Holy Lazarus. Do you know why the Lord calls the death of Lazarus a sleep

(John 5:25)

I. Faith in Moses and the prophets, healing of the man born blind,
the parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus

“If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,
then even if someone were raised from the dead, they would not believe»
(Luke 16:31)

The Lord did an unimaginable number of miracles on the people of Israel. But the greatest of all is the resurrection of Lazarus. Marvelous catcher of men chose recalcitrant Jews as eyewitnesses of the miracle, and they themselves showed the coffin of the deceased, rolled away the stone from the entrance to the cave, breathed in the stench of a decomposing body. With their own ears they heard the call to the dead man to rise, with their own eyes they saw his first steps after the resurrection, with their own hands they untied the funeral shrouds, making sure that it was not a ghost.

So, did all the Jews believe in Christ? - Not at all. But went to the chiefs and " from that day on they decided to kill Jesus"(John 11: 53). Thus, the correctness of the Lord was confirmed, who spoke through the mouth of Abraham in the parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus: “If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, then if someone rose from the dead, they won’t believe"(Luke 16:31). But Israel was waiting for the Messiah precisely at this time. The Jews knew that the seventy-seven years prophesied by Daniel from the decree on the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple to the anointing of the Holy One were coming to an end (Dan. 9: 24), that the royal scepter left the descendants of Judah (Gen. 49: 10), and a Teacher appeared in Nazareth, according to whose word the dead are raised and the lepers are cleansed. " Search the Scriptures...they Testify of Me”(John 5: 39) - Christ addressed the connoisseurs of the Scriptures. But they did not believe the clear prophecies and demanded miracles And signs from heaven. When the Lord worked miracles, they did not believe them either.

The resurrection of Lazarus is inseparable from another miracle that stirred up Israel - the healing of the blind man (see John 9: 1-41). If the healing of a diseased eye can still be attributed to human medical art, then the establishment of vision can only be attributed to Divine action. The Jews rejected this miracle, because " they did not believe that he (born blind) was blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of this sighted man and asked them: is this your son, of whom you say that he was born blind? how does he see now?"(John 9: 18-19).

How does he see? “Obviously,” we answer, “by the power of Him Who raised the dead, commanded the elements, multiplied bread, cast out demons, walked on water. By the power of Him Who was free to create another unheard-of miracle - to resurrect the decaying dead and thereby reveal His Divinity, to make the Jews unresponsive, to the dead to preach the destruction of Hell, and to the living - the universal resurrection.

II. Resurrection of Lazarus
like a great and unprecedented miracle

The Lord, having learned from the envoys of Martha and Mary about the illness of Lazarus, came to Bethany only on the third day after his death, having stayed two days in that place"(John 11: 6). The delay of the Lord to come to the aid of a friend, the Holy Fathers agree with the desire to resurrect a real dead man, four days old and stinking - a miracle hitherto unknown to Israel: “Why ‘stayed’? So that he died and was buried, so that later no one could say that He resurrected him when he had not yet died, that it was only a deep sleep, or relaxation, or deprivation of feelings, but not death. For this reason He remained so long that even corruption took place, so that they said: ‘already stinks’(John 11:39) ".

St. Amphilochius of Iconium very vividly describes this miracle: “Only the Lord proclaimed: ‘Lazarus, get out!’(John 11:43), and immediately the body was filled with life, the hair grew again, the proportions of the body came into proper proportion, the veins were again filled with pure blood. Hell, struck to the very depths, released Lazarus. The soul of Lazarus, again returned and called by the holy angels, united with his own body.

It happened before that the greatest prophets of Israel raised the dead, but they never raised those whose bodies were touched by corruption. “Who has seen, who has heard, as if a stinking dead man has arisen? Elijah is raised up, and Elisha, but not from the tomb, but below four days, ”the Holy Church proclaims through the lips of St. Andrew of Crete at Compline on the heel of the week of Vay.

Another miracle was added to the miracle of the resurrection - Lazarus, « entwined hand and foot with funeral shrouds"(John 11:44), move freely: “The feet of Lazarus are bound, the miracle is in miracles: for the pain of appearing to the one who forbids, strengthen and strengthen Christ: His word is served servilely, as if God and the Master are working.”

III. The Resurrection of Lazarus as a Manifestation
the true incarnation of Jesus Christ

According to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, expressed in the hymns of Lazarus Saturday, Christ revealed his true Divinity and humanity in the resurrection of Lazarus: being ”, “Two offering Your actions, showed thou the creatures of the Savior the destiny: God, Thou art and Man”, “You showed the Divine knowledge of the Divine to all, raising the four-day Lord Lazarus from the dead”, “God is true, Lazarus knew the Assumption, and this Thou proclaimed Thy disciples, assuring the Lord of the Divinity of His indefinite action.

« Then Jesus said to them directly: Lazarus died"(John 11: 14).
Omniscience of God

In these words of Jesus Christ, who was bodily far from the place of illness and death of a friend, the Omniscience of God was manifested: In Bethany, being present with people, your friend of the tomb is not unknown, take away you asked like a Man. But the resurrected one is four days by You, reveal Your divine power.

« Jesus shed a tear"(John 11:35).
Non-ghostly incarnation

The tears of the Savior testified to His true, and not an illusory, Incarnation, as St. John Chrysostom writes about this: “Why does the evangelist carefully and more than once notice that He wept and that He held back grief? In order that you may know that He was truly clothed with our nature.” The creators of the canons of the week of Vaii and Lazarus Saturday, St. Andrew of Crete, John of Damascus, Kosmas of Mayum and Theophan the Inscribed with great tenderness and heartfelt feeling, describe the tears of the God-man: You were a Man to us "," Having shed tears over a friend for the sake of looking, You showed the flesh from us, earthly, being not the opinion of the Savior, united to You, and like a God who loves mankind, having exclaimed this abie, You raised up thou "," Presenting You to the tomb of the miracle-working Lord, in Bethany Thou didst weep over Lazarus, by the law of nature, assuring Thy flesh, Jesus my God, Thou hast taken it, "," This Indescribable is described by the flesh, having come to Bethany, as a Man, the Master, weep over Lazarus, as though God is resurrecting the four-day one "," Walk, and shed tears, but tell my Savior, showing your human action: showing divine, raise up Lazarus.

However, some of the circumstances of the miracle could give rise to doubts about the divinity of the Savior. Indeed, why would an omniscient God ask the Jews about Lazarus: where did you put it"(John 11:34)? Why would the Almighty pray to anyone to perform a miracle (John 11:41-42)? In the 4th century, the Anomeans justified their heresy by such arguments, denying not only the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son, but also the very likeness of the Son to the Father. The Jews and Gnostics have slyly asked this question up to our time.

« Where did you put it?"(John 11:34).
Jews are the main witnesses

Indeed, why should the Omniscient God ask where Lazarus was laid: “A strange and glorious miracle, what a Creator of all, if you don’t know, as if you don’t know, ask: where lies, you weep for him? where is Lazarus buried, and little by little I will raise Az from the dead alive to you ”?

It's clear that the imaginary ignorance of Christ has nothing to do with it, as Chrysostom writes about this: “You say, Jew, that Christ did not know this if he said: ‘ where did you put it?' So the Father did not know in paradise where Adam had hidden, if He went as if looking for him in paradise, and said: Adam where are you(Gen. 3:9)?’… What will you say when you hear God saying to Cain: ‘ where is Abel, your brother(Gen. 4:9)?’… If that means ignorance, then this also means ignorance.”

Why same then Does the Lord ask about it? According to Saints John Chrysostom and Basil the Great, Saints Andrew of Crete and Ephraim the Syrian, the question " Where did you put it?”, was given with only one purpose: to bring the inquiring Jews to the place of the planned miracle as witnesses of the resurrection: “Of course, this gives a reason for impudent interrogators, but it is clearer than the sun that He did not need to ask. And by what he said Where did they put it?' wanted to confirm that Lazarus had indeed been buried. He asked not about ‘where is the coffin?’, but about ‘where was the dead man laid?’. He knew the stubbornness of the Jews, with which they denied His glorious deeds, and connected with His question ‘ Where was the deceased laid?’ He didn’t ask where Lazarus was laid or buried, but ‘ where did they put it?’ Show me it's you, unbelievers» .

Strange prayer.
Unity of the will of the Father and the Son

« Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: Father! thank you that you heard me. I knew that You would always hear Me; but said [this] for the people standing here, that they might believe that you sent me"(John 11: 41-42).

Before understanding for whom this prayer was created and whether it was needed for the resurrection of Lazarus, let us ask ourselves, Was the Son humiliated by His prayerful appeal to the Father? Anomean heretics believed that yes, it humiliated: “How can a person who prays be similar to one who receives prayer? One prays and the other receives the prayer," just as the one who serves is less than the one he serves. However, the Christ who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many"(Mark 10: 45), with his own hands washed the feet of the twelve apostles, among whom was Judas:" and you are clean, but not all. For He knew His betrayer"(John 13: 10-11). But, obviously, Christ is higher than the Apostles and, moreover, the traitor Judas, which means that His prayer to the Father in no way diminished His Divine dignity.

Anomeans saw in the prayer of Jesus the source of the miracles He performed: "If He had not prayed, He would not have raised Lazarus." But, Christ performed many miracles without praying to anyone. St. John Chrysostom enumerates: “How else did He do without prayer, saying, for example: I tell you, demon, ‘get out of it’(Mk. 9:25), and more: ‘ I want to clear’ (Mark 1:41), also: ‘ take your bed and go’ (John 5:8), and: ‘ your sins are forgiven you’ (Matt. 9:2), and saying to the sea: ‘ shut up, stop’ (Mark 4:39)”?

