The Raising of Lazarus - A Mystery Rite of Restoration

Book: The New Greek Mystery Testament
Story: Raising Lazarus's dead penis

In the city where the Christed One walked, there lived Lazarus, a youth known among the temple circles for his sacred service to the women—the parthenoi and temple priestesses—within the secret rites. His body, once vigorous, had fallen into a state described by the Greeks as ἀδρανής (adranēs) and ἀσθενής (asthenēs), lacking strength and potency. This was no mere weakness of spirit, but the common fate of those who served the mysteries with potent drugs and aphrodisiacs—compounds containing venoms and botanicals such as porphura and other elements of theriac.

The frequent use of these entheogenic substances caused the temple youths to fall into impotence, their bodies dulled and their virility subdued. Ancient physicians and poets like Ovid remarked on this ailment among Thracian Lestes and temple eunuchs alike—those who trafficked not only souls but their own flesh in the service of the gods.

When Lazarus became “without breath” (ἀπνοος, apnoos), appearing as one dead to the casual observer—his limbs weak, his pulse nearly absent—his sisters Mary and Martha mourned. But these women were more than mourners; they were sacred attendants, skilled in the rites of restoration.

Mary, bearer of sacred moisture (ἰκμάς, ikmas)—the essence of bodily humors—anointed Lazarus with tender love (φιλοστοργία, filostorgía). She carried the healing powers of the sacred myrrh (μύρον, muron), the same fragrant ointment used in the oracular and Christing rites. Martha prepared the sacred fumigations, releasing hot vapors (θερμοὶ μουσάλεοι ἀτμοί, thermoi mousaleoi atmoi), a potent mist that was understood to awaken the barugounos—the one whose body had lost the power to rise.

Jesus, the Christed Drakon, came to the tomb not as a distant savior but as the living master of the rites. With Mary and Martha, he enacted the ancient ceremony: the ritual whipping of Lazarus’s testicles (γίτων, gitōnas) to stimulate the flow of life and strength, and the careful application of the fumigations to clear the poison’s dulling effects. This was a rite to revive the initiate from the venom-induced death trance (the “Aion”) and restore his potency and vitality.

The sisters and Jesus formed a sacred circle—a quartet of healing, a quadralogos of renewal—transferring vital essences between them. The ritual was not merely symbolic but a profound medical treatment rooted in ancient knowledge of venom, antidote, and the mysteries of the body.

This event was not about a miraculous return from literal death but a real, physical resurrection from drug-induced impotence and near death, a restoration of power to the youth who served the temple’s sacred women.

Sources and Parallels

• Greek New Testament (Nestle 1904): The terminology ἀδρανής and ἀσθενής indicating impotence and weakness.
• Apocryphal texts (Nonnus, other early Christian texts): Interpretations of the role of Mary and Martha in the rite.
• Classical medical treatises (Galen, Dioscorides): Use of myrrh, fumigation, and physical therapies for impotence.
• Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: Descriptions of the problem of impotence among temple prostitutes and the use of aphrodisiacs.
• Orphic and mystery cult practices: Use of venom, antidote therapy, and ritual chastisement to restore vitality.
• Greek lexicons (LSJ, Hesychius): Definitions of ἰκμάς (bodily fluids), γίτων (testicles), and φιλοστοργία (tender love).