Shortly before His death and resurrection, Christ performed perhaps one of the greatest visible miracles - he raised Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, to life. This family from the city of Bethany received Christ and loved Him very much. When Lazarus fell ill, the sisters sent for Jesus to heal him.
However, Christ delayed, and only two days later He called the apostles to go with Him to Bethany, saying: “Our friend Lazarus fell asleep; but I'm going to wake him up. They came to the house of Martha and Mary, when Lazarus had already died for four days and was buried. Christ ordered to open the tomb and resurrected it.
"Lazarev Saturday" is sometimes called "Little Easter", and in the services of this day there are elements of the Easter service. The righteous Lazarus himself, after the miraculous resurrection, as Tradition says, had to flee from the Pharisees, who intended to kill him. He lived for another 30 years, serving as the bishop of the Cypriot city of Larnaca (then - Kition). His relics were found there in the 9th century, on his tomb there was an inscription: "Lazarus the Four-Day, Friend of Christ."
We know little about the life of the righteous Lazarus, but Tradition reveals an interesting detail. It is contained in the Synaxar - a special collection of texts, which are composed mainly of patristic instructions and written oral traditions and are intended to be read at divine services. The Synaxarium explains the meaning of the event celebrated by the Church, as well as the church regulations.
In connection with Lazarus, Sinaxar mentions the following: "It is said that after his resurrection Lazarus ate nothing but sweet." The Church and the Holy Fathers do not particularly talk about this fact and do not interpret it. However, he is most likely a legend, since there is a lot of legendary information in the Synaxarii.
However, perhaps this detail contains a certain symbolic meaning: having tasted the horror of death and the "bitterness of decay" Lazarus, having resurrected, reminded himself of the "sweetness of life" - both present and future, transformed by the Resurrection of Christ, in which death has no power. It is also quite likely that for the righteous Lazarus, who endured such a peculiar stress, the abundant taste of sweets was one of the forms of therapy.
Natalia Danilina