Rising at the heart of the old quarter of the coastal city of Larnaca, roughly three hundred meters west of the palm-lined Mediterranean promenade of Phoinikoudes, the Church of Saint Lazarus, Larnaca (Ieros Naos Agiou Lazarou) commands its stone-paved square with warm golden limestone walls and a soaring carved bell tower. The ground on which this sanctuary stands belongs to the ancient harbor city-kingdom of Kition (Citium), one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban settlements of the Eastern Mediterranean, shaped in turn by Mycenaean Greeks and Phoenician mariners from the second millennium BCE. Within the world of Eastern Orthodoxy, this eleven-hundred-year-old church ranks among the most revered pilgrimage shrines in Christendom because it stands directly over the second and final tomb of Saint Lazarus of Bethany, the beloved friend over whom Jesus Christ wept and whom He called forth alive after four days in the grave.
Stepping out of the bright Cypriot sun beneath the vaulted stone portico (stoa) on the southern flank and entering the dim, massive ashlar nave of the late ninth-century basilica, pilgrims immediately encounter a synthesis of Imperial Byzantine engineering and Cypriot liturgical craftsmanship. Four pairs of colossal double stone piers that once carried three hemispherical domes frame the central nave, drawing the eye toward the sanctuary where a towering late eighteenth-century gold-leafed wooden iconostasis gleams in the light of beeswax tapers. Immediately beneath the main altar, a narrow flight of worn stone steps descends into the cool subterranean crypt, where ancient marble sarcophagi mark the burial place of Kition's first bishop, forging a tangible spiritual link between first-century Judea and the island of Cyprus across two millennia.
ISaint Lazarus the Righteous of Bethany: The Friend of Christ and First Bishop of Ancient Kition
Across the pages of the New Testament, Saint Lazarus the Righteous of Bethany (Agios kai Dikaios Lazaros o Tetrahimeros, literally Lazarus the Four-Days-Dead) occupies a singular place in salvation history. According to the narrative of the Gospel of John (chapter 11, verses 1 to 45), Lazarus was the brother of Martha and Mary living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem, a household bound in such close friendship with Jesus that the sisters sent word to Him saying simply: Lord, he whom You love is ill. When Jesus arrived at Bethany four days after Lazarus had died and been sealed inside a rock-cut tomb, Jesus wept before the stone and cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth (Lazare, deuro exo). The raising of Lazarus from the dead stood as the culminating public sign prefiguring Christ's own Resurrection, and as the Gospel of John explicitly notes (John 12:10 to 11), the chief priests in Jerusalem consequently plotted to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
The ancient historical and liturgical tradition of the Church of Cyprus continues the account of Lazarus's life immediately after Pentecost and the martyrdom of Saint Stephen around 33 CE. Fleeing the violent persecution unleashed against the Jerusalem church, Lazarus (then about thirty years old) and his sisters Martha and Mary embarked by sea from the coast of Judea. While a later Western medieval legend recounted a voyage to southern Gaul, unbroken Eastern Christian tradition records that Lazarus landed at the flourishing port of Kition on the southern coast of Cyprus.
At Kition, around 45 CE, when the Apostles Paul and Barnabas (a native son of Salamis in Cyprus and founder of the Cypriot Church) undertook their historic first missionary journey across the island, they met Lazarus and consecrated him as the first Bishop of Kition. Eastern Orthodox patristic tradition preserves a striking portrait of his thirty-year episcopate: because Lazarus had beheld with his own eyes the sorrowful state of unredeemed souls in Hades during his four days in the realm of death before Christ's Harrowing of Hell, his countenance remained perpetually grave and austere. Throughout his thirty years in Cyprus he was never seen to laugh, save on a single occasion when he saw a person stealing a clay pot in the market and remarked quietly: One piece of clay steals another piece of clay.
Closely linked to Saint Lazarus's ministry in Kition is the sacred Cypriot tradition concerning the visit of the Most Holy Theotokos (the Virgin Mary) accompanied by Saint John the Theologian. Longing to see the Virgin Mother again but reluctant to travel to Jerusalem for fear of persecution, Bishop Lazarus sent a ship that brought the Mother of God and Saint John across the sea to Kition, where she presented Lazarus with a bishop's omophorion and cuffs woven by her own hands. Having shepherded the flock of Kition for exactly thirty years after his raising at Bethany, Saint Lazarus died for the second and final time in peace around 63 CE (at the age of sixty) and was laid to rest in a marble sarcophagus inside a rock-cut burial chamber outside the city walls of Kition, on the exact spot now covered by the sanctuary of the Church of Saint Lazarus.
