Place of pilgrimage
The
Tomb of Lazarus
is a traditional spot of
pilgrimage
located in the
West Bank
town of
al-Eizariya
, in
Palestine
, the biblical village of
Bethany
, on the southeast slope of the
Mount of Olives
, some 2.4 km (1.5 miles) east of
Jerusalem
. The tomb is the purported site of a miracle recorded in the
Gospel of John
in which
Jesus
raised
Lazarus
from the dead.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
The site, sacred to both
Christians
and
Muslims
, has been identified as the tomb of the gospel account since at least the 4th century
AD
. As the
Catholic Encyclopedia
of 1913 states, however, while it is "quite certain that the present village formed about the traditional tomb of Lazarus, which is in a cave in the village", the identification of this particular cave as the actual tomb of Lazarus is "merely possible; it has no strong intrinsic or extrinsic authority."
[2]
Archeologists have established that the area was used as a cemetery in the 1st century AD, with tombs of this period found "a short distance north of the church."
[3]
Several Christian
churches
have existed at the site over the centuries. Since the 16th century, the site of the tomb has been occupied by the al-Uzair Mosque. The adjacent
Roman Catholic
Church of Saint Lazarus
, built between 1952 and 1955 under the auspices of the
Franciscan Order
, stands upon the site of several much older ones. In 1965, a
Greek Orthodox
church was built just west of the tomb.
Historic church buildings at Bethany
[
edit
]
There is no mention of a church at Bethany until the late 4th century AD, but both the historian
Eusebius of Caesarea
[4]
(c. 330) and the
Bordeaux
pilgrim
in the
Itinerarium Burdigalense
[5]
(c. 333) do mention the
tomb
of Lazarus. The first mention of a church dedicated to Saint Lazarus, called the
Lazarium
, is by
Jerome
in 390. This is confirmed by the pilgrim
Egeria
in her Itinerary, where she recounts a
liturgy
celebrated there in about the year 410. Therefore, the church is thought to have been built between 333 and 390.
[6]
Egeria noted, when the liturgy for Lazarus on the Saturday in the seventh week of Lent was performed, "so many people have gathered that they fill not only the Lazarium itself, but all the fields around."
[7]
The
Lazarium
consisted of the church (to the east of the site), the tomb of Lazarus (to the west), and an open space between the two which probably served as an atrium. The church was in the form of a three-aisle
basilica
. The
apse
, in a solid rectangular block shape, was at the east end. A
sacristy
on each side opened into the aisles.
[6]
The
Lazarium
was destroyed by an earthquake in the 6th century, and was replaced by a larger church. This church was mentioned by the
Coptic
Pope Theodosius I of Alexandria
c.
518
[8]
and by the
Frankish
bishop
Arculf
in his narrative of the
Holy Land
c. 680.
[9]
It survived intact until the
Crusader
era. The second church followed the same general plan as the first, but the apse was situated about 13 metres (43 ft) to the east in order to create a larger atrium. A chapel was built on the south side of the atrium.
[10]
In 1138,
King Fulk
and
Queen Melisende
obtained the village of Bethany from the
Latin patriarch
in exchange for land near
Hebron
. The queen built
a large Benedictine convent
to the south of the tomb and church. Melisende had extensive repairs made to the 6th-century
Byzantine
church, which remained the focal point of pilgrimages. For the use of the convent, the queen had a new church built over the tomb of St. Lazarus with a
triapsidiole
east end supported by
barrel vaults
(the largest of which would be used for the currently existing mosque). This new church was dedicated to St. Lazarus and the older church was reconsecrated to Sts. Mary and Martha. Melisende also fortified the complex with a tower.
[3]
[11]
After the
fall of Jerusalem
in 1187, the nuns of the convent went into exile. The new west church was most likely destroyed at this time, with only the tomb and barrel vaulting surviving. The 6th century church and tower were also heavily damaged at this time but remained standing. The village seems to have been abandoned thereafter, though a visitor in 1347 mentioned Greek monks attending the tomb chapel.
[12]
The tomb
[
edit
]
The entrance to the tomb today is via a flight of uneven rock-cut steps from the street. As it was described in 1896, there were twenty-four steps from the then-modern street level, leading to a square chamber serving as a place of prayer, from which more steps led to a lower chamber believed to be the tomb of Lazarus.
[13]
The same description applies today.
[14]
[15]
The steps enter the antechamber (3.35 m long by 2.20 m wide) through the north wall; the outline of the former entrance via the mosque can still be seen on the east wall. The floor of the antechamber is two steps above the floor level of the mosque, possibly due to rock falls from the soft limestone ceiling during construction of the Crusader-era church above the tomb. The Crusaders strengthened the tomb itself with masonry, which obscures most of the original rock surface (except for a few holes).
