AGIOS LAZAROS CHURCH

This Greek Orthodox church (Ιερός Ναός Αγίου Λαζάρου/Ieros Naos Agiou Lazarou, St Lazarus Church) is Larnaka's finest monument. It was built from the ^9th century onwards on the site of the supposed tomb of Saint Lazarus of Bethany, a person famous for having been resurrected by Christ. Altered several times, it lost its frescoes and suffered a serious fire in 1970. Today, it is a place of pilgrimage attracting Christians from all over the world. The church also gives Larnaka its name. It was built on the site of the discovery, in 890, of a larnax, a funerary chest containing the remains of a certain Lazarus. Lazarus was the city's first bishop and died here in 63 AD. Was he Lazarus of Bethany? No source attests to this, but it's plausible. In any case, following this discovery, the present-day church was built. As for the larnax, it was transferred to Constantinople, the Byzantine capital. But it was stolen by the Crusaders in 1204 and soon afterwards disappeared from Marseille. However, in 1972, during work carried out after the fire, new bones were discovered in the Larnaka church. Locally considered to be those of Lazarus of Bethany, they have since attracted many pilgrims.

Visit. This triple-naved basilica forms a rectangle 31.5 m long and 14.5 m wide. It has walls of limestone blocks one metre thick and features elements from different periods, the most recent of which is the elegant neo-Gothic bell tower, 25 m high, added in 1857. The church is entered from the south, under the portico, by descending a flight of steps. Inside, the purity of the rough walls contrasts with the richness of the furnishings. The most impressive part is the gold-covered wooden iconostasis, one of the most precious in Cyprus. Carved around 1773-1782, damaged in 1970 and subsequently restored, it features no fewer than 120 sacred images. Below the altar, it is possible to descend into the tiny crypt where the bones were discovered in 1972. They are displayed in a silver larnax in the north wing. This is also the site of Larnaka's most venerated icon, that of Saint Lazarus (^16th century). It is brought out in the city on Lazarus Saturday, eight days before Orthodox Easter. On this day, tradition also calls for the eating of lazarakia ("little Lazarus"), bread rolls depicting a figure wrapped in a shroud with cloves in place of eyes.