So profound was the association between the ancient port city and the tomb of its first bishop that historians and philologists trace the modern name of Larnaca (Larnaka) directly to the classical Greek noun Larnax (plural Larnakes), meaning a stone sarcophagus, funerary chest, or coffin. Although the necropolises of ancient Kition yielded numerous Phoenician and Greco-Roman stone sarcophagi over the centuries, for the Christian inhabitants and medieval pilgrims of Cyprus the supreme Larnax that gave the city its enduring name was none other than the sacred stone sarcophagus of Saint Lazarus venerated beneath the cathedral altar.
Pilgrims descending into the underground crypt beneath the altar of the Church of Saint Lazarus often ask a crucial historical question: are the bodily relics of Saint Lazarus still in Larnaca today, or were they entirely removed in the Middle Ages? According to Byzantine chronicles, around 890 CE, when the marble sarcophagus of Saint Lazarus was unearthed at Kition bearing the Greek inscription Lazarus, four days dead and friend of Christ, the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (reigned 886 to 912) ordered the translation of the relics to the imperial capital of Constantinople in 898 CE (where they were enshrined in the Monastery of Saint Lazarus built by the emperor, while in grateful compensation Leo VI funded the construction of the present stone basilica in Larnaca). Yet on November 23, 1972, during structural restoration of the main altar in Larnaca following a fire in 1970, archaeologists and clergy discovered directly beneath the eastern foundation wall of the sanctuary a sealed marble sarcophagus containing human skeletal remains. Ecclesiastical historians concluded that when the ninth-century bishops of Kition surrendered the relics to the imperial envoys of Leo VI in 890 CE, they piously retained a substantial portion of their patron saint's remains and concealed them deep beneath the Holy Table, ensuring that Saint Lazarus never ceased to rest within his own church in Larnaca.
IIOver Eleven Centuries of History: From the Imperial Decree of Leo VI to the 1972 Relics Rediscovery
The architectural chronicle of the Church of Saint Lazarus mirrors the turbulent maritime history of Cyprus at the crossroads of the Levant. During the Early Christian and early Byzantine centuries, the burial cave of Saint Lazarus at Kition was crowned by successive basilicas; excavations beneath the present floor have revealed foundations and marble architectural fragments from at least two earlier fourth- to sixth-century churches. Beginning in 647 to 649 CE, however, repeated Arab-Byzantine naval expeditions across Cyprus (the same historical campaign during which Umm Haram died near the Salt Lake, giving rise to the nearby Hala Sultan Tekke) left the surface structures of Kition in ruins, burying the subterranean crypt under rubble for more than two hundred years.
The decisive rebirth of the sanctuary occurred around 890 CE under the Macedonian dynasty of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (Leon VI o Sofos). Following the rediscovery of the intact crypt and inscribed sarcophagus at Kition, Emperor Leo VI dispatched imperial master builders and treasury funds to erect a monumental three-aisled, three-domed limestone basilica directly over the tomb at the turn of the tenth century. Across the subsequent centuries of Frankish Lusignan rule (1192 to 1489), Venetian administration (1489 to 1570), and Ottoman governance (1570 to 1878), the ninth-century stone church endured as the spiritual anchor of Larnaca.
- Circa 33 to 63 CEEpiscopate and burial of Saint Lazarus at ancient KitionAccording to Eastern Orthodox tradition, after his resurrection at Bethany, Lazarus sails to Kition (Larnaca), is ordained first Bishop of Kition by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas around 45 CE, and dies for the second time around 63 CE.
- 4th to 7th Century CEEarly Christian basilicas over the tomb of Saint LazarusArchaeological strata beneath the nave floor confirm that two successive Early Christian basilicas stood over the burial crypt prior to the seventh-century coastal raids.
- Circa 890 to 900 CERediscovery of the sarcophagus and construction of the Byzantine basilica by Emperor Leo VIUpon the discovery of the sarcophagus inscribed in Greek to Lazarus the Friend of Christ in 890 CE, Emperor Leo VI translates part of the relics to Constantinople (898) and erects the extant three-aisled, three-domed ashlar basilica in Larnaca.
