Lazarus of Bethany#Lazarus as Babalu Aye in Santería

{{Other uses|The Raising of Lazarus (disambiguation)}}

File:'The Raising of Lazarus', tempera and gold on panel by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1310–11, Kimbell Art Museum.jpg, 1310–11]]

The raising of Lazarus is a story of the miracle of Jesus recounted in the Gospel of John (John 11:1–44) in the New Testament, as well as in the Secret Gospel of Mark (a fragment of an extended version of the Gospel of Mark) in which Jesus raises Lazarus of Bethany from the dead four days after his entombment.{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lazarus-of-Bethany|title=Lazarus|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica|access-date=19 March 2020|quote=When Lazarus died, he was raised by Jesus from the dead after he had been entombed for four days. This miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead inspired many Jews to believe in Jesus as the Christ.}}{{cite web|website=Biblegateway |title=John 11:1-46 |url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2011:1-11:46&version=NIV|publisher=NIV}}{{cite book|author-link=John Clowes (cleric)|last=Clowes|first=John|title=The Miracles of Jesus Christ|location=Manchester, UK|date=1817 |page= 274}} The event took place at Bethany. In John, this is the last of the miracles that Jesus performs before the passion, crucifixion and his own resurrection.

The biblical narrative of the raising of Lazarus is found in chapter 11 of the Gospel of John.{{Bibleverse||John|11:1–46}} A certain Lazarus, who lives in the town of Bethany near Jerusalem, is introduced as a follower of Jesus.{{Bibleverse||John|11:1}} He is identified as the brother of the sisters Mary and Martha. The sisters send word to Jesus that Lazarus, "he whom thou lovest is sick."{{Bibleverse||John|11:3}} Jesus tells his followers: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Instead of immediately traveling to Bethany, according to the narrator, Jesus intentionally remains where he is for two more days before beginning the journey. The disciples are afraid of returning to Judea, but Jesus says: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep." When the apostles misunderstand, he clarifies, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe."

File:Sebastiano del Piombo, The Raising of Lazarus.jpg, Oil on canvas, {{Circa|1517–1519}}, Sebastiano del Piombo (National Gallery, London)]]

When Jesus arrives in Bethany, he finds that Lazarus is dead and has already been in his tomb for four days. He meets first with Martha and Mary in turn. Martha laments that Jesus did not arrive soon enough to heal her brother ("Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.") and Jesus replies with the well-known statement, "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, KJV Martha affirms that she does truly believe and states, "Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." Later the narrator here gives the famous simple phrase, "Jesus wept."John 11:35, KJV

File:S. Apollinare Nuovo Resurr Lazzaro.jpg, Ravenna, Italy]]

In the presence of a crowd of Jewish mourners, Jesus comes to the tomb. Jesus asks for the stone of the tomb to be removed, but Martha interjects that there will be a smell. Jesus responds, "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" Over the objections of Martha, Jesus has them roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb and says a prayer. They take the stone away then Jesus looks up and says: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." He then calls Lazarus to come out ("Lazarus, come forth!") and Lazarus does so, still wrapped in his grave-cloths. Jesus then calls for someone to remove the grave-cloths, and let him go.

The narrative ends with the statement that many of the witnesses to this event "believed on him". Others are said to report the events to the religious authorities in Jerusalem.

The Gospel of John mentions Lazarus again in chapter 12. Six days before the Passover on which Jesus is crucified, Jesus returns to Bethany and Lazarus attends a supper that Martha, his sister, serves.{{Bibleverse||John|12:2}} Jesus and Lazarus together attract the attention of many Jews and the narrator states that the chief priests consider having Lazarus put to death because so many people are believing in Jesus on account of this miracle.{{Bibleverse||John|12:9–11}}

The miracle of the raising of Lazarus, the longest coherent narrative in John aside from the Passion, is the culmination 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.

A resurrection story that is very similar is also found in the controversial Secret Gospel of Mark, although the young man is not named there specifically. Some scholars believe that the Secret Mark version represents an earlier form of the canonical story found in John."Secret Mark's story is certainly much older in its form than John's account of the raising of Lazarus." {{Citation | last = Koester | first = Helmut | author-link =Helmut Koester | year = 2009| title = Was Morton Smith a Great Thespian and I a Complete Fool? | periodical = Biblical Archaeology Review | volume = 35| issue = 6 | pages = 54–58, 88}}

The miracle of the raising of Lazarus 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 plan to kill Jesus. Theologians Moloney and Harrington view the raising of Lazarus as a "pivotal miracle" which starts the chain of events that leads to the Crucifixion of Jesus. They consider it as a "resurrection that will lead to death", in that the raising of Lazarus will lead to the death of Jesus, the Son of God, in Jerusalem which will reveal the Glory of God.Francis J. Moloney, Daniel J. Harrington, 1998 The Gospel of John Liturgical Press {{ISBN|0-8146-5806-7}} p. 325

File:The raising of Lazarus - Peter Paul Rubens.jpg, 1625]]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the miracle performed by Jesus returned Lazarus to ordinary earthly life as with the son of the widow of Nain and Jairus' daughter and that Lazarus and the others who were raised from the dead would later die again.{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p122a5p2.htm#I|title=Paragraph 2. On the Third Day He Rose from the Dead|series=Catechism of the Catholic Church|access-date=27 February 2020|quote=640{...}Jesus had not simply returned to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus.{...}
{...}
646 Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space.(...)}} The Russian Orthodox Church's Catechism of St. Philaret writes that among the miracles performed by Jesus was the raising of Lazarus from the dead on the fourth day after Lazarus' death.{{cite web|url=http://www.pravoslavieto.com/docs/eng/Orthodox_Catechism_of_Philaret.htm|title=The Longer Catechism of The Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church|access-date=27 February 2020|quote=He raised the dead: the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus on the fourth day after his death.}} In the Southern Baptist Convention's 2014 resolution On the Sufficiency of Scripture Regarding the Afterlife, the raising of Lazarus is noted among the Bible's "explicit accounts of persons raised from the dead", and comments on those raisings that, "in God's perfect revelatory wisdom, He has not given us any report of their individual experience in the afterlife".{{cite web|url=http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/2247/on-the-sufficiency-of-scripture-regarding-the-afterlife|title=On The Sufficiency Of Scripture Regarding The Afterlife|publisher=Southern Baptist Convention|location=Baltimore|date=2014|access-date=10 March 2020|quote=WHEREAS, Though the Scriptures include explicit accounts of persons raised from the dead, such as Jairus’ daughter, the widow of Nain’s son, and Lazarus, in God’s perfect revelatory wisdom, He has not given us any report of their individual experience in the afterlife (Deuteronomy 29:29; Mark 5:21–43; Luke 7:11–17; John 11:35–44); }}

