Prayers and akathist to Saint Lazarus and his resurrection. Holy righteous Lazar Lazar 4 day

Lazarus was from Bethany near Jerusalem, the brother of Mary and Martha. During His life, the Lord loved them and often visited their home in Bethany, calling Lazarus His friend (Jn. 11 :3, 5, 11).

After the untimely death of Lazarus, shedding tears over his tomb, the Lord, as the Almighty, raised him from the dead, when Lazarus had already been lying in the tomb for four days and was already stinking (Jn. 11 :17-45). This miracle is remembered by the Church on the sixth Saturday of Great Lent (Lazarus Saturday).

After his resurrection, Saint Lazarus withdrew to the island of Cyprus, since the high priests decided to kill him (Jn. 12 :9-11), where he was later appointed bishop.

According to legend, Lazar, being a bishop, was honored with a visit from the Mother of God and received from Her an omophorion made by Her hands. After the miraculous resurrection, Saint Lazarus lived another 30 years, maintaining strict abstinence, and died on the island of Cyprus.

Pilgrims visiting the Holy Land are shown two tombs of the righteous man: one in Bethany in Jerusalem, and the other in the city of Kitim on the island of Cyprus. Not reaching the Holy City for about two and a half miles, the pilgrims visit Bethany, located on the eastern side of one foothill of the Mount of Olives. And a little to the northeast and below they indicate the tomb of Lazarus, also revered by the Mohammedans. A small entrance cut through the rock leads to a narrow deep cave. Having descended 25 steps, the pilgrims meet a small platform with a stone table in the corner, which serves as an altar during the days of worship on Lazarus Saturday. The site is considered the place of the Lord's appeal: "Lazarus, come out!" Five more steps down - and the burial cave. Here they usually read the Gospel of John about the resurrection of Lazarus (Jn. 11 :1-7, 11-45) and the troparia of Palm Week. First, the Lord was met by Martha, then by Mary, when He went to the tomb to arouse Lazarus' friend - here is a large rounded "stone of conversation", from which many receive healing.

And on the island of Cyprus there is a second tomb of the righteous Lazarus. 90 km from the city of Limassol, along the road lying between the hills, the pilgrims arrive in the city of Larnaca, where there is a temple dedicated to Lazarus, where he served. The temple stands on the site of the original church of the 9th-10th centuries, built over the tomb of Lazarus. The present building of the temple of the XVII century. made of stone, its size is 35x17 m, there are two doors (from the north and west), a three-tiered bell tower, a vast courtyard, a museum. The temple has four pillars, if two pillars are counted in the altar, then it has six pillars, everything is covered with marble. There are three side aisles. In the center is a large chandelier: 5 tiers of candles below and three tiers above, and two chandeliers on the sides. To the left of the altar is the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, and to the right of the altar there is a cave - the tomb of the righteous Lazarus. There are choirs at the back of the temple at a height. The entrance to the cave goes along seven steps under the altar of the temple. The size of the cave is 6x12 m.

The relics of the righteous Lazarus are in the middle: the head and half of his bones. And the second half of the relics was in Constantinople, the crusaders in 1291 took them to France, to Marseille. On the right is the iconostasis, in which the icons are arranged in three rows, and there are decorations in two rows between the icons. Across the cave stands a tomb with the inscription: Lazarus - friend of God". Cancer - like a table, like a large bath, stone - 1.3x0.8x0.7 m. Temple - with a bell tower, along the length of the temple there is a gallery 2.5-3 m high, like a corridor along the surface of the courtyard, there are side doors: northern and southern, from the west - large entrance. And there are two side pulpits for preachers. This place is also revered by all Orthodox Christians as a great shrine, as proof of the undoubted mercy, love and omnipotence of God. The resurrection of Lazarus revealed power and power over death.

This earthly life among people is very strange, when you strive to serve others, and they are only waiting for something bright, enchanting, waiting for primitive miracles: give us wealth, pleasures; but those of them - punish, humiliate, and even destroy.

