Lazarus

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Resurrection of Lazarus by Juan de Flandes, around 1500
Resurrection of Lazarus by Juan de Flandes, around 1500
For other uses, see Lazarus (disambiguation).

Lazarus (Heb. "God hath helped") is the name of two separate characters mentioned in the New Testament. The more famous one is the subject of the miracle recounted only in John 11:41-44, in which Jesus raises him from the dead. The other one appears uniquely in Jesus' parable of Lazarus and Dives recorded in Luke 16:19-31.

In allusion to John's account of the resurrection of Lazarus, the name is often used to connote apparent restoration to life in the scientific term Lazarus taxon, which refers to organisms that reappear in the fossil record after a period of apparent extinction. The Lazarus phenomenon refers to an event in which a person spontaneously returns to life (the heart starts beating again) after resuscitation has been given up. There are also numerous literary uses of the term.

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[edit] The parable of Lazarus

Main article: Lazarus and Dives

In the Gospel of Luke 16:19–31, Lazarus is a beggar who lay outside the gate of a rich man, whom later tradition has given the name Dives, who dressed in fine clothing and dined sumptuously every day, but gave nothing to Lazarus. Both men died, and the beggar received his reward in the Hereafter, in Abraham's bosom at the everlasting banquet, while the rich man craved a drop of water from Lazarus' finger to cool his tongue as he was tormented in the fires of Hell. Lazarus is the only person in a New Testament parable given a name; the rich man of the parable has been named Dives by tradition, although the name does not appear in Luke.

For the last century, "Catholic exegetes now commonly accept the story as a parable... The purpose of the parable is to teach the evil result of the neglect of others. Lazarus was rewarded, not because he was poor, but for his virtuous acceptance of poverty; the rich man was punished, not because he was rich, but for vicious neglect of the opportunities given him by his wealth."[1]

The Protestant belief is that the passage is not a parable at all, but a true account, as it is the only story told by Jesus where there is no mention of it being a parable.[2] The meaning of this story is twofold; first, as noted above, the rewards according to the state of repentance of a man's life[3], but also the concept that if one will not listen to the Bible or those peaching it[4], that they would not listen, even if someone was raised from the dead. This passage is key to the doctrine of the power of Scripture to save.[5]

[edit] The miracle of Lazarus

The Raising of Lazarus (1967-69) by Ivor Williams
The Raising of Lazarus (1967-69) by Ivor Williams

In the Gospel of John (John 11:1) Lazarus, also called Lazarus of Bethany or Lazarus of the Four Days was a man who lived in the town of Bethany ("Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha", John 11:1). The sisters are immediately identified: "Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill." So the sisters sent word to Jesus that the one he loved was ill. Jesus tarried where he was, and when he arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days, and Martha reproached him. (Jesus had only delayed his travel by two days, implying that even if he had set out immediately, Lazarus would have died.) When Jesus assured her that Lazarus would rise, she took his meaning for the resurrection on Judgment Day, to which he replied, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:25–26 KJV). In the presence of a crowd of Jewish mourners, Jesus had the stone rolled away from the tomb and bade Lazarus to come out, and so he did, still wrapped in his grave-cloths. Jesus then called for his followers (friends and family alike) to remove the grave-cloths. The narrator claims many other Jews were convinced of Jesus' divinity after visiting Lazarus, but says no more of the individual. The miracle, the longest coherent narrative in John aside from the Passion, is the climax of John's "signs". It explains the crowds seeking Jesus on Palm Sunday, and leads directly to the decision of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin to kill Jesus.

[edit] The developed Lazarus legend

Lazarus the beggar and Lazarus the resurrected were combined in Romanesque iconography carved on portals in Burgundy and Provence.[6]

According to Christian tradition recorded in the 13th century Golden Legend, Lazarus was the brother of Martha and Mary Magdalene, a Pharisee, but because of the rumoured plots fled for his life to Cyprus. There he later became the first bishop of Larnaka/Kittim, appointed directly by Paul and Barnabas, and lived another thirty years. Further establishing the apostolic nature of Lazarus' appointment was the story that the bishop's pallium was presented to Lazarus by the Virgin Mary, who had woven it herself. Such apostolic connections were central to the claims to autocephaly made by the bishops of Kittim—subject to the patriarch of Jerusalem—during the period 325–413. The church of Kittim was declared (or confirmed) self-governing in 413. Stories[citation needed] say that he would always include something sweet in every meal. That was when he observed someone stealing a clay pot, causing him to smile and say with a laugh, "clay stealing clay".

In the West, an alternative medieval tradition sent Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to Gaul after the Crucifixion. Provencal tradition, in particular, held Lazarus as the first bishop of Marseille, while Martha purportedly went on to tame a terrible beast in nearby Tarascon. Pilgrims visited their tombs at the abbey of Vézelay in Burgundy. In the Abbey of the Trinity at Vendôme, a phylactery was said to contain a tear shed by Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus. The cathedral of Autun, not far away, is dedicated to Lazarus as Saint Lazare.