Let's ask again Did Lazarus resurrect after this prayer?- Obviously not: “When the prayer was made, the dead did not rise; and when he said: Lazarus, get out!’, then the dead rose. Oh hell! The prayer is done and you don't release the dead? - No, hell says. Why? “Because I have not been given a command. I am the watchman who keeps the guilty here; if I do not receive a command, then I do not let go; the prayer was not for me, but for the infidels who were present; not receiving a command, I do not release the guilty; I am waiting for a voice to free my soul.

Let us carefully read the words of Christ's prayer: Father! thank you that you heard me. I knew that You would always hear Me; but said [this] for the people standing here, that they might believe that you sent me"(John 11: 41-42).

There is no petition to the Father here to resurrect the deceased Lazarus, to loosen the shackles of death, to restore the decayed body and return the soul to it. There is no petition at all in this prayer, which means that it was not she who became the source of the miracle. This means that this prayer testified not to the alleged unevenness of the Son with the Father, but to the unity of the will and nature of the Father and the Son, as St. and God, and that he does everything according to the intention of the Father, as having one will and nature with Him. And since there was a man, he speaks like a human, so that incarnation does not seem insignificant.

- Why, then, did Christ pray?

For the sake of Martha, who asked: "God! if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”(John 11:21-22). Martha asked Christ to pray - the Lord prayed.

For the sake of the Jews, who with their lips deceitfully honored the Father, but did not recognize the Son: “Honoring Your Father, and showing that you are not ungodly, the prayer of Christ, you autocratically raised up the four-day one.”

IV. The Resurrection of Lazarus as the Beginning of the Destruction of Hell
and the image of the future resurrection of the dead

"The time is coming when the dead will hear
the voice of the Son of God, and when they hear, they will live"
(John 5:25)

Death entered the world through the fall of Adam and Eve. All people, including the Old Testament righteous and prophets, went to hell after their death. His power seemed so unshakable and eternal that even among God's chosen people there appeared a considerable number of those who " said that there is no resurrection, no angel, no spirit(Acts 23:8). And the Sadducees, and Martha, and all of us who read the gospel lines, should have been taught the resurrection, assuring it of its reality: “The general resurrection, before your passion, assuring you raised Lazarus from the dead, Christ our God.” On Lazarus, the prophetic words of the Lord, spoken by Him earlier, were fulfilled: “The time is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and when they hear, they will live”(John 5:25).

By the resurrection of the decaying dead, the foundations of hell were shaken, and hope arose for those languishing in it. In the canon for Compline, the heel of the week, the Church paints hell with a jealous creature, who for the first time in the millennia of dominion over the dead was afraid of the ruin of his own possessions and is therefore ready to sacrifice one captive, so as not to lose many: my soon, depart ubobo: good for me alone to sob the mountaineer is taken away, rather than all, their hunger devoured before ”,“ Why don’t you rise up Lazarus soon, crying out from the valley of hell weeping? that Abie is not resurrected flowing from everywhere? May Christ not captivate others by resurrecting you.” The Holy Fathers unanimously remark that if the Lord had not called on a specific name, all hell would have been prematurely emptied, for then all the dead would have been resurrected: Lazarus, get out!', you alone I call in the presence of this people » .

In the resurrection of Lazarus, the Lord clearly showed the features of the general resurrection - the great and terrible sacrament that will happen on the last day. So, talking about the universality of the resurrection, St. Ephraim the Syrian notes that it is no coincidence that the Lord resurrected 3 people: a girl who had just died, a young man carried to the cemetery, and the decaying Lazarus: “In the house, on the way and from the tomb, He returned the dead to life, in order to put through the path of the dead to disperse the hope of life, and at the beginning, and in the middle, and at the end of it, reveal the resurrection. Like the resurrection of Lazarus, the universal the resurrection will happen in the twinkling of an eye. For the stench of a decaying body did not disappear from the cave, when Lazarus, obeying the powerful word of the Lord, went out to meet the shocked Jews, came out alive, healthy, filled with vital juices. The loud voice of the Savior, who called: « Lazarus, get out!» symbolized the great trumpet which will one day proclaim the general resurrection. It is also surprising how the Bethany miracle coincides in detail with the revelation of the Apostle Paul about the last day of the world: “ I tell you a secret: not all of us will die, but all let's change suddenly in the blink of an eye, at the last pipe; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed"(1 Cor. 15:52).

Finally, by demonstrating his power over death, Christ showed that he himself can rise again if he has to taste death and descend into hell. For us, the words of the Lord addressed to Martha and spoken by Him before performing a miracle are especially important: “ He who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die"(John 11: 25-26). Euthymius Zygaben, a Byzantine monk-collector of patristic interpretations of the Four Gospels, writes that “here we are talking about believers in Christ, who, although they die a death on earth, will live the blessed life of the next century. And those who live this life and believers will not die the eternal death of the age to come. Saying this, Jesus Christ showed that only in the next age there is true life and death, because they cannot change and replace one another, and that they need to be taken care of the most.

What kind of life did the Jews choose?

V. The Resurrection of Lazarus as a Rejection of the Jews

« If I had not done works between them,
which no one else did, they would have no sin;
but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father»
(John 15:24)

Jews - the main witnesses of the miracle

The Lord who called the Apostles to become fishers of men, set magnificent traps for obstinate Jews, so that those who, with Talmudic stubbornness and resourcefulness, found refutation of the prophecies of Moses, Isaiah, Daniel and all the prophets in general about the Born of the Virgin, who found flaws in His miracles, themselves became witnesses of such a miracle that cannot be refuted, it would be impossible to misinterpret.

All five of the feelings of the Jews who came to the tomb testified to the resurrection of Lazarus, as Chrysostom writes about this: “For this reason he asks: ‘ where did you put it’ (John 11:34)? - so that those who said: ‘ come and see’, and those who brought him in could not say that he had raised another; so that both voice and hands testify: - a voice that said: - ‘ come and see', - the hands that rolled off the stone and allowed the bandages; also - sight and hearing, - hearing, as he heard a voice, - sight, as he saw the one who came out (from the tomb); likewise the sense of smell, since it felt the stench, - ‘ already stinks; for four days he has been in the tomb’» .

For this, Christ delayed for two days, so that those who swaddled the dead would be convinced of his death and decay. For this, the omniscient Lord asked, where they put Lazarus, so that those who buried Lazarus would bring Christ to the place of burial and themselves become witnesses of a miracle. For this, the almighty Christ, who promised believers the power to move mountains (Matt. 17:20), did not want to move the tombstone so that those who moved it would feel the stench of the dead. For this, Christ asked to untie the resurrected one, so that, having touched Lazarus, the Jews would be convinced that this was not a ghost, and it was precisely the one whom they themselves swaddled.

The choice of the Jews is the choice of death

Where is the Jewish madness? where is the disbelief? as long as strangers, as long as ladders, behold the dead with a voice, and do not believe in Christ, truly sons of darkness, all of you .

By the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus unequivocally revealed about Himself that He is the Messiah, the Son of God and God. The Keepers of the Vineyard realized that his rightful Heir had come. And, as it was foretold in the bitter parable of the evil vinedressers, they decided to kill " Keeper of Israel"(Ps. 120: 4), to commit an act as monstrous as it is insane: "Instead of being amazed and amazed, they confer to kill Him, - Him who raised the dead. What madness! They thought to put to death the One Who conquered death in the bodies of others.

The terrible sentence was preceded by slander: If we leave Him thus, then all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take possession of both our place and our people."(John 11: 48). The Jews presented Christ as a rebel, encroaching on royal power, an impostor who would drag the people after Him to the massacre of the Romans. But, as Evfimy Zygaben writes, “Jesus Christ not only did not teach to rebel against the government, but on the contrary, He commanded to pay tribute to Caesar and evaded the people who wanted to make Him king; During His journey, He always kept modesty in everything and commanded everyone to lead a better life, which could rather serve to the loss of all power. And what kind of people said those words? - Those who subsequently called for the release of the rebel and murderer Barrabas, those who shouted that have no king but Caesar.

« This Man does many miracles. What should we do? "(John 11: 47) - the Jews asked. The obvious answer is given by Chrysostom: “It was necessary to believe, serve and worship, and no longer consider Him a man.” But the Jews decided to kill Jesus(John 11:53) and thereby doomed themselves to eternal death and rejection. And they themselves pronounced the verdict: So, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do with these tenants? They say to Him: He will put these evildoers to an evil death, and give the vineyard to other vinedressers, who will give him fruit in their seasons."(Matthew 21: 40-41).

In vain did the Jews memorize the words of Moses about the Prophet, who must be obeyed, in vain did they read about the punishments that would follow the violation of this command. Ahead of them was the destruction of the temple, the ruin of Jerusalem, the murder of more than a million fellow tribesmen, diseases and a terrible famine, during which mothers devoured their own children, shameful dispersion.

It was about them that the Lord shed tears, and not about Lazarus, for, as St. Andrew writes, Christ “came to resurrect Lazarus, and therefore it would be useless to weep over the one who should be resurrected. And it was truly necessary to weep for the Jews, since He foresaw that even after the miracle was performed, they would remain in their unbelief.

Those who wanted to preserve earthly power, lost this power: “ Jerusalem, Jerusalem that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! How many times have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not want to! Behold, your house is left to you empty"(Matt. 23: 38). After the Crucifixion of the God-man, the Vineyard passed into other hands: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that bears its fruit.”(Matthew 21:43).

