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Homilies on the Gospels

St Gregory the Dialogist, tr. Burke, 1960; selections

11. The Rich Man and Lazarus

There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. And no one did give him, moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died; and he was buried in hell. And, lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom; and he cried and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you, there is fixed a great chaos; so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither. And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. But he said: No, father Abraham; but, if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance. And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead.
Lk. xvi, 19-31.

Homilia XL in Evangelia.

In dealing with the words of the holy Gospel, my dear brethren, it is necessary first to expound the historical truth, and afterwards to deduce the spiritual meaning of the allegory. The fruit of the allegory is more easily grasped, the more firmly the narrative is situated within the framework of its historical background. But since often the allegory strengthens our faith, while the historical aspect relates to morals, and since, by the grace of God, we are speaking to believers, there is reason to think that we may invert the order just indicated, and deal first with the allegorical sense of today’s Gospel. But because its moral is also necessary for you, we shall treat of it at the end, as often one remembers more easily what one has heard more recently.

We shall treat as briefly as possible of the allegorical meaning of this passage, the more quickly to arrive at a full exposition of the moral considerations. “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day.” Whom does this rich man represent, this man so richly dressed, who enjoyed all those daily banquets? Is it not the Jewish people, who made a cult of exterior things, using the delights of the law which they had received, for vain motives, not for true profit? And whom does Lazarus signify, covered in wounds, if not the Gentile peoples? These, when converted to God, were not ashamed to confess their sins, that is to say, they had many wounds and open sores. As when some infection comes from within the body to ulcers of the skin, so showing itself exteriorly, so when we confess our sins, it is in a sense an outbreak of our sores. In confession we manifest in a very profitable way the virus of sin which had concealed its venom within the soul. Exterior wounds bring to the surface the festering sore beneath, and when we confess our sins, we uncover this hidden sore. But the unfortunate Lazarus wished only to eat of the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one would give him any, because those proud people disdained to admit the Gentiles to the knowledge of their law. He who has knowledge of the truth and grows in conceit rather than in charity, swells and festers, as it were, with the riches he has been given. And, as the Jewish people had received these words of knowledge in abundance, they fell as crumbs from their table. But on the contrary, the dogs came and licked the ulcers of the poor man as he lay on the ground. Sometimes in Holy Scripture the word “dog” is used to mean a preacher. For dogs, when they lick wounds, cure them: thus when the holy doctors instruct us in the confession of our sins, we may say that they touch the ulcer of our mind with their tongue. When they exhort us, they deliver us from sin, as if restoring us to health. God himself tells us through the psalmist that the tongue of the preacher is signified by the word “dog”, when he says: “The blood of thy enemies; the tongue of thy dogs be red with the same”.¹ From among the unfaithful Jews those holy preachers were chosen who, if I may use the expression, howled in the assertion of the truth, God’s watchdogs against thieves and robbers. On the contrary, speaking of the rejection of some, we read: “Dumb dogs not able to bark”.² By the very fact that the holy preachers condemn sin, they approve its confession, saying “Confess therefore your sins one to another; and pray one for another, that you may be saved”.³ The dogs lick the wounds of Lazarus. Thus the holy doctors, when they receive the confession of the gentiles, cure the wounds of their soul. So that the name Lazarus is aptly interpreted as meaning “Helped”, in that he is helped to recover by their correction and admonitions. By the licking of dogs one might also understand the smooth tongue of flatterers. For these lick our wounds when, as often happens, they praise us with despicable adulations for those very actions which our conscience tells us to be evil.

It happens, then, that both of these men die. The rich man, who wore purple and fine linen, is buried in hell. Lazarus is carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. What does this phrase mean, if not the eternal repose reserved for the fathers? Speaking of this repose Christ tells us: “Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness”.⁴ Thus he who was clad in purple and fine linen had reason to be called a child of the kingdom. This man lifted up his eyes from far off and saw Lazarus: for before the day of the last judgment, while the wicked are in hell, in the pains of their condemnation, they are able to see some of the faithful in their glory. This will be impossible after the last day. But what they see is indeed far off from them because, through lack of merit, they are unable to approach it. It is their tongue which suffers most; we see that from the holy Gospel, for the soul says: “Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame”. The unfaithful people had upon their lips the words of that law which they chose not to fulfil. So that member will burn the more, which would not put its knowledge into effect. So Solomon says of those who are instructed but negligent: “All the labour of man is for his mouth: but his soul shall not be filled”⁵ for he who labours only to know what he ought to speak, derives no sustenance from his knowledge, which should be food for his soul. He wishes to be touched with the tip of the other’s finger, since the soul condemned to everlasting fire longs to share in the actions, even the least, of the just. He will be told that he received his reward in this world, for he considered the enjoyment of transient pleasures as his supreme good. For the just can, and do, possess the goods of this world, but not as a reward, since they seek those which are better, that is to say, eternal. In their estimation, as they burn with the desire of heaven, earthly goods seem of little moment.