John Calvin notes that, "not only did Christ give a remarkable proof of his Divine power in raising Lazarus, but he likewise placed before our eyes a lively image of our future resurrection."{{cite web|url=http://biblehub.com/commentaries/calvin/john/11.htm |title=John 11 Calvin's Commentaries |publisher=Biblehub.com |access-date=16 April 2018}} French Protestant minister Jakob Abbadie wrote that Jesus had intentionally delayed his return to Bethany for, "four days, that it might not be said, he [Lazarus] was not really dead."{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0R5vfxU8wksC&pg=PA120|title=A Vindication of the Truth of Christian Religion, against the objections of all Modern Opposers|translator=Henry Lussan|date=1697|location=London|volume=2|author=Jakob Abbadie|via=Google Books}} In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI said that the Gospel story of the raising of Lazarus, "shows Christ's absolute power over life and death and reveals His nature as true man and true God" and that "Jesus' lordship over death does not prevent him from showing sincere compassion over the pain of this separation."{{cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/12017/pope-benedict-resurrection-of-lazarus-reveals-christs-power-over-life-and-death|title=Pope Benedict: resurrection of Lazarus reveals Christ's power over life and death|date=9 March 2008|access-date=27 February 2020|website=Catholic News Agency}}

Matthew Poole and others saw Lazarus' ability to move despite having his hands and feet wrapped together as a second miracle, but Charles Ellicott disputed that Lazarus' movement would have been restricted by his burial garments.{{cite web|url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/poole/john/11.htm|title=John 11|via=BibleHub.com|access-date=19 March 2020|quote=bound hand and foot: and here is a second miracle, that one so wrapped and bound up should be able to move and come forth.}} (Matthew Poole){{cite web|url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/john/11.htm|title=John 11|via=BibleHub.com|access-date=19 March 2020|quote=many of the older expositors regard the power to move, when bound hand and foot, as itself a miracle. But this seems not to be necessary, and if not necessary, is not to be resorted to. (Comp. Note on John 6:21.) The grave-clothes may have been bound round the limbs separately}} (Charles Ellicott)

Justus Knecht wrote that the object of this miracle related to the fact that, "the time of our Lord's Passion and Death was at hand, and He wrought this mighty miracle beforehand in order that the faith of His disciples, and more especially of His apostles, might be strengthened, and 'that they might believe' and not doubt when they saw their Lord and Master in the hour of His abasement; and most of all to enable them to hope, when they saw His Body laid in the sepulchre, that He who had raised up Lazarus would Himself rise again."{{cite book|chapter = LIV. The Raising of Lazarus from the Dead|title = A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture|year = 1910| publisher = B. Herder |author=Friedrich Justus Knecht}}

In Roger Baxter's Meditations, he reflects on the verse "His sisters therefore sent to Him saying, Lord, behold he whom Thou lovest is sick.", writing that "they do not prescribe to Him what they wish Him to do; to a loving friend it is sufficient to intimate our necessities. Such ought to be the nature of our prayers, particularly in regard to health and other temporal blessings, for we do not know in such cases what is expedient for our salvation."{{cite book|chapter=The Resuscitation of Lazarus|title=Meditations For Every Day In The Year|year=1823|publisher=Benziger Brothers|first=Roger|last=Baxter|author-link=Roger Baxter|location=New York}}

File:Composition of John 11 and 12.png

New Testament scholars try to establish how John's narrative of the raising of Lazarus and the subsequent feet-anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany (John 11:1–12:11,17) was composed by seeking to explain its apparent relationships with the older textual traditions of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke). The author of John may have combined elements from several – apparently originally unrelated – stories into a single narrative. These include the unnamed woman's head-anointing of Jesus in Bethany (Mark 14, Matthew 26), the sinful woman's feet-anointing (and hair-wiping) of Jesus in Galilee (Luke 7; these first two may have a common origin, the Lukan account likely being derived from Mark), Jesus' visit to Martha and Mary in the unnamed Galilean village (Luke 10), Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16), and possibly others involving Jesus' miraculous raising of the dead (the raising of Jairus' daughter and the raising of the son of the widow of Nain). Meanwhile, other elements were removed or replaced; for example, Simon the Leper/Simon the Pharisee was replaced by Lazarus as the host of the feast in Jesus' honour, and Bethany in Judea was chosen as the setting, while most elements of John's narrative correspond to traditions that the Synoptics set in Galilee. Scholars pay particular attention to verse John 11:2 (and verse John 11:1), which may represent an effort by the author or a later redactor to stress a connection between these stories that is, however, not found in the older canonical gospels.{{Cite book |last1=Esler |first1=Philip Francis |last2=Piper |first2=Ronald Allen |date=2006 |title=Lazarus, Mary and Martha: Social-scientific Approaches to the Gospel of John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Jgi5jNVIj4C&pg=PA49 |location=Minneapolis |publisher=Fortress Press |pages=49–60 |isbn=9780800638306}}{{Cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |date=2006 |title=Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QpNKcdZKYvoC&pg=PT199 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=199 |isbn=9780199924127 |access-date=10 December 2020}}{{Cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |date=1999 |title=Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9K_6NN3llcC&pg=PA189 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=189 |isbn=9780199839438}} They further note that the actual anointing will not be narrated until verse 12:3, and that neither Mary, nor Martha, nor the village of these sisters, nor any anointing is mentioned in the Gospel of John before this point, suggesting that the author (or redactor) assumes the readers already have knowledge of these characters, this location and this event, and wants to tell them that these were connected (which he apparently knew the readers did not commonly know/believe yet) long before giving the readers more details.{{Cite web |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/john/11-2.htm |title=John 11:2 Commentaries |work=Biblehub.com |date=2011 |access-date=10 January 2021}} Elser and Piper (2006) posited that verse 11:2 is evidence that the author of the Gospel of John deliberately mixed up several traditions in an 'audacious attempt (...) to rework the collective memory of the Christ-movement.' The author did not strive to give a historically accurate account of what had happened, but instead, for theological purposes, combined various existing narratives in order to construct Lazarus, Mary and Martha of Bethany as a prototypical Christian family, whose example is to be followed by Christians. Zangenberg (2023), however, doubts that John 11 was dependent on the other synoptic stories, finding the evidence for this theory insufficient. He also argues that John displays an accurate knowledge of Jewish burial customs at the time, as attested by archaeology and ancient Jewish texts.{{cite book |title=Pushing Sacred Boundaries in Early Judaism and the Ancient Mediterranean: Essays in Honor of Jodi Magness |last=Zangenberg |first=Jürgen K. |publisher=BRILL |year=2023 |isbn=978-90-04-54082-8 |pages=32–54 |editor-last=Mizzi |editor-first=Dennis |chapter=Textual and Material Lazarus in Dialogue: Reading John 11:1–44 (53) from Its Intra-textual and Extra-Textual Worlds |editor-last2=Grey |editor-first2=Matthew |editor-last3=Rassalle |editor-first3=Tine |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Ov7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA32}}

