Bethany Attractions El-Azariya
The Arab village of El-Azariya (or Eizariya), which has grown in the last few years from a small hamlet, lies on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives. It is the Bethany of the New Testament.
History
Bethany was the home of the two sisters Martha and Mary who "received Jesus into their house" (Luke 10,38), when he brought their brother Lazarus back from the dead (John 11,11-45). When Christ traveled for the last time from Jericho to Jerusalem, where he was to suffer his Passion, he visited the house of Lazarus and his sisters six days before the Passover, and Mary anointed his feet (John 12,1-4); then on the next day he rode over the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, mounted on an ass from Bethphage. In the village of El-Azariya, which takes its name from Lazarus (El-Azar in Arabic), there are a number of places associated with events in the time of Jesus. In the fourth century a chapel was built over the supposed site of Lazarus's tomb. This fell into disrepair and was restored in the 12th century by the Crusaders, who built a monastery in commemoration of the house of Martha and Mary. Later the Muslims built a mosque over Lazarus's tomb, and it was only in the 17th century that Christians were again able to visit the site.
The Christian sites were restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1953 the Franciscans built a new church dedicated to Lazarus on a site below his tomb which they had acquired in 1858. Nearby are remains of the Byzantine and Crusader periods.
History
Bethany was the home of the two sisters Martha and Mary who "received Jesus into their house" (Luke 10,38), when he brought their brother Lazarus back from the dead (John 11,11-45). When Christ traveled for the last time from Jericho to Jerusalem, where he was to suffer his Passion, he visited the house of Lazarus and his sisters six days before the Passover, and Mary anointed his feet (John 12,1-4); then on the next day he rode over the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, mounted on an ass from Bethphage. In the village of El-Azariya, which takes its name from Lazarus (El-Azar in Arabic), there are a number of places associated with events in the time of Jesus. In the fourth century a chapel was built over the supposed site of Lazarus's tomb. This fell into disrepair and was restored in the 12th century by the Crusaders, who built a monastery in commemoration of the house of Martha and Mary. Later the Muslims built a mosque over Lazarus's tomb, and it was only in the 17th century that Christians were again able to visit the site.
The Christian sites were restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1953 the Franciscans built a new church dedicated to Lazarus on a site below his tomb which they had acquired in 1858. Nearby are remains of the Byzantine and Crusader periods.
El-Azariya - Church of Lazarus
The new Church of Lazarus in El-Azariya is in the form of a mausoleum on a Greek-cross plan surmounted by a dome. In the interior are inscriptions giving the Latin text of words spoken by Jesus in Bethany. On the wall behind the altar is "Ego sum resurrectio et vita" ("I am the resurrection and the life"), and in the dome is the continuation of the text: "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11,25).
El-Azariya - Greek Orthodox Church
El-Azariya also has a modern Greek Orthodox church, readily recognizable by its light blue dome and its four-story tower topped by a light lantern.
El-Azariya - Tomb of Lazarus
Close to the Church of Lazarus in El-Azariya is the entrance to Lazarus's tomb, which is entered by a flight of 24 steps. It is held by the Muslims.
