| Saturday of the Holy and Righteous Friend of Christ, Lazarus Introduction On the Saturday before Holy Week, the Orthodox Church commemorates a major feast of the year, the miracle of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he raised Lazarus from the dead after he had lain in the grave four days. Here, at the end of Great Lent and the forty days of fasting and penitence, the Church combines this celebration with that of Palm Sunday. In triumph and joy the Church bears witness to the power of Christ over death and exalts Him as King before entering the most solemn week of the year, one that leads the faithful in remembrance of His suffering and death and concludes with the great and glorious Feast of Pascha. Biblical Story Icon of the Raising of Lazarus The story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead by Jesus Christ is found in the Gospel of John 11:1-45. Lazarus becomes ill, and his sisters, Mary and Martha send a message to Jesus stating, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” In response to the message, Jesus says, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (vv. 1-4). Jesus did not immediately go to Bethany, the town where Lazarus lived with his sisters. Instead He remained in the place where He was staying for two more days. After this time, He told his disciples that they were returning to Judea. The disciples immediately expressed their concern, stating that the Jews there had recently tried to stone Him (John 10:31). Jesus replied to His disciples, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them” (vv. 5-10). After He said this, Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus had fallen asleep and that He was going there to wake him. The disciples wondered why He would go to wake Lazarus, since it was good for him to sleep if he was ill. Jesus, however, was referring to the death of Lazarus, and thus told the disciples directly that Lazarus was dead (vv. 11-14). |
| 2. Lazarus is seen answering the call of his friend while still bound in his burial cloth. Standing with Christ are his disciples who are witnesses of this miracle, a true manifestation of the power of God that would bring them assurance during the Passion of our Lord. 3. Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, bow before Christ as they witness this awesome miracle. A young man pulls the stone away from the front of the tomb. 4. A man who is a part of the crowd that followed Christ, witnesses the miracle. In the center of the icon is a person (4) who represents the crowd who also witnessed the miracle. Some believed, but others went and told the Pharisees and chief priests who continued their machinations to bring about the arrest of Christ and His death. The walled city of Jerusalem, where Christ will arrive in triumph the following day, is depicted in the background. Orthodox christian celebration of the Saturday of Lazarus The Saturday of Lazarus is celebrated with the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, which is preceded by the Matins service. On Friday before the feast, the Vespers is done either in conjunction with the Presanctified Liturgy or if this is not held, according to the order of the Triodion. The day and commemoration receives its name from the miracle of Christ recorded in the Gospel. Both this feast and Palm Sunday are joyous festivals of the Church, and thus bright colors are used for vestments and the Holy Table. Scripture readings for the Saturday of Lazarus are: At the Orthros (Matins): No reading of the Gospel. At the Divine Liturgy: Hebrews 12:28-13:8 ; John 11:1-45 . At the Divine Liturgy of Lazarus Saturday, the baptismal verse from Galatians ( " As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ " Galatians 3:27) replaces the Thrice-Holy Hymn, thus indicating the resurrectional character of the celebration, and the fact that Lazarus Saturday was once among the few great baptismal days in the Orthodox Church Year. Hymns of the Feast |
| According to Saint Epifanios, Bishop of Konstantia in Cyprus, righteous Lazarus was thirty years old at the time, and lived a further 30 years after being raised. One tradition has it that, in order to escape the hatred of the high priests, Lazarus fled to Kitio in Cyprus in about 33 A. D. Here he met the Apostles Paul and Barnabas as they were going from Salamina to Paphos. They consecrated him as the first Bishop of Kitio, a see he founded himself. He acted with love and affection as the shepherd of the Church there and served for some eighteen years, until the end of his life. Four-day dead Lazarus experienced death and decay. But beyond death and decay he had a face to face encounter with eternal life, with the living God. For our sake and for the sake of the message of eternity, the Lord called Lazarus back to this painful and difficult life, which he completed with a martyr’s death. He took him out of eternal, wonderful peace so that he could act as a witness to life. Today’s feast and that of tomorrow both serve as prefaces to the Lord’s Cross. They’re both imbued with the Lord’s impending victory over hell, that is death, in ecclesiastical and Biblical terms. Lazarus is the personification of the whole of the human race, of each of us separately. Lazarus’ home town, Bethany, is the home of all of us, according to Father Alexander He’s presented to us, raised, at the threshold of Holy and Great Week as a harbinger of Christ’s victory over death. Moreover, the raising of Lazarus announces the resurrection of the dead, which comes about as a consequence of the Resurrection of the Lord: ‘Before your own death, Christ, you raised from hell