- 13th Century to 1589Frankish-Venetian Benedictine period and the Orthodox buyback of 1589Under Frankish and Venetian rule, a Roman Catholic (Armenian/Benedictine) abbey occupies the church and adds a Gothic northern porch. Seized by Ottoman troops in 1570 when its three domes are removed, the church is purchased back by the Orthodox Church of Cyprus in 1589 for 3,000 silver aspers (with joint Latin liturgical privileges in the north chapel until 1784).
- 1773 to 1797Addition of the southern stone stoa and creation of the gilded iconostasisIn 1773 master builder Hadji-Leontios constructs the vaulted southern portico (stoa); between 1773 and 1782 master woodcarver Chatzisavvas Talliaros carves the monumental iconostasis, which is gilded between 1793 and 1797.
- 1857Erection of the carved limestone bell tower (campanile)Immediately after the Ottoman imperial reform edict of 1856 permits Christian churches to erect bell towers, the citizens of Larnaca build the tall, intricately carved southeast stone campanile in 1857.
- 1970 and November 23, 1972Post-fire restoration and discovery of the hidden relics of Saint LazarusFollowing a serious interior fire on February 9, 1970, restoration excavations beneath the main altar on November 23, 1972 uncover a marble sarcophagus holding the portion of Saint Lazarus's relics kept in Larnaca since the ninth century.
Two Centuries of Shared Ecumenical Veneration (1589 to 1784). Consular dispatches from European trading nations stationed in the port of Larnaca during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries document a remarkable chapter in the history of the Church of Saint Lazarus. When Ottoman forces landed near Larnaca in 1570, the church was briefly requisitioned and its three high domes and medieval belfry were taken down. In 1589, the Orthodox hierarchy of Cyprus raised 3,000 silver aspers to buy back the sanctuary from the Ottoman authorities. Because Larnaca served as the diplomatic and commercial capital of Cyprus where French, Venetian, English, and Dutch consuls and merchants resided, the Orthodox Church granted Roman Catholic clergy permission to celebrate Latin-rite Mass twice each year (on the feasts of Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Lazarus) at an altar in the northern aisle, and allowed European consuls, merchants, and mariners to be buried in the northern churchyard, where seventeenth- and eighteenth-century tombstones inscribed in Latin, French, Italian, and English still remain in situ.
IIINinth-Century Byzantine Ashlar Architecture, the 120-Icon Gilded Iconostasis, and the Subterranean Crypt
In the history of Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture, the Church of Saint Lazarus in Larnaca is a premier example of the rare Cypriot typology of a three-aisled basilica surmounted by three domes in axial sequence along the central nave (closely related to the Church of Saint Barnabas near Salamis and the Church of Agia Paraskevi at Geroskipou). The church forms a compact, fortress-like rectangle measuring approximately 31.5 meters in length by 14.5 meters in width, constructed entirely of massive, squared blocks of golden-buff calcareous sandstone and limestone (ashlar masonry) roughly one meter thick, terminating at the east in three semicircular interior apses (the central apse presenting a three-sided polygon on the exterior).
Inside the nave, the structural engineering of Emperor Leo VI's ninth-century builders remains immediately impressive: the central nave is divided from the narrow north and south aisles by four pairs of colossal composite double stone piers. Narrow arched passages pierced directly through the thickness of each double pier allow liturgical circulation along the side aisles, while the massive piers themselves divide the central nave into three square bays. Although the upper hemispheres of the three stone domes were removed in the sixteenth century and replaced by a timber-framed pitched roof, the circular stone bases of the dome drums and the twelve spherical triangles (pendentives) still spring directly from the transverse arches overhead, lending the stone interior a solemn, cavernous grandeur.
Widely regarded as the finest surviving masterpiece of eighteenth-century ecclesiastical woodcarving in Cyprus, the towering iconostasis spanning the full width of the three aisles was carved in cypress and walnut wood over nine years (1773 to 1782) by master sculptor Chatzisavvas Talliaros of Kyperounta and gilded in pure gold leaf between 1793 and 1797 by the iconographer Hadji-Herakleidios. Its openwork Baroque and post-Byzantine reliefs of grapevines, double-headed eagles, seraphim, and scriptural scenes frame 120 icons, including historic sixteenth- to eighteenth-century panels of Saint Lazarus as Bishop of Kition and a revered Russian silver-sheathed icon of the Virgin Hodegetria.
