Saint Lazarus

Description

Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Saint Lazarus or Lazarus of the Four Days, is the subject of a prominent miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death. The Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions offer varying accounts of the later events of his life.

In the context of the seven signs in the Gospel of John, the raising of Lazarus is the climactic narrative: exemplifying the power of Jesus “over the last and most irresistible enemy of humanity—death. For this reason it is given a prominent place in the gospel.”
A figure named Lazarus (Latinised from the Aramaic: אלעזר, Elʿāzār, cf. Heb. Eleazar—”God is my help” is also mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. The two Biblical characters named “Lazarus” have sometimes been conflated historically, but are generally understood to be two separate people.
The name Lazarus is frequently used in science and popular culture in reference to apparent restoration to life; for example, the scientific term Lazarus taxon denotes organisms that reappear in the fossil record after a period of apparent extinction. There are also numerous literary uses of the term.

Raising of Lazarus

The raising of Lazarus is a miracle of Jesus recounted only in the Gospel of John (John 11:1–44) in the New Testament in which Jesus raises Lazarus of Bethany from the dead four days after his entombment. The event is said to have taken place at Bethany – today the Palestinian town of Al-Eizariya, which translates to “the place of Lazarus”. In John, this is the last of the miracles that Jesus performs before the passion, crucifixion and his own resurrection.