Lazarus who was four days dead and you shook the domain of death’ (Lauds at Mattins, Lazarus Saturday). Jesus shows that the resurrection is an event which is already present, because he doesn’t merely cause it; he is, in very fact, the resurrection and life. With his being raised, four days dead Lazarus comes today to remind us that we, too, with the flesh (which is likened to his sister, Martha) and the soul (which is in charge of the body and is likened to his sister, Mary) should turn to our Lord Jesus Christ so that he can raise our mind from sin and death and that we, too, can have the opportunity to gaze upon his face. ‘Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, personifies the whole of mankind and also each man, as Bethany — the home of Lazarus, — stands for the whole world — the home of man’. Archpriest Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha (1969; revised ed. 1974). |
| Lazarus Saturday is a paschal celebration. It is the only time in the entire Church Year that the resurrectional service of Sunday is celebrated on another day. At the liturgy of Lazarus Saturday, the Church glorifies Christ as “the Resurrection and the Life” who, by raising Lazarus, has confirmed the universal resurrection of mankind even before His own suffering and death. By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy passion, Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, O Christ God! Like the children with the branches of victory, we cry out to Thee, O Vanquisher of Death: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord! (Troparion). Christ -the Joy, the Truth and the Light of All, the Life of the world and its Resurrection-has appeared in his goodness to those on earth. He has become the Image of our Resurrection, granting divine forgiveness to all (Kontakion). At the Divine Liturgy of Lazarus Saturday the baptismal verse from Galatians: As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ ( Gal 3.27 ) replaces the Thrice-holy Hymn thus indicating the resurrectional character of the celebration, and the fact that Lazarus Saturday was once among the few great baptismal days in the Orthodox Church Year. Because of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, Christ was hailed by the masses as the long-expected Messiah-King of Israel. Thus, in fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament, He entered Jerusalem, the City of the King, riding on the colt of an ass (Zech 9.9; Jn 12.12 ). The crowds greeted Him with branches in their hands and called out to Him with shouts of praise: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The Son of David! The King of Israel! Because of this glorification by the people, the priests and scribes were finally driven “to destroy Him, to put Him to death” ( Lk 19.47 ; Jn?11.53, 12.10). The feast of Christ’s triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday, is one of the twelve major feasts of the Church. The services of this Sunday follow directly from those of Lazarus Saturday. The church building continues to be vested in resurrectional splendor, filled with hymns which continually repeat the Hosanna offered to Christ as the Messiah-King who comes in the name of God the Father for the salvation of the world. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Ideas for Family Celebrations for Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America Pravmir.com team 14 April 2022 Before we know it, we will be celebrating Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday. What a perfect introduction to Holy Week, and what a glorious way for our Lord to reassure his followers of His power that conquers death. It was, in a sense a “spoiler alert” of what was to happen in the days ahead! Our children (and let’s face it, even some of us adults) can experience sensory overload with all of the beautiful hymns and processions of this special weekend, and Holy Week and Pascha that will follow. Let’s prepare for this by processing what we will experience when we attend all of the services. Lazarus Saturday is the only time in the church year that the resurrectional Divine Liturgy is celebrated on a day other than Sunday. It makes sense: after all, on Lazarus Saturday, Christ raised His very dear friend Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45), a precursor of His own death and resurrection! This gives Orthodox Christians strength during the services of the week ahead of us. Let us make it a priority to attend the Lazarus Saturday Divine Liturgy with our children. This points us all to the hope and joy of our Lord’s resurrection — and, one day, our own resurrection! It does mean attending Divine Liturgy two days in a row; Palm Sunday is the next day. Molly Sabourin blogs about why it’s worth meeting that challenge . Also, before heading to church, listen to the song “Rejoice, O Bethany” as a family, making sure that our children understand the words as much as possible. It tells the story so well! Practice singing the song with this sheet music so our children can sing along. Then, exactly one week before Pascha, we celebrate one of the twelve great feasts of the Holy Orthodox Church: Our Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Let us take a moment to think about Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and compare it to His greater triumph at the other end of that same week. |