So that the prophet David, who enjoyed the riches and honours of a kingdom, although he considered these benefits as good, yet aspired ardently to one good only, saying: “It is good for me to adhere to my God”.⁶ And we should remember what is said to him: “Son, remember”. Notice that Abraham calls him son, even though he does not free him from his torments; for the fathers, faithful predecessors of that unfaithful people, seeing so many betrayed their faith, had no compassion whatsoever on them; nor did they release from pain those whom they recognised as their descendants according to the flesh. The rich man, in the midst of sufferings, says that he has five brothers: for that proud Jewish race, already for the greater part under sentence of condemnation, saw the followers whom they had left behind them upon earth given over to the satisfaction of the five corporal senses. So the number five is used to express the brothers he had left; for, plunged in hell, he bewails the lot of those whom he cannot return to warn, and he asks that Lazarus be sent. He is told, however, that they already have Moses and the prophets. But he says that they will not believe unless one go to them from the dead. The reply is immediate: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead”. Speaking of Moses, Christ tells us: “If you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also; for he wrote of me”.⁷ And Abraham’s reply to the damned soul was fulfilled in regard to Jesus’ resurrection. Our Lord rose from the dead, but the Jewish people, who would not believe Moses, also refused to believe him who rose from the dead. As they refused to understand the spiritual sense of Moses’ words, they could not know him of whom Moses spoke.

Now that we have considered, dearly beloved, the hidden significance of the allegory, it remains to understand, in a broader fashion, the moral it contains. “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores.” Some think that the precepts of the Old Testament were stricter than those of the new: but this is a grave mistake. In the former robbery is condemned, and what has been taken unjustly must be repaid fourfold.⁸ But in the New, the rich man is rebuked for failing to give of his own, not for robbing others; not for doing violence to any man, but for being attached to his goods. So we can imagine what an enormous penalty will be imposed on the man who steals another’s goods, when he who selfishly retains his own is sent to hell. Let no one consider himself secure, thinking: “I do no theft to others, but enjoy licitly the goods I have been given”: not for robbing others, but for wickedly reserving for himself alone the wealth he had rightfully received, was this rich man condemned to hell. That is what brought about his condemnation: because he did not hesitate to seek only his own pleasure, because he used the possessions he had in the service of his pride, because he did not know the meaning of charity, because he did not attempt to redeem his sins with the riches which he had in such abundance. There are some who do not consider it a sin to love fine and expensive clothes. But if it were not a fault, our Lord would not have expressed so concisely the fact that the rich man, who was tormented in hell, had dressed while on earth in purple and fine linen. No one desires costly clothes, unless he is moved by ambition for earthly glory, that he may appear to excel others. That extravagant clothes are sought exclusively for this reason of vainglory is apparent from the fact that no one wishes to dress elegantly in a place where there is no one to see him. This fault will be seen more clearly, if we consider its opposite. If there were not virtue in humble dress, the evangelist would not have noted so minutely of John the Baptist that “he had his garment of camels’ hair”.⁹ But we should notice with close attention the order of narration which Christ observes in telling us of the proud man and the humble beggar. For he says: “There was a certain rich man”, and immediately he adds: “and there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus”. Among men it is common that the names of the rich should be known more widely than those of the poor. When our Lord, speaking of the rich man and the poor, tells us the name of the latter and not of the former, does not this fact show that God knows and approves of the humble, and is a stranger to the proud? So that, to many of those who pride themselves on their power to work miracles, God’s final word will be: “I never knew you; depart from me, you that work iniquity”.¹⁰ And on the other hand, God says to Moses: “I know thee by name”.¹¹ He says, then, of the rich man: “A certain man” and of the poor: “A beggar, named Lazarus”. As if he were to say: “I know the poor man who is humble, I do not know the rich man who is proud. I know the former, because I approve his works; the latter I do not know in consequence of his wickedness.”