Even the manifestation of the highest earthly - unearthly glory should take place under the cover of night only in the presence of three disciples-witnesses on the mountain. This anointing from the Father makes the King of Glory. But whose King? Where is the people who wish to have a Betrayed, Humiliated, Beaten, Executed over them?

Even His Disciples themselves do not immediately accept this. He tells them about His sufferings, death, and they try to beg for themselves glorious places at His throne...

Hearing without hearing is what we can do. We hear, but how skillfully we turn everything in our favor, twist it! Today, for many, the Holy Scripture is no longer presented by the Church through its own mouth. The enemy of the human race interprets it. And the world bows its ears to the soothing whisper of the evil one.

Lazar is dead! - the Lord informs bluntly, saying that he is returning to Jerusalem. And Thomas, one of the twelve, exclaims: So let us go, and we will die with Him!
Beautiful determination in the slogan sounded, but we remember that everything happened then differently ...

The road to Jerusalem lies through Bethania. It was then that Bethania laid Christ's friend, Lazarus, in the secret depths of corruption. Death shook the sisters Martha and Mary with grief. She, with her hopelessness, circled in the house of the inconsolable her dance of triumph over all living people. Death remained the only earthly truth that could not be transcended. She can't change.

All mankind is so faithful to HER that even Solomon exclaims: love is as strong as death! O Solomon, who tasted death, you did not yet know that God is Love! The Lifegiver himself goes to destroy the stereotype of the victory of death. He goes to step over it, in order to then voluntarily fall into its greedy embrace by the exhaustion of human nature.

From the blooming Galilee, from the majestic mound in the middle of the Esdralonian valley - Tabor, a cavalcade of pilgrims marches to Jerusalem through the lifeless hills of the Judean desert. And this emptiness doused the faces of the travelers with the heat of a deadly tribute: we will all be THERE!
Why rush to the grave cave of the deceased? What is there to look for now? - there is decay, there is a stench, there is the triumph of the fruits of Adam's fall.

But the Teacher walks along the path of worshipers, familiar from childhood, and his disciples follow Him, who have seen many different miracles of the Lord. Seen.
And what does this vision without knowledge give? In the rays of popular glory, which from time to time surrounded the Son of Man, people, they bathed, received delight and hope. They were proud of their Teacher.

Remember how Luke and Cleopas, in a conversation on the road to Emmaus, bitterly reproached Him: “But we hoped that He was the One Who should deliver Israel; but with all that, it is already the third day since this happened.”?

They hoped, and He disappointed them so bitterly. He disappointed that he allowed himself to be bullied. They saw His weakness in this. We saw only exhaustion.
In their eyes, He was to remain a Wonderworker, a formidable King, punishing right and left, and in His radiance they were to be above all...

Christians, woe to those who even now in Christ seek their glory, their earthly well-being, wealth! The Lord is a comforter, but not the organizer of earthly pleasure and peace.
And He came to bring Lazarus out of the bowels of the earth, out of pus, to tear him away from eating worms, not for the sake of earthly happiness: immediately after his resurrection from the dead, the friend of Christ was forced to flee to unknown Cyprus, saving the life resurrected by the Lord.

At the tomb cave in Bethfania stands the Lord of Life. Another stone littered the narrow, low entrance to the place where the decomposing body lies. He alone knows what he intends to do. But he does not do it without the Father. Therefore, he prays, invoking the Creative Power from the Father-Spirit, so that everyone later remembers His words about the common Resurrection from the dead of all.

How it was a long time ago. And today it sounds like a fairy tale. But how joyful is the heart that believes. Because it is impossible not to believe Him, the One Who at first humanly wept over the coffin, and then called out: “Lazarus come out!!!”

And you yourself, with all your soul, bound hand and foot, go out blindfolded, out of this stink of yours, out of this decaying decay of passions. You come out, you crawl out, you writhe like a snake, but you go to the Light of Life. Because he called. And Lazar (Eleazar) is you! Your soul.