What can we, the very people to whom the Kingdom of God has been given, learn from the holy gospel lines describing the resurrection of Lazarus?

VI. The Resurrection of Lazarus as an edification to Christians

« God! that's who you love, sick» (John 11:3).
Attitude towards the misfortunes of the righteous

How not to waver in faith, seeing the misfortunes of the righteous? How not to count those who are visited by illness and sorrow as rejected by God Himself? Such questions have always been asked and will be asked until the end of time. One must simply accept as a fact (including the gospel story) that those who please God often suffer and not go into more subtle reasoning. Here is what St. John Chrysostom writes in connection with the illness of Lazarus: “Many are tempted when they see some people pleasing to God in some kind of disaster, when they see, for example, that they have been subjected to illness, or poverty, or something else of the kind; but they do not know that such sufferings are characteristic of those who are especially pleasing to God. So, Lazarus was one of the friends of Christ, but he was sick, as it was said by those who sent: that's who you love, sick’ (John 11:3)” .

Several centuries after the fatal illness of Lazarus, St. Anthony the Great was tormented by similar questions: “Lord! Why do some people reach old age and a state of infirmity, others die in childhood and live little? Why are some poor and others rich? Why do tyrants and villains prosper and abound in all earthly blessings, while the righteous are oppressed by adversity and poverty?

And he received an answer that can be addressed to all of us, those of little faith and those who doubt God's care for us: “Anthony! pay attention to yourself and do not subject your investigation of the fates of God, because this is soul-damaging”

« Jesus shed a tear"(John 11:35).
Measure of Christian lamentation

We often see how inconsolable are Christians who have lost someone close to them, as if they are burying non-Christians, as if there is no Kingdom of Heaven and there will be no general resurrection. It happens, on the contrary, that the death of loved ones does not touch hardened human hearts.

Both behaviors are unnatural to human nature, which the God-man showed, shedding tears over a friend, “offering us images of heartfelt love.” The Monk Andrew of Crete, the creator of the cited song of the canon, reveals its meaning in the “Conversation on the Four-Day Lazarus”: “‘ Jesus wept'. And by that he showed an example, an image and a measure of how we should weep for the dead. I shed tears, seeing the damage to our nature and the ugly appearance that death gives a person. The same is true of St. Basil the Great: Christ “in a certain measure and limits concluded the necessary passionate movements, preventing lack of compassion, because it is bestial, and not allowing indulging in sorrow and shedding many tears, because it is cowardly.”

« When he heard that [Lazarus] was ill,
then he stayed for two days at the place where he was"(John 11: 6).
humble behavior

The Almighty Lord postponed his coming to Bethany not only so that Lazarus would die, be buried and begin to rot, but also so that “no one would consider it indecent that He, at the first hearing, hastens to show a miracle.” Christ teaches us how carefully and unconceitedly one should dispose of God's gifts: “Christ, Your divinity, giving Your disciples an image, You humbled Yourselves among the people, though hide yourself.”

How unsafe it is to boast of the gifts of grace received from God can be seen from the story described in the Ancient Patericon about a monk of high life who publicly performed a miracle:

Abba Anthony heard about a young monk who performed such a miracle on the way: seeing some of the elders who traveled and got tired on the way, he ordered wild donkeys to come up to them and carry the elders on themselves until they reached Anthony. When the elders told Abba Anthony about this, he said to them: “It seems to me that this monk is a ship full of blessings, but I don’t know if he will enter the pier.” After some time, Abba Anthony suddenly began to cry, to tear his hair and sob. The disciples asked him: “What are you crying about, abba?” The elder answered them: “Now the great pillar of the Church has fallen!” He was talking about the young monk. “But go yourself to him,” he continued, “and see what happened!” The disciples go and find the monk sitting on a mat and mourning the sin he has committed. Seeing the disciples of Anthony, the monk tells them: "Tell the elder to beg God to give me only ten days of life - and I hope to cleanse my sin and repent." But five days later he died.

Caiaphas, being high priest for that year,
predicted that Jesus would die for the people"(John 11: 51).
Respect for sacred dignity

Caiaphas, who received the position of high priest for money and condemned the Lord to death, uttered a prophecy that signifies the very essence of the redemptive feat of Jesus Christ: “ it is better for us that one man should die for the people than that the whole nation should perish"(John 11:50). Why did the Spirit speak through the mouth of the wicked? - Because, answers Chrysostom, that Caiaphas, despite all his crimes and evil temper, was legal bishop: “Having been fully worthy of the bishopric, although he was unworthy, he prophesied, himself not understanding what he was saying. Grace used only his lips, but did not touch the impure heart ... However, even at the same time, the Spirit was still inherent in them. Only when they lifted up their hands on Christ did He leave them and pass on to the apostles.

Similarly, a clergyman, no matter how badly he lives, is an instrument of the Spirit of God and a performer of His Sacraments until the holy dignity is removed from him. That is why it is so terrible to fall into the condemnation of priests, even if they lead an impious life, although this is often only an appearance, for, as St. Ignatius writes, “the dishonor inflicted on the servants of the altar refers to the altar, to the God Who is present in it and Worshiped.”

VII. The Resurrection of Lazarus as an allegory for the healing of the soul

Lazarus, a four-day inhabitant of the gloomy land of the dead, is the image of our soul, dead by virtues and emitting the stench of sinful habits. Few of the Christians who read the holy lines about the resurrection of the four-day dead did not then sigh together with the venerable hymnographer about their own resurrection and forgiveness of sins: Christ is four days old, raise me up, now dead by my sins, and laid in a ditch, and darker than the canopy of death, and as if you were merciful, deliver and save me "," save me from my passions, as before the four days of Your friend Lazarus "," A dead man is stinking, bound by a O Lord, thou hast raised up, and I, who am not bound by the captives of sins, raise up singing ”

Saint Andrew of Crete sees in the resurrection of Lazarus the triumph of grace over the deadly letter of the Law: Jesus, again grieving inwardly, comes to the tomb. That was a cave the dark heart of the Jews and the stone lay on it - gross and cruel disbelief . Jesus said: Take away the stone. Heavy - naughty - roll away the stone to extract the dead from the letter of Scripture. Take away the stone- the unbearable yoke of the Law, so that they could receive the life-giving Word of grace. Take away the stone- covering and burdening the mind.

But all the Fathers in general attribute the allegorical meaning of the resurrection of Lazarus to the resurrection of our inner man. Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria writes about this most vividly, vividly and fully: “Our mind is a friend of Christ, but is often overcome by the weakness of human nature, falls into sin and dies a spiritual death and the most miserable, but on the part of Christ honored with regret, for the dead is His friend . Let the sisters and relatives of the dead mind - flesh, like Martha (for Martha is more bodily and material), and the soul, like Mary (for Mary is more pious and reverent), come to Christ and fall down before Him, leading after them the thoughts of confession, as those are Jews. For Judas means confession. And the Lord, no doubt, will appear at the tomb, the blindness lying in the memory will order to be taken away, as if some kind of stone, and will bring to memory future blessings and torments. And he will call with the great voice of the gospel trumpet: get out of the world, do not be buried in worldly entertainment and passions; - just as He said to His disciples: you are not of the world’ (John 15:19), and the apostle Paul: ‘ and we will go to Him for mill’ (Heb. 13:13), that is, the world, and thus will raise from sin the deceased, whose wounds smelled of malice. The deceased emitted a smell because he was four days old, that is, he died for the four meek and bright virtues and was idle and motionless to them. However, although he was motionless and bound hand and foot, he was squeezed by the bonds of his own sins and seemed completely inactive, although he was covered over his face with a handkerchief, so that when the carnal cover was applied he could not see anything divine, in short, he was in the worst position and "according to activity", which is signified by hands and feet, and "according to contemplation", which is signified by a covered face - so, although he is in such a distressed situation, he will hear: untie him good and saving angels or priests and give him forgiveness sins, let him go and begin to do good.”

What may the merciful Lord grant us!

Literature

• Bible. Moscow: Russian Bible Society. 2004.
• Lenten triode. In 2 hours. Moscow: Edition of the Moscow Patriarchy. 1992.
• John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. Creations. SPb.: Ed. SPbDA, 1898. Vol. 1, part 2. Reprint.
• John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. Creations. SPb.: Ed. SPbDA, 1902. Vol. 8, part 1. Reprint.
• Amphilochius of Iconium, saint. Word on the resurrection of Lazarus// http://www.portal-slovo.ru/theology/37620.php
• Basil the Great, saint. About the sorrow and tears of Jesus Christ before the resurrection of Lazarus. Cit. on: Barsov M. Interpretation // Sat. Art. on the interpretive and instructive reading of the Four Gospels, with a bibliographic index. St. Petersburg: Synodal Printing House. 1893. V. 2. S. 300. Reprint.
• Ephraim Sirin, reverend. About the resurrection of Lazarus. Cit. on: Barsov M. Interpretation. pp. 292-295.
• Andrew of Crete, reverend. Conversation on the Fourth Day Lazarus // Christian Reading. 1826. XXII.
• Ignaty Brianchaninov, saint. Sermons // Sobr. op. in 7 volumes. Moscow: Blagovest, 2001. Vol. 4.
• Ignaty Brianchaninov, saint. Paternik // Collected. op. in 7 vols. T. 6.
• An ancient patericon set out in chapters. M.: Publishing House of the Athos Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery. 1891. Reprint.
• Evfimy Zigaben, monk. Interpretation of the Gospel of John, compiled according to the ancient patristic interpretations of the Byzantine XII century. Kyiv, 1887. Vol. 2. Reprint.
• Theophylact of Bulgaria, blessed. Commentary on the Gospel of John // Theophylact of Bulgaria, blessed. Interpretation of the Four Gospels. M .: Sretensky Monastery, 2000. T. 2.