We must also remember, brethren, the dispensations of God’s providence. A thing is done at times for more than one reason. Consider Lazarus, full of ulcers, as he lies at the rich man’s gate. From this single circumstance, two judgments are derived. The rich man might have had some excuse if Lazarus, poor and ailing, had not lain there at his gate, if he had been far removed from him, if the sight of his need had not been constantly before his eyes. Again, if the rich man had not passed before him daily, the temptation of the beggar would have been greatly diminished and he would have suffered less. But since providence placed that needy sufferer before the gate of a man abounding in riches and delights, its plan achieved two things: the supreme condemnation for him who did not pity the beggar although he saw him, and the trial of the latter by his daily nearness to the other’s wealth. How many inner temptations must have assailed him, poor, ill and in want, seeing that contrast with the other’s health, enjoyments of comfort and of pleasure? He was pierced by pain and cold, while he saw the other dressed in fine clothes; he was oppressed by wounds while the other wasted the goods he had received; he had nothing, and the other gave him nothing. We cannot imagine how great his ordeal must have been, brethren, when his poverty alone would have been a great affliction, even had he enjoyed good health: or when his infirmity would have been sufficient hardship, even had he had plentiful riches! But so that his trial might be more searching, he was afflicted both with illness and with poverty, seeing the rich man leave his house surrounded by his army of servants, while no one visited him in his disease and want. This is evident from the fact that the dogs were free to lick his sores. So almighty God, by allowing Lazarus to lie before the rich man’s door, formed two judgments: the rich man increased the punishment of his condemnation and the poor beggar, tried by temptation, received a greater reward. He looked down constantly on him for whom he had no pity and on him whom he was trying. On earth, two hearts: above, one searching them who, by proving one, was preparing him for glory, and by tolerating the other was preparing his punishment.

“And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died; and he was buried in hell.” Now the rich man, from the middle of those flames, seeks a protector in him for whom he had no pity while on earth. “And, lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom; and he cried and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” How unsearchable are the judgments of God, and how just the retribution he makes for good or evil actions! Earlier we were told that, while he was on earth, Lazarus longed for the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one would give him any. Now, we are told that the rich man in his agony desired that Lazarus dip one finger in water, that a drop might cool his mouth. Learn from this, brethren, how strict is the severity of God. The rich man who was unwilling to give the beggar the least morsel from his table, now in hell, pleads for equally trivial things. Now he cries for a drop of water, who denied a crumb of bread. We must, then, see the reason why the rich man asks for a drop of water to cool his tongue. In sacred Scripture we often find that one thing is related in order to clarify some other point. We saw that when our Lord spoke of the wealthy libertine, he did not say that he was very talkative, but that he was given to feastings. Nor does he say that he ever sinned through loquacity, but only through conceit and greed. But he who makes frequent festival is generally very talkative: so this man, who carried his merry-making to excess in this life, condemned to flames, found that his tongue burned more than any other member. The first fault which follows intemperance in eating is usually verbosity, and second comes a tendency to sensuality. That this longing for play follows on voracity, we are shown by holy Scripture which tells us: “The people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play”.¹² But, before the body is inclined to play, the tongue is inclined to jesting and vain words. So when we are told that the rich man sought refreshment for his tongue, this must mean that he who feasted sumptuously sinned mainly through loquacity, and justly suffered a special torment in his tongue.

But we should reflect, with great fear, on Abraham’s reply: “Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented.” This sentence, brethren, hardly requires explanation: it is sufficient in itself to inspire terror. If some among you have received good things on earth, they should make you tremble, lest they be given you as recompense for some of your good actions; lest the judge, who here makes payment in external riches, should there withhold from you those goods which last; lest this world’s honours and riches be the reward of your labour, when they should be an aid for your virtue. So when it is said: “Thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime”, we understand that the rich man had received wealth on earth in return for some good actions he had done. Again, when we are told that Lazarus had received evil things, it is evident that he had done some evil actions, which had to be atoned for. But the fire of his penury purged Lazarus’ wicked actions, while the good works of the rich man were paid with the transient happiness of this world. The first was oppressed and purified by poverty: the second was rewarded but perverted by his riches. Therefore, you who do good actions here on earth, when you receive wealth, be suspicious of it, lest that prosperity given you turn out to be the reward of those good deeds. And when you see some beggar do something bad, do not despise him, do not despair of him: perhaps the fire of his poverty purges and cleanses the stains of his guilt. But fear for yourselves: for it also happens that a prosperous life follows upon wicked deeds. And be solicitous for those others: for the poverty which torments them also leads them in the way of righteousness.