Together with Raskolnikov, together with the harlot Sonya Marmeladova, you stand amazed to the unknown depths of your heart over this abyss of the coffin of godlessness, from where you were called. And you understand to live with Christ is to create something new! This is Easter! First the Cross. It's cleansing. But after all on it Easter Light! Easter Joy!

Eliazar- in translation - to whom God helps. Who doesn't help? Helps everyone. We are all Lazarus. You just need to give a reason, an opportunity such that God helps. We need labor. Above yourself, above your soul. Help will rush to the worker and will not leave the darkness of the grave alone.

Days of Remembrance:

Troparion of the Righteous Lazarus the Four Days, Tone 4

How great is the treasure and wealth that is not stolen / came to us from Cyprus, Lazarus, / By the providence of all God, by the command of the pious king, / giving healing to those who honor you as a gift, / delivering from troubles and from all harm, / by faith crying out to you: / save everyone with your prayers , Our Father Lazarus.

Troparion on the resurrection of the righteous Lazarus

The general resurrection, before your passion, assuring you, raised Lazarus from the dead, Christ God. The same and we, like the youths of the victory of the sign bearing, We cry to you the conqueror of death: Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Kontakion of Righteous Lazarus the Four Days, Tone 8

Vyde, like a bright star, / from Cyprus, your honest relics, Lazarus, / The reigning city sanctifies and amuses the Christ-loving king / and people enrich their own, / you give the grace of healing to those who truly call to you: / Rejoice, Lazarus, friend of God.

) came across the life of St. Lazarus of the Four Days - the same one that is narrated in the Gospel of John. It turns out that the friend of the Lord Lazarus not only lived his life after his miraculous resurrection in holiness, but also became worthy of the episcopal rank. However, first things first. Original .

He was from Bethany near Jerusalem, brother of Mary and Martha. During His life, the Lord loved them and often visited their home in Bethany, calling Lazarus His friend. (John 11:3, 5, 11).

After the premature death of Lazarus, shedding tears over his tomb, the Lord, as the Almighty, raised him from the dead, when Lazarus had already been lying in the tomb for four days and was already stinking (John 11:17-45). This miracle is remembered by the Church on the sixth Saturday of Great Lent (Lazarus Saturday).

After his resurrection, Saint Lazarus withdrew to the island of Cyprus, since the high priests decided to kill him. (John 12:9-11) where he was later appointed bishop.

(Bethany, Tomb of Lazarus the Four Days, photo, 1893)

Having descended 25 steps, the pilgrims meet a small platform with a stone table in the corner, which serves as an altar during the days of worship on Lazarus Saturday. The site is considered the place where the Lord called: “ Lazare, get out! » Five more steps down and a burial cave. Here they usually read the Gospel of John about the resurrection of Lazarus. (John 11:1-7, 11-45) and troparia of Palm Week. First, the Lord was greeted by Martha, then by Mary, when He went to the tomb to arouse his friend Lazarus - there is a large rounded “stone of conversation”, from which many receive healing.

(Bethany, Tomb of Lazarus of the Four Days, modern view)

The present building of the temple of the XVII century. made of stone, its size is 35 x 17 m, there are two doors (from the north and west), a three-tiered bell tower, a vast courtyard, a museum. The temple has four pillars, if two pillars are counted in the altar, then it has six pillars, everything is covered with marble. There are three side aisles. In the center is a large chandelier: 5 tiers of candles below and three tiers above, and two chandeliers on the sides. To the left of the altar is the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, and to the right of the altar is a cave - the tomb of the righteous Lazarus. The entrance to the cave goes along seven steps under the altar of the temple. The size of the cave is 6 x 12 m.

(tomb of the righteous Lazarus in Cyprus under the temple, Larnaca)

Troparion of Righteous Lazarus the Four Days
voice 4
How great is the treasure and wealth that is not stolen / came to us from Cyprus, Lazarus, / By the providence of all God, by the command of the pious king, / giving healing to those who honor you as a gift, / delivering from troubles and from all harm, / by faith crying out to you: / save everyone with your prayers , Our Father Lazarus.