Earlier commentators include deist Lysander Spooner, who wrote in 1836 that it was unusual that the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) do not mention the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, which seems as if it could have been a demonstration of the miraculous powers of Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels do include passages concerning the activities of the sisters of Lazarus but fail to mention their brother's resurrection. Spooner wrote that this seemed to indicate that the author of the Gospel of John, "was actually dishonest, or that he took up, believed and recorded a flying story, which an occurrence of some kind had given rise to, but which was without any foundation in truth."{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/deistsreplytoall00spoo|title=The Deist's Reply to the Alleged Supernatural Evidences of Christianity|location=Boston|date=1836|via=Internet Archive|page=[https://archive.org/details/deistsreplytoall00spoo/page/34 34]|last1=Spooner|first1=Lysander}} In 1892, agnostic speaker Robert G. Ingersoll found the narrative historically implausible, writing that, if Lazarus had in fact died, potentially participating in an afterlife, and then subsequently had been resurrected, the experiences Lazarus could have shared with others would likely have been more interesting than everything else in the New Testament, would have drawn widespread attention to Lazarus during his lifetime and might have made him less afraid than others that did not have his experience when Lazarus approached death for a second time.{{cite web|author-first1=Robert G. |author-last1=Ingersoll|url=https://archive.org/details/prosepoemsselect00inge|title=Prose-Poems and Selection from the Writings and Sayings of Robert G. Ingersoll|via=Internet Archive|date=1892|page=[https://archive.org/details/prosepoemsselect00inge/page/84 84]|publisher=C. P. Farrell|location=New York|edition=5|quote=It seems to me that he would have been an object of great interest.{...}Thousands would have inquired of him about the other world;{...}His experience would have been vastly more interesting than everything else in the New Testament.{...}When he came to die again, people would have said: "He is not afraid; he has had experience; he knows what death is."}} Exegesis in the Interpreter's Bible (1953) comparing the raising of Lazarus to other resurrections in the Bible comments that, "The difference between revival immediately after death, and resurrection after four days, is so great as to raise doubts about the historicity of this story, especially in view of the unimaginable details in vs. 44. Yet there are features in this story which have the marks of verisimilitude."{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/interpretersbiblv8abin/|title=Interpreter's Bible|volume=8|url-access=registration|publisher=Abingdon Press|date=1953|via=Internet Archive|pages=[https://archive.org/details/interpretersbiblv8abin/page/648 648] & [https://archive.org/details/interpretersbiblv8abin/page/649 649]|isbn=9780687192144 }} Other scholars posit that the events leading to Jesus's death in Synoptic Gospels were based on an early account, before the Gospel of Mark was written, in which many characters are anonymous because they were still living and would be subject to persecution, whereas John's account of the same events was written much later and could name the anonymous characters and could also include the raising of Lazarus because all of the individuals had died, and were no longer subject to persecution.{{Cite web |last=Leasure |first=Ryan |date=31 May 2021 |title=Why Don't the Synoptic Gospels Mention Lazarus? |url=https://crossexamined.org/why-dont-the-synoptic-gospels-mention-lazarus/ |access-date=2 July 2023 |website=crossexamined.org}}{{Cite book |last=Trench |first=Richard Chenevix |title=Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord |publisher=D. Appleton & Company |year=1864 |isbn=978-1425541446 |edition=Second |pages=312 |quote=Thus, it has been urged by some, by Grotius and by Olshausen, that the three earlier Evangelists, writing in Palestine, and while either Lazarus or some of his family yet survived, would not willingly draw attention, and, it might be, persecution, upon them (see John 12:10); but that no such causes hindered St. John, who wrote at a much later period, and not in Palestine, but in Asia Minor, from bringing forward this miracle. The omission on their part, and the mention upon his, will then be a parallel to a like omission and mention of the name of the disciple who smote off the ear of the High Priest's servant, only St. John mentioning that it was Peter who struck the blow (xviii. 10).}}

File:Lazarus Bethany.JPG

The reputed first tomb of Lazarus is in Bethany and continues to be a place of pilgrimage to this day. 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, designed by Antonio Barluzzi and 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.