| Tone 1 In confirming the common Resurrection, O Christ God,/ Thou didst raise up Lazarus from the dead before Thy Passion./ Wherefore, we also like the children,/ bearing the symbols of victory,/ cry to Thee, the Vanquisher of death:/ Hosanna in the highest,/ blessed is He that cometh// in the Name of the Lord. QUESTION 5. What Gospel(s) is the Raising of Lazarus recounted in? What day is the Feast celebrated? Why? Who were Lazarus " siblings? What happened to St. Lazarus after his resurrection? ANSWER 5. The story of the Raising of Lazarus is only given by St. John the Theologian. The Feast is celebrated the Saturday before the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, because it actually did occur just before Palm Sunday in actual fact, and because the resurrection of Lazarus is a " type " of the resurrection of Christ (the troparion and many hymns from the feast emphasize this point). Lazarus had two sisters, Mary, and Martha. After the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, St. Lazarus eventually became bishop of Crete. QUESTION 6. Why did Christ ride into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass? ANSWER 6. This was prophesied by the Prophet Zechariah: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass (Zechariah 9:9). St. Matthew’s Gospel mentions this prophesy. The Fathers teach that mystically, the ass, being an unclean animal according to Jewish law, represents the Gentiles. Jesus led the Gentiles into " Jerusalem " as well as the Jews, and this was made apparent after Pentecost. QUESTION 7. It is traditional for the faithful to hold Palms during the Palm Sunday liturgy. when are these palms given out? What other plant is popularly used, especially by Russians? In the historical Palm Sunday, how were the palms used? ANSWER 7. The palms, and possibly pussy willow branches, which Russians especially favor, are blessed in the matins service at the vigil for Palm Sunday on Saturday night. They are given out to each person after the Gospel is venerated, which is read in about the middle of matins. The scriptures tell us that when Christ entered Jerusalem, the people saluted Him: |
| It’s probably best to start with this official explanation, a profound one I lifted from the Orthodox Church of America website: Lazarus Saturday is a paschal celebration. It is the only time in the entire Church Year that the resurrectional service of Sunday is celebrated on another day. At the liturgy of Lazarus Saturday, the Church glorifies Christ as “the Resurrection and the Life” who, by raising Lazarus, has confirmed the universal resurrection of mankind even before his own suffering and death. By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy passion, we will sing during the Liturgy of Lazarus Saturday, Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, Christ God! Like the children with the branches of victory, we cry out to Thee, O Vanquisher of Death: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord! (Troparion). So first and foremost, it would seem, the message is this: Death has been crushed. Death, and all its finality, has been trampled, vanquished by Christ who is all love, all mercy, omnipotent. This is phenomenal news, obviously. But there is more to the story of Lazarus than just that grand, life affirming, finale. What I’m particularly drawn to currently is the events preceding Lazarus’ resurrection. I am captivated by Jesus’ own emotional reaction to the anguish of Mary and Martha, so convinced by that point all was lost – so heart wrenchingly unsalvageable. Jesus knew that in the end, life would reign, joy would outweigh the sorrow, and yet he grieved before performing that great miracle of miracles. He grieved for his beloved friend decaying in the tomb. And He grieved for us, I’d like to think, all of humanity who must endure great trials, loss, abuse, injustice, as a result of our free will and fallenness – for us who, while on this earth, must fight hard and ceaselessly to believe in what cannot be seen, in a divine compassion we cannot fathom. I’ll be the first to admit it sometimes seems irresistably easier to just surrender to the despair, or the instantly gratifying pleasures of materialism and the approval accompanying the embracing of worldly priorities and ideals. When you’re exhausted, from day after day battling doubts, struggling against the current, resisting the urge to lie down and allow the fear, resentment, selfishness, hatred (all the vices we as Christians are called to resist) to bury you alive, seizing rest, welcoming help, becomes critical. If I can, with humility, accept my need to be carried along for awhile, by the sacraments of the Church, and the prayers of others, there is hope for me yet. Lazarus becomes then for me a shining example of how to not assume I am ever too far gone for a resurrection, a rebirth – of how to come forth when called, even still wrapped in the ties that bind me, and acquiesce with gratitude to His undeserved grace. |
| Great Lent has been completed and ends with two splendid festal days. These are Lazarus Saturday, on which we commemorate the raising of Christ’s bosom friend, Lazarus; the other is Palm Sunday, when we celebrate Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem six days before he was betrayed and suffered death on the Cross. Today we see the raising of Lazarus, a miracle performed by the Lord before he entered the city of Jerusalem. Lazarus lived in Bethany with his sisters, Martha and Mary. He was a friend of the Lord’s. At some point he fell very ill. His sisters sent a message to the Lord, telling him his beloved friend was sick. When Jesus learned of this, he said: ‘This illness hasn’t happened to bring death but to be the reason for the manifestation of the glory of the Son of God’. When Jesus saw the sisters and their friends sobbing, ‘he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled’. He