There. Song 7.

Andrew of Crete, reverend. Discourse on Lazarus of the Fourth Day. S. 5.

Theophylact of Bulgaria, blissful. Commentary on the Gospel of John. T. 2. Ch. 11. S. 197.

In the Zachatievsky Monastery, with special reverence and love, the holy righteous Lazarus of the Four Days, Bishop of Kitia, is venerated. The veneration of this amazing saint, friend of God, goes back to the very beginning of the revival of the monastery, when on April 10, 1993, on Lazarus Saturday, in the Gate Church of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, the first monastery church handed over to the sister community, the Divine Liturgy was served, for the first time after seventy years of desolation and persecution. So the holy righteous Lazarus became the heavenly patron of the monastery. The Resurrection of Lazarev, celebrated on that memorable day, foreshadowed the resurrection of monastic life within the walls of the oldest maiden monastery in Moscow. The nuns of the monastery turned in prayer to the holy righteous Lazarus for grace-filled help in external labors, and even more so in internal prayer work, sobriety and repentance. By the grace of God, in 2004 a pilgrimage to Cyprus took place and it became possible to venerate the whole-bearing relics of St. Lazarus, friend of the Lord. Mother and sisters had in their hearts a pious desire to keep in their monastery a particle of the holy relics of the revered saint. For this purpose, an appeal was even prepared, which could not be sent due to the circumstances of the time, but the letter was nevertheless “registered” in the “heavenly office”, and in 2012, 19 years after the first Liturgy in the monastery, the holy righteous Lazarus was pleased to visit the ancient maiden abode in their relics. At the beginning of June 2012, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill paid a visit to the fraternal Cypriot Orthodox Church, and His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus, as a token of the fraternal communion of the two Churches, presented His Holiness with a precious gift - an icon of the holy righteous Lazarus of Four Days and an ark with a large particle of his holy relics, with an urgent with the wish that the shrine be kept in a large temple with open access for pilgrims to worship. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the Conception Monastery was chosen to receive the reliquary with the shrine. On June 11, 2012, a solemn meeting of the delegation of the Cypriot Church took place in the monastery, which accompanied the ark with a particle of the relics of the holy righteous Lazarus of Four Days, Bishop of Kitia. In the evening they celebrated the All-Night Vigil with Litiya in honor of Righteous Lazarus. By 21.00, a host of Moscow clergy (about 100 priests) had gathered in the cathedral. At the end of the service, in a procession of the cross, the clergy and monastics went to the square in front of the holy gates of the monastery, to the monument to St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow. The entire cathedral, the cathedral square and the square in front of the monastery were filled with pious pilgrims who came to pray and venerate the holy relics. In reverent silence, everyone waited and finally waited for the arrival of the holy relics. Since that blessed day, the ark with the relics of St. Lazarus of the Four Days has been kept in the monastery cathedral, where prayers are served before it, an akathist is read.

The holy righteous Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, lived in the village of Bethany, not far from Jerusalem. During His earthly life, the Lord often visited the house of Lazarus, whom He loved very much and called His friend, and when Lazarus died and had lain in the tomb for four days, the Lord raised him from the dead. Many Jews, having heard about this, came to Bethany and, having convinced themselves of the reality of this greatest miracle, became followers of Christ. For this, the chief priests wanted to kill Lazarus. Righteous Lazarus is mentioned in the Holy Gospel one more time: when 6 days before Pascha the Lord again came to Bethany, the resurrected Lazarus was also there (John 12:1-2, John 12:9-11).

With the intensification of persecution, Lazar the Four-Day was forced to move to Cyprus. According to tradition, the holy apostles met Lazarus in Cyprus and ordained him a bishop. Righteous Lazarus became the bishop of Kittia (as the city of Larnaca in Cyprus used to be called). Not much information has been preserved about the righteous Lazarus. According to legend, the Lady Theotokos Herself made with Her own hands the holy omophorion for Lazarus and made a sea voyage to the island of Cyprus in order to personally convey this gift to the new Bishop of Kitty.

Lazar lived in Cyprus in the silence of his thoughts and labors. He never smiled after his resurrection, for he touched the mystery of life and death unknown to those living on earth. Righteous Lazar the Four Days lived on the island of Cyprus for about thirty years. It is not known how the saint died, but the Christians buried him with honor in a stone sarcophagus, and other bishops were later buried nearby. After many destructions from wars and earthquakes, the city moved to another place, and the burial of the ancient bishops, being under the rubble, was forgotten.

For a long time the grave of Lazarus was unknown. But at the burial place of the righteous, amazing events began to occur. In 392, the Cypriot Icon of the Mother of God was revealed there, famous for miracles. After the appearance of the Cypriot Icon of the Mother of God, a healing spring gushed in the same place, it then disappeared, then reappeared. And there were many more miraculous phenomena in the same place. At the end of the 8th century, it was decided to build a temple here. And then the ruins of an ancient church were discovered underground. Ancient sarcophagi were excavated, the inscription on one of which read: "Lazarus of the Four Days, friend of Christ." The place where the temple was found was called Larnaca (the tomb of Lazarus). Emperor Leo the Wise, who ruled then, decided to transfer the holy remains of Lazarus to Constantinople.
For many centuries, Orthodox Christians were convinced that the relics of St. Christ were lost in Constantinople during the destruction of it by the Crusaders. But in 1972, during the reconstruction of the temple of Lazarus in Larnaca, the stone throne was dismantled, at the base of which they found a white marble ark with particles of relics. On the lid was an inscription that inside the holy relics of Lazarus of Kita. Currently, in the restored temple in Larnaca, the shrine is exhibited in the temple near the icon of the resurrection of Lazarus the Four Days. You can go down under the altar to the tombs of the first bishops, where holy water flows from the empty tomb of Lazarus: this is the same source that pointed the Cypriots to the burial place of St. Lazarus.

Many people turn to the multi-healing relics of the righteous Lazarus, especially those who are in a state of severe despondency and despair, and the saint invariably helps everyone, strengthening the spirit and multiplying faith. Saint Lazarus, together with his holy sisters, the righteous Martha and Mary, is also the patron of hospitality and other works of mercy.

Saint Lazarus

History of the Temple in his honor in Larnaca

Larnaca, ancient Kition, the birthplace of the Stoic Zenon, has one of the most beautiful and oldest churches in Cyprus: the Church of St. Lazarus, friend of Christ. The church was built on the very tomb of the Saint, who, according to tradition, was the first Bishop of Kita.

Let's turn to history. Saint Lazarus (Eleazar of Hebron) was a resident of the town of Bethany, 3 km east of Jerusalem. He is known as the "friend of Christ" who was resurrected by Jesus on the fourth day after his death (John 11:11). The Bible notes the friendly relations of our Lord with the family of Lazarus, says: “Jesus loved Martha and her sister [Mary] and [their brother] Lazarus” (John 11, 5).

Several times Christ enjoyed their hospitality. One day, when Jesus was returning from Galilee to Jerusalem (where he was soon condemned to be crucified, “for the life of the world” - John 6:51), two sisters of Lazarus; Martha and Mary met him with the sad news of their brother's fatal illness: “Lord! That's who You love, sick." And our Lord, who proclaimed that “this disease is not unto death,” but to the glory of God, may the Son of God be glorified through it (John 11:4), postponed his departure for two days and went to Bethany. Christ arrived in Bethany on the fourth day after the burial of Lazarus. “Grieved in spirit” He stood before the tomb and, being the Lord of life and death, resurrected Lazarus, although “Lazarus lay dead in the tomb for four days and already stank” (John 11, 1-44).

Later, Lazarus was forced to leave his homeland and seek shelter in Kition, as the high priests and Pharisees entered into a conspiracy and sought to kill him. “And the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus also, because for his sake many of the Jews came and believed in Jesus.” (John 12:10-11).

The most probable time when Lazarus left his homeland is 33 AD. and, more precisely, the period of persecution that broke out after the stoning of Stephen, when the Jewish Christians, who "dispersed from the persecution that was after Stephen, went to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch." (Acts 11, 19). According to Christian tradition, Lazarus was 30 years old in the thirty-third year. And after the resurrection for another 30 years he lived in Kition in Cyprus and died about 63 AD, at the age of 60 years. The apostles Paul and Barnabas met him here during their arrival in the year 45 and ordained him to the rank of Bishop of Kitia. For 18 years St. Lazarus was the shepherd of the Christian community of the city (45-63 AD). After his second death, he was buried in the place where the Byzantine temple in his honor now stands (see “Against Heresies” by St. Epiphanius of Constantius, p. 4).

We do not know the details of his life and work as Bishop of Kition, since written documents from that era have not survived to this day. But we have every reason to assume that his pastoral work, like the work of other pastors, could not be easy because of the strength of two rivals, on the one hand, paganism and especially the cult of Aphrodite, which was widespread in Cyprus at that time, and on the other hand, the fanaticism of the numerous Jewish communities of Cyprus. The Cypriot church was forced to wage a long and hard struggle in order to win.

The stay of St. Lazarus in Larnaca is associated with various legends. According to one of them, for thirty years after the resurrection, Saint Lazarus never smiled and only once broke his custom. Someone wanted to steal the pot; Seeing this, Saint Lazarus smiled and exclaimed: "Clay steals clay." Saint Lazarus was upset by the sight that opened up to him in hell, where he spent four days after his death. The souls of the dead, who had not yet been saved by the sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross, shook Saint Lazarus. (The atoning sacrifice of Christ on the Cross had not yet been brought, there had not yet been the Resurrection of Christ, which saved man from sin and eternal condemnation).