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.In The Biblical World 8.5 (November 1896:40). The same description applies today.[http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/san/BET09mod.html Modern Bethany] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007062326/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/san/BET09mod.html |date=7 October 2013 }}, by Albert Storme, Franciscan Cyberspot.[http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jerusalem-bethany.htm "Sacred Destinations"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820075541/http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/jerusalem-bethany.htm |date=20 August 2009 }}

The first mention of a church at Bethany is in the late 4th century, but both the historian Eusebius of Caesarea[http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/articles/DiSegniOnomasticon.html The Onomastikon of Eusebius and the Madaba Map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503165029/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/articles/DiSegniOnomasticon.html |date=3 May 2013 }}, By Leah Di Segni. First published in: The Madaba Map Centenary, Jerusalem, 1999, pp. 115–20. (c. 330) and the Bordeaux pilgrim do mention the tomb of Lazarus. In 390 Jerome mentions a church dedicated to Saint Lazarus, called the Lazarium. This is confirmed by the pilgrim Egeria in about the year 410. Therefore, the church is thought to have been built between 333 and 390.[http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/san/BET04byz.html Bethany in Byzantine Times I] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306011815/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/san/BET04byz.html |date=6 March 2016 }} and [https://web.archive.org/web/20000915083408/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/san/BET05lit.html Bethany in Byzantine Times II], by Albert Storme, Franciscan Cyberspot. The present-day gardens contain the remnants of a mosaic floor from the 4th-century church.{{cite book|title=Palestine: A Guide|author=Mariam Shahin|publisher=Interlink Books|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/palestine00mari/page/332 332]|isbn=1-56656-557-X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/palestine00mari/page/332}} The Lazarium was destroyed by an earthquake in the 6th century, and was replaced by a larger church. This church survived intact until the Crusader era.

In 1143 the existing structure and lands were purchased by King Fulk and Queen Melisende of Jerusalem and a large Benedictine convent dedicated to Mary and Martha was built near the tomb of Lazarus. After the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, the convent was deserted and fell into ruin with only the tomb and barrel vaulting surviving. By 1384, a simple mosque had been built on the site. 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.

File:Lazarus Tomb Bethany.ogv

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913, there were scholars who questioned the reputed site of the ancient village (though this was discounted by the Encyclopedia's author):

Some believe that the present village of Bethany does not occupy the site of the ancient village; but that it grew up around the traditional cave which they suppose to have been at some distance from the house of Martha and Mary in the village; Zanecchia (La Palestine d'aujourd'hui, 1899, I, 445ff.) places the site of the ancient village of Bethany higher up on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives, not far from the accepted site of Bethphage, and near that of the Ascension. 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 cave as the tomb of Lazarus is merely possible; it has no strong intrinsic or extrinsic authority. The site of the ancient village may not precisely coincide with the present one, but there is every reason to believe that it was in this general location."

While there is no further mention of Lazarus in the Bible, the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions offer varying accounts of the later events of his life. He is most commonly associated with Cyprus, where he is said to have become the first bishop of Kition (Larnaka), and Provence, where he is said to have been the first bishop of Marseille.

File:Cyprus-lazarus-church hg.jpg]]

According to Eastern Orthodox Church tradition, sometime after the Resurrection of Christ, Lazarus was forced to flee Judea because of rumoured plots on his life and came to Cyprus. There he was appointed by Barnabas and Paul the Apostle as the first bishop of Kition (present-day Larnaca). He lived there for thirty more years,Chev. C. Savona-Ventura (KLJ, CMLJ, BCrLJ). [http://www.stlazarusmalta.org/pdf_files/Lazarus_of_Bethany.pdf Lazarus of Bethany] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407175314/http://www.stlazarusmalta.org/pdf_files/Lazarus_of_Bethany.pdf |date=7 April 2019 }}. Grand Priory of the Maltese Island: Military & Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem. December 2009. p. 3. and on his death was buried there for the second and last time.Michaelides, M.G. "Saint Lazarus, The Friend Of Christ And First Bishop Of Kition", Larnaca, Cyprus, 1984. Reprinted by Fr. Demetrios Serfes at [http://www.serfes.org/lives/stlazarus.htm St. Lazarus The Friend Of Christ And First Bishop Of Kition, Cyprus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090922225302/http://www.serfes.org/lives/stlazarus.htm |date=22 September 2009 }}

Further establishing the apostolic nature of Lazarus' appointment was the story that the bishop's omophorion 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 Kition—subject to the patriarch of Jerusalem—during the period 325–431. The church of Kition was declared self-governing in 431 AD at the Third Ecumenical Council.Roberson, Fr. Ronald G., (C.S.P.). [http://www.cnewa.us/default.aspx?ID=22&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=US&pageno=1 The Orthodox Church of Cyprus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103095050/http://www.cnewa.us/default.aspx?ID=22&pagetypeID=9&sitecode=US&pageno=1 |date=3 November 2013 }}. CNEWA United States. 26 June 2007.

According to tradition, Lazarus never smiled during the thirty years after his resurrection, worried by the sight of unredeemed souls he had seen during his four-day stay in Hell. The only exception happened when, seeing someone stealing a pot, he smilingly said: "the clay steals the clay."

In 890, a tomb was found in Larnaca bearing the inscription "Lazarus the friend of Christ". Emperor Leo VI of Byzantium had Lazarus' remains transferred to Constantinople in 898. The transfer was apostrophized by Arethas, bishop of Caesarea, and is commemorated by the Eastern Orthodox Church each year on 17 October.

In recompense to Larnaca, Emperor Leo had the Church of St. Lazarus, which still exists today, erected over Lazarus' tomb. The marble sarcophagus can be seen inside the church under the Holy of Holies.

