Still in addition to these acts He exceeds them in wonder, and by a more exalted act of power prepares for men the way of faith in the resurrection. The Scripture tells us of a city called Nain in Judaea: a widow there had an only child, no longer a child in the sense of being among boys, but already passing from childhood to man's estate: the narrative calls him "a young man." The story conveys much in few words: the very recital is a real lamentation: the dead man's mother, it says, "was a widow." See you the weight of her misfortune, how the text briefly sets out the tragedy of her suffering? for what does the phrase mean? that she had no more hope of bearing sons, to cure the loss she had just sustained in him who had departed; for the woman was a widow: she had not in her power to look to another instead of to him who was gone; for he was her only child; and how great a grief is here expressed any one may easily see who is not an utter stranger to natural feeling. Him alone she had known in travail him alone she had nursed at her breast; he alone made her table cheerful, he alone was the cause of brightness in her home, in play, in work, in learning, in gaiety, at processions, at sports, at gatherings of youth; he alone was all that is sweet and precious in a mother's eyes. Now at the age of marriage, he was the stock of her race, the shoot of its succession, the staff of her old age. Moreover, even the additional detail of his time of life is another lament: for he who speaks of him as "a young man" tells of the flower of his faded beauty, speaks of him as just covering his face with down, not yet with a full thick beard, but still bright with the beauty of his cheeks. What then, think you, were his mother's sorrows for him? how would her heart be consumed as it were with a flame; how bitterly would she prolong her lament over him, embracing the corpse as it lay before her, lengthening out her mourning for him as far as possible, so as not to hasten the funeral of the dead, but to have her fill of sorrow! Nor does the narrative pass this by: for Jesus "when He saw her," it says, "had compassion"; "and He came and touched the bier; and they that bare him stood still;" and He said to the dead, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise " "and He delivered him to his mother" alive. Observe that no short time had intervened since the dead man had entered upon that state, he was all but laid in the tomb; the miracle wrought by the Lord is greater, though the command is the same.

Εἶτ' ἐπὶ τούτοις ὑπερβαίνει τῷ θαύματι καὶ δι' ὑψηλοτέρας δυνάμεως ὁδοποιεῖ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὴν περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως πίστιν. Νάϊν τινὰ πόλιν κατὰ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν ἱστορεῖ ἡ Γραφή. Παῖς ἦν ἐν ταύτῃ μονογενὴς χήρᾳ τινί͵ οὐκέτι τοιοῦτος παῖς͵ οἷος ἐν μειρακίοις εἶναι͵ ἀλλ' ἤδη ἐκ παίδων εἰς ἄνδρας τελῶν. Νεανίαν αὐτὸν ὀνομάζει ὁ λόγος· πολλὰ δι' ὀλίγων διηγεῖται ἡ ἱστορία· θρῆνος ἄντικρύς ἐστι τὸ διήγημα. Χήρα͵ φησίν͵ ἦν τοῦ τεθνηκότος ἡ μήτηρ. Ὁρᾷς τὸ βάρος τῆς συμφορᾶς͵ πῶς ἐν ὀλίγῳ τὸ πάθος ὁ λόγος ἐξετραγῴδησε; [220] Τί γάρ ἐστι τὸ λεγόμενον͵ ὅτι οὐκ ἦν αὐτῇ παιδοποιίας ἐλπίς͵ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ ἐκλείποντι συμφορὰν θεραπεύουσα; χήρα γὰρ ἡ γυνή, οὐκ εἶχε πρὸς ἕτερον ἀντὶ τοῦ κατοιχομένου βλέπειν, μονογενὴς γὰρ ὁ τόκος. Ὅσον δὲ τὸ ἐπὶ τούτῳ κακόν͵ παντὶ ῥᾴδιον συνιδεῖν τῷ μὴ ἀπεξενωμένῳ τῆς φύσεως. Μόνον ἐν ὠδῖσιν ἐκεῖνον ἐγνώρισε͵ μόνον ταῖς θηλαῖς ἐτιθηνήσατο, μόνος αὐτῇ φαιδρὰν ἐποίει τὴν τράπεζαν, μόνος ἦν τῆς κατὰ τὸν οἶκον φαιδρότητος ἡ ὑπόθεσις, παίζων͵ σπουδάζων͵ ἀσκούμενος͵ φαιδρυνόμενος͵ ἐν προόδοις͵ ἐν παλαίστραις͵ ἐν συλλόγοις νεότητος, πᾶν ὅ,τι μητρὸς ὀφθαλμοῖν γλυκύ τε καὶ τίμιον͵ μόνος ἐκεῖνος ἦν. ῎Ηδη τοῦ γάμου τὴν ὥραν ἄγων͵ ὁ τοῦ γένους ὅρπηξ͵ ὁ τῆς διαδοχῆς κλάδος͵ ἡ βακτηρία τοῦ γήρους. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ τῆς ἡλικίας προσθήκη͵ ἄλλος θρῆνος ἦν. Ὁ γὰρ νεανίαν εἰπών͵ τὸ ἄνθος εἶπε τῆς μαρανθείσης ὤρας͵ ἄρτι τοῖς ἰούλοις ὑποχλοάζοντα͵ οὔπω τοῦ πώγωνος διὰ βάθους ὑποπιμπλάμενον͵ ἔτι τῷ κάλλει τῶν παρειῶν ὑποστίλβοντα. Τί τοίνυν πάσχειν εἰκὸς ἦν ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὴν μητέρα; οἱονεὶ πυρὶ τοῖς σπλάγχνοις ἐγκαταφλέγεσθαι͵ ὡς πικρῶς ἐπ' αὐτῷ παρατείνειν τὸν θρῆνον͵ περιπλεκομένην προκειμένῳ τῷ πτώματι͵ ὡς μὴ ἂν ἐπισπεῦσαι τῷ νεκρῷ τὴν κηδείαν͵ ἀλλ' ἐμφορεῖσθαι τοῦ πάθους͵ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον αὐτῷ τοὺς ὀδυρμοὺς παρατείνουσαν· οὐδὲ τοῦτο παρῆκεν ὁ λόγος, Ἰδὼν γὰρ αὐτὴν ὁ Ἰησοῦς͵ φησίν͵ ἐσπλαγχνίσθη, καὶ προσελθὼν ἥψατο τῆς σοροῦ͵ οἱ δὲ βαστάσαντες ἔστησαν. Καὶ λέγει τῷ νεκρῷ· Νεανία͵ σοὶ λέγω͵ ἐγέρθητι· καὶ παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ ζῶντα. ῎Ηδη τοίνυν οὐκ ἐν ὀλίγῳ διαστήματι τοῦ νεκροῦ γεγενημένου καὶ ὅσον οὐδέπω ἐναποτεθέντος τῷ τάφῳ͵ γίνεται παρ' αὐτοῦ Κυρίου τὸ μὲν θαῦμα μεῖζον͵ τὸ δὲ πρόσταγμα ἶσον.