The Gospel continues: “And besides all this, between us and you, there is fixed a great chaos; so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither.” We must ponder these words: “They who would pass from hence to you cannot”. For there is no doubt that those who are in hell long to enjoy the lot of the blessed. But since the latter have been received into eternal happiness, how can it be said that they desire to pass over to those who suffer in hell? It must be that, as the damned desire to go to the dwelling of the elect, to escape from that place of suffering, so the just wish to cross over in mercy to that place of torments, to bring them the freedom they desire. But those who wish to cross from heaven to hell can never do so; for although the souls of the just are aflame with mercy, nevertheless they are so united to the divine justice and guided always by rectitude, that they are not moved by any compassion towards the reprobate. They are in complete conformity with that judge to whom they are united, and so they cannot have compassion for those whom they cannot free from hell. They consider them as strangers, remote from themselves, since they have seen them repelled by their Maker who is the object of their own love. So neither the wicked can cross over to the felicity of the blessed: because they are shackled by an irrevocable condemnation, nor the just go to the unjust: because they cannot feel compassion for them whom the divine justice has rejected.

But now that this selfish tormented soul has been denied all hope of help, he remembers the brothers he has left on earth. At times, although to no purpose, the sufferings of the damned inspire a certain charity in them, to the point of having spiritual love for those whom, through attachment to sin, they did not love (while on earth. So now he adds: “Then, father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments.” Here we should note the ways in which the sufferings of the condemned man are increased. For his greater distress, he retains understanding and memory. He knows Lazarus, whom he despised, and he remembers his brothers, whom he left in the world. The punishment for his treatment of the beggar would not be complete, if he did not see him in the enjoyment of his unfading recompense. And he would not know perfect agony amid the flames, were he not tortured by the fear that his brothers might soon share that penalty. So for the greater punishment of sinners they will see the glory of those whom they once despised, and they will be tormented by the sufferings of those whom they loved in a useless way. It is believed that, before the day of judgment, the damned see some of the just in their glory so that, seeing their happiness, their own pains are increased by the vision of that everlasting joy.

Abraham gives an immediate reply to this request that Lazarus should be sent: “They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.” But he who refused to listen to the word of God, did not think his associates on earth could hear it either, so that he answers: “No, father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance.” However, he is answered truly: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead.” Certainly, those who despised the words of the law, will scarcely fulfil the precepts of the risen Redeemer, so much more exacting. For the precepts of the old law are much easier than those of the new.¹³ The former ordered tithes to be offered, but our Lord requires that those who seek perfection should abandon all.¹⁴ The old law condemns sins of the flesh, but he condemns even illicit thoughts. “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead.” For how can those who neglect to fulfil the milder dictates of the old law obey the stricter commands of the risen Christ? And it is evident that, if they refuse to carry out what they are told, they withhold also their belief. We have now said sufficient for our consideration of the Gospel. My dear brethren, now that you know the glory of Lazarus and the punishment of the rich man, act with extreme caution; seek out the poor, that in the day of judgment they may be your intercessors and advocates. You have many brothers of Lazarus lying at your doors, in want of those crumbs which fall daily from your table when you have well satisfied your appetite. The words we have been reading should teach us to fulfil the law of mercy. Every minute we find a Lazarus if we seek him, and every day without seeking we find one at our door. Now beggars besiege us, imploring alms; later they will be our advocates. Rather it is we who should beg, and yet we are besought. Ask yourselves whether we should refuse what we are asked, when those who ask us are our patrons.

Therefore do not lose the opportunity of doing works of mercy; do not store unused the good things you possess. Before punishment is inflicted, think on it. When you see poor people in this world, do not despise them, even if you see defects in them, for it may be that their wounds, inflicted by vicious habits, are cured by the medicine of poverty. If, in any of these poor people, you see something which merits rebuke, certainly do so with the object of gaining greater merit, so that your mercy is more generous as their vices are more abundant. At the same time as you give the reprimand, give them bread: the bread to nourish them and the reprimand to correct them, so that they who sought only one obtain two nourishments from you: bodily food and interior counsel. So when a poor person is found at fault, he should be admonished, but never despised. If he has no fault, he should have our highest respect, as our intercessor. V But we see many poor persons of whose merit we are wholly ignorant. So all are worthy of our veneration, and we must humble ourselves before all, since we do not know which among them may be Christ.