Kontakion of Righteous Lazar the Four Days
voice 8
Vyde, like a bright star, / from Cyprus, your honest relics, Lazarus, / The reigning city sanctifies and amuses the Christ-loving king / and people enrich their own, / you give the grace of healing to those who truly call to you: / Rejoice, Lazarus, friend of God.

Prayer to the holy righteous Lazarus

Oh, zealous and fair friend of Christ, Holy Righteous Lazarus, praise to Bethany and great surprise to the whole universe! Blessed is your house, which our Lord Jesus Christ in the days of His flesh with love visits, seeing the faith and kindness of your soul and your God-loving sisters Martha and Mary, for you loved Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your thought and that before You were beloved of the end. Marvelous are your secrets, revealed to you by Your Divine Friend and our Lord, as if He had pleased Him before His Cross and Resurrection to show His Glory on you to the whole world and create thee a harbinger of His most radiant from the dead of the three-day Resurrection. For this sake, as the Lord of life and death, let you fall asleep in a deathly sleep, and be buried, and even to the hellish depths of sleep, even if you saw beings from the age who died in a multitude of innumerable hellish bonds of content, and you saw terrible fears. And there, when your body has already given over to mortal mortification, after four days you heard the Divine voice of your Friend, who came to your grave: “Lazarus, come out!” And according to this voice, you abie rose from the grave and taco rejoiced Bethany and Marthena and Mary’s tears, you quenched the tears, the Pharisees and scribes, in the hardness of the hearts of those who were, you frightened you. Satisfy, holy friend of Christ, our tears, sin for the sake of our shedding, revive our souls and bodies, in the stink of passions and impurities of sinful beings, raise us up from the tomb of despair and fierce despondency, save us all from eternal death, just like you Our Lord restore from the sleep of death. And pray to the merciful God, may we be vouchsafed to be partakers of eternal life, even you, through the labors of hierarchy on the island of Kritstem, are now enjoying yourself in the abode of paradise, glorifying the All-Holy Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen.

The resurrection of Lazarus is the greatest sign, a prototype of the General Resurrection promised by the Lord. The figure of the resurrected Lazarus remains, as it were, in the shadow of this event, and yet he was one of the first Christian bishops. How did his life develop after returning from the captivity of death? Where is his grave and are his relics preserved? Why does Christ call him a friend, and how did it happen that the crowds of witnesses to the resurrection of this man not only did not believe, but reported Christ to the Pharisees? Consider these and other points related to the amazing gospel miracle.
Resurrection of Lazarus. Giotto.1304-1306

Did you know that many people attended Lazar's funeral?

Unlike the hero of the same name from the parable “About the rich man and Lazarus”, the righteous Lazarus from Bethany was a real person and, moreover, not poor. Judging by the fact that he had servants (John 11: 3), his sister anointed the Savior's feet with expensive oil (John 12: 3), after the death of Lazarus they put him in a separate tomb, and many Jews mourned him (John 11: 3). 31, 33), Lazarus was probably a wealthy and famous man.

Due to their nobility, the Lazarus family apparently enjoyed special love and respect among people, since many of the Jews who lived in Jerusalem came to the sisters orphaned after the death of their brother to mourn their grief. The holy city was fifteen stages from Bethany (John 11:18), about three kilometers.

“The wondrous Catcher of men chose the 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 the decaying 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 burial shrouds, making sure that it was not a ghost. So, did all the Jews believe in Christ? Not at all. But they went to the rulers, 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 do not listen to Moses and the prophets, then if someone rises from the dead, they will not believe” (Luke 16: 31).

Saint Amphilochius of Iconium

After the murder of the First Martyr Stephen, Lazarus was put into a boat without oars and sent to sea.

Did you know that Lazarus became a bishop?

Subjected 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, Lazarus together with the disciple of the Lord Maximinus and Saint Celidonius (blind, healed by the Lord) sailed to the coast of Cyprus. Being thirty years old before the resurrection, he lived on the island for more than thirty years. Here Lazar met the apostles Paul and Barnabas. By them he was elevated to the bishopric of the city of Kitia (Kition, the Jews called Khetim). The ruins of the ancient city of Kition were discovered during archaeological excavations and are available for inspection (from the life of Lazar the Four Days).

