St. Lazarus, St. Francis of Asissi, Padre Pio, St. Therea of Avilla, St. Theresa Neuman, Saint Charbel (The saint with the most miracles); etc.
Below is the oldest known image depicting Lazarus from the catacombs 3rd century.
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Here is a realisitic picture of what st. Lazarus might have looked like
The raising of Lazarus is a story of the miracle of Jesus recounted in the Gospel of John (John 11:1–44) in the New Testament, as well as in the Secret Gospel of Mark (a fragment of an extended version of the Gospel of Mark) in which Jesus raises Lazarus of Bethany from the dead four days after his entombment.[6][7][8] The event took place at Bethany. In John, this is the last of the miracles that Jesus performs before the passion, crucifixion and his own resurrection.
Narrative
The biblical narrative of the raising of Lazarus is found in chapter 11 of the Gospel of John.[9] A certain Lazarus, who lives in the town of Bethany near Jerusalem, is introduced as a follower of Jesus.[10] He is identified as the brother of the sisters Mary and Martha. The sisters send word to Jesus that Lazarus, "the one You love is sick."[11] Jesus tells his followers: "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Instead of immediately traveling to Bethany, according to the narrator, Jesus intentionally remains where he is for two more days before beginning the journey. The disciples are afraid of returning to Judea, but Jesus says: "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up." When the apostles misunderstand, he clarifies, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
The Raising of Lazarus, Oil on canvas, c. 1517–1519, Sebastiano del Piombo (National Gallery, London)
When Jesus arrives in Bethany, he finds that Lazarus is dead and has already been in his tomb for four days. He meets first with Martha and Mary in turn. Martha laments that Jesus did not arrive soon enough to heal her brother ("Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.") and Jesus replies with the well-known statement, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies."[12] Martha affirms that she does truly believe and states, "Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." Jesus then meets with Mary who likewise says "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Here the narrator gives the famous simple phrase, "Jesus wept."[13]
Raising of Lazarus, 6th-century, mosaic, church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy
In the presence of a crowd of Jewish mourners, Jesus comes to the tomb. Jesus asks for the stone of the tomb to be removed, but Martha interjects that there will be a smell. Jesus responds, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" Over the objections of Martha, Jesus has them roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb and says a prayer. They take the stone away then Jesus looks up and says: "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that you sent me." He then calls Lazarus to come out ("Lazarus, come out!") and Lazarus does so, still wrapped in his grave-cloths. Jesus then calls for someone to remove the grave-cloths, and let him go.
The narrative ends with the statement that many of the witnesses to this event "believed in him". Others are said to have reported the events to the religious authorities in Jerusalem.
The Gospel of John mentions Lazarus again in chapter 12. Six days before the Passover on which Jesus is crucified, Jesus returns to Bethany and Lazarus attends a supper that Martha, his sister, serves.[14] Jesus and Lazarus together attract the attention of many Jews and the narrator states that the chief priests consider having Lazarus put to death because so many people are believing in Jesus on account of this miracle.[15]
The miracle of the raising of Lazarus, the longest coherent narrative in John aside from the Passion, is the culmination of John's "signs". It explains why there were crowds seeking Jesus on Palm Sunday,[16] and leads directly to the decision of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin to put Jesus on trial.