I am going to tell you something, brethren, all the details of which my brother and fellow-priest Speciosus, here present, can vouch for. In the same year as I entered the monastery, there lived in this city, near the church of the blessed Virgin Mary, a certain old woman named Redempta, who had taken the religious habit.¹⁵ She had been a disciple of that Herundina who was said to have lived as a hermit in the Praenestine mountains, and who was famed for her great virtue. Redempta had two disciples living with her, and they wore the same habit as she. One was called Romula and the other is still alive: I know her to see, but I do not know her name. These three women lived together in the same house and although they had riches at their disposal, they lived a life of poverty in all things. However, Romula behaved in a much more meritorious way than her companion. She was a model of patience and obedience, scrupulous in her observance of silence, and ardently given to prayer. But it often happens that those whom men consider perfect, yet retain some imperfection in the eyes of the supreme Artist. The same thing happens when, unskilled in art, we see some statue as yet uncompleted which we think is perfect, and praise it as if it were a finished work. In spite of the praise he hears, the sculptor continues to chisel and to polish it, in order to achieve perfection. So this Romula of whom we are speaking was stricken by an infirmity which doctors call paralysis: this kept her in bed for many years, depriving her of the use of her limbs. But none of her sufferings could move her to impatience. In her the loss of her limbs meant increase of virtue, for she exercised herself all the more in prayer seeing that she was incapable of other action. One night she called Redempta, who looked after her disciples as if they were her daughters, and she said to her: “Come, mother; come”. Her other companion soon joined Redempta, as did other persons also, to hear Romula repeating the same words. I myself heard of it at that time. At midnight, when Redempta and her other disciple were beside the sick-bed, suddenly a heavenly light filled the whole room, of such clarity and splendour that the hearts of those who saw it were seized with a great terror and, as they later recounted, their bodies became as if petrified, and they stood as if in a profound stupor. And a great noise was heard, as of a passing multitude, and a knocking on the doors of the room, as if a crowd were entering, jostling one another. According to their account, they felt that a multitude was entering, but because of their fear and the intense brilliance of the light, they could not see anything. They shut their eyes for fear, blinded by the radiance of the light. A delightful perfume soon followed that light, so that their soul, seemingly drowned in brilliance, was revived by this fragrance. But, as they could not bear that dazzling beam, Romula herself began gently to console her mistress Redempta, trembling beside the bed. “Do not fear, mother”, she said. “I am not dying yet.” Immediately she said these words, the light disappeared, but the fragrance remained for the space of three days. On the fourth night, once more she called her mistress, asking her that the Viaticum should be given her, and this was done. Redempta and the other had not as yet drawn near the invalid, when suddenly there appeared in the street, before the door of the house in which they were, two choirs which chanted the psalms. As the two women told us, they could hear voices of men and women: the men singing the psalms, and the women answering. As soon as these celestial obsequies began outside the sick-room, that saintly soul was freed from the body and was taken up into its glory. According as the choirs of singers ascended, leading her to heaven, their psalmody grew more indistinct, until the sound of the singers and the fragrance of perfume died away completely.

While this woman was in the world, what honours did she receive? She seemed unworthy of notice, despised by all. Who would have troubled to visit or approach her? But in that refuse-heap, there lay a pearl of God. I call that terrible poverty and that corruption of the body a refuse-heap. But the pearl which lay in it was raised up and set among the jewels of the divine king: now it shines with the citizens of heaven, brilliant as any precious stone in the eternal diadem. Oh you, who think you possess the riches of this world, or who do possess them, compare, if you can, that false wealth of yours with the lasting treasures of Romula. You will have to leave all your possessions here; she sought nothing on her way, and found everything at the end of her journey. You lead a pleasant life but you fear an unhappy death: she bore the distresses of this life, but ended it in rapture. You seek the temporal adulation of men: she, despised by men, found fellowship among the angels.

Learn, brethren, to despise all the things of earth; scorn all transient honours and seek the glory which endures. Respect all the poor you meet, and when you see them ignored by the world, treat them as friends of God. Share your riches with them, so that they, in their turn, may share theirs with you. Remember what has been said by the apostle of the Gentiles: “In this present time let your abundance supply their want, that their abundance also may supply your want”.¹⁶ Remember also Christ’s words: “As long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me”.¹⁷ Why, then, are you slow to give, when everything you give to the poor man here on earth, you give to him who is in heaven? But may almighty God, who speaks to you through me, impress these truths upon your minds, God who lives and reigns with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.

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