Reached via a low stone staircase descending from the south side of the chancel, the barrel-vaulted subterranean crypt lies directly underneath the Holy Table of the main altar. Illuminated by hanging oil lamps and fed by an ancient sacred spring seepage, the chamber houses two stone sarcophagi, including the empty marble sarcophagus against the eastern foundation wall that held the body of Saint Lazarus until 890 CE.
Mounted high against one of the massive northern double piers of the nave is an ornate eighteenth-century Rococo-Byzantine wooden pulpit (ambo) richly gilded and painted with miniature panels of Christ and the Four Evangelists, balanced across the nave by a tall carved wooden episcopal throne.
Running along the entire southern flank of the basilica is a graceful open colonnaded arcade with cross-vaulted stone bays (stoa), built in 1773 by master mason Hadji-Leontios to shelter pilgrims from the Mediterranean sun. Rising at the southeastern corner of the church is the soaring multi-tiered limestone bell tower erected in 1857, celebrated for its lacy Neo-Gothic and neoclassical stone relief carvings.
Housed within the vaulted seventeenth- and eighteenth-century monastic cells framing the western and northern sides of the courtyard is the Saint Lazarus Byzantine Museum, displaying rare twelfth- to nineteenth-century Cypriot icons, silver-bound Gospel lectionaries, gold-embroidered liturgical vestments, and carved wooden altar crosses.
| Architectural / Liturgical Element | Date and Craftsman | Structural Features and Heritage Value |
|---|---|---|
| Three-Aisled Ashlar Basilica Core | Late 9th century CE (circa 890 to 900, reign of Emperor Leo VI) | 31.5 by 14.5 meter plan in golden ashlar limestone; 4 pairs of double stone piers with surviving pendentives of 3 original domes |
| Subterranean Tomb Crypt | 1st century CE burial chamber; rediscovered in 890 and Nov 23, 1972 | Vaulted stone chamber directly beneath the main altar containing two marble sarcophagi and the site of the 1972 relics discovery |
| Gilded Wood-Carved Iconostasis | Carved 1773 to 1782 (Chatzisavvas Talliaros); gilded 1793 to 1797 | Supreme masterpiece of Cypriot Baroque-Byzantine woodcarving holding 120 icons; miraculously survived the 1970 fire |
| Southern Colonnaded Stoa | 1773 (master builder Hadji-Leontios) | Open cross-vaulted stone portico shading the southern facade and preserving multilingual historic inscriptions |
| Southeastern Limestone Bell Tower | 1857 (following the 1856 reform edict) | Multi-story carved limestone campanile adorned with intricate floral and geometric stone reliefs, landmark of old Larnaca |
IVThe Lie of the Land and the Facing
It should be stated clearly that the Orthodox Church of Cyprus and the ninth-century Byzantine architects of Emperor Leo VI did not employ East Asian geomancy (feng shui) in siting or designing the Church of Saint Lazarus. The exact position of the basilica was fixed by the immovable archaeological location of the first-century tomb of Saint Lazarus on the southern edge of ancient Kition, while its structural axis follows canonical Eastern Christian liturgical orientation (Ad Orientem), with the three sanctuary apses facing true East toward the rising sun of the Resurrection and the main entrance facing West. The observations below offer a comparative landform reading through the traditional framework of the Hall of Myriad Paths library.
Viewed within the macro-topography of southeastern Cyprus at coordinates 34.9112 degrees north, 33.6353 degrees east, the coastal city of Larnaca occupies a gentle littoral plain backed to the west and northwest by low chalk and limestone foothills descending from the eastern massif of the Troodos Mountains (anchored on the western horizon by the isolated conical peak of Stavrovouni Mountain as a distant ancestral mountain), while opening eastward onto the broad crescent of Larnaca Bay on the Mediterranean Sea. In traditional coastal plain morphology, the Church of Saint Lazarus sits upon a stable, slightly elevated ancient urban terrace poised between two major bodies of water: the open Mediterranean waters of Larnaca Bay only 300 meters to the east (acting as an outer water court that tempers the climate with sea breezes) and the expansive basin of the Larnaca Salt Lake roughly 2.5 kilometers to the southwest.