In the 16th century, a Russian monk from the Monastery of Pskov visited Lazarus's tomb in Larnaca and took with him a small piece of the relics. Perhaps that piece led to the erection of the St. Lazarus chapel at the Pskov Monastery (Spaso-Eleazar Monastery, Pskov),{{efn|{{in lang|ru}} Спасо-Елеазаровский монастырь. Russian Wikipedia.}} where it is kept today.[http://www.visitcyprus.com/media/Audio/written_form/St_Lazarus_afigisi_en.pdf St. Lazarus Church & Ecclesiastical Museum, Larnaca] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123121647/http://www.visitcyprus.com/media/Audio/written_form/St_Lazarus_afigisi_en.pdf |date=23 November 2015 }}. Cyprus Tourism Organisation. p. 4. Retrieved: 17 April 2013.

In November 1972, human remains in a marble sarcophagus were discovered under the altar, during renovation works in the church of Church of St. Lazarus at Larnaca, and were identified as part of the saint's relics.{{efn|In 1970 a fire that broke out in Church of St. Lazarus at Larnaca destroyed almost all of the internal furnishings of the church.[http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=9435 St. Lazarus' relics brought to Moscow from Cyprus]. Interfax-Religion. 13 June 2012, 13:32. Subsequent archaeological excavations and renovations led to the discovery of a portion of the saint's relics.}}

In June 2012 the Church of Cyprus gave a part of the holy relics of Saint Lazarus to a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, after a four-day visit to Cyprus. The relics were brought to Moscow and were given to Archbishop Arseniy of Istra, who took them to the Zachatievsky monastery (Conception Convent), where they were put up for veneration.[http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/54338.htm St. Lazarus' Relics Brought to Moscow from Cyprus]. Pravoslavie.ru. Moscow, 13 June 2012.

File:Autun cathedrale.jpg (Cathédrale Saint-Lazare d'Autun), Autun, France, also said to be built over the tomb of Lazarus]]

In the West, according to an alternative medieval tradition (centered in Provence), Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were "put out to sea by the Jews hostile to Christianity in a vessel without sails, oars, or helm, and after a miraculous voyage landed in Provence at a place called today the Saintes-Maries."{{CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09097a.htm|title=St. Lazarus of Bethany}} The family is then said to separate and go in different parts of southeastern Gaul to preach; Lazarus goes to Marseille. Converting many people to Christianity there, he becomes the first Bishop of Marseille. During the persecution of Domitian, he is imprisoned and beheaded in a cave beneath the prison Saint-Lazare. His body is later translated to Autun, where he is buried in the Autun Cathedral, dedicated to Lazarus as Saint Lazare. However, the inhabitants of Marseille claim to be in possession of his head which they still venerate.

Pilgrims also visit another purported tomb of Lazarus at the Vézelay Abbey in Burgundy.{{cite web |url=http://www.ayioslazaros.org/istoria1_eng.htm |title=History |access-date=21 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054405/http://www.ayioslazaros.org/istoria1_eng.htm |archive-date=21 September 2013 }} The Abbey of the Trinity at Vendôme was said to hold a tear shed by Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120731073645/http://www.experienceloire.com/trinity%20abbey.htm Holy Trinity Abbey - Vendome]

The Golden Legend, compiled in the 13th century, records the Provençal tradition. It also records a grand lifestyle imagined for Lazarus and his sisters (note that therein Lazarus' sister Mary is identified with Mary Magdalene):

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."Of Mary Magdalene", [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume4.htm Legenda Aurea, Book IV.]

The 15th-century poet Georges Chastellain draws on the tradition of the unsmiling Lazarus:Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages p. 147 "He whom God raised, doing him such grace, the thief, Mary's brother, thereafter had naught but misery and painful thoughts, fearing what he should have to pass". (Le pas de la mort, VI{{cite book |title=Œuvres de Georges Chastellain |url=https://archive.org/details/uvresdegeorgesc13belggoog |page= [https://archive.org/details/uvresdegeorgesc13belggoog/page/n78 59] |location=Bruxelles |publisher=F. Heussner |date=1864 |via=Internet Archive |access-date=16 April 2018}}).

File:Johannes Wierix - The raising of Lazarus.JPG, 1585]]

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

The Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine Catholic Church commemorate Lazarus on Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday, which is a moveable feast day. 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.Archimandrite Kallistos Ware and Mother Mary, Tr., The Lenten Triodion (St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, South Canaan, Pennsylvania, 2002, {{ISBN|1-878997-51-3}}), p. 57. 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?",({{Bibleverse||John|11:34}}) and his divinity by commanding Lazarus to come forth from the dead.({{Bibleverse||John|11:43}})

File:Свјетлопис мозаика који приказује четверодневног Лазара из Витаније, Храм Св. Саве, Биоград.jpg]]

Many of the resurrectional hymns of the normal Sunday service which are omitted on Palm Sunday are chanted on Lazarus Saturday. During the Divine Liturgy, the Baptismal Hymn, "As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ",({{Bibleverse||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.

Lazarus is also commemorated on the liturgical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church on the fixed feast day of 17 March,{{efn|In the Synaxarion of Constantinople and in the Lavreotic Codex, reference is made to the "Raising of Lazarus" – the Holy and Just Lazarus, the friend of Christ. The entry for 17 October in the Prologue from Ohrid also states that "Lazarus's principle feasts are on 17 March and Lazarus Saturday during Great Lent."Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović. [http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/my.html?month=October&day=17&Go.x=10&Go.y=20 October 17 – The Prologue from Ohrid] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619064352/http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/my.html?month=October&day=17&Go.x=10&Go.y=20 |date=19 June 2013 }}. (Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Western America). Retrieved 17 April 2013.}} while the translation of his relics from Cyprus to Constantinople in 898 AD[http://oca.org/saints/lives/2013/10/17/102991-translation-of-the-relics-of-st-lazarus-ldquoof-the-four-days-in Translation of the relics of St Lazarus "of the Four Days in the Tomb" the Bishop of Kiteia on Cyprus]. OCA – Lives of the Saints. Retrieved: 17 April 2013. is observed on 17 October.{{efn|"...Under today's date is commemorated the translation of his relics from the island of Cyprus to Constantinople. This occurred when Emperor Leo the Wise built the Church of St. Lazarus in Constantinople, and translated Lazarus's relics there in the year 890. When, after almost a thousand years, Lazarus's grave in the town of Kition on Cyprus was unearthed, a marble tablet was found with the inscription: "Lazarus of the Four Days, the friend of Christ."}}

On the General Roman Calendar, Lazarus is celebrated, together with his sister Mary of Bethany and their sister Martha, on a memorial on 29 July.Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 {{ISBN|978-88-209-7210-3}}), p. 398{{Cite web|title=DECREE on the Celebration of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus in the General Roman Calendar (26 January 2021)|url=http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20210126_decreto-santi_en.html|access-date=2 February 2021|website=www.vatican.va}} Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology placed him among the saints of 17 December.[http://www.breviary.net/martyrology/mart12/mart1217.htm "December 17"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611112918/http://www.breviary.net/martyrology/mart12/mart1217.htm |date=11 June 2009 }}, Roman Martyrology (1749).

