THE
WORSHIP OF SAINT LAZARUS IN THE WEST AND RELATED TRADITIONS
By the
16th century some west-european travellers (Villamont, Pococke, Baillet)
were already beginning to question and doubt everything relating to
the tomb of Saint Lazarus in Larnaka as the worship of the saint was
also prevalent in France where his remains could also be seen and
were being worshipped.
According to the french tradition, which refers to a so-called work
by the Bishop Hrabanus Maurus (766-856AD) and which in effect first
appears at the beginning of the 12th century, the Jews put Lazarus
into a ship without sails or oars together with his sisters Maria
Magdalene and Martha, and his friends Maximinus, Jacob’ s Maria, Maria
Salome, the maid Markella, Sarah and Sindonius, blind from birth and
let it drift out to sea. Miraculously the ship anchored at a place
that is known today as Saintes-Maries de la Mer in the region Provence,
in France. There they separated and went their own ways to convert
the inhabitants of this new land to Christianity. Lazarus arrived
in Marseilles where he preached and where he has since been paid tribute
to as the first bishop of the town. During the persecutions led by
Nero, he hid himself in an underground crypt above which the Abbaye
St. Victor was built during the 5th century. It is in this crypt that
later on the saint was buried having suffered martyrdom. This occurred
during the persecutions of Domitian (81-96 AD) or according to others
those of Claudius (41-54 AD), at which time Lazarus was imprisoned
and beheaded on the spot which is today known as the "prison
of Saint Lazarus". According to this late tradition, his holy
relics were removed in later years and he was buried in the Cathedral
of Saint Nazarius in the town of Autun and from there translated to
the newly-built church of Saint Lazarus in Avallon very near Autun.
The skull of the saint remained in the Abbaye St. Victor together
with part of his forearm, relics which are preserved to this day.
The presence of Saint Lazarus in Marseilles is also associated with
the worship of Saint Magdalene, in memory of whom tribute is made
today at the Church of Vezelay in Burgund.
Research into philological and archaeological sources has revealed
that the above account relating to Saint Lazarus is of a late date
and is not based on actual events. The origins of the worship of Saint
Lazarus cannot be sought in Autun but in Vezelay, which at the time
came under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Autun. During the time
of Gottfried, abbot of the monastery of Saint Magdalene of Vezelay
(2nd half of the 11th century), it belonged to the order of Cluny.
In order for it to acquire recognition of its own, the Abbey of Vezelay
had to find a prominent saint to which it would be consecrated and
it had to be a saint who was considered as important as Saint Benedict
at the nearby monastery of Fleury-sur-Loire. The choice was thus Mary
Magdalene who was greatly worshipped particularly by the released
captives. It was not long before the first doubts regarding the authenticity
of the relics began coming to light as well as the mystery of how
they made their way from the East to Vezelay. It was at this time
when the afore-mentioned account describing their arrival in France
appeared. This version was strengthened by the story of a monk who
claimed that Saint Magdalene appeared before him as a vision in Vezelay.
The translation of her holy relics from Provence to Vezelay was explained
as protection due to the invasions of the Saracens. In the event,
of course, that some believers could have been aware that the translation
of the holy relics of Saint Magdalene from Ephesus to Constantinople
had in fact been transfered in 899 by the byzantine Emperor Leo VI.
the Wise, the french historical account recorded the translation of
the holy relics as having taken place fifteen years earlier and moreover
identified Magdalene of Vezelay as being the sister of Saint Lazarus.
This last association brought about the corresponding worship of Saint
Lazarus in that region. Moreover, it would verify and strengthen the
worship of Magdalene in that region. The opportunity came when the
tomb of an unknown clergyman wearing episcopal vestments was found
in the existing church of Saint Nazarius – sounding similar to the
name Lazarus. Instantly rumour spread that the holy relics of Saint
Lazarus were found and in 1146/7, as was recorded, they were removed
and placed in the newly built church in Avallon.
The above mentioned french historical account first appeared in the
13th century in the "Otia imperialia" (1212) of Gervase
of Tillbury. The letter, of doubtful authenticity, conjured up by
Pope Benedict I (1040) on the occasion of the consecration of Saint
Victor which mentions Lazarus, simply refers to the relics of a saint
with a similar name, who was made Bishop of Marseilles or who more
generally resided in France, without making any reference to the fourth
day Lazarus of Bethany. In the crypt of Saint Victor in Marseilles,
there is an entombed 5th century pillar on which is mentioned one
Lazarus, Bishop of the town of Aix. Lazarus of Aix was ordained Bishop
of Marseilles in 407 and in 411 he left for Palestine where he stayed
for many years. A few years before his death, he returned to Marseilles
where he was later buried. The association of Lazarus of Aix with
the Lazarus of Bethany, created a new false record regarding his remains.
This is also evident by the fact that the so-called Saint Lazarus’s
holy relics were found in a church which did not even bear his name.
Both these accounts of Saint Lazarus and Saint Magdalene first appeared
around the 11th /12 th century. They aimed at attributing the two
big monasteries of Burgund, that of Autun and that of Vezelay to the
early Christian period. On the other hand in the Orthodox east, the
worship of Saint Lazarus existed continuous throughout the christian
period as is described by Saint Epiphanios, John of Eu(r)oia, Theodoros
Stoudites, Arethas from Caesarea, the Follower of George Monachou,
syrian ecclesiastical writers, Damaskenos Stoudites and the missals
of the Orthodox Church (Constantinople Biographies of Saints/ Synaxarium,
Menologium, etc.) After the second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church
distinguished between the two Lazarus’ celebrating the 5th century
Bishop on 31st August according to the martyrology of Marseilles,
and the fourth day Saint Lazarus on the 17th August commemorating
the day on which his holy relics were traslated to Constantinople.