[3]
The alignment of the tomb and antechamber suggests they predate the Byzantine churches and may very well be from the time of Jesus.
[15]
Three steps connect the antechamber with the inner burial chamber (which measures a little more than two square metres in size). It contains three funerary niches (
arcosolia
), now mostly hidden by the Crusader masonry. One tradition places the tomb of Lazarus to the right of the entrance, which was formerly closed by a horizontal stone. Tradition also says that Jesus was standing in this antechamber when he called Lazarus from the grave.
[13]
Current structures
[
edit
]
Mosque of al-Uzair
[
edit
]
By 1384, a simple
mosque
had been built on the site of the existing structures.
[15]
In the 16th century, the
Ottomans
built the larger
al-Uzair Mosque
to serve the town's (now Muslim) inhabitants and named it in honor of the town's patron saint, Lazarus of Bethany.
[16]
The construction utilized the surviving barrel vaulting of the former west church. Its courtyard is in the Byzantine church atrium.
For 100 years after the mosque was constructed, Christians were invited to worship in it, but the practice was frowned upon by European church authorities who preferred for adherents of the faiths to remain separate.
[16]
As Christian access to the tomb became more difficult, the Franciscans were eventually permitted (between 1566 and 1575
[3]
) to cut a new entrance into the tomb on the north side. At some point the original entrance from the mosque was blocked. This entrance can still be seen in the east wall of the church's antechamber.
Catholic Church of Saint Lazarus
[
edit
]
In 1863, the
Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land
gained title to a plot of ground close to the tomb of Lazarus. Other areas were acquired later.
[17]
Between 1952 and 1955, a modern church dedicated to St. Lazarus was built on this property over the remnants of the former Byzantine and Crusader east churches. The courtyard of this church stands over the west end of the older churches. Parts of the original
mosaic
floor are still visible here.
[16]
The west wall of the courtyard contains the west facade of the 6th century basilica, as well as its three doorways. About twenty-five metres up a hill northwest of the church is the modern entrance to the Tomb of Lazarus.
Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Lazarus
[
edit
]
In 1965, a modern Greek Orthodox church was built just west of the Tomb. Its construction incorporates the north wall of the former medieval Benedictine chapel.
[3]
Nearby the church are ruins that belong to the
Orthodox Patriarchate
and are traditionally identified either as the House of
Simon the Leper
or Lazarus.
-
Burial Chamber Entrance
-
-
Tomb Entrance Circa 1906
-
Roman Catholic Church
-
Catholic Church Mosaics
-
Greek Orthodox Church
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
John 11:38?53
- ^
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913).
"Bethany"
.
Catholic Encyclopedia
. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome (2008).
The Holy Land: an Oxford archaeological guide from earliest times to 1700
(5th ed.). Oxford University Press US.
ISBN
978-0-19-923666-4
.
- ^
The Onomastikon of Eusebius and the Madaba Map
, By Leah Di Segni. First published in:
The Madaba Map Centenary
, Jerusalem, 1999, pp. 115?20.
- ^
Itinerary of the Pilgrim of Bordeaux
Archived
2011-07-19 at the
Wayback Machine
, translated by Arnold vander Nat, 2001.
- ^
a
b
Bethany in Byzantine Times I
Archived
2016-03-06 at the
Wayback Machine
and
Bethany in Byzantine Times II
, by Albert Storme, Franciscan Cyberspot.
- ^
Translation by J. Wilkinson.
[
citation needed
]
- ^
Ayer, Joseph Cullen. A source book for ancient church history: from the Apostolic age to the close of the Conciliar period. Charles Scribner, 1913.
- ^
MacPherson, James Rose, trans.,
The Pilgrimage of Arculf in the Holy Land, about the year A.D. 670
(London: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1895).
- ^
Bethany in Byzantine Times III
, by Albert Storme, Franciscan Cyberspot.
- ^
Bethany of the Middle Ages
, by Albert Storme, Franciscan Cyberspot.
- ^
Bethany ? Jerusalem
Archived
2009-08-20 at the
Wayback Machine
, Sacred Destinations.
- ^
a
b
In
The Biblical World
8
.5 (November 1896:40).
- ^
Modern Bethany
Archived
2013-10-07 at the
Wayback Machine
, by Albert Storme, Franciscan Cyberspot.
- ^
a
b
c
"Sacred Destinations"
Archived
2009-08-20 at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
a
b
c
Mariam Shahin (2005).
Palestine: A Guide
. Interlink Books. p.
332
.
ISBN
1-56656-557-X
.
- ^
Church of St. Lazarus, Bethany
Archived
2016-03-03 at the
Wayback Machine
, Antonio Barluzzi and the Pilgrimage Churches.
31°46′17.98″N
35°15′21.25″E
/
31.7716611°N 35.2559028°E
/
31.7716611; 35.2559028