Tradition says that after the resurrection, Lazar kept strict abstinence, and that the Blessed Mother of God gave him the episcopal omophorion, having made him with Her own hands. (Synaxar).

“Indeed, the unbelief of the chiefs of the Jewish and more influential teachers of Jerusalem, which did not yield to such a striking, obvious miracle, performed in front of a whole crowd of people, is an amazing phenomenon in the history of mankind; from that time on, it ceased to be unbelief, but became a conscious opposition to the obvious truth (“now you have seen and hated me and my Father” (John 15:24)).

Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky)
Church of St. Lazarus in Larnaca, built on his grave. Cyprus

Did you know that the Lord Jesus Christ called Lazarus a friend?

The Gospel of John tells about this, in which our Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to go to Bethany, tells the disciples: "Lazarus, our friend, has fallen asleep." In the name of the friendship between Christ and Lazarus, Mary and Martha call on the Lord to help their brother, saying: “Behold, the one you love is sick” (John 12:3). In the interpretation of the blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, Christ deliberately focuses on why He wants to go to Bethany: side of the Jews, but I go to wake my friend.
The relics of St. Lazarus of the Four Days in Larnaca

Do you know where the relics of St. Lazarus of the Four Days are located?

The holy relics of Bishop Lazarus were found in Kitia. They lay in a marble ark, on which was written: "Lazarus of the Four Days, friend of Christ."

The Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise (886-911) ordered in 898 to transfer the relics of Lazarus to Constantinople and put them in the temple in the name of Righteous Lazarus.

Today, his relics rest on the island of Cyprus in the city of Larnaca in a temple consecrated in honor of the saint. In the underground crypt of this temple there is a tomb in which the righteous Lazarus was once buried.

Crypt of the Church of Lazarus. Here is an empty tomb with the signature "Friend of Christ", in which the righteous Lazarus was once buried.

Do you know why the Lord Jesus Christ wept when he came to resurrect Lazarus?

“The Lord weeps because he sees man, created in His own image, subjected to decay in order to take away our tears, for for this he died, in order to free us from death” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem).

Do you know that the Gospel, which speaks of the weeping Christ, contains the main Christological dogma?

“As a man, Jesus Christ asks and cries and does everything else that would testify that He is a man; but as God, He resurrects a four-day-old and already smelling of a dead corpse, and generally does what would testify that He is God. Jesus Christ wants people to make sure that He has both natures, and therefore reveals Himself either as a man or as God. (Evfimy Zigaben).

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

The Lord calls the death of Lazarus dormition(in the Church Slavonic text), and the resurrection that He intends to accomplish is an awakening. By this He meant to say that death for Lazarus is a transient state.

Lazarus fell ill, and the disciples of Christ said to Him: "God! here is the one you love, sick"(John 11:3). And after that He and His disciples went to Judea. And then Lazarus dies. Already there, in Judea, Christ says to the disciples: “Lazarus, our friend, fell asleep; but I'm going to wake him up"(John 11:11). But the apostles did not understand Him and said: "If you fall asleep, you will recover"(John 11:12), bearing in mind, according to the word of the blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, that the coming of Christ to Lazarus is not only not necessary, but also harmful for a friend: because “if sleep, as we think, serves to his recovery, but If You go and wake him up, You will hinder his recovery.” In addition, the Gospel itself explains to us why death is called sleep: “Jesus was talking about his death, but they thought that He was talking about an ordinary dream”(John 11:13). And then he directly announced that "Lazarus is dead"(John 11:14).

