# Lazarus — Short Fiction character guide

> Lazarus in Short Fiction by Leonid Andreyev.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Poor Lazarus, poor Lazarus

**First appearance:** 0001-short-fiction

## Snapshot

A man who was once dead and now stands silent before emperors, answering every question with the same stolid, unbearable truth.

## Who they are

Lazarus arrives in the empire of the living as an enigma no one can classify: not Christian, not dead, not fully alive, and he tells Augustus only that he was once dead. The Emperor, who boasts of life's harmony and vigor, tries to stare him down, but Lazarus's gaze opens the horror of the Infinite and stops the ruler's breath. His presence matters because it forces everyone who meets him to confront what they have never seen and cannot unsee, turning the story's early encounters into a slow, dreadful test of what life is worth.

## In the story

### [Lazarus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/lazarus)

The central figure who is raised from the dead, now living with the burden of his experience beyond the grave.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/i)

Emerges from the grave, now grave and silent, with physical marks of death.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/ii)

The risen man, silent and cold, whose gaze brings dread and a sense of the beyond.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/iii)

Abandoned and isolated, Lazarus sits under the sun and walks into the desert at sunset, indifferent to his surroundings and the people who fear him.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/iv)

The man raised from the dead, who receives Aurelius as a guest. His presence and words profoundly disturb the sculptor.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/v)

The miraculously risen one, whose appearance and gaze bring gloom and despair to all who meet him.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/vi)

Brought before Emperor Augustus; his gaze reveals the horror of the Infinite; later has his eyes burned out and returns to the desert.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/iii)

Hosts Jesus and the disciples for the night in Bethany.

### [Dies Irae](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/chapters/dies-irae)

Is summoned before Emperor Augustus.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters/lazarus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_34_se/characters