Tears and joy reconciled; Christ's tears as teaching
Basil is answering the objection that tears and joy cannot coexist, explaining first their different bodily signs and then how the saints' tears and Christ's tears were measured and instructive.
Grief is naturally born when the assault of the unwanted strikes and contracts the soul, as if from a blow, while the spirit around the heart is pressed down. Joy, by contrast, is like a leaping of the soul exulting in things that go according to its will. That is why the bodily symptoms also differ. In those who grieve, the body is pale, livid, and chilled; in those who brighten, the body's condition blooms and grows reddish, since the soul all but leaps and is pushed outward by pleasure. To these objections we will say that the laments and tears of the saints came about because of their love for God. Always gazing, then, at the Beloved and increasing the gladness that came to them from there, they managed the affairs of their fellow-servants: mourning those who sinned and correcting them through their tears. Just as people standing on the shore share the suffering of those drowning in the sea but do not surrender their own safety in their concern for those in danger, so also those who grieve over the sins of their neighbors do not destroy their own gladness. On the contrary, they make it greater, since they are counted worthy of the Lord's joy on account of their tears for a brother. For this reason, blessed are those who weep, and blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted, and they will laugh (Matthew 5:4; Luke 6:21). By laughter he does not mean the sound that bursts from the cheeks when the blood boils up, but the cheerfulness that is unmixed and unmingled with anything gloomy. The Apostle therefore permits weeping with those who weep, since this tear becomes, as it were, a seed and a loan of eternal joy. Go up with me in thought and behold the angelic state: what other state befits them except to rejoice and be glad, because they have been counted worthy to stand before God and to enjoy the ineffable beauty of the glory of the One who created us? It is to that life, then, that the Apostle urges us on when he commands us to rejoice always. But as for the Lord's weeping over Lazarus and over the city, we have this to say: he also ate and drank, not because he himself needed these things, but to leave you measures and limits for the necessary sufferings of the soul. So too he wept, correcting the excessive passionate and lowly element of those given to wailing and fond of laments. For if anything needs the symmetry that comes from reason, weeping does: on what occasions it should occur, and to what extent, and when, and how. That the Lord's tears were not passionate but instructive is clear from this: 'Lazarus our friend has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him' (John 11:11). Who among us mourns a sleeping friend whom he expects to wake a little later? 'Lazarus, come out' (John 11:43). And the dead man was made alive, and the bound man walked. A wonder within a wonder: his feet were bound with grave-cloths, yet he was not hindered from moving. For the power that strengthened him was greater than what impeded him. How then did the One who was about to work such things judge what had happened worthy of tears? Is it not clear that, supporting our weakness from every side, he enclosed the necessary sufferings within measures and limits, avoiding lack of sympathy as beastly, but rejecting the love of grief and much lamenting as ignoble?
Greek