A resurrection story that is very similar is also found in the controversial Secret Gospel of Mark, although the young man is not named there specifically. Some scholars believe that the Secret Mark version represents an earlier form of the canonical story found in John.[17]
Interpretation
The name "Lazarus"
The name "Lazarus" is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew אֶלְעָזָר (Eleazar) which means "God has helped".[18] Bede comments that "Of all the dead which our Lord raised, he was most helped, for he had lain dead four days, when our Lord raised him to life."[19]
Theological commentary
Theologians Moloney and Harrington view the raising of Lazarus as a "pivotal miracle" which starts the chain of events that leads to the Crucifixion of Jesus. They consider it as a "resurrection that will lead to death", in that the raising of Lazarus will lead to the death of Jesus, the Son of God, in Jerusalem which will reveal the Glory of God.[20]
The raising of Lazarus, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1625
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the miracle performed by Jesus returned Lazarus to ordinary earthly life, as with the son of the widow of Nain and Jairus' daughter, and that Lazarus and the others who were raised from the dead would later die again.[21] The Russian Orthodox Church's Catechism of St. Philaret states that among the miracles performed by Jesus was the raising of Lazarus from the dead on the fourth day after Lazarus' death.[22] In the Southern Baptist Convention's 2014 resolution On the Sufficiency of Scripture Regarding the Afterlife, the raising of Lazarus is noted among the Bible's "explicit accounts of persons raised from the dead", and comments on those raisings that, "in God's perfect revelatory wisdom, He has not given us any report of their individual experience in the afterlife".[23]
John Calvin notes that, "not only did Christ give a remarkable proof of his Divine power in raising Lazarus, but he likewise placed before our eyes a lively image of our future resurrection."[24] French Protestant minister Jakob Abbadie wrote that Jesus had intentionally delayed his return to Bethany for, "four days, that it might not be said, he [Lazarus] was not really dead."[25] In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI said that the Gospel story of the raising of Lazarus, "shows Christ's absolute power over life and death and reveals His nature as true man and true God" and that "Jesus' lordship over death does not prevent him from showing sincere compassion over the pain of this separation."[26]
Matthew Poole and others saw Lazarus' ability to move despite having his hands and feet wrapped together as a second miracle, but Charles Ellicott disputed that Lazarus' movement would have been restricted by his burial garments.[27][28]
Justus Knecht wrote that the object of this miracle related to the fact that, "the time of our Lord's Passion and Death was at hand, and He wrought this mighty miracle beforehand in order that the faith of His disciples, and more especially of His apostles, might be strengthened, and 'that they might believe' and not doubt when they saw their Lord and Master in the hour of His abasement; and most of all to enable them to hope, when they saw His Body laid in the sepulchre, that He who had raised up Lazarus would Himself rise again."[29]
In Roger Baxter's Meditations, he reflects on the verse "His sisters therefore sent to Him saying, Lord, behold he whom Thou lovest is sick", writing that "they do not prescribe to Him what they wish Him to do; to a loving friend it is sufficient to intimate our necessities. Such ought to be the nature of our prayers, particularly in regard to health and other temporal blessings, for we do not know in such cases what is expedient for our salvation."[30]
LETS ADDRESS 'THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING AND THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL.
The Cloud of Unknowing is widely revered across the history of Christian mysticism. It heavily draws from the theological lineage of earlier church figures and directly shaped the devotional paths of later renowned saints and modern popes. [1, 2]
The references below detail the saints and popes who have revered, influenced, or been profoundly connected to the teachings of this 14th-century masterwork: [1]
st anthony of padua
St. Francis of Asissi
Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD):
While he lived centuries before The Cloud was written, Augustine laid its primary structural foundation. In Books XIII and XV of his Confessions, he introduced the spiritual concept of a "passing cloud of ignorance" that stands between human intellect and the eternal truth of God.
Saint Augustine - Part 1 Saint Augustine - Part 2
Saint John of the Cross (1542–1591): The Spanish mystic and Doctor of the Church was heavily inspired by the apophatic (silent, image-less) tradition formalized in The Cloud. His theological masterwork, the Dark Night of the Soul, mirrors The Cloud's core principle: the human intellect must enter a "night" or darkness where rational thought is stripped away so that the soul can unite with God purely through love.
Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582): Alongside John of the Cross, Teresa's framework of interior, silent prayer (oración de recogimiento) shares a profound spiritual affinity with The Cloud's directive to place all thoughts under a "cloud of forgetting" to rest quietly in the presence of the Divine.
Semio-Technique and Prayer: Academic and theological analysis (such as studies examining Padre Pio's letters) notes how his writings and prayers functioned as a way to transform physical agony, fear, and human weakness into divine meaning, urging total trust in God's providence rather than despair. [1, 2]
The Cloud of Unknowing
Apophatic Theology: Written anonymously by a 14th-century English Carthusian monk, The Cloud of Unknowing is a classic text of negative (apophatic) Christian mysticism. [1, 2]
Beyond the Intellect: The book argues that God cannot be fully grasped by human intellect, logic, or mental images. Instead, the seeker is advised to place a "cloud of forgetting" over earthly thoughts and enter a "cloud of unknowing" where God is approached not through knowing, but through intense, simple love. [1, 2, 3]
The Intersection
Ascent Through Darkness: Both figures represent a path where mystical union with God transcends everyday rational thought and human comfort. Whether through the fiery, stigmata-bearing physical suffering of Padre Pio or the quiet, apophatic contemplation taught in The Cloud of Unknowing, the soul is stripped of superficial certainties and forced to lean entirely on a hidden, transcendent
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