In Cuba, the celebration of San Lázaro on 17 December is a major festival. The date is celebrated with a pilgrimage to a chapel housing an image of Saint Lazarus, one of Cuba's most sacred icons, in the village of El Rincon, outside Havana.[http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y98/dec98/17e2.htm With sackcloth and rum, Cubans hail Saint Lazarus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420195906/http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y98/dec98/17e2.htm |date=20 April 2008 }}, 17 December 1998. Reuters news story.

Lazarus is commemorated in the Calendars of some Anglican provinces. Lazarus is remembered (with Martha and Mary) under the title "Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, Companions of Our Lord", on 29 July{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=27 March 2021|website=The Church of England|language=en}} in the Church of England with a Lesser FestivalCommon Worship, published by Church House Publishing, 2000, {{ISBN|0-7151-2000-X}}, p. 11. and as such is provided with proper lectionary readings and collect.

Lazarus is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 29 July together with Mary and Martha.

{{See also|Rich man and Lazarus}}

The name "Lazarus" also appears in the Gospel of Luke in the story of Lazarus and Dives (Luke 16:19-31), which is attributed to Jesus.{{Bibleverse||Luke|16:19–31}} Also called "Dives and Lazarus", or "The Rich Man and the Beggar Lazarus", the narrative tells of the relationship (in life and in death) between an unnamed rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. In Hell, the dead rich man calls to Abraham in Heaven to send Lazarus from his side to warn the rich man's family from sharing his fate. Abraham replies, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."{{bibleverse|Luke|16:19–31|NIV}}

Historically within Christianity, the begging Lazarus of the parable (feast day 21 June) and Lazarus of Bethany have sometimes been conflated, with both being depicted in iconography with sores and crutches.Stephen Gencarella Olbrys, "Money talks: folklore in the public sphere". Folklore Vol. 116, No. 3 (December 2005), p. 292-310.

Romanesque iconography carved on portals in Burgundy and Provence might be indicative of such a conflation. For example, at the west portal of the Church of St. Trophime at Arles, the beggar Lazarus is enthroned as Saint Lazarus. Similar examples are found at the church at Avallon, the central portal at Vézelay, and the portals of the cathedral of Autun.Richard Hamann, "Lazarus in Heaven". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 63 No. 364 (July 1933), p. 3–5, 8–11

{{Main article|Order of Saint Lazarus}}

The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is an order of chivalry that originated in a leper hospital founded by Knights Hospitaller in the 12th century by Crusaders of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Sufferers of leprosy regarded the beggar Lazarus (of Luke 16:19-31) as their patron saint and usually dedicated their hospices to him.[http://www.st-lazarus.net/international/index.html "History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701192902/http://www.st-lazarus.net/international/index.html |date=1 July 2012 }}, official international website of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem. Retrieved on 14 September 2009.

Lazarus also appeared in medieval Islamic tradition, in which he was honored as a pious companion of Jesus. Although the Quran mentions no figure named Lazarus, among the miracles with which it credits Jesus includes the raising of people from the dead (QS. Al-Imran [3]:49). Muslim lore frequently detailed these miraculous narratives of Jesus, but mentioned Lazarus only occasionally. Al-Ṭabarī, for example, in his Taʾrīk̲h̲ talks of these miracles in general.Ṭabarī, Taʾrīk̲h̲, i, 187, 731, 739 Al-T̲h̲aʿlabī, however, related, closely following the Gospel of John: "Lazarus [Al-ʿĀzir] died, his sister sent to inform Jesus, Jesus came three (in the Gospel, four) days after his death, went with his sister to the tomb in the rock and caused Lazarus to arise; children were born to him".T̲h̲aʿlabī, Ḳiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ, Cairo 1325/1907-8, ii, 307. Similarly, in Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, the resurrected man is called "ʿĀzir", which is another Arabic rendering of "Lazarus".Ibn al-At̲h̲īr, i, 122, 123.{{full citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Via syncretism, Lazarus (or more precisely the conflation of the two figures named "Lazarus") has become an important figure in Santería as the Yoruba deity Babalu Aye. Like the beggar of the Christian Gospel of Luke, Babalu-Aye represents someone covered with sores licked by dogs who was healed by divine intervention.[http://www.philomuse.com/kingfisher/lab/lazarus.htm Lazarus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204134331/http://www.philomuse.com/kingfisher/lab/lazarus.htm |date=4 December 2008 }} Silver charms known as the crutch of St. Lazarus or standard Roman Catholic–style medals of St. Lazarus are worn as talismans to invoke the aid of the syncretized deity in cases of medical suffering, particularly for people with AIDS. In Santería, the date associated with Saint Lazarus is 17 December, despite Santería's reliance on the iconography associated with the begging saint whose feast day is 21 June.

The raising of Lazarus is a popular subject in religious art.For the treatment of this subject in Western European art, see the discussion in Franco Mormando, "Tintoretto's Recently Rediscovered Raising of Lazarus", in The Burlington Magazine, v. 142 (2000): pp. 624–29. Two of the most famous paintings are those of The Raising of Lazarus (Caravaggio) and Sebastiano del Piombo (1516). Among other prominent depictions of Lazarus are works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Ivor Williams, and Lazarus Breaking His Fast by Walter Sickert.