Saint Theophylact of Bulgaria speaks of three reasons why the Lord called death a dream:

1) “out of humility, for I did not want to seem boastful, but secretly called the resurrection an awakening from sleep ... For, saying that Lazarus “died,” the Lord did not add: I will go and raise him up”;

2) “to show us that every death is sleep and rest”;

3) “although the death of Lazarus for others was death, but for Jesus Himself, since He intended to resurrect him, it was nothing more than a dream. Just as it is easy for us to wake the sleeping one, so, and a thousand times more, it is convenient for Him to resurrect the dead, ” "be glorified through" it's a miracle "God's Son"(John 11:4).

The Dominican monk Burchardt of Sion wrote about the worship of Muslims to the grave of the righteous Lazarus in the 13th century.

Do you know where the grave is located, where Lazarus came from, returned by the Lord to earthly life?

The tomb of Lazarus is located in Bethany, three kilometers from Jerusalem. Now, however, Bethany is identified with the village, in Arabic called Al-Aizariya, which grew up already in Christian times, in the 4th century, around the tomb of Lazarus himself. Ancient Bethany, where the family of the righteous Lazarus lived, was at a distance from Al-Aizariya - higher up the slope. Many events of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ are closely connected with ancient Bethany. Every time the Lord walked with the disciples along the Jericho road to Jerusalem, their path passed through this village.
Tomb of St. Lazarus in Bethany

Lazarus Saturday. Resurrection of the righteous Lazarus. Day of celebration - on the eve of the feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem
October 30 - transfer of the relics of rights. Lazarus, Bishop of Kita (898).

SATURDAY LAZAREV. RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS

The last Saturday before is called Lazareva. On this day, the Orthodox Church remembers the last great miracle of Christ in His earthly life - the resurrection of the righteous Lazarus.

Lazarus himself lived in Bethany, near Jerusalem, along with his sisters Martha and Mary. Jesus Christ often stopped in their house (Luke 10:38-41; John 12:1-2), the Lord called Lazarus his friend.
One day the news of Lazarus' illness reached Jesus, to which He said:

“This is a sickness not unto death, but to the glory of God, may the Son of God be glorified through it.”

But Christ did not have time to visit His friend, Lazarus died. Hearing of the death of Lazarus, Jesus shed a tear"(John 11, 35). But these were tears not only about the loss of a loved one. Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh explains that these tears were

“that Lazarus had to die, because the world lies in evil and every person is mortal because sin rules the world.
Christ here wept for His friend Lazarus, and in a broader sense, about this horror: God gave all creation eternal life, and man introduced death by sin, and now the bright young man Lazarus must die, because once sin entered the world.

When the Lord came to the burial place of Lazarus, four days had already passed, but Jesus commanded, “ take away”a stone from the cave in which the righteous was buried, and called to him:“ Lazarus! Get out”.
And then Lazarus, alive and unharmed, came out of the burial cave.

Everyone in Judea quickly learned about such a miracle. And when, the next day, Christ rode into Jerusalem on a young colt, He was greeted by crowds of people like a real king.

His resurrection from the dead on the fourth day (hence the nickname Lazarus of the Four Days), performed by Christ in the form of a public messianic "sign", became for the Jewish authorities, who were afraid of religious unrest, the last argument in favor of an immediate reprisal against Him (John 11: 47-53) .

From the point of view of Christian theology, this miracle turned out to be a symbol of Christ's power over life and death, as proof to the disciples of His Resurrection and the future resurrection of the dead. Therefore, this event is dedicated to the Saturday of the sixth week of Great Lent (Saturday of Lazarev), before the feast of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday).

THE LIFE OF LAZARUS, THE FRIEND OF GOD. ACQUISITION AND TRANSFER OF RELIGIOUS

Saint Lazarus Was a native of Bethany near Jerusalem, brother of Mary and Martha. During His life, the Lord loved them and often visited their home in Bethany, calling Lazarus His friend (John 11:3, 5, 11).

After the untimely death of Lazarus, shedding tears over his tomb, the Lord, as the Almighty, raised him from the dead, when Lazarus had already been lying in the tomb for four days and was already stinking (John 11:17-45). This miracle is remembered by the Church on the sixth Saturday of Great Lent (Lazarus Saturday).

