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Saturday April 12, 2025 / March 30, 2025 Lazarus Saturday

Rejoice O Bethany (Hymn for Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday)

Rejoice, rejoice, O Bethany! On this day God came to thee, God came to thee; and in Him the dead are made alive, as is right for He is the Life! He is the Life! He is the Life! And in Him the dead are made alive, as is right for He is the Life!

When Martha went to receive Him, grieving loudly with bitter tears, bitter tears, she poured out the sorrow of her heart to Him, with great sadness, wailing her lament. Wailing her lament, wailing her lament. She poured out the sorrow of her heart to Him, with great sadness, wailing her lament.

She at once cried out unto Him, “My most compassionate Lord! My Lord! At the great loss of my brother Lazarus my heart is broken, help me! Help me! Help me! At the great loss of my brother Lazarus my heart is broken, help me!

Jesus said to her, “Cease thy weeping, cease thy grieving and sad lament, sad lament; for thy brother, My most beloved friend Lazarus, very soon will live again! He will live again! He will live again! For thy brother, My most beloved friend Lazarus, very soon will live again!”

Then He, the faithful Redeemer, made His way unto the tomb, unto the tomb, where He cried unto him who was buried four days, calling him forth, saying, “Lazarus, arise! Lazarus, arise! Lazarus, arise!” Where He cried unto him who was buried four days, calling him forth, saying, “Lazarus, arise!

Come with haste, ye two sisters, and behold a wondrous thing, wondrous thing, for thy brother from the tomb has returned to life. To the beloved Redeemer now give thanks! Now give thanks! Now give thanks! For thy brother from the tomb has returned to life. To the beloved Redeemer now give thanks!

To Thee, O Lord of creation, we kneel down in reverence profound, reverence profound; for all we who are dead in sin; in Thee, O Jesus, are made alive! We are made alive! We are made alive! For all we who are dead in sin; in Thee, O Jesus, are made alive!

Rejoice, rejoice, O Bethany! On this day God came to thee, God came to thee; and in Him the dead are made alive, as is right for He is the Life! He is the Life! He is the Life! And in Him the dead are made alive, as is right for He is the Life!

John 11:1-45

1

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

2

It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

3

Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

4

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

5

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

6

So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.

7

Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

8

The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”

9

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

10

But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.

11

These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

12

Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.”

13

However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

14

Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.

15

And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.

16

Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

17

So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.

18

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.

19

And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

20

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.

21

Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

22

But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.

23

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24

Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

26

And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?

27

She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

28

And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.”

29

As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.

30

Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.

31

Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

32

Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33

Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.

34

And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

35

Jesus wept.

36

Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

37

And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

38

Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

41

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

42

And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.

43

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!”

44

And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

45

Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.

AN EXACT EXPOSITION OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH – St. John of Damascus

Chapter 15. Concerning the energies in our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not His human nature that raises up Lazarus from the dead, nor is it His divine power that sheds tears: for the shedding of tears is peculiar to human nature while the life is peculiar to the enhypostatic life. But yet they are common the one to the other, because of the identity in subsistence. For Christ is one, and one also is His person or subsistence, but yet He has two natures, one belonging to His humanity, and another belonging to His divinity. And the glory, indeed, which proceeded naturally from His divinity became common to both through the identity in subsistence, and again on account of His flesh that which was lowly became common to both. For He Who is the one or the other, that is God or man, is one and the same, and both what is divine and what is human belong to Himself. For while His divinity performed the miracles, they were not done apart from the flesh, and while His flesh performed its lowly offices, they were not done apart from the divinity. For His divinity was joined to the suffering flesh, yet remaining without passion, and endured the saving passions, and the holy mind was joined to the energising divinity of the Word, perceiving and knowing what was being accomplished.