Finally, there is one more tradition worth mentioning. It concerns a visit to Cyprus by the Lady of the Blessed Mary.

According to this tradition, Saint Lazarus was very sad because he could no longer see the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of our Lord and his friend. Therefore, he sent a ship to the Holy Land to bring her to Cyprus along with St. John and other disciples.

But when the ship on board which were the Mother of God and her companions sailed to Kition, a storm broke out, which carried the ship very far, into the Aegean Sea, to Greece, to the shores of the holy Mount Athos (Greece), where she converted pagans into Christians. And she begged Her Son for the blessing and intercession of all those who in the future will "strive the good fight of faith" (I Tim 6:12) - like monks and ascetics - on Mount Athos. Finally, she sailed to Kition, where she met Saint Lazarus and presented him with an archbishop's pallium, bound by her hands. Having blessed the Temple of Kition, the Virgin Mary departed for the Holy Land.

The legend about the arrival of Lazarus in Cyprus and his consecration to the rank of Bishop of Kitaia spread widely throughout the world, including reaching distant Russia. In the Pskov Monastery in Russia, there is a church dedicated to “Saint Lazarus, Bishop of Kitia”.

In ancient times, there was such a custom in Larnaca: on the day of St. Lazarus, which is celebrated on Saturday on the eve of Palm Sunday, a procession of children with palm branches in their hands went around the houses of the parish residents. At the head of the procession was a boy representing Saint Lazarus. It was decorated with red poppies and yellow wild daisies, known in Cyprus as “lazaros”. During the procession, the children sang a popular song to Lazorev.

On the same day, in the courtyard of the temple, in the presence of all the parishioners, the Resurrection of Lazarus was depicted in a ceremony. Both priests and children participated in the performance, where the priests sang church troparions about the resurrection of the Saint. These two customs no longer exist today.

The church in honor of St. Lazarus has been known in the Christian world since ancient times. Until the early years of the twentieth century, the Temple was a constant place of pilgrimage for pilgrims to the Holy Land. In addition, many healings and other miracles were performed here thanks to the grace of St. Lazarus. According to Pietro Della Balle, a Roman nobleman and traveler who visited Larnaca in 1614-1626, when he doubted the fact of the arrival of St. temple.

The importance of this place of pilgrimage was confirmed in November 1972, when during the work undertaken for the restoration of the temple, particles from the relics of the Saint were found.

As you know, the relics of St. Lazarus were first discovered in 890 in his grave in the small church that existed on the site of the current temple. On the sarcophagus was the inscription "Lazarus, who was dead for four days, Friend of Christ." The then emperor of Byzantium, Leo VI the Wise, learning about this, ordered the delivery of the Holy relic to Constantinople, the capital of the empire, and sent money to Kition for the construction of a new temple and craftsmen. We cannot imagine that the inhabitants of Kition gave up all the relics without keeping at least a small part of the holy relics. And the fact that only a small part of the relics was discovered in 1972, and not all of them, is evidence of their authenticity. On the east side of the sarcophagus, which is today kept under the altar and in which some remains of the relics were found, one can make out an inscription made in Greek capital letters ΦΙΛΙΟΥ - which means "Friend" in the genitive case. It is likely that this sarcophagus was put in place of the original, which may have been taken to Constantinople with the main part of the relics.

The event of the transfer of the holy relics from Kition to Constantinople was immortalized by Aretas, Bishop of Caesarea, in his two famous speeches delivered on this occasion. In the first speech he praises the arrival of the holy relics from Kition to Constantinople, and in the second speech he describes the procession organized by the emperor to carry the relics from Chrysopolis to the great Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. Emperor Leo VI, in addition to the temple dedicated to Saint Lazarus in Kition, built another temple in Constantinople, in honor of the same saint. After the capture of Constantinople by the Franks in 1204, the crusaders, among other treasures they took to the West, also took away the relics of St. Lazarus and brought them to Marseille, where their traces are lost. To this day, their fate is unknown. As already mentioned, the famous ancient ancient temple of St. Lazarus was erected on the tomb of the Saint and the city of Larnaca is proud of it. Who can enter a temple and remain indifferent?! The temple exudes the splendor and splendor of early Christianity. Its famous iconostasis is an excellent example of wood carving, which looks like a huge embroidery embroidered with gold threads. Countless figures of saints decorating it are mystical, full of "the peace of God, which is beyond all mind." The beautiful iconostasis really looks like the firmament of heaven and its icons “shining stars”, a true picture of the “cathedral ... of the firstborn written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23), a picture that vividly reminds of the other world.

The Church of St. Lazarus is one of the two three-domed churches that exist today in Cyprus. The other is near Famagusta. This is the temple of the monastery of St. Barnabas. These two churches belong to a rare architectural type and are very different from other multi-domed temples.

The temple was built, as already noted, at the end of the 9th century (about 890) by Leo VI the Wise, the emperor of Byzantium. All of stone with three naves, central and side, and three domes built on the middle nave. These three domes were subsequently demolished. According to legend, they were demolished during the Turkish occupation, when a Turkish officer who sailed to the port of Larnaca, mistaking the domes of the Temple for the domes of a mosque, knelt down and prayed. Subsequently, he ordered the "shortening" of the dome. According to another version, the domes were damaged by an earthquake, the date of which is unknown; however, in 1734, when the Russian monk Vasily Barsky visited the temple, the domes had already been destroyed.

By the end of the Frankish period (1191 - 1571), and according to another opinion, around 1750 (when restoration work was carried out under the direction of Bishop Makarios I of Kita), an arcade was erected, which we see today on the south side of the temple.

In 1857 the bell tower was built. Prior to this, the temple did not have a stone bell tower, and the bells were attached to wooden poles standing on pedestals. As you know, from the beginning of the Turkish occupation of Cyprus in 1571 until the middle of the 19th century, all bell towers were banned by the conquerors, as well as the bell ringing in Christian churches. This ban was lifted in 1856 when Orthodox Russia demanded it. But even after that, the bells could be rung only after special permission received from the vizier. The only bell allowed in Nicosia was the Faneromeni temple bell. The Church of St. Lazarus in Larnaca had bells long before 1856 and the Turks allowed this. In general, the inhabitants of Larnaca had somewhat more freedom than the rest of the population of Cyprus, due to the fact that a large European community lived in Larnaca and there were numerous foreign consulates. But long before that, during the Frankish period (1191-1571), the church of St. Lazarus had an imposing bell tower. We can see this in the old plans of Larnaca, published in Europe by travelers of the past centuries, in which the church appears with domes and a very high bell tower, (see for example OL Dapper, "NauKeurige", Amserdam, 1866).

Apparently, this bell tower was later destroyed by the Turks. And since the Byzantines did not build high bell towers, we assume that the first bell tower was built during the Frankish period in the Italian style.

The windows of the temple used to be much smaller and narrower than they are now. And so little light penetrated inside the temple, which corresponded to the needs of Byzantine church architecture. (See “0 Impressions of Signor de Villamont, a Foreign Traveler in 1589” in “Excerpta Cypria”.

The architecture of the temple, generally speaking, is an example of a rare old style. She apparently made a deep impression on foreign travelers. Alexander Drumond, the English consul in Aleppo (Syria), who visited Cyprus in 1745, wrote, for example, the following: “In the city of Salines (as Larnaca was called at that time by the Europeans) there is a church dedicated to Saint Lazarus; its architecture is such that I can say: I have never seen anything like it.” Piero Della Balle (1614 - 1626), mentioned above, describes the church as “old, built in a beautiful architectural style”.

The iconostasis of the temple is made with exceptional craftsmanship, it is considered one of the finest examples of wood carving in Cyprus. This iconostasis, as well as the iconostasis of the Archangel Michael Church “Tripetis”, was made by the outstanding wood carver Hadji Savvas Taliadoros, who arrived from Nicosia. The construction of the iconostasis began in 1773 and was completed in 1782. Soon, in 1793-1797. the iconostasis was covered with gold and the icons were painted by the icon painter Hadji-Michael and his successors or associates. The iconostasis is decorated with 120 icons of amazing craftsmanship. Thirteen large icons are in the lower tier, 60 smaller icons are in the upper tiers (30 in each). 25 icons are located at the side doors to the Altar and 4 at the top at the Cross (crucifixion), they also include a symbolic image of a “pelican” at the pedestal of the Cross. The rest are small cyclic icons, 16 of which are located in the middle tier and 2 at the top of the iconostasis.

The altarpiece is a masterpiece of woodcarving (work of 1773), as is the episcopal seat with the icon of St. Lazarus, which was painted in 1734.

Some precious Byzantine icons are kept in the temple. Probably, they were on the previous iconostasis.

One of them depicts St. Lazarus in a bishop's robe, covered with crosses. The other belongs to the popular Byzantine style and depicts the resurrection of St. Lazarus; 4 large icons are located on the stands decorating the four buttresses of the central vault.

This is a Russian silver-plated icon of the Virgin Mary, an icon of the resurrection of Lazarus, an icon of St. Nicholas and an icon of St. George depicting scenes from his life. This icon dates back to 1717 and was painted by Yakovos Mosos, a Cretan icon painter. It seems that in the past the walls of the church of St. Lazarus were covered with frescoes, since until the last century, some frescoes were visible on the buttresses of the central vault. Probably these frescoes were destroyed due to high humidity in the Larnaca region and especially in the Skala quarter, where the altitude is very low. The neighborhood of Saint Lazarus, southwest of the temple to the Salt Lake, was a vast swampy area. Known under the name "Svyato Lazarevo Lake".

