On the way to al-Eizariya(Bethany)
al-Eizariya(traditionally identified as the biblical village of Bethany) is a town on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives, some 2.4 km east of Jerusalem.
Church of St. Lazarus
Location : al-Eizariya, Westbank
Affiliation : Roman Catholic
Completed : 1955
Architect : Antonio Barluzzi
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. The west wall of the courtyard contains the west facade of the 6th century basilica, as well as its three doorways. About 25 metres up a hill northwest of the church is the modern entrance to the Tomb of Lazarus.
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. Nearby the church are traditionally identified either as the House of Simon the Leper or Lazarus.
Church and Mosque
front : Church of St. Nazarus (Roman Catholic) / middle : Mosque / back : Church of St. Nazarus (Greek Orthodox)
Tomb of Nazarus
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."
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."
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 Nazarus, 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 tomb of Lazarus, as is the case with most of the tombs of the first century, is composed of vestibule and a burial chamber. The tomb is quarried in the soft rock of the Mount of Olives, and was most likely covered during the Byzantine period with stone or marble.
Trace of change and additions to the tomb can be traced since at least the fourteenth century. The construction of the Mosque of Ozyar in 1384 blocked the original entrance of the tomb that led to the eastern forecourt of the fourth-century church; this entrance led to the vestibule of the tomb and was used by the pilgrims visiting the tomb. The current northern entrance of the tomb was cut in the rock during the sixteenth century.
A flight of steps led down to the vestibule to the inner square 2.00 x 2.00 meters burial chamber. The burial chamber contained three funerary niches(arcosolia) hewn on the walls. Christian tradition identified the northern arcosolium, to the right of the entrance, with the arcosolium on which Lazarus was laid, and it was in the vestibule that Jesus when he called Lazarus to come out.
“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha…Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead!”… Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it, Jesus said “Take away the stone.”…When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth, Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go”. (Gospel of John, Chapter 11)
“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha…Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead!”… Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it, Jesus said “Take away the stone.”…When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth, Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go”. (Gospel of John, Chapter 11)
*texts sources : wikipedia, signboards & brochures onsite
*more infos about church and tomb : http://www.haeunchurch.com/index.php?mid=board_ljxq48&search_keyword=%EB%B2%A0%EB%8B%A4%EB%8B%88&search_target=title&document_srl=6061
Streetviews from Sherut