In terms of precinct enclosure and vertical spatial harmony, the basilica stands at the center of Agiou Lazarou Square, sheltered on the north, west, and south by two-story stone monastic wings and the vaulted 1773 stoa, creating a protected courtyard that filters street noise and coastal wind before visitors enter the nave. Vertically, the monument embodies a striking three-level spiritual axis: beneath the earth lies the quiet, cool limestone crypt (the still yin root of the tomb where resurrection life was planted); directly above it rises the gilded main altar and sunlit stone nave (the active liturgical heart of the community); and at the southeastern corner soars the 1857 carved stone campanile like a beacon tower gathering the skyline of old Larnaca.
VLazarus Saturday, the Grand Procession of the Relics, and Cypriot Liturgical Customs
As the patronal sanctuary of the city of Larnaca under the jurisdiction of the Holy Metropolis of Kition within the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Cyprus, the Church of Saint Lazarus celebrates daily services according to the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar (observing fixed feast days on the Revised Julian / Gregorian calendar and the moveable Paschal cycle on the traditional Orthodox calculation). The spiritual climax of the entire city arrives eight days before Pascha (Easter).
| Time of Year | Calendar System | Liturgical Feast or Procession | Rites and Customs at the Church of Saint Lazarus, Larnaca |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday before Palm Sunday (8 days before Orthodox Easter) | Eastern Orthodox Moveable Paschal Cycle | Great Feast of Lazarus Saturday (Savvato tou Lazarou) | The patronal civic and religious solemnity of Larnaca: Hierarchical Divine Liturgy presided over by the Metropolitan of Kition, followed in the evening by a grand candlelight procession of the silver reliquary and miraculous icon of Saint Lazarus through the streets and seafront promenade of Larnaca. |
| Holy Week and Great and Holy Pascha (Easter Midnight) | Eastern Orthodox Paschal Calendar | Good Friday Epitaphios Procession and Midnight Resurrection Vigil | Thousands of faithful gather in Agiou Lazarou Square on Good Friday evening as the flower-decked Epitaphios bier is sprinkled with rosewater and myrrh, and return at midnight on Easter Sunday to receive the Holy Light brought from Jerusalem. |
| October 17 annually | Fixed Orthodox Liturgical Calendar (Gregorian) | Feast of the Translation and Discovery of the Relics of Saint Lazarus (890 / 898 CE) | Commemorates the ninth-century discovery of the saint's stone sarcophagus at Kition and the building of the basilica by Emperor Leo VI; the silver reliquary containing the saint's skull cap and bones is set out in the nave for veneration. |
| March 17 annually | Fixed Local Cypriot Calendar (Gregorian) | Local Cypriot Synaxis of Saint Lazarus, First Bishop of Kition | Celebrates the ancient local memory of Saint Lazarus's arrival in Cyprus and his thirty-year episcopate at Kition with special festal Matins and Divine Liturgy. |
The folk ballads of Kalanda tou Lazarou and the baking of spiced Lazarakia bread. Few places in the Orthodox world preserve folk customs tied to a Gospel event as vividly as Larnaca on Lazarus Saturday. On the eve and morning of the feast, children across Larnaca and neighboring Cypriot villages carry bundles of wild yellow spring daisies (known locally as Lazarus flowers, which bloom across Cyprus in early spring) and sing the ancient narrative ballad Kalanda tou Lazarou, which recounts how Christ raised Lazarus at Bethany and how the saint sailed to Cyprus to become Bishop of Kition; in traditional village reenactments, a child wrapped in a yellow flower-covered shroud lies on the ground and rises when the song reaches the words of Christ: Lazarus, come forth. Meanwhile, Cypriot households bake Lazarakia, small sweet-spiced fasting loaves kneaded with cloves, cinnamon, and mastic gum and shaped like a swaddled human figure with two whole cloves pressed in for eyes, sharing them after the liturgy in honor of the risen Friend of Christ.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Agiou Lazarou Square (Plateia Agiou Lazarou), Historic Center of Larnaca (Ancient Kition), 6020 Larnaca, Republic of Cyprus
- Getting there
- The Church of Saint Lazarus stands on Agiou Lazarