and, to speak more truly, Herod was far more ferocious than Pharaoh. Likewise, the executioners of Herod are far more cruel than those of Pharaoh. For Pharaoh had commanded that the male infants of the Jews be killed; certainly, when he was being attacked by a foreigner, fearing that he might prevail over the Israelites and devastate Egypt. He slaughtered the children of the Israelites, A so that he might save the Egyptians. But Herod, he murders the infants for fear, not out of envy. For Pharaoh, after he had found Moses afloat in the chest, and his daughter had taken him in, not only did he not kill him, but he even reared him as a son, for the sake of the infant breaking his own decree. What say you, Herod? Pharaoh saves Moses, and do you intend to pursue the Lord Christ? He preserves the one who is to scourge Egypt, and do you wish to murder the One who saves the world? Thus again, the bodyguards of the servants of Herod B are more venerable than those of Pharaoh. For the midwives, having been commanded at the very birth of the infants to drown the males of the Hebrews, did not pursue this, being God-fearing, and this even though they were Egyptian by birth. For their bowels were stirred within, knowing what mothers of male infants suffer when deprived of them by violent death. They chose rather to offend against the temporal king than to oppose the greater King and God. But Herod exhibited his malice not against another nation, but against his own countrymen he contrived his madness. C And Pharaoh, indeed, revealed such wrath in Egypt, and went no further. But Herod, not only in Bethlehem, but in all its borders, commanded that the infants be mown down. O that unjust decree, of that which then fell suddenly upon city, and village, and field, and street! There was nowhere for the mothers to hide their children; for they could not endure to keep them apart from their maternal arms. And if ever a mother, forgetting, sought to hide her own child, that child betrayed her by its weeping, drawing death to itself by its love for the breast. For just as a fish cannot bear to live outside of water, so also an infant, being deprived of its mother's breasts, D does not long escape destruction. O, that universal lamentation! I find not how to describe the forms of the mothers' wailing. If a barbarian incursion had occurred, the mothers would have borne the pain more easily; for a calamity that is shared knows how to bite the sufferer more moderately. It was not a barbarian incursion, but a civil war; it was violence having no entreaty, it was lawlessness having law as its advocate. The mothers were crying out, and there was no one to hear; the infants were wailing in turn, and no one was there to have pity; the breasts were pouring milk upon the ground, and Herod was hardened rather like a stone. The bodyguards of the king were more ferocious; in various ways they pursued the infants; some of them tearing them against the walls, others dashing them upon the stones, and others leaving them to be choked to death. For the taskmaster, the devil, was stirring them up for such a drama as this. On account of these things and similar ones, the mothers were failing, and drunk in their suffering, they did not care for appearances. They tore their tunics, they scattered their locks into the air, they exposed their breasts that deserved to be hidden, they struck their chests with stones, they lacerated their cheeks like executioners, they witnessed against the heaven as a silent judge, they made an entreaty to the Judge and Master of all, saying: "What is this great cruelty of the king, Master? He carries out his deeds upon Your creations; You created, he does not cease slaughtering; You gave grace, he inflicts harm. And why did we bear males, if the death of the infants is so bitter? If this is Your decree, command us ourselves to perish along with them; but if this is the undertaking and command of the lawless king, why do You not pursue him more quickly?" But it is likely that the mothers, bitten by their suffering, cried out these things, not knowing what is beneficial for their own fledglings. But what is more blessed than those who are plotted against for the sake of the Lord Christ? What is more blessed than these children, because they were not slaughtered only of themselves, but as Christ Himself was being murdered?
On Martha and Mary and Lazarus; and on the Prophet Elijah.
As many as bear love for the Master's resurrection, receive the Christ-loving ointment of the testimony just read. For already Mary is anointing, and the Church is exhaled with fragrance; already the alabaster jar is emptied, and the altar is filled with joy. Mary anoints, Martha serves, and he who is from the dead reclines together with the Lord. Honorable indeed is the race of men, because man was made according to the image of God, but woman is from the image of man, honoring the man, and yet not characterizing Christ. And who is witness to these things, so that we might not reap blame? Hear Paul shouting: "For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man." The woman is the glory of her own man; for she is not of strangers; not because of the ancient vain counsel, but because of the latter, genuine childbearing. For this genuine childbearing changed the woman from the curse. And who is witness of these things? The same Apostle shouting: "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived has fallen into transgression. But she shall be saved through childbearing." Do you see that the woman is saved through childbearing? Not that Eve brought forth Cain, but that the glorious Virgin carried Jesus. Therefore, Mary anoints, Martha serves, and Lazarus reclines together with the Lord, as you have just heard. Mary images the Church; for the ointment of the Church is unfailing. Martha points out the synagogue; for it is little-faith, and a lover of earthly things. Lazarus bears the scepter of the resurrection, as you just heard the evangelist shouting: "Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom He raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper, and Martha served; and Lazarus was one of those reclining with Him. Mary, therefore, taking a pound of ointment of spikenard of great value, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped them with her hair; and the whole house was filled from the fragrance of the ointment." You have seen the work of the woman, and how she pre-imaged the Church? Mary warded off the many women from their wicked deeds, and taught to bear a pound of ointment, and not to behead the Baptist; to anoint the Lord, and not to steal together with Judas; to loosen her hair, and not to tighten sins; to be called a sister of Lazarus, and not to be rumored a daughter of the devil. These things have been said by me for the sake of the synagogue of the Jews, which did not anoint the Lord, but gave Him vinegar and gall to drink, the friend of blood, always acting in opposition to the Master Christ, the one that was eager to put Lazarus to death, whom He had raised from the dead. And who then is more faithful? The Lord raising, or those killing? As you just heard the evangelist saying: "A great crowd of the Jews came to know that Jesus is there, and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead; because many of the Jews were going away on his account, and were believing in Jesus." You have seen the synagogue of the Jews, how it is man-killing, prophet-killing, so as to reach the point of Lord-killing? To which the Lord Himself spoke face-to-face as to a murder-loving and robber-like one: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent unto it; until when will you be murdering, and you do not turn back?" You are drunk with intoxication, not being a wine-drinker, you friend of blood. And so that you might learn that the words are not boasting, hear the Lord saying through the prophet: "Hear these things all you rulers of the house of Jacob, and the remnant of Israel, who abhor judgment, and pervert all things that are right, who build Zion in blood, and Jerusalem in iniquities"; and again: "If you stretch forth your hands unto Me, I will turn My face away from you; and if you multiply the supplication, I will not hear; for your hands are full of blood." What then does the evangelist say? Six days before theA Passover, Jesus came to Bethany. The Lord, who came to Bethany, is also present here. For this house is properly called Bethany; for Bethany means "house of peace"; and the present house of the Lord is a house of peace, in which we all, while dwelling, daily cry out to the Lord of the house: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14). B He who came to Bethany is also present here; but He comes not as if He were not already present, but as one who is both present and coming. Seeing this coming of the Lord beforehand, the prophet said: "Behold, the Lord will come with power, and His arm with dominion" (Isa. 40:10). "Behold, the Lord will come with power." That word is true: "The Lord will come with power." How with power? In that He despoiled hell, in that He caused Lazarus to experience resurrection, and filled the world with a thousand benefits. "Behold, the Lord will come with power." For who is stronger than He who said, "Lazarus, come forth"? "Behold, the Lord came with power." He came, who was not absent. For you heard: *Let us go forth to meet the One present and coming*, not stepping on the earth with our feet, C but purifying our souls by a reformation of morals. Let us go forth to meet the One present, giving thanks; let us do that which Moses’ sister did; let us use more effective words than hers, because he who is submerged in the pool of water, the devil, is more grievous than Pharaoh. Let us therefore take up the symbols of victory—not drums to be held in the hand, but palm branches—let us cry out with the faithful brethren, as we just heard: "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel" (Matt. 21:9). The prophet Isaiah, seeing this royal coming of the Lord beforehand, as I said, D stated: "Behold, the Lord will come with power," in that He raised the dead—and not just the dead, but also those already stinking with rot, wasted with corruption, and deprived of hair; He raised the four-day-old Lazarus from the tomb, as you heard the evangelist saying: "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where was Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead." What did Moses do similar to our Lord Christ? Moses killed; he did not recall to life. Let the Jewish children, who praise Moses and revile the Lord Christ, finally be put to shame. But the Jew immediately rushes in, saying: "And did not a dead man rise among us also? Did not the prophet Elijah raise the son of the widow of Sarepta?" But Elijah was a man; [704 A] why then do you hold such a high opinion of your master, and attribute divine power to Him, because He raised Lazarus? What do you say, O Jew? You compare Elijah with the Lord Christ? The institution of a servant is one thing, and divine power is another: unless you first know the manner of raising the dead, you will not understand the reason of divine power. Listen prudently: that dead man raised by Elijah, the son of the widow of Sarepta, although he was delivered to death, it was not because of a failure of nature, but for the instruction and tribulation of Elijah, so that he might be bent from the hardness of his heart into compassion. For Elijah, as you B well know, having been angered at the house of Ahab and at the Israelite people on account of the iniquity of Jezebel, declared with an oath: "The Lord God lives! If there shall be dew or rain upon the earth in these years, except by my mouth" (3 Kings 17:1). By this sentence of drought, Elijah did not entirely please the God of the universe; yet He fulfilled the sentence of His servant; for He wished to quickly resolve the calamity of drought for him who had bound the clouds so that they would not emit copious rain. But Elijah did not agree to the relief. C For God has pity in one way, and man is hardened in another. The Lord, therefore, wished to mitigate the servant's hardness, so that he might grant rain to the earth by his word. But it is not proper for God to ask of man; therefore God undertook another matter. Which one? Listen attentively: the rain having ceased for too long (for the clouds did not bring forth rain for three years and six months), Elijah began to be afflicted with the fatigue of thirst, but yet he bore this need patiently, moved by contention: for he preferred to be worn down rather than to be reconciled with the house of Ahab. What then did the Lord do? He D craftily approaches the servant, not asking, but saying: "Arise hence, and go to the torrent of Chorrath, which is at the face of Jordan, and drink water from the torrent, and I will command the ravens to feed thee there" (3 Kings 17:3-4). The Lord said these things, furthermore, not to feed Elijah, but to afflict him with contumely; not to honor him, but to lead him to compassion through a contumelious meal. For it was not a fitting thing for a prophet to be fed by ravens, and for a table of meats to be set before him, who from the beginning had adopted ascetic labors. For the Lord could have fed the just man either through doves, or given him manna himself, [705 A] as to the sons of Israel, or sent him lentils through Habacuc as to Daniel: the Lord could have fed Elijah honorably, since in another descent He had fed him honestly. For otherwise, when Elijah, fleeing from the face of Jezebel, sought the desert, and was sleeping in the solitude, vexed with hunger and thirst, because he had measured a long way by fleeing; God therefore places bread and water at his head; and immediately He pricks his side, and no other member. Why? Listen attentively: He pricks the side or the rib, because he was fleeing injuries of the ribs. Then the Lord says to him: "Elijah, arise, eat and drink, for a great journey remains for you." B Arising then, Elijah, eating and drinking, walked in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights. That food was provided by God. He who had properly fed him there, could have fed him from heaven here also; but He sets before him a table that is not fitting, so that through a contumelious meal he might be bent to compassion. But he remained unbent. When it had behooved Elijah, hearing these things from the Lord, "Drink from the torrent, and I will command the ravens to feed thee there," to prostrate himself, to supplicate, and to say: "By no means, Lord; never has anything common and unclean C entered into my mouth" (Acts 10:14): "You set over me ravens, the ensnarers of Noah, You prepare a table of meats as if for a Gentile and a foreigner, for me who was instructed from the beginning in ascetic morals?" It would have behooved Elijah to bring forth these words in the manner of a suppliant, but he said none of these things: for he knew that if he had complained about the incongruent table, the Lord would have said: "What do you say, Elijah? You do not endure to drink muddy water, you who allowed no rain to descend? You have withered the land of Israel; D not even a drop of water is found in the well or in the fountain: what you yourself have done, now endure. You do not admit a meal of meats brought by ravens? Bread, an ear of corn, or green herb is not found, when neither rain nor dew falls upon the earth, all things being closed by your mouth: nothing is to be found except meats, nothing except carcasses, after the animals have died from the lack of food. Why then do you not admit a meal produced by your own labor?" So that Elijah might hear nothing similar, he admitted the incongruent table. For he preferred to bear a long lack of rain than to bring forth a word [706 A] that would supply rain. What then did the most wise Lord do? As He saw him persevering in hardness, He uses another, more valid method of acting. Which? He dries up the river, retains the ravens, sends a voice to him: "Go into Sarepta of Sidon; behold, I will command a widow woman to feed thee there" (3 Kings 17:9). Do you see how the Lord was striving to bend him to mercy? He did not send him to the house of a prince or a king, or to an opulent woman, but to a certain destitute woman, to a needy widow, so that even thus he might be bent to mercy. But he was not bent even thus. For when it had behooved him, when he heard the Lord saying: B "Go into Sarepta of Sidon; behold, I will command a widow woman to feed thee there," to prostrate himself, to cry out, to supplicate, and to say: "Do not send me to a humble, O Master; you send me to the Sidonian, and to a woman [who is] burdened with protectors, whose bread is filled with tears, and whose table [is filled with] groanings and lamentations, and whose bed is filled with pillows; but Elijah does nothing of the sort. For he knew that even if [he were] to refuse the widow's table, the Lord would say to him: "What do you say, Elijah? Do you refuse the widow; [that same widow] whose table [I have now dried up], the one who caused the whole land of Israel to be barren, [you] having made her a widow…"
[GREEK COLUMN] 705 …table, you who prepared for the whole land of Israel to be barren, and made even the widow herself barren, fruitless, and unproductive, yet you reject the table of the widow? So that Elijah would hear none of this, he immediately departed for the Sidonians, seeking comfort, or perhaps sorrow. A Listen to what follows. Elijah, having been received in hospitality by the widow, found a table that was not costly, but authentic, appropriate, and ascetic—water, oil, flour, and two small pieces of wood. What then? Did the widow have only two small pieces of wood? Yes. How? Listen, and I will tell you. This widow mentioned carried the image of the Church; that is why the prophet is sent to her. When the prophet entered the widow’s house, he truly found the deposit of our Church; he found water, oil, flour, and two small pieces of wood. Water, the baptism; oil, the chrism; flour, the Bread; two small pieces of wood, the accomplishment of the Cross. And Elijah, crying out to the widow, said: The jar of oil shall not fail, and the pitcher of flour shall not cease. For the grace of the orthodox faith is inexhaustible. B Therefore, having found the widow’s inexpensive table, Elijah was gladdened and rejoiced, saying to himself: "Here I will live from now on; here I will spend all my time. For I have found a suitable table; no concern have I for the house of Ahab, or for the people of Israel, or for the madness of Jezebel. Let them have the lack of rain as their inheritance; but I shall not depart from here at all." Elijah was saying these things, reckoning joyfully to himself, not knowing, as a man, that in his joy he was about to find sorrow. You all know how the widow, having two genuine children born of the same womb, having arisen at dawn from her bed, sees one of her sons surrendered to death. That it is natural for a widow to be distraught over a grown son dying, none of you is ignorant; for she considers the life of the child more glorious than all the wealth of the world. C For the woman did not sit by the dead as was the custom, nor did she perform funeral rites, nor was she occupied with the procession, but leaving her dead, she seized Elijah, holding him, dragging him about, lamenting, crying out before everyone: "What is there between me and you, man of God? Have you come to me to remind me of my sins, and to put my son to death?" That is to say: "You put him to death." Do you see how Elijah’s joy turned into sorrow? He was held as a murderer; for thus the widow was saying: "What is there between me and you, man of God? You entered toward me to remind me of my sins, to put my son to death. You put him to death; your entry caused this. Did you not find my child ill? Did he not fall sick for even one day? Your entry provided for the death of my son. What good did you do me by granting me flour, while his eater is no longer present? Give me back my son; you put him to death, wishing to inherit my house. Take the flour back, and give me back my son. Do you want to feed me, yet murder my child? I would rather starve with my own than grow rich with strangers. What is there between me and you, man of God? You entered toward me to remind me of my sins and to put my son to death. D You put my son to death, you appear to me as a harsh one; is not your entry unjust? Tell me, what shall I do? Did you flee your God? Did you perform the deeds of Jonah? You appear to me as one cruel. You breathe fire, you shed blood, you bear a drought, you bring about the destruction of fifty-men-commanders; for your deeds have become known to me. Is it not enough that you have strangled your own kin, but you have come here to perform the same things? You played tricks on many, but you will not play tricks on me; give me my son." What then did Elijah do? He was immediately bowed; for he knew the decree of the Lord. Therefore, having groaned greatly, as one defeated, he cried out saying: "Woe is me, Lord! The witness of the widow, with whom I dwell, you have brought misery upon her by putting to death her son; the deed is yours, for I knew it, Master. Behold, I am coerced by a widow; for you always send me to the harshest women. I fled Jezebel, and have fallen into this one. I endured many trials, but I cannot bear the tongue of this woman. You are the one who said to me, Master: 'Go to Zarephath of Sidon; behold, I shall command a widow woman to sustain you there.' And behold, she is turning me away; for she is not sustaining me. I am held as a murderer; and well am I held, for the boy was lively at my entry; how then he was suddenly delivered to death, I do not know. Deliver me, Lord, from this harassment; she has turned me into a theater, she has brought shame upon me, she has brought upon me great affliction. Give back the soul, and I provide the rain; satisfy the widow, and I shall irrigate the land; give back the boy’s life, and I shall stir my tongue toward the rain-giving." These things, however, are because of the aforementioned resurrection of Lazarus, and the objection of the Jews, that the Master has authority in one way, and the servant raises in another. Elijah raised the dead, but he did not have full authority; for he was able to do much, yet he was afflicted and fell into distress. Therefore he cried out in prayer saying: "Woe is me!" Where there is "woe," there is sorrow of soul. Just so, elsewhere you will find the prophet lamenting and saying: "Woe is me! For I have been left as one gathering stubble in the harvest, and as an olive-gleaning in the vintage." And again, another prophet: "Woe, woe for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and it is as destruction." And again another: "Woe is me! For it has perished from the earth." Everywhere "woe" signifies sorrow. Thus also Elijah here: "Woe is me, Lord! The witness of the widow, you have brought misery upon her by putting to death her son." And he breathed into the child three times. See therefore here how, in the law of grace, the mystery is portrayed. For, "He breathed three times" represents the entry of the undivided Trinity. And he invoked God, and said: "Let the soul of the child return into him, I pray, Lord." And it was so. What do you say, O Jew? Does the Lord do nothing like Elijah? Does Elijah do nothing like the Lord? Did the Lord bend a knee? Did He prolong the prayer? For to Him all prayer is sent back; He uttered one voice, "Lazarus, come out," as a master calling a servant. What then? Did he come out like a servant obeying a master? He came out, he did not delay, Hades did not wait, death did not rebel, the powers below did not hesitate; but rather, they were astonished. For Hades, having Lazarus already for four days in his own regions, dissolved on all sides like a boat without nails, was henceforth careless; the powers below did not have the thought that Lazarus would be snatched from the nether regions. But when the Master’s voice suddenly descended into the tomb with much light A and began to quickly replant the hairs of Lazarus on his head, to insert marrow into the emptiness of the hollow bones, to direct the fullness of the veins toward life-giving blood, the powers below were astonished, crying out to each other: "Who is this who calls? Who is this who has authority? Who is this who remakes dissolved dust? Who is this who awakens the dead as if from sleep? Who is this who shatters adamant gates? Who is this who cries, 'Lazarus, come out'? The voice is human-sounding, but the power is divine-power. Who is this who calls? He is not a man; the form is of a man, but the voice is of God. Let us send forth Lazarus, let us quickly send him out, lest the one calling him descend here; lest, if he delays, the one calling descends here." The dead began to be shaken and to move. "Let us suffer the loss of one," they said, "and not lose everyone." Thus Lazarus leaped out from the bosom of Hades, praising and blessing and glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ. Here let us seal our discourse; gathering the branches of palms, let us go forth to meet the Lord, crying out and saying: "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." To Him be the glory and the power unto the ages.