In ancient times, when the Skala area (St. Lazarus quarter) was uninhabited and the city was limited by the aisles of Larnaca, the temple of St. Lazarus, located at a distance from the city, functioned as a monastery. During the Frankish period on the island, the Franks turned the church into a Benedictine (Roman Catholic) monastery, for a short time the monastery was run by Armenian Roman Catholics. When the Turks captured Cyprus in 1571, they also captured the Church of St. Lazarus, as well as all the other churches owned by the Latins. In 1589 the church was returned to the Orthodox Church for 3000 silver. At the same time, Roman Catholics were allowed to serve twice a year in the temple (on the day of St. to the efforts of Archbishop Chrysanthos (1767-1810) and Bishop Melitios I of Kita (1776-1797), since the Latins, based on this privilege, claimed common ownership of the temple. the five-cross emblem of the Latins still exists (also known as the “Jerusalem Cross”), and in the small chapel adjacent to the altar, a small Latin altar is still preserved, as a reminder of the presence of Roman Catholics in days gone by. At the dawn of the 18th century, when the Skala area grew rapidly and gradually turned into a second city, near the old Larnaca, the Church of St. Lazarus became the main parish church of the entire new city of Skala. It is called a monastery in all documents of that time, despite the fact that long before that time it had ceased to be a monastery church. Various living rooms and cells around the temple, the monastic ritual observed in the church, many services and numerous church staff gave it a monastic appearance. Divine services in this temple have always been performed with dignity and splendor. The dwellings surrounding the temple (formerly about twenty) served in the last century as a hospitable shelter for travelers, pilgrims, and merchants.

In the north-western part of the courtyard surrounding the temple, there is a small Protestant cemetery with marble carved tombstones over the graves, where European merchants, sailors, English consuls and American missionaries are buried.

The church of St. Lazarus is uniquely connected with the life of the townspeople of Larnaca. But before continuing, let's take a quick look at the history of the city. Skala and Larnaca, twin cities about a mile apart, were built in the Middle Ages on the site of the ruins of ancient Kition. Initially, during the Franco-Venetian period (1191-1571), the city was Larnaca, known to Europeans by the name “Salines” - the city of the salt lake, while “The Rock”, known to the Europeans under the name “Marina”, consisted of port warehouses and a small settlement around the church of St. Lazarus. The inhabitants were engaged in the maintenance of the port - the development of a salt deposit. Salt was of high quality and successfully sold in Europe. In the XV century. the role of the seaport of Famagusta is no longer so significant, the importance of Larnaca is growing so much that for almost 5 centuries (from the 15th to the end of the 19th century) Larnaca has become one of the leading ports in the Mediterranean Sea and the most important center of international trade, a link between Europe and the Middle East . That is why various European countries of that time: France, England, Austria, Venice, Ragusa, Sicily, Spain, Russia, Greece, Holland, etc. founded their colonies and consulates here. With the increasing importance of the port, the population of the seaside region of Skala increases. In the second half of the XVIII century. an insignificant seaside settlement turned into a prosperous town near Larnaca, in which a European presence was felt due to the presence of hundreds of Europeans (merchants, consuls, etc.) who settled in the twin cities. So, during the Turkish occupation, the city of Skala - Larnaca was the only “window” of Cyprus to the outside world, a place where contacts with European civilization were possible, where a ray of light could penetrate in those difficult times of slavery.

While Nicosia was the administrative center of the country, Larnaca was the diplomatic and commercial center of the island. Until the beginning of the 20th century. the city continued to be a major factor in the social, cultural, commercial, educational life of Cyprus. However, after the transfer of consulates to Nicosia and the restructuring of the ports in Famagusta and Limassol, the importance of Larnaca is decreasing, the city is losing its former splendor and glory.

The Church of Saint Lazarus is so closely connected with the life of the city that its history is inseparable from the history of Larnaca. For at least two and a half centuries (from the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century), the Church of St. Lazarus was the religious, national, philanthropic and educational center of the city, the axis around which the religious and social life of Larnaca revolved.

Historian N. Kyriazis, in his book “The City of Larnaca in the Light of Historical Documents,” says: “Among the few churches in Cyprus that have attracted universal attention and participated in the historical process, the Church of St. Cyprus shows such a diverse activity as the church of St. Lazarus showed. She founded and maintained schools, took care of hospitals and cemeteries, helped the poor, defended the interests of the townspeople, and helped all those in need. The temple was a strong and wise representative of the city and its interests.

The management of the temple was in the hands of the Committee, which was appointed until 1854 by choosing from the most worthy. After 1854, the Committee began to be elected by parishioners. Since 1734 there is an archive about the members of the committee and their activities. Until 1734, there is no written evidence of the committee's activities. During the Turkish occupation, the Church Committee was considered a committee by all the communities of the city of Skala, the townspeople respected it very much. The Turkish authorities saw him as a factor they had to take into account.

The role of the Church of St. Lazarus in the field of enlightenment of the people was unique. At the beginning of the 19th century, private schools functioned in Skala-Larnaca, which could only be attended by children of wealthy parents.

Around 1850 the Church of St. Lazarus founded public schools, the maintenance of which the Church took over. One of these public schools was founded in 1857 in the courtyard behind the church, and its building with the corresponding inscription on the facade can still be seen today.

During the Turkish occupation and the first decades of the British administration, the church also played a remarkable role in the field of philanthropy and welfare, because the "state" of that time did not provide such institutions.

Finally, it should be noted that when the President of the Church Committee in 1922-1924 and 1927-1928. was the historian Dr. Kyriazis, the “Museum of the Church of St. Lazarus” was created, which was located in the building of the already mentioned public school, in the courtyard behind the temple. This museum contained many Byzantine icons (apparently they were icons of an older iconostasis), and other church treasures. Unfortunately, these items were moved to the castle, located in the "Turkish Quarter" of the Rock, where the Larnaca District Museum was located. As a result, during the Turkish uprising in 1963, these objects fell into the hands of the Turks and disappeared.

The melodic ringing of the bells of the Church of St. Lazarus is heard in all corners of Larnaca. Their familiar ringing is woven into the everyday life of the townspeople.

How many generations of people came to the morning and evening services, announced by the ringing of the Temple bells! Of particular importance are those solemn services (vespers, matins, Holy Liturgy, lithium), when the icon of St. Lazarus is taken out to the streets of Larnaca and the procession is performed. This happens on St. Lazarus Day on the Saturday before Palm Sunday and on the eve of that day.

These days, the inhabitants of Larnaca feel closer to the holy places, and again experience "the divine drama and wonderful moments before the resurrection in the second real Bethany at the grave of the beloved Friend of Christ."

Here, very briefly, this is the history of the Temple of St. Lazarus, friend of Christ, the first Bishop of Kita and the patron saint of Larnaca, whose second and last grave is carefully preserved in this beautiful Byzantine church, which is more than a thousand years old.

Hieromonk Sofronios R. Michaelides

Church.

On the There are two three-domed temples in Cyprus: St. Lazarus in the city of Larnaca, which will be discussed in this article, and the temple of the monastery of St. Barbara near the city of Famagusta. Construction Church of St. Lazarus began in 890 on the site of a church already existing at that time, where a friend of Jesus Christ, Lazarus, was buried. Facilities for the construction were provided to the city of Kition (then the city of Larnaca was called) by the emperor of Byzantium Leo VI the Wise, in exchange for part of the relics of St. Lazarus. Temple made of stone, consists of three naves - central and side rooms and three domes located on the middle nave. IN early history of the temple, when the area where it is located was uninhabited, there were swamps around (Svyato Lazarevsky swamps), this building had the status of a monastery.

IN During the period of the Venetian occupation of Cyprus, the temple was called a Benedictine monastery and belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. After the Turks captured Cyprus, the temple was bought by the Orthodox Church (1589) Turks the presence of Orthodoxy was beneficial, as they tried to reduce the influence of European Catholicism in the region. but Catholics were allowed to serve twice a year in the temple within the small chapel that adjoined the altar from the north, until 1794, when Archbishop Chrysanthos and Bishop MelitiosI, outraged by the claims of Catholics to the sole possession of the temple, did not cancel the permit for Catholic services.

ABOUT Catholic presence speaks "Jerusalem Cross", which can still be observed at the northern entrance to the temple and the Latin altar, located in a small chapel adjacent to the altar of the temple. FROM development of the city, the temple actually ceases to be a monastery, it is only listed as one according to documents, up toXIXcentury.
Three the domes were subsequently destroyed, either by an earthquake, or they were ordered to be demolished by the Turkish invaders (by 1571 the entire island was occupied by the Ottoman Empire).

Arcade near the temple was built during the restoration work later.

IN during the period of Ottoman rule in Cyprus, bell ringing and the bell towers themselves were prohibited - the bells in the Church of St. Lazarus were located on wooden structures in the form of pillars - in Larnaca, Turkish influence was not established in such a strict framework as in other cities of Cyprus, no one removed the bells. IN 1856 Russia demanded the abolition of this ban. Across a few years the construction of a stone bell tower was completed, which later also collapsed and was restored again.

Iconostasis temple - the embodiment of high craftsmanship of woodcarving. His creation began in the 1770s and continued for several decades. covered it is gold, decorated with 120 icons. Altar made in 1773 and is also a standard of woodcarving craftsmanship. Icon with the image of St. Lazarus in a vestment covered with crosses - the bishop's robe, an icon telling about the resurrection of Lazarus and many other icons adorn the walls of the temple.