Τὸ μὲν γὰρ, οἷον ἐκ πληγῆς τινος, τῆς προσβολῆς τοῦ ἀβουλήτου τὴν ψυχὴν τύπτοντος καὶ συστέλλοντος, καταθλιβομένου τοῦ περικαρδίου πνεύματος, ἀποτίκτεσθαι πέφυκεν· ἡ δὲ χαρὰ οἷον σκίρτημάτί ἐστι τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπαγαλλομένης τοῖς κατὰ γνώμην. Ὅθεν καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸ σῶμα συμπτώματα διενήνοχε. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ λυπουμένοις ὕπωχρος καὶ πελιδνὸς καὶ κατεψυγμένος ὁ ὄγκος· τοῖς δὲ φαιδρυνομένοις ἐξανθοῦσα καὶ ὑπέρυθρος ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἕξις, μονονουχὶ πηδώσης τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ προωθουμένης ὑφ' ἡδονῆς εἰς τὸ ἔξω. Πρὸς δὴ ταῦτα ἐροῦμεν, ὅτι καὶ οἱ θρῆνοι καὶ τὰ δάκρυα τῶν ἁγίων διὰ τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγάπην ἐγίγνοντο. Ἀεὶ οὖν ἐνορῶντες τῷ ἀγαπητῷ, καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἑαυτοῖς εὐφροσύνην συναύξοντες, τὰ περὶ τοὺς ὁμοδούλους ἑαυτῶν ᾠκονόμουν· πενθοῦντες τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας, ἐπανορθούμενοι αὐτοὺς διὰ τῶν δακρύων. Ὥσπερ δὲ οἱ ἐπὶ τῶν αἰγιαλῶν ἑστῶτες, τοῖς ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ βαπτιζομένοις συμπάσχοντες, οὐ προΐενται τὴν οἰκείαν ἀσφάλειαν ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν κινδυνευόντων φροντίδι· οὕτως οὐδὲ οἱ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι τῶν πέλας ἐπιστυγνάζοντες τὴν οἰκείαν ἀφανίζουσιν εὐφροσύνην. Τὸ ἐναντίον μὲν οὖν, καὶ μείζονα ποιοῦσιν αὐτὴν, ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰς τὸν ἀδελφὸν δακρύων τῆς χαρᾶς τοῦ Κυρίου καταξιούμενοι. Διὰ τοῦτο μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες, καὶ μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται, καὶ αὐτοὶ γελάσουσι. Γέλωτα δὲ λέγει οὐ τὸν διὰ τῶν παρειῶν ἐκπίπτοντα ψόφον ἐν τῷ αἵματος ἀναβρασμῷ, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἄκρατον καὶ ἀμιγῆ παντὸς σκυθρωποῦ ἱλαρότητα. Κλαίειν οὖν μετὰ κλαιόντων συγχωρεῖ ὁ Ἀπό στολος, ἐπειδὴ τὸ δάκρυον τοῦτο οἱονεὶ σπέρμα καὶ δάνεισμα γίνεται τῆς αἰωνίου χαρᾶς. Ἀνάβα μοι τῇ διανοίᾳ, καὶ θέασαι τὴν ἀγγελικὴν κατάστασιν, εἰ ἄλλη τις αὐτοῖς πρέπει κατάστασις, πλὴν τοῦ χαί ρειν καὶ διευθυμεῖσθαι· ὅτι ἠξίωνται παρεστάναι Θεῷ, καὶ ἀπολαύειν τοῦ ἀποῤῥήτου κάλλους τῆς δόξης τοῦ κτίσαντος ἡμᾶς. Πρὸς ἐκεῖνον οὖν τὸν βίον παρορμῶν ἡμᾶς ὁ Ἀπόστολος, πάντοτε χαίρειν ἡμῖν διετάξατο. Ἀλλὰ μὴν πρός γε τὸ δακρῦσαι τὸν Κύριον ἐπὶ Λαζάρῳ καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πόλει ἐκεῖνο εἰπεῖν ἔχομεν, ὅτι καὶ ἔφαγε, καὶ ἔπιεν, οὐκ αὐτὸς τούτων δεόμενος, ἀλλά σοι μέτρα καὶ ὅρους τῶν ἀναγκαίων τῆς ψυχῆς παθημάτων καταλιμπάνων. Οὕτω γοῦν καὶ ἐδάκρυσε, τῶν ὀδυρτικῶν καὶ φιλοθρήνων τὸ ἄγαν περιπαθὲς καὶ ταπεινὸν ἐπανορθούμενος. Εἰ γάρ τι ἄλλο, καὶ τὸ δακρύειν τῆς ἐκ τοῦ λόγου συμμετρίας προσδεῖται· ἐπὶ τίσι γίνεσθαι, καὶ ἐπὶ πόσον, καὶ πότε, καὶ ὅπως προσῆκεν. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐκ ἐμπαθὲς ἦν τὸ δάκρυον τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀλλὰ διδασκαλικὸν, ἐκεῖθεν δῆλον· Λάζαρος ὁ φίλος ἡμῶν κεκοίμηται, ἀλλὰ πορεύομαι ἵνα ἐξυπνίσω αὐτόν. Τίς ἡμῶν κοιμώμενον ὀδύρεται φίλον, ὃν μικρὸν ὕστερον προσδοκᾷ διυπνίζειν; Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω. Καὶ ὁ νεκρὸς ἐζωοποιεῖτο· καὶ ὁ δεδεμένος περιεπάτει. Θαῦμα ἐν θαύματι· κει ρίαις δεδέσθαι τοὺς πόδας, καὶ μὴ κωλύεσθαι πρὸς τὴν κίνησιν. Μεῖζον γὰρ ἦν τὸ ἐνισχύον τοῦ ἐμ ποδίζοντος. Πῶς οὖν ὁ τοιαῦτα ἐνεργεῖν μέλλων δα κρύων ἄξιον τὸ συμβὰν ἔκρινεν; Ἢ δῆλον, ὅτι, πανταχόθεν τὸ ἀσθενὲς ἡμῶν ὑπερείδων, μέτροις τισὶ καὶ ὅροις τὰ ἀναγκαῖα περιέλαβε πάθη; τὸ μὲν ἀσυμπαθὲς ὡς θηριῶδες ἐκκλίνων, τὸ δὲ φιλόλυπον καὶ πολύθρηνον ὡς ἀγενὲς παραιτούμενος.