The Raising of Lazarus is one of the most popular artistic themes in the Catacombs of Rome including examples from the 2nd century.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/themesfromstjohn00lamb|title=Themes from St. John's gospel in early Roman catacomb painting|author=Clark Diven Lamberton|date=1905|page=[https://archive.org/details/themesfromstjohn00lamb/page/58 58]|publisher=[Princeton], Princeton university press }}

File:Sarcophagus relief - Daniel in the Lions Den; the Raising of Lazarus.jpg|Early Christian sarcophagus relief: Daniel in the Lions' Den and the Raising of Lazarus

File:Воскрешение Лазаря.jpg|The Resurrection of Lazarus, Byzantine icon, late 14th – early 15th century (From the Collection of G. Gamon-Gumun, Russian museum)

File:Lazarus, Russian icon.jpg|The Resurrection of Lazarus, Russian icon, 15th century, Novgorod school (State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg)

File:Sebastiano del Piombo, The Raising of Lazarus.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus, Oil on canvas, {{Circa|1517–1519}}, Sebastiano del Piombo (National Gallery, London)

File:Michelangelo Caravaggio 006.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus, Oil on canvas, {{Circa|1609|lk=no}}, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Museo Regionale, Messina)

File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 015.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus, 1630–1631, Rembrandt van Rijn (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles)

File:Giuseppe salviati, resurrezione di lazzaro.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus, 1540–1545, Giuseppe Salviati

File:Vincent van Gogh - The raising of Lazarus (after Rembrandt) - Google Art Project.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus (after Rembrandt), Oil on paper, 1890, Vincent van Gogh (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)

File:Bonnat01.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus, 1857, Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat

File:Raising of Lazarus (f. 11r) Cropped.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus illumination on parchment, {{Circa|1504|lk=no}}

File:RaisingofLazarusBloch.jpg|Raising Lazarus, Oil on Copper Plate, 1875, Carl Heinrich Bloch (Hope Gallery, Salt Lake City)

File:The Raising of Lazarus by William Blake - William Blake - ABDAG002369.jpg|The Raising of Lazarus, 1800, William Blake, Aberdeen Art Gallery

==Cultural references==

File:001Resurrección de Lázaro.jpg]]

Well known in Western culture from their respective biblical tales, both figures named Lazarus (Lazarus of Bethany and the Beggar Lazarus of "Lazarus and Dives"), have appeared many times in music, writing and art. The majority of the references are to Lazarus of Bethany.

In the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, after writing his will and testament for the fourth time, Ishmael remarks that, "all the days I should now live would be as good as the days that Lazarus lived after his resurrection; a supplementary clean gain of so many months or weeks as the case might be."{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/mobydickorwhale01melvuoft|title=Moby-Dick|via=Internet Archive|author=Herman Melville|year=1922 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mobydickorwhale01melvuoft/page/288 288]}}

In Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1866 novel Crime and Punishment the protagonist Raskolnikov asks his lover Sonia to read him this section of the Gospel.[http://www.generousorthodoxy.org/sermons/the-raising-of-lazarus.aspx]Rutledge, Fleming. "The Raising of Lazarus", Generous Orthodoxy, 1980

In two short stories written by Mark Twain and posthumously published in 1972, a lawyer argues that Lazarus' heirs had an indisputable claim to any property the resurrected Lazarus had owned before his death.[https://archive.org/details/fablesofman0000twai Mark Twain's Fables of Man] (1972). Edited by John S. Tuckey. Berkeley, University of California Press, {{ISBN|0-520-02039-1}} pp.65-66, 74. "the lawyer said that if Lazarus left any property behind him he most certainly found himself penniless when he was raised from the dead; that if there was any dispute between him and his heirs, the law upheld the latter."{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zD6xVr1CizIC&pg=PA440|title=A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature|author=David Lyle Jeffrey|year=1992|page=440|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=9780802836342|via=Google Books|quote=Mark Twain, who refers ironically to the legal implications of Lazarus's resurrection.}}

Playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1925 wrote the play Lazarus Laughed, his largest-cast play, presenting Lazarus' life after his resurrection. The play has only been produced once in full, though in reduced-cast versions at other times.

Many works of literature from the 20th century allude to Lazarus, including Truman Capote's short story "A Tree of Night" in A Tree of Night and Other Stories (1945) and John Knowles's novel A Separate Peace (1959). Allusions in 20th-century poetry occur in works such as Leonid Andreyev's book-length poem Lazarus (1906),{{cite book| last = Andreyev| first = Leonid| title = Lazarus| url = http://www.russianshortstories.com/andreyev/lazarus/i.htm| publisher = MacMillan| year = 1906| access-date = 2 February 2009| archive-date = 19 February 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090219013554/http://www.russianshortstories.com/andreyev/lazarus/i.htm| url-status = dead}}{{cite web| title = Leonid N. Andreyev| url = http://www.online-literature.com/leonid-andreyev/| publisher = The Literature Network| access-date = 8 October 2016}} T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem "Lazarus" (1920),{{cite book| last = Robinson| first = Edwin Arlington| title = The Three Taverns: A Book of Poems| publisher = MacMillan| year = 1920| location = New York| url = https://archive.org/details/threetavernsbook00robiuoft| pages = [https://archive.org/details/threetavernsbook00robiuoft/page/109 109]–20}} and Sylvia Plath's poem "Lady Lazarus" published in her posthumous anthology Ariel (1965). An allusion to Lazarus also appears in the memoir Witness (1952) by Whittaker Chambers (who acknowledged the influence of Dostoevsky's works), which opens its first chapter, "In 1937, I began, like Lazarus, the impossible return."{{Cite book| last = Chambers| first = Whittaker| author-link = Whittaker Chambers| title = Witness| url = https://archive.org/details/witnesscha00cham| url-access = registration| publisher = Random House| year = 1952| location = New York| pages = [https://archive.org/details/witnesscha00cham/page/799 799] (total)| lccn = 52005149}}

Science fiction allusions to Lazarus occur in Robert A. Heinlein's Lazarus Long novels (1941–1987), Walter M. Miller Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960), and Frank Herbert's The Lazarus Effect (1983).

