Fasting, in its exclusive sense, ends on the Friday following the fifth Sunday of Lent, when the forty-day period ends. The Passion Period extends from the end of this fast until Resurrection, Great Saturday, and thus includes the Saturday following the fifth Sunday of Lent, called (Lazarus Saturday) and the first six days of Great and Holy Week.

Lazarus Saturday occupies a very special place in the liturgical year. It falls outside the days of Lent, as well as outside the painful days of Great Week, which extends from Monday to Friday. This Saturday, along with Palm Sunday that follows, constitutes a joyful introduction to the Holy Days. The geographical location also brings it together with Palm Sunday, as Bethany is both the place of Lazarus’ resurrection and the starting point of Jesus on his ascension to Jerusalem. (21). This Saturday we commemorate the event of the Resurrection of Lazarus, an event full of meaning, as we will see. It is mysteriously linked to the resurrection of Christ himself, and, for her, plays the role of a fulfilled prophecy. We can say that Lazarus appears to us on the threshold of the Easter holidays as a forerunner of Jesus Christ who conquered death, just as John the Baptist did, on the eve of the Epiphany, so that he appeared as a forerunner of the Christ who is scheduled to appear in baptism. In addition to the basic meaning of the resurrection of Lazarus, there are secondary aspects that can be considered as a useful topic for contemplation.

The message recited in the Divine Mass (Hebrews 12:28-13:8) has nothing to do with the resurrection of Lazarus, but one of its verses: (Remember the captives as if you were captives with them and those who suffer because you too are in the body) can be considered applicable to Jesus’ compassion for Lazarus. The message includes various moral commandments: continuing brotherly love, hosting strangers, not desecrating marriage, and obeying superiors. Whoever considers that these moral recommendations remain important, despite some naivety and simplicity, must read attentively the three verses (which constitute its general framework, the first at the beginning of the text, the second in its middle, and the third at its end: (Our God is a consuming fire), (because He said: No. I let you down and I will not neglect you), (Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever), because the highest spiritual truths are inseparable from the simple practical requirements that necessarily emerge from them.

The Gospel (John 11:1-45) narrates the resurrection of Lazarus (22). The hymns of magic give us the Church’s interpretation of this resurrection thus: (You went ahead, O my Savior, and achieved your glorious resurrection when you freed Lazarus from hell...). This is the main meaning of the Resurrection of Lazarus: it is, according to the Song, a prior fulfillment of the Resurrection of Christ, and a preliminary test of Christ’s ability to die. (O Christ, you raised Lazarus from hell... and before your death, you shook the power of death...). Then the Church links this victory of Christ over death with his ceremonial entry into Jerusalem, which we will celebrate tomorrow: (O death, Christ has now imprisoned you through Lazarus, so where is your victory, O Hell? Behold, the weeping of Bethany has returned and is a burden on you. And we all offer to Christ the branches of victory and victory). And also: (For this reason, like children, we bear the signs of victory and victory, crying out to you, O conqueror of death: Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!).

The resurrection of Lazarus also announces the resurrection of the dead, which is a result of the resurrection of Jesus: (O Christ, when you raised Lazarus from the dead, you achieved the general resurrection), (You raised him, O Giver of life, thus confirming the resurrection of the world...), (through your friend you foretold the liberation of humans from corruption). Lazarus Saturday is, in a sense, a feast for all the dead, as it gives us the opportunity to affirm and clarify our belief in the resurrection. In his words directed to Martha, the Lord alerts us to a very important teaching related to the dead: Jesus said to Martha: (Your brother will rise, and Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” And Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection.”) Martha's faith was wrong in two respects: she was talking about a resurrection that would take place in the future only, and she only understood this resurrection in relation to a kind of general law. But Jesus confirms that the resurrection is a present event from now on because it is the resurrection and the life. Those who have fallen asleep live in Christ and in Him. Their lives are connected to and revealed in the personal presence of Jesus. If we want to connect spiritually with one of our fallen loved ones, we do not seek to revive him in our imagination, but rather we must connect directly with Jesus, and there, in Jesus, we find him.

The resurrection of Lazarus also constitutes a wonderful illustration of the doctrine in the person of Christ, as it shows how the divine and human natures are united in the person of Jesus without merging: (O Christ... you came to the tomb of Lazarus, confirming to us your nature...). Thus we find the person in Jesus affected and crying over the death of his friend: (And Jesus wept. Then the Jews said: Look how he loved him!). But on the other hand, we see God in Jesus commanding death with authority: (And he cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus, come out! And the dead man came out...). The hymn says: (O Savior, by your thoughts, your tears, and your words, you have demonstrated the action of your humanity, and by raising Lazarus, you have demonstrated the action of your divinity). (*)

Finally, the resurrection of Lazarus encourages the sinner to hope that, even if he died spiritually, he will live again: (I beg of you, O lover of mankind, to raise me up who is dead in the passions...). This spiritual resurrection often seems to us as impossible as the resurrection of Lazarus: (...My lord, he has stinked, for he has been dead for four days...). But anything is possible for Jesus: bringing back the hard-hearted sinner, as well as raising the dead: (Then Jesus said: Take away the stone...).

This is what we learn if we go this Saturday to Bethany, to visit the tomb of Lazarus. We do not want to see Lazarus, but rather we want to meet Jesus and begin this great week with him. He calls us and waits for us. Martha called her sister secretly, saying, “The Master has come and is calling for you.” As for Mary (when she heard, she quickly got up and went to him). The teacher is calling me. He wants me to not leave him in the days of his suffering. He wants to reveal himself to me in those days - and I might stink - in a new and sublime way. Here I am, teacher!

(21) In the fourth century, Holy Week celebrations in Jerusalem began on Saturday, the eve of Palm Sunday, with a ritual service held in the church called the Lazarium in Bethany.

(22) We do not know more about Lazarus than what we find in the Gospel, that is, that he was the brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany, and he was a friend of Jesus, who raised him from the dead. Later, myths related to Lazarus abounded, including that he and his sisters were placed by the Jews in a boat without sails, a projectile, or a rudder, but they miraculously arrived in southern France, where Lazarus preached to the entire region and became the first bishop of the city of Marseille. This myth may have arisen as a result of the fact that one of the bishops of the city of Aix, who was ordained in Marseille in the fifth century, spent some time in Palestine and bore the name Lazarus.

(*) It is not permissible to take the speech out of its context and intent. The writer here explains that Jesus Christ, glory be to Him, demonstrated his humanity and divinity in this event, crying as a human being and raising Lazarus as a god. He did not act as two persons, but rather revealed the reality of the two natures in one person. Christ, to whom be glory, is not a human being in whom God was manifested. Rather, he is God incarnate... the network