect a bad odor? A musician tunes a loosened lyre, and God does not raise a dissolved corpse? Having said these things, the Lord came, it says, to the cave, and seeing the tomb, Jesus wept. O the wonder of these things. The remover of tears wept. But why did the Lord weep for him whom he was about to raise? Why? So that he might both confirm the truth of the incarnation, and show his compassion, and make known the power of his divinity. Jesus wept. Why? So that he might fulfill the saying that states: Weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Jesus wept. But if it is necessary to say more precisely why Jesus wept, he wept not for Lazarus, but for the unbelieving Jews. Then Jesus says to those present: Roll away the stone from the tomb. For why, Master, are you yourself not able to do this? You raise the dead and do not roll a stone? Did you not yourself say to your disciples: If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: Be taken up and be cast into the sea? To them you promise the moving of mountains and you are not able to roll away a stone? Yes, not from weakness do I command, but from my own wisdom do I order the Jews, so that not only by sight and by smell they may be fully convinced, that what is happening is truth and not fantasy, and that I am the Lord of the dead and of the living. Then after the stone was rolled away, the Lord cried out: To you I say, Lazarus, come forth, so that in this way at least Martha may cease saying: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Lazarus, come forth, so that those present may learn that I am not weak before one who is dissolved

ἔφην πρὸς τοὺς μαθητάς μου· Λάζαρος ὁ φίλος ἡμῶν κεκοίμηται, ἀλλὰ πορεύομαι τοῦ ἐξυπνίσαι αὐτόν. Θεῷ λέγεις, Μάρθα· Εἰ ἦς ὧδε οὐκ ἂν ἀπέθανέ μου ὁ ἀδελφός. Παῦσαι τοίνυν, Μάρθα, συγχωρῶ σοι σφαλλομένῃ, τὸ μὲν διὰ τὴν φύσιν, τὸ δὲ διὰ τὴν θλίψιν. Ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός σου. Λέγει αὐτῷ Μάρθα ἔτι προσκόπτουσα τῇ πίστει· Οἶδα, κύριε, ὅτι ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός μου ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, ὅτε καθολικὸν τὸ δῶρον, οὐχὶ δὲ μερικὸν τὸ χάρισμα. Ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς πρὸς αὐτήν· Τί μακρὰν ὁδεύεις, ὦ Μάρθα; Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή. Εἰ πιστεύεις, παρακάλει· εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς, ἄπιθι, γύναι· καὶ γὰρ διδάσκειν οὐκ ἐπιτρέπω σοι. Πιστεύεις τοῦτο; Λέγει αὐτῷ Μάρθα· Ναί, κύριε· ἐξ ὅτε γὰρ ἤρξω τῇ δούλῃ σου λαλεῖν, ἄλλη ἀντ' ἄλλης γεγένημαι. Τότε ὁ κύριος ἀποκριθεὶς ἔφη τοῖς παροῦσιν· Ποῦ τεθήκατε αὐτόν; Λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· Ἔρχου καὶ ἴδε. Καὶ ἐπορεύετο ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὡς μὴ εἰδὼς τὸν τάφον ὁ τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ Λαζάρου βαστάζων· ἐπορεύετο γὰρ οὐκ ἀγνοῶν τὸν τάφον, ἀλλ' ὡς πλείονας βουλόμενος ἑλκύσαι μάρτυρας τῆς ἀναστάσεως. Εἶτα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πορευομένου ἡ Μάρθα πάλιν δελεασθεῖσα προσῆλθε τῷ σωτῆρι λέγουσα· Κύριε, ποῦ ὑπάγεις; Ἤδη ὄζει, τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστιν. Ποῦ ὑπάγεις; Μέλλεις γελᾶσθαι, οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τοῦτον ἀναστῆναι. Ἤδη ὄζει, τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστιν. Αἱ τρίχες ἐξέπεσαν, αἱ σάρκες ἐμειώθησαν, αἱ φλέβες διελύθησαν, τῶν ὀστέων αἱ σάρκες τὴν φύσιν ἠρνήσαντο. Κύριε, ποῦ ὑπάγεις; Γέλως γινόμεθα· σκώληκες βόσκονται, ἰχῶρες λιμνάζουσιν. Τὸν υἱὸν τῆς χήρας ἀνέστησας, δέσποτα, ἐπειδὴ πρόσφατος ἦν ὁ νεκρὸς καὶ ἔτι ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ σῶμα περιεπέτατο καὶ ἡ σὰρξ νοτίδα θερμότητος ἐκέκτητο. Οὗτος δὲ ἤδη ὄζει, τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστιν. Εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς βούλει, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ ψυχὴ οὐ κα ταδέχεται εἰς ὀδῶδες ἀγγεῖον εἰσελθεῖν. Ἤδη ὄζει, τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστιν. Ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς πρὸς τὴν Μάρθαν· Οὐκ εἶπόν σοι ὅτι ἐὰν πιστεύσῃς ὄψῃ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ εἶπες· Ναί, κύριε, ἐγὼ πεπίστευκα ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐρχόμενος; Τίς σε πάλιν ἐδελέασε μὴ πιστεύειν; Μὴ τῇ Εὕᾳ συνέτυχες; Μὴ τῷ ὄφει συνήντησας; Παῦσαι τοίνυν, ἀσθενόψυχε Μάρθα, καὶ γνῶθι ὅτι οὐκ ἀδυνατεῖ ῥῆμα παρὰ τῷ θεῷ. Θεῷ λέγεις· Ἤδη ὄζει. Πότε μύρον δυσωδίαν αἰδεῖται; Ἄνθρωπος μουσικὸς κεχαυνωμένην κιθάραν διατείνει, καὶ θεὸς νεκρὸν διαλελυμένον οὐκ ἐγείρει; Ταῦτα φήσας ὁ κύριος ἦλθέ φησιν εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον καὶ θεασάμενος τὸν τάφον ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐδάκρυσεν. Ὢ τῶν πραγμάτων. Ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ δακρύων ἀφαιρέτης. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ κύριος ὃν ἤμελλεν ἐγείρειν; ∆ιὰ τί; Ἵνα καὶ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως πιστώσηται τὴν ἀλήθειαν, καὶ παραστήσῃ τὴν συμπάθειαν , καὶ τῆς θεότητος τὴν ἐξουσίαν γνωρίσῃ. Ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς. ∆ιὰ τί; Ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὸ φάσκον ῥητόν· Κλαίειν μετὰ κλαιόντων καὶ χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων. Ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Ἀλλ' εἰ δεῖ ἀκριβέστερον εἰπεῖν διὰ τί ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἐδάκρυσεν οὐ τὸν Λάζαρον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀπίστους Ἰουδαίους. Τότε λέγει ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοῖς παροῦσιν· Ἀποκυλίσατε τὸν λίθον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνήματος. Τί γάρ, δέσποτα, αὐτὸς οὐκ ἰσχύεις τοῦτο ποιῆσαι; Νεκρὸν ἐγείρεις καὶ λίθον οὐ κυλίεις; Οὐκ αὐτὸς εἶπες τοῖς μαθηταῖς σου· Ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, ἐρεῖτε τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ· ἄρθητι καὶ βλήθητι εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν; Ἐκείνοις ὀρέων ἐπαγγέλλῃ μετάθεσιν καὶ σὺ λίθον οὐκ ἰσχύεις ἀποκυλίσαι; Ναί, οὐκ ἀπὸ ἀσθενείας κελεύω, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ σοφίας ἰδίας ἐπιτάττω τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, ὅπως μὴ μόνον τῇ ὄψει καὶ τῇ ὀσφρήσει πληροφορηθῶσιν, ὅτι ἀλήθεια καὶ οὐ φαντασία τὸ γινόμενον, καὶ ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ νεκρῶν καὶ ζώντων κύριος. Εἶτα μετὰ τὸ ἀποκυλίσαι τὸν λίθον ἀνεκραύγασεν ὁ κύριος· Σοὶ λέγω, Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω , ἵνα κἂν οὕτως παύσηται Μάρθα λέγουσα· "Κύριε, εἰ ἦς ὧδε οὐκ ἄν μου ἀπέθανεν ὁ ἀδελφός." Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω, ἵνα μάθωσιν οἱ παρόντες ὅτι οὐκ ἀτονῶ διαλελυμένον