ordered the stone covering the tomb to be removed. Once this had been done ‘Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face’. Jesus wept because, on seeing the death of his friend, he also beheld the victory of death over the whole world. He saw how death, which was not created by God, had seized his throne and now reigned over the whole world. Then came the command ‘Lazarus, come out’. At this point what dominates is the miracle of love which triumphs over death, a promise which announces Christ’s war with death, a promise that death itself will be destroyed and made to disappear. Jesus wept at the fact of the death of his friend, Lazarus, demonstrating that the pain of death should be foreign to us. He can’t hide his sorrow and distress. The raising of Lazarus and the gathering of a large assembly of people disturbed the high priests and the Pharisees, who decided to kill Jesus and Lazarus, as well. They didn’t manage to do so to Lazarus, but they did crucify Jesus a few days later. Six days before Easter, Jesus sat at a dinner given for him. Lazarus was with him and a large crowd of people had gone to see not only Jesus but also Lazarus who had been raised. |
| Lazarus Is Risen! Truly He Is Risen! It perhaps may sound quite odd to our Orthodox Christian ears if on the Saturday of Lazarus, we were to greet each other with the words: “Lazarus is risen! Truly he is risen!” Naturally, no liturgical prescription or precedent exists for this. Nevertheless, the tone of the liturgy on this day is unmistakably very festive, intensely and intentionally celebratory, a stark break from the solemnity of the preceding forty days of fasting. Our Lord Jesus Christ miraculously raises Lazarus from the dead, typifying His own three-day resurrection from the tomb. This transitional weekend offers us a brief respite from our intensified fasting, bridging the preparatory Lenten season with the last leg of our journey – Holy and Great Week – in which we finally meet up with Christ and follow Him in His passion, His death, and triumphant victory over death. On the Saturday of Lazarus, the Church confesses the very reason why the incarnate Son of God came into the world – to give hope and life in a world tainted by despair and death. It did not seem all that long ago when Christians all over the world rejoiced over the event of Jesus’ birth in the flesh. On this feast is recapitulated the very purpose of Christ’s mission, which is intimately related to the feast of Christmas. The hymnology of today’s feast tellingly witnesses to the cohabitation of the human and divine element in the Person of Christ, and their outstanding interplay before the tomb of Jesus’ friend St. Lazarus. To demonstrate Your human energy, my Savior, You walk and weep and You ask where is Lazarus, and to declare Your divine such, You raise him from the dead ( Second Canon of the Ninth Ode, Matins of St. Lazarus ). As God, the Lord had foreknowledge of Lazarus’ illness and imminent death. After receiving word of his friend’s critical condition, He hides this information from His disciples and deliberately delays His journey to Bethany, on the eastern foothills of the Mount of Olives, so that Lazarus can in fact die. The unbearable pain and anguish felt by Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, as well as Lazarus’ fellow countrymen, is but a minimal drop of water in the ocean of God’s fathomless love for mankind and His divine plan to foreshadow His own three-day Resurrection. He explains to His disciples: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4 NKJV). |
| As a result of this miracle, many of the Jews that were present believed in Jesus. Others went and told the Pharisees what Jesus had done. In response the Pharisees and chief priests met and considered how they might arrest Him and put Him to death (v. 45ff). This miracle is performed by Christ as a reassurance to His disciples before the coming Passion: they are to understand that, though He suffers and dies, yet He is Lord and Victor over death. The resurrection of Lazarus is a prophecy in the form of an action. It foreshadows Christ’s own Resurrection eight days later, and at the same time it anticipates the resurrection of all the righteous on the Last Day: Lazarus is “the saving first-fruits of the regeneration of the world.” As the liturgical texts emphasize, the miracle at Bethany reveals the two natures of Christ the God-man. Christ asks where Lazarus is laid and weeps for him, and so He shows the fullness of His manhood, involving as it does human ignorance and genuine grief for a beloved friend. Then, disclosing the fullness of His divine power, Christ raises Lazarus from the dead, even though his corpse has already begun to decompose and stink. This double fullness of the Lord’s divinity and His humanity is to be kept in view throughout Holy Week, and above all on Good Friday. On the Cross we see a genuine human agony, both physical and mental, but we see more than this: we see not only suffering man but suffering God. Icon of the Feast The icon of the Saturday of Lazarus shows Christ calling His friend to come out of the tomb (1). Lazarus is coming forth from the tomb (2), still bound in the strips of burial cloth. His sisters, Mary and Martha are bowing before Christ, expressing both their sorrow in the death of their brother, but also their faith in Christ as the Messiah and Son of God. Next to them is someone who has followed the request of our Lord and removed the stone from the door of the tomb (3). 1. Christ calls his friend Lazarus to come out from his tomb. |
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