In the section In paradisum, which often appears embedded in the Requiem, the deceased is wished to Paradise—In paradisum deducant te Angeli— with Lazarus, who once was poor (cum Lazaro quondam paupere); the text reminds us how often the Lazarus of John, who possessed a rock-cut tomb and was resurrected, has been conflated with the beggar Lazarus of Luke.

The Legenda Aurea records the grand lifestyle imagined for Lazarus and his sisters in the 14th century:

Mary Magdalene had her surname of Magdalo, a castle, and was born of right noble lineage and parents, which were descended of the lineage of kings. And her father was named Cyrus, and her mother Eucharis. She with her brother Lazarus, and her sister Martha, possessed the castle of Magdalo, which is two miles from Nazareth, and Bethany, the castle which is nigh to Jerusalem, and also a great part of Jerusalem, which, all these things they departed among them. In such wise that Mary had the castle Magdalo, whereof she had her name Magdalene. And Lazarus had the part of the city of Jerusalem, and Martha had to her part Bethany. And when Mary gave herself to all delights of the body, and Lazarus entended all to knighthood, Martha, which was wise, governed nobly her brother's part and also her sister's, and also her own, and administered to knights, and her servants, and to poor men, such necessities as they needed. Nevertheless, after the ascension of our Lord, they sold all these things. (Legenda Aurea, Book iv, "Of Mary Magdalene")

[edit] Tombs of Lazarus

The first tomb in Bethany is a place of pilgrimage today. Lazarus's second tomb in Cyprus is the site of the Byzantine church, the most notable feature of ancient Kittim (now Larnaka). The discovery and transfer of his relics from Cyprus to Constantinople in 898 is remembered each year on October 17, apostrophized by Arethas, bishop of Caesarea; however, on November 2, 1972, human remains in a marble sarcophagus under the altar were discovered during renovation works in the church at Larnaka, and were identified with part of the saint's relics.

The relics from Constantinople were transferred to France in 1204 as part of the booty of war from the Fourth Crusade.

Main article: Order of Saint Lazarus.

The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is a religious/military order, purportedly dating back to the First Crusade. The Order is run by two distinct channels of authority, referred to as the Malta Obedience and the Paris Obedience.

[edit] Liturgical references

Lazarus is honored as a saint by those Christian churches which keep the commemoration of saints, although on different days, according to local traditions.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church as well as the Byzantine Catholic Church, the day before Palm Sunday is celebrated as Lazarus Saturday. This day, together with Palm Sunday, hold a unique position in the church year, as days of joy and triumph between the penitence of Great Lent and the mourning of Holy Week.[7] During the preceding week, the hymns in the Lenten Triodion track the sickness and then the death of Lazarus, and Christ's journey from beyond Jordan to Bethany. The scripture readings and hymns for Lazarus Saturday focus on the resurrection of Lazarus as a foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Christ, and a promise of the General Resurrection. The Gospel narrative is interpreted in the hymns as illustrating the two natures of Christ: his humanity in asking, "Where have ye laid him?" (John 11:34), and his divinity by commanding Lazarus to come forth from the dead (John 11:43). Many of the Resurectional hymns of the normal Sunday service, which are omitted on Palm Sunday, are chanted on Lazaurs Saturday. During the Divine Liturgy, the Baptismal Hymn, "As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Romans 6:3), is sung in place of the Trisagion. Although the forty days of Great Lent end on the day before Lazarus Saturday, the day is still observed as a fast; however, it is somewhat mitigated. In Russia, it is traditional to eat caviar on Lazarus Saturday.

In the Roman Catholic Church Saint Lazarus' memorial is on June 21. In Cuba a major festival is dedicated to San Lázaro (synchronised with Babalu Ayé), but on December 17. He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on July 29 together with Mary and Martha.

In Christian funerals the idea of the deceased being raised by the Lord as Lazarus was raised is often expressed in prayer.

[edit] In modern culture

Well-known as an established tale, Lazarus has appeared countless times in music, writing and art. A few example citations of the tale:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910, s.v., "Lazarus".
  2. ^ Luke 16:19 "There was a certain rich man...", Luke 16:20 "And there was a certain beggar..."
  3. ^ Luke 16:30 indicates repentance was the key difference of the men's destinations
  4. ^ Luke 16:29 "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them."; 'Moses' being an archaic term for the Bible, and the prophets representing those teaching from it
  5. ^ Hebrews 4:12
  6. ^ Richard Hamann, "Lazarus in Heaven" The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 63 No. 364 (July 1933), pp. 3-5, 8-11, instances the west portal of the church of St. Trophîme at Arles, where the beggar Lazarus is enthroned as St, Lazarus, the church at Avallon, the central portal at Vézelay, and the portals of the cathedral of Autun.
  7. ^ Archimandrite Kallistos Ware and Mother Mary, Tr., The Lenten Triodion (St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, South Canaan, PA, 2002, ISBN 1-878997-51-3), p. 57.

The novel, Waking Lazarus, by T.L. Hines. In Bernard Shaws Major Barbara, Undershaft's business partner is called Lazarus

Lazarus is mentioned in "The Grave", a book by Christopher Pike. also is mentioned in the book digital fortress by the di vinic code. And an episode of doctor who. Where and old man is made young again, going by the name lazarus.

[edit] External links

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