From the traditional site of Bethphage, a half-mile-long path heads
southeast to Bethany, known in Arabic as al-Azariyeh, a form of the
Greek Lazarion ("place of Lazarus")...
Bethany/al-Azariyeh
Traveling down the Jericho road from Jerusalem, you are likely to take
only casual note of Bethany. It looks like just another of those
settlements in the Holy Land where houses climb tier-on-tier up the
hillside. Perhaps you will glance to the left and see a bell tower and
the top of another structure now in ruins. A hundred yards further on,
near a curve in the road, you might notice an austere silver-domed
church. Then the road sweeps on into the Judean wilderness and you
will scarcely be aware that you have passed through Bethany, where
Jesus knew real intamacy and friendship, and where he performed a
selfless act of love in the raizing of Lazarus ("whom God helps;" a
form of the Hebrew Eleazar") from the dead:
"Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone
laid across the entrance. 'Take away the stone,' he said. 'But, Lord,'
said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 'by this time there is a bad
odour, for he has been there four days.' Then Jesus said, 'Did I not
tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' So
they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I
thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but
I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may
believe that you sent me.' When he had said this, 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
said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.' Therefore
many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus
did, put their faith in him." (John 11:38-45)
Whenever Jesus came to Jerusalem, he stayed at the home of his friends
Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany, on the opposite side of the Mount
of Olives from Holy City. Jerusalem can't be seen from Bethany, which
gave Jesus a sense of quietness and seclusion. While visiting the home
of Simon the leper there, Mary anointed Jesus with expensive perfume
(John 12:1-8). There are many rock-cut tombs in the area, and one is
identified as the place where Lazarus was laid to rest before Jesus
raised him from the dead.
Bethany enters the pages of history only at the end of Jesus' public
ministry. In 1923-1924, archaeologist W.F. Albright identified it with
"Ananyah," one of the localities inhabited by the tribe of Benjamin
after the return from the Babylonian Exile:
"The descendants of the Benjamites from Geba lived in Michmash, Aija, Bethel
and its settlements, in Anathoth, Nob and Ananiah..." (Nehemiah
11:31-32).
His
identification is now accepted by most experts, and according to him
the name means simply "house of Ananiah" (Hebrew Beth Ananyah). Other
meanings according to commentaries and other sources, but now seen as
incorrect: "house of obedience" (Origen),"house of dates" or "house of
misery."
Location of Bethany
The
evangelist Luke (19:28-29) places Bethany "at the hill called the
Mount of Olives," while John (11:18) gives the location as "less than
two miles from Jerusalem." Difficulties start when we try to pin-point
the site.
Today, Bethany is identified with the modern Arab village of
al-Azariyeh. The present town of about 2,000 spreads along both sides
of Route 417, the feeder road to Route 1, the main highway to Jericho.
Upon entering the town you'll notice, on the hillside overlooking the
main road, the slender white minaret of a mosque flanked by two
churches (below), both
commemorating the raising of Lazarus.
(photo 1)
Commemorative buildings at al-Azariyeh, the traditional site of
Bethany -- left: Franciscan Church of St. Lazarus; center:
minaret of 16th century AD mosque; right: red-domed Greek
Orthodox church.
Coming from Bethphage, at the top of the hill, at the west end of
al-Azariyeh's main street, is the Greek Orthodox church
(photo 1). Built in 1965, it
consists of two churches, one above the other. The stonework of the
lower church incorporates part of the north wall of a large medieval
church and monastery constructed over the traditional tomb of Lazarus
in 1138 AD by Millicent, the wife of Fulk of Anjou, Crusader king of
Jerusalem (1131-1144 AD). Through its wheat and olive-oil production,
the monastery became one of the wealthiest in the Crusader kingdom. An
oil press (photo 2) and mill can be
seen in one of the remaining rooms. After the capture of Jerusalem by
Saladin in 1187 AD, Millicent's monastery fell into ruins.
Photo
(2) Oil Press
Towards the end of the 16th century AD the monastery remains were
transformed into the al-Ozir Mosque (photo
3). At first the Muslims, who venerate Lazarus as a prophet,
allowed Christians to continue their visits to the tomb. But when this
became progressively more difficult, the Franciscans, in the mid-16th
century AD, obtained permission from the Ottoman government to open a
new entrance, now outside the mosque and entered from the north (seen
in the shadow area at the bottom center of photo 3, left of the
stairs).
Photo (3)
photo (4)
A
flight of 24 steps lead down to the entrance hall
(photo 4); from there three more
steps lead to the inner chamber which is a little more than 6 feet in
size. It contains three burial niches, now mostly hidden by a facing
of stonework. One tradition places the tomb of Lazarus to the right of
the entrance which was formerly closed by a horizontal stone. Quarried
out of the soft rock, it was most likely faced with stone or
marble-work during the Byzantine period. In its present state,
however, the tomb shows traces of changes and additions made during
the Middle Ages.
Still farther east on the main road is the Franciscan Church of
Lazarus, built in 1954on the site of three earlier churches, and their remains can
still be seen in the form of mosaic fragments, pillars and parts of
the previous apses. Like so many others in the Holy Land, it was
designed by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi, and is in the form
of a Greek Cross (like a plus-sign, with all arms of equal length).
Barluzzi chose to bring out the contrast between the sadness of death
and the joy of resurrection. Thus, the windowless interior gives the
impression of a semi-dark funerary monument, while the dome above
provides the only source of light. On the wall behind the altaris a Latin inscription:
"Ego sum resurrectio et vita" ("I am the resurrection and the life");
the text, from John 11:25, is continued inside the dome: "He who
believes in me will live, even though he dies."
The
first church on the site was built between 333 AD and 390 AD, ranking
it among the earliest places of Christian worship erected in
Palestine. This building was desroyed by an earthquake, but when is
unknown. Earthquakes occurred around Jerusalem in the 5th and
6th-centuries; the most violent happened in 447 AD and 551 AD, the
later wrought havoc not only in Palestine, but throughout the Middle
East. Following the destruction of the first church, its walls were
demolished and a new church was built according to the same design.
This sanctuary fell into disrepair and was restored in the
12th-century AD by Crusaders, who also built a monastery there to
commemorate the house of Mary and Martha. The ruins of this building
can be seen nearby.
On
the opposite side of the main road from the Franciscan church, is the
so-called oldest house in Bethany (photo
5). Built around a 65-foot deep well, it likely contains some
features that were probably standard in a dwelling of 2,000 years ago,
but to say it is the oldest house in the village is probably
stretching the truth.
photo (5)
The real site of Bethany?
Excavations have shown that the site of al-Azariyeh really was a
burial site in ancient times, and thus unclean according to Jewish
law. Therefore the village of Jesus' time could not have been located
there. Where, then, was the village of Gospel times actually situated?
It is the diggings directed by Fr. Sylvester Saller of the Franciscans
from 1949 to1953 that answer this problem.
In
an olive grove belonging to the Franciscans, on a hill west of the
traditional tomb of Lazarus, archaeology has brought to light
grottoes, cisterns, caves, rooms, a bakery and silos, containing an
important collection of oil-lamps, jars, pitchers, coins, etc., all of
which prove that the site was occupied from the 6/5th centuries BC to
the 14th century AD. The early period coincides with the return from
the Babylonian Exile and it is this period when the place was settled
by the Benjaminites. Objects dating from the time of the Gospels found
there include oil lamps in use in the1st-centuries BC and AD. Also
discovered were pieces of pottery like those at Qumran, dating back to
the 1st-century of the Christian era, before the first Jewish
rebellion (68-70 AD). There were also jars belonging to the Herodian
era, such as those found at Jericho.