In the 2010 book The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy written by American professors of philosophy Kathleen Higgins and Robert C. Solomon, at the end of Chapter 5, The Search for Truth, readers are asked to consider: "Could a scientist give an adequate account of the biblical story of the raising of Lazarus?"{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ekh2AKqXdqgC&pg=PA181|title=The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy|date=2010|isbn=9780495595151|via=Google Books|last1=Solomon|first1=Robert C.|last2=Higgins|first2=Kathleen M.|publisher=Cengage Learning }}

Lazarus Is Dead (2011) by Richard Beard is an innovative novel. Its amplifies a detail of the Gospel: Lazarus was Jesus's friend; however Jesus has disciples, but not many friends. Beard traces the story back to Jesus and Lazarus's childhood in Nazareth, after, the two friends' paths have diverged. The novel was described by the Sunday Business Post as "no ordinary novel: it is a brilliant, genre-bending retelling and subversion of one of the oldest, most sensational stories in the western canon."

John Derhak's The Bones of Lazarus (2012), is a darkly funny, fast-paced, supernatural thriller that traces intersecting lives on a war-torn, resource rich, Caribbean island. The plot revolves around the premise that Lazarus of Bethany, upon his resurrection by Christ, becomes an immortal creature of Judgment, seeking the hearts and souls of the wicked throughout time.

Larry: A Novel of Church Recovery (2019) by Brian L. Boley is a short novel, in which a character named "Larry" appears. "Larry" gives suggestions to a pair of pastors about improving their churches and leading them to growth. But as we read along, we begin to understand that "Larry" may actually be the biblical Lazarus of Bethany, an immortal evangelistic servant of Jesus.

Richard Zimler's bestselling novel The Gospel According to Lazarus (2019 in English) is written from the perspective of Lazarus himself. The book presents Yeshua ben Yosef (Jesus' Hebrew name) as an early Jewish mystic and explores the deep friendship between Lazarus and Yeshua, who - within the fictional setting - have been best friends since childhood. The themes of the book include how we cope with a loss of faith, the terrible sacrifices we make for those we love, the transcendent meaning of Yeshua's mission, and how we go on after suffering a shattering trauma. The Observer review summarized the novel as "A very human tale of rivalry, betrayal, power-grabbing and sacrifice.... Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this brave and engaging novel...is that Zimler manages to make the best-known narrative in western culture a page-turner."{{cite news |last1=Stanford |first1=Peter |title=The Gospel According to Lazarus review – miraculous page-turner (book review) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/07/gospel-according-to-lazarus-richard-zimler-review |access-date=1 July 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=7 April 2019}}

In music, a popular retelling of the biblical Lazarus story from the point of view of Lazarus in heaven is the 1984 gospel story-song "Lazarus Come Forth" by Contemporary Christian Music artist Carman.[http://www.musicpubco.net/carman_bio.html Carman Bio], MPCA promotional material.[http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/cdreviews/CominOnStrong.asp Comin' On Strong discography]. A modern reinterpretation of the story is the title track to the album Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! by the Australian alternative band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Several other bands have composed songs titled "Lazarus" in allusion to the resurrection story, including Porcupine Tree, Conor Oberst, Circa Survive, Chimaira, moe., Wes King, Placebo, and David Bowie (written while he was terminally ill).{{cite news|last1=Paulson|first1=Michael|title=After David Bowie's Death, 'Lazarus' Holds New Meaning for Fans|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/theater/after-david-bowie-death-lazarus-holds-new-meaning-for-fans.html|access-date=13 January 2016|work=The New York Times|date=13 January 2016}}

File:Resurrection of Lazarus by Henry Ossawa Tanner.jpg brought Lazarus to the forefront of popular culture in Paris, entering Resurrection of Lazarus in the Paris Salon, winning a medal.{{cite news |title= Henry Ossawa Tanner 1859/1937|work=Detroit Free Press |date=14 July 1991 |pages= 284–285 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-henry-ossawa-tanner-t/126473501/}} It was so respected that the French government bought the painting.]]

Lazarus is sometimes referenced in political figures returning to power in unlikely circumstances. When John Howard lost the leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia, he rated his chances of regaining it as "Lazarus with a triple bypass".{{Citation|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/28/1077677011993.html|title=Thoughts of a bypassed Lazarus|work=The Age|date=29 February 2004|access-date=25 July 2007 | location=Melbourne}} Howard did regain the leadership and went on to become Prime Minister of Australia. Former President of Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was termed the "Haitian Lazarus" by journalist Amy Wilentz, in her description of his return to Haiti from exile and the political significance of this event.Wilentz, Amy. [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/opinion/16wilentz.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 The Haitian Lazarus]. NY Times (Op-Ed). 15 March 2011.

In the Batman comic book series, Ra’s al Ghul is often restored to life by a pool known as the Lazarus Pit.

A futuristic, dystopian, four-part television series set in the 24th century, Cold Lazarus, was written by Dennis Potter when he was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. A 20th-century writer, Danial Feeld, is cryogenically frozen, and the plot revolves around attempts to resurrect his thoughts from his frozen head.

In the 2007 Doctor Who episode "The Lazarus Experiment", has Professor Richard Lazarus demonstrate an experiment that causes him to look like a younger man, before an error in his work turns him into a life-force sucking monster.

In the 2014 indie roguelike video game, The Binding of Isaac, one of the playable characters is called Lazarus; this character is resurrected after death once each floor in the game.

• Lazarus of Bethany, patron saint archive
• Corpse decomposition
• Lazarus Saturday
• Ministry of Jesus
• Panagia Alexiotissa, Patras
• Seven signs in the Gospel of John
• :Category:Paintings of the Resurrection of Lazarus

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{{Wikisource|1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Lazarus}}

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