After his resurrection, Saint Lazarus withdrew to the island of Cyprus, since the high priests decided to kill him (John 12:9-11), where he was subsequently made a bishop.

Pilgrims visiting the Holy Land are shown two tombs of the righteous man: one in Bethany in Jerusalem, and the other in the city of Kitim on the island of Cyprus.

Tomb of Lazarus in Bethany

About two and a half kilometers before reaching the Holy City, the pilgrims visit Bethany, located on the eastern side of one forehill of the Mount of Olives. And a little to the northeast and below they indicate the tomb of Lazarus, also revered by the Mohammedans. A small entrance cut through the rock leads to a narrow deep cave. Having descended 25 steps, the pilgrims meet a small platform with a stone table in the corner, which serves as an altar during the days of worship on Lazarus Saturday. The site is considered the place of the Lord's appeal: "Lazarus, come out!" Five more steps down - and the burial cave.
Here they usually read the Gospel of John about the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:1-7, 11-45) and the troparia of Palm Week. First, the Lord was met by Martha, then by Mary, when He went to the tomb to arouse Lazarus' friend - here is a large rounded "stone of conversation", from which many receive healing.

Tomb of Lazarus in Cyprus

To the left of the altar is the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, and to the right of the altar there is a cave - the tomb of the righteous Lazarus. The entrance to the cave goes along seven steps under the altar of the temple. The size of the cave is 6x12 m. The relics of the righteous Lazarus are in the middle: the head and half of his bones. And the second half of the relics was in Constantinople, the crusaders in 1291 took them to France, to Marseille. Across the cave is a tomb with the inscription: "Lazarus is a friend of God."
This place is revered by all Orthodox Christians as a great shrine, as proof of the undoubted mercy, love and omnipotence of God, because the resurrection of Lazarus revealed power and power over death.

The holy relics of Bishop Lazarus were found in Kitia. They lay in a marble ark, on which was written: "Lazarus of the Four Days, friend of Christ." The Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise (886-911) ordered in 898 to transfer the relics of Lazarus to Constantinople and put them in the temple in the name of the righteous Lazarus.

VIDEO

According to St. Demetrius of Rostov

The holy righteous Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, lived with his sisters not far from Jerusalem, in the village of Bethany. Lazarus and his sisters received special favor from the Lord Jesus Christ (John 11:3). During His earthly life, the Lord often visited their home in Bethany, called Lazarus His friend (John 11:11.), and shortly before His suffering, He raised Lazarus from the dead, after he had already been in the tomb for four days 1 . After this event, Lazarus is mentioned only once in the Holy Scriptures, and precisely, when 6 days before Easter the Lord came again to Bethany, the resurrected Lazarus was there (John 12: 1-2). While the Lord was in Bethany, many of the Jews knew that He was there, and they came not only for Jesus Christ, but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. Many of them were convinced of the truth of the miracle performed by the Lord, turned to faith in Him and became His followers. Seeing this, the chief priests at the same time decided to kill Lazarus as well (John 12:9-11.). We know nothing more about Lazar from the Gospel.

Tradition says that Lazarus, after his resurrection, remained alive for another 30 years, was a bishop on the island of Cyprus 2, where, like the apostles, he worked hard in spreading Christianity, and died there peacefully. In the ninth century after the birth of Christ, St. the relics of the righteous Lazarus were found in the city of Kitia 3, where they lay in the ground, in a marble ark, on which was written: "Lazarus of four days, friend of Christ." This honest treasure was taken out of the earth and placed in a silver shrine, and under the Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise, it was transferred to Constantinople, and laid in the temple in the name of the righteous Lazarus, built by the emperor Basil the Macedonian.

Troparion to Lazarus the Four Days, ep. Kitian:

________________________________________________________________________

1 John 11:17-44. The resurrection of Lazarus is remembered by the Church on Saturday of the 6th week (Lazarus Saturday) of Great Lent. This miracle was one of the greatest miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ: it most clearly testified to His Divine omnipotence and His dominion over death, and together served as a living sign of our common resurrection and a prototype of the resurrection of the Lord Himself.