Resurrection of Lazarus.

Given an event, like almost any other religious story, can be called a legend, a fairy tale, etc. IN In a simplified form, it can be rephrased as follows:

LAzar and his two sisters - Martha and Mary were friends of Jesus Christ, who often visited their house in the village of Bethany on the West Bank of the Jordan River, 3 km. from the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem.Est several options "how Jesus knew that Lazarus was sick."Pabout according to one data, during the illness and subsequent death of Lazarus, Jesus was on the other side of the Jordan and foresaw the illness and death of a friend “Jesus Christ foresaw with His Divinity”, told the apostles about this and they all went together to Bethany to Lazarus.Pabout to others, when Lazarus fell seriously ill, Jesus was already on the way to Bethany with the Apostles, but did not foresee the extremely painful state of his friend (at least, he did not tell his fellow travelers anything about it). sisters Lazarus learned that Jesus was heading towards them in the company of the Apostles, they sent messengers to meet them so that they would hurry them up. Martha and Mary believed that Jesus could heal Lazarus, who was already dying. Sent By the sisters of Lazarus, the people met the travelers and told them the whole situation. Despite To this, Jesus ordered the Apostles to stop for a couple of days to rest. On the Inquiring glances of the Apostles regarding such slowness in such an urgent matter as the cure of Lazarus, Jesus allegedly said: “The illness of Lazarus is not to death, but to the glory of God. May the Son of God be glorified through her…” Those., through the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus will once again glorify God and himself. IN As a result, according to the first or second scenario described above, and perhaps according to some other, Jesus ended up in Bethany when Lazarus had already died, moreover, he had already begun to decompose. By According to various descriptions, a fetid odor emanated from the burial cave with a stone-covered entrance: “Lord, Lord, our brother Lazarus, has been lying and stinking in a coffin for four days!” Martha said to Jesus, hebutshe no longer believed that in this situation it was possible to somehow return life to her brother's body. IN In the hot climate of Palestine, the rotting of corpses begins quickly, so the funeral is carried out immediately - on the day of a person's death. On the the fourth day, in such a climate, the signs of decomposition become so obvious that no sane person, at the sight of such a rotting body, will even have the thought of any kind of resurrection. Skeptical the attitude of Lazar's sister Martha to this is understandable. IN Jesus answered: “Your brother will rise again, for I am the Resurrection and the life. Didn't I tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? » After After this, Jesus went to the burial cave and told them to remove the stone blocking the entrance to it. sisters Lazarus agreed, and the stone was removed. Around people crowded around, all closely watching what was happening. Jews standing in the crowd shouted insults at Jesus, someone pointedly spat, showing their disgust at what was happening, and the rest simply stopped to watch. Jesus looked at the sky and read a prayer, tears flowed down his cheeks. Across For some time Jesus approached the open burial cave a little and said loudly: “Lazarus, get out!” On the In the eyes of numerous people, Lazarus, wrapped in burial linens, with a scarf on his head, came out of the cave. By according to some sources, he came out slowly, according to others, he ran out, as if frightened by something, a man. Jesus said, "Untie him, let him go!" People were so surprised by what had happened that no one could utter a word. Some the Jews, after what they saw, harbored even greater anger at Jesus, hurried to Jerusalem. There they told the members of the Sanhedrin (the highest judicial body in the cities of Ancient Judea) about what had happened, and soon a decision was made to kill Jesus. Next For two days Jesus stayed with the resurrected Lazarus at home. There He told Lazarus to go to Cyprus to avoid persecution by the Jews. Lazarus arrived in Cyprus in 33 AD at the age of 30, where he later had the title of the first Bishop of Kita. lived Lazar after the resurrection for another 30 years in the city of Kition (on the site of Kition, the city of Larnaca was formed, once consisting of two cities: Larnaca itself and the port part of Skala, where the church of St. Lazarus was located). According to According to legend, after arriving in Cyprus, Lazar never smiled, only once a smile appeared on his face when he saw someone steal a pot - "Clay steals clay!" he said with a smile. So he took all his food with honey (or with a low-alcohol drink based on it), supposedly "to sweeten his longing for his friend Jesus." Yet There is a legend that at that time there was a large vineyard on the site of the Salt Lake in Kition (Larnaca). Lazarus walked there and wanted to drink grape juice, went up to the owner and asked permission. IN the owner answered that he had no grapes. When Lazar pointed to a basket full of grapes standing nearby, the owner said that it was salt. Soon the vineyard withered, and a swamp formed in its place, and then a large salt lake, which is now called "Salt Lake".

Relics of Saint Lazarus.

For the first time the relics of St. Lazarus were discovered in 890 in the church, which was located on the site of the current church of St. Lazarus. On the the crypt was inscribed "Lazarus, who was dead for four days, friend of Christ." IN at that time the Emperor of Byzantium was LeoVI Wise. He learned about this find and ordered the delivery of the Holy relics to the capital of the Empire, Constantinople. Instead allocated funds and forces for the construction of a new temple on the site of an existing one. IN In 1972, part of the remains of the Saint was discovered in a sarcophagus under the altar of the church of St. Lazarus. This says that the inhabitants of Kition did not give up all the relics entirely. Sarcophagus and is still in its place to this day. On the one of its sides is an inscription meaning the word "Friend". He made to replace the sarcophagus, which was taken to Constantinople by order of LeoVIWise together with part of the relics of St. Lazarus. From Kition The holy relics were brought to Chrysopolis, then moved to the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia. IN later LeoVIexcept the temple at Kition, built another one, named after the same Saint - in Constantinople, where part of the relics was located until the time when they were not captured by the crusaders who conquered the city. They are they took the remains of Saint Lazarus to Marseille, where their fate is not known.

Photos and text: Anatoly Sidorov

Lazar Four-day

Konstantin Ikonomos, lecturer

Ο Άγιος Λάζαρος, ο τετραήμερος

cancer with the relics of St. Righteous Lazarus in Larnaca

SACRED WRITING AND RATIONALISTS: Lazarus grew up in Bethany and was the brother of Martha and Mary. He was a friend of Jesus Christ () Jn. 11.5, 36; Matt. 21, 17; Mk. 11:11) and was raised from the dead by the Lord. The resurrection of Lazarus is described with the most detailed details in chapter 11 of the Gospel by John the Theologian. Many rationalists view the story of this resurrection simply as a " symbol of the spiritual restoration of the sinner" and nothing more.

However, these views contradict some details in the description of this event in the Gospel, which, in fact, leave no doubt about the authority and certainty of his words. So the city of Bethany (15 stadia from Jerusalem), time (four-day dead), fear of stench, description of the tomb, grave clothes, the emotional reaction of the Lord, the presence of the Sadducees (who do not believe in the resurrection), as well as the enemies of the Lord who wanted to kill the Lord himself Jesus, are living proof that John the Evangelist is talking about a real and amazing event.

LAZARUS IN CYPRUS: Lazarus after his resurrection, about 30-33 A.D., left Bethany and came to Larnaca on about. Cyprus. Here he met the apostles Paul and Barnabas on his way from Salamis to Paphos, and he was ordained bishop of the Church, which he himself founded. Saint Lazarus was thirty years after his resurrection by the Lord in Bethany, St. Epiphanius of Cyprus says: “In tradition, we find that Lazarus was then thirty years old when he was resurrected (the Lord) and another thirty years he lived after the resurrection and then reposed in the Lord.”
During the thirty years of his stay as a saint at the episcopal chair in Kitia, St. Theodore the Studite in his Catechism. Popular tradition says that Saint Lazarus was serious and did not laugh for all the thirty years that he lived after his resurrection, not at all because he did not have the grace of God, because among those blessings that he bestowed upon the believers by the All-Holy Spirit are “joy , peace, long-suffering, meekness” (Gal. 5:22), but because his eyes, during the four-day sojourn in hell, saw an endless, eternal condemnation of sinners. It is also said that he smiled only once when he saw a certain woman who stole an earthen vessel and commented on this event as follows: “Clay steals a pylon”, that is, an earthen person steals something made from earth, not knowing that “day Lord, as a thief will come” (I Thess. 5:2). The Western tradition that Lazarus was active as a missionary in Provence and became Bishop of Marseille dates from the 12th century.
DEATH OF THE HOLY: After his second death, which occurred on October 16, according to the Causalian codex, Saint Lazarus was buried in a marble tomb, which, according to the Synaxarion of Constantinople, had the inscription: Lazarus of four days and friend of Christ. In the Caucasian Codex under October 16, accordingly, it is reported that it is necessary to especially celebrate such a great saint, since he was resurrected by the Lord (just like the putting of the finger of the Apostle Thomas into the ribs of Christ), since they are not just holidays of saints, but Lord's holidays. October 16 is also associated with the memory of the acquisition of his honest relics, which took place in the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise, in 890 AD. This event is celebrated on October 17. The Resurrection of Lazarus is celebrated as "Lazarus Saturday". With extraordinary zeal and love, he ruled over the holy Cypriot Church until the end of his earthly life.

Troparion: The general resurrection before your passion, assuring you raised Lazarus from the dead, Christ God. In the same way we, as the youths of victory bearing a sign, We cry to you as the conqueror of death. Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord"

Church of Saint Lazarus in Larnaca, Cyprus

After the resurrection, Lazarus lived another 30 years. He was a bishop in Cyprus and preached Christianity.

The relics of Bishop Lazarus after his death were placed in a Marble ark, on which was written: "Lazarus of the Four Days, friend of Christ." In the 9th century, the Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise ordered the relics of Lazarus to be transferred to Constantinople. And in the city of Kition (now Larnaca) a temple was built in honor of Christ's friend Lazarus.

The church was built on the very tomb of the saint. This temple is a place of pilgrimage for believers.

The temple was built around 890. The English consul in Syria, Alexander Drumond, who visited Cyprus in 1745, wrote admiringly of the Church of Lazarus: "Never have I seen anything like it!"

The iconostasis of the church is considered an example of the most skillful woodcarving. The temple houses several ancient Byzantine icons. Right under the iconostasis, a small church carved into the rock has been preserved - steps lead there from the right side of the iconostasis. It contains two sarcophagi. Lazarus was once buried in one of them.

Around the temple there are still several buildings of the monastery that existed here many years ago. One of them is now a museum. On the territory of the church, a small cemetery has also been preserved, with stunningly beautiful carved stone sarcophagi.

The ringing of the bells of the temple of St. Lazarus is heard in all corners of Larnaca. The life of the townspeople is closely connected with this temple: children are baptized here, weddings are held, a huge number of believers gather here for Sunday and holiday services.

The first Christian archbishop, and after his death and the heavenly patron of the city, was Lazarus, resurrected by Christ. The most famous grave in Larnaca is the tomb of Saint Lazarus. She is in Church of Saint Lazarus, which was built around 900. Church of St. Lazarus and his grave can be seen in the city center.

Righteous Lazarus. The resurrection in Bethany, in a small village southeast of Jerusalem, of the righteous Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, whom the Lord himself called his friend, greatly outraged the Jews. Exposed to mortal danger, after the murder of the holy Protomartyr Stephen, Saint Lazarus was taken to the coast of the sea, put into a boat without oars, and removed from Judea. By divine will, Saint Lazarus, together with the disciple of the Lord Maximinus and Saint Celidonius, blind and healed by the Lord, sailed to the shores of Cyprus. Having thirty years of age before the resurrection, he lived on the island for more than thirty years. Here Saint Lazarus met the holy Apostles Paul and Barnabas. By them he was elevated to the bishopric of the city of Kitia (Kition, the Jews called Hetim). The ruins of the ancient city of Kition were discovered during archaeological excavations and are available for inspection.

The following legend is connected with the name of the righteous Lazarus. Arriving on the island on a hot summer day, and going around the surroundings of Kition in search of shelter, the righteous Lazarus wanted to quench his thirst. Not finding a source nearby, he asked for a bunch of grapes from a woman who was working near her house. She refused the saint in his modest request, citing crop failure and drought. Leaving, the righteous Lazarus said: "So let the vineyard dry up and turn into a salt lake as a punishment for your lies." Since then, five kilometers west of Larnaca, Cypriots have been showing pilgrims and tourists the Salt Lake and are famous for their hospitality. Hundreds of white and pink flamingos winter here from December to March. From the road leading to the city and the airport, there is a magnificent view of the mountains reflected in the lake, among which the top of the Holy Cross dominates with the Stavrovouni monastery.

Righteous Lazar very much desired to meet the Mother of God, but because of the persecution against him, he could not leave the island. Having received a message from the Most Holy Theotokos and sent a ship for Her from Kition, he awaited Her arrival. Leaving the borders of Palestine, the Most Holy Theotokos, accompanied by the Apostle John the Theologian and other companions, set off on a journey across the Mediterranean Sea. In the "Tales of the Earthly Life of the Most Holy Theotokos", published by the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Athos, further events are described as follows: The wind, growing stronger, turned into a storm, and the ship, not obeying the earthly helmsman, gave in to the direction of the finger of God and rushed away from Cyprus. , moored off the coast of Mount Athos. By the will of God, the Ever-Virgin Herself laid the foundation for monastic life on the Holy Mountain. Returning to Jerusalem, the Mother of God visited Cyprus, blessed the local Church founded by the apostles, and handed over to St. Lazarus the bishop's omophorion sewn by her hands.

After his death, the righteous Lazarus was buried in the vicinity of Kition, in a place later called "Larnax" - "coffin, sarcophagus." On the marble tomb of the saint, an inscription was made: "Lazarus of four days, friend of Christ."

According to legend, at the burial place of St. Lazarus, in 392, she was found Cypriot icon of the Mother of God. On it, the Most Holy Theotokos is written sitting on a throne with the Divine Infant, and on the sides are two angels with branches in their hands. The feast of the icon takes place on May 3/April 20 (old style). Copies from the icon were distributed to many countries. In Russia, the Cypriot image of the Mother of God is known, which was kept in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. In the village of Stromyn, Moscow Region, on July 22/9 (O.S.) and on the 1st Week of Great Lent, a feast is celebrated to the miraculous Cypriot icon.

The relics of the righteous Lazarus were found in 898, under the Byzantine emperor Leo IV the Wise (886-911) and transferred to the city of Constantinople, where a silver shrine was arranged for them, and earlier a temple was built in honor of the saint under Emperor Basil I the Macedonian (867-911). 886). On the day of the transfer of the honest relics of the saint from Cyprus to Constantinople, October 30/17 (OS), his memory is celebrated. Later, the Frankish crusaders took the relics to the Mediterranean port city of Marseille.

Over the tomb of St. Lazarus in Cyprus in the 9th century, a stone temple was built in honor of the righteous Lazarus. In the early 1970s (namely, in 1972), during restoration work in the temple, stone tombs were discovered under the altar, in one of which part of the relics of St. Lazarus was found. For them, a silver-gilded ark in the form of a bishop's miter was specially made and a carved gilded shrine (tomb) was built, with a canopy and a small Byzantine dome topped with a cross. The relics of St. Lazarus are constantly on display for general worship in the center of the temple near the southern column. Through a passage specially arranged at the base of the temple, the entrance to which is located in the southern part of the salt, the pilgrims descend by several steps into a low, semi-dark sub-altar part, covered by a modern concrete vault. At the eastern wall, at the entrance to this underground room, there is a holy spring enclosed in a pipe. There are rectangular stone tombs with heavy lids dating back to the Roman period. There is a custom to bring to the tomb and to the icon of St. Lazarus in the temple, in gratitude for the healing, figures of people and body parts cast from wax, and they are in great numbers in this place. The candle workshop is located on a nearby street, a few tens of meters, northeast of the temple of Lazarus. It produces wax figures and various candles. Among them, huge holiday candles stand out, more than a meter high and several centimeters in diameter.

The temple in honor of the righteous Lazarus, built of massive stone blocks, was repeatedly rebuilt, but basically retained the three-aisled basilica of the 9th century. Outside, the temple has undergone some changes over its centuries-old history. The three domes that crowned the temple were completely dismantled. A large open gallery is attached to it from the south. A high, four-tiered bell tower was built near the southeastern wall. In the decoration of the temple, a multi-tiered carved wooden iconostasis, set in the 18th century, stands out. On the northern pillar in the center of the temple hangs the icon of the Mother of God "Hodegetria" in salary, painted in the 18th century in Russia. From the south and west, the temple of Lazarus is surrounded by two-story buildings. Part of the western building is occupied by a small church and archaeological museum, which tells about the history of the temple. Its exposition presents ancient icons of the righteous Lazarus and other saints, church vestments and utensils. A rare image of St. Lazarus, painted in the 12th century, is also kept here. On the icon, he is depicted in a bishop's vestments. On another ancient icon, badly damaged by fire, the image of St. Lazarus was miraculously preserved. With his right hand he blesses (the emperor), and in his left he holds the Gospel. The rector of the temple, Archimandrite Lazar.

Also, special attention should be paid to the iconostasis, consisting of 120 icons, which is a wonderful example of ancient woodcarving. The most valuable is the icon dating from 1734, on which Saint Lazarus is depicted in the rank of Bishop of Kition. In addition, the church houses a small museum containing magnificent objects of Byzantine religious art, including ancient wood carvings, icons and church utensils. And next to the cathedral are the burial places of a number of Europeans who lived in the city in the 17-18th century. Saint Lazarus himself is considered the patron saint of Larnaca, and the celebration of his Resurrection takes place in the city on a large scale. This happens a week before Orthodox Easter.

On this day we celebrate the resurrection of the holy righteous Lazarus of the Four Days, the friend of Christ. He was a Jew by birth, a Pharisee by religion, the son of the Pharisee Simon, as they say somewhere, a native of Bethany. When our Lord Jesus Christ made His earthly journey for the salvation of the human race, Lazarus became His friend in this way. Since Christ often talked with Simon, for he also looked forward to the resurrection of the dead, and many times came to their house, Lazarus, along with his two sisters, Martha and Mary, fell in love with Him as if they were his own.

The saving Passion of Christ was approaching, when it was already fitting for the mystery of the resurrection to be revealed with certainty. Jesus was beyond the Jordan, having previously raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus and the son of a widow (of Nain). His friend Lazarus, having become seriously ill, died. Jesus, although he was not there, says to the disciples: Lazarus, our friend, fell asleep, and after a while he said again: Lazarus died (John 11: 11, 14). Called by his sisters, Jesus left Jordan and went to Bethany. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stages away (John 11:18). And the sisters of Lazarus met him, saying: “Lord! if you had been here, our brother would not have died. But even now, if You please, You will raise it up, for (all) You are able” (cf. John 11:21-22). Jesus asked the Jews: where did you put it? (John 11:34). Then everyone went to the coffin. When they wanted to roll away the stone, Martha says: Lord! already stinks; for four days he was in the tomb (John 11:39). Jesus, having prayed and shed tears over the lying man, cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus! get out (John 11:43). And immediately the dead man came out, they untied him, and he went home.

translation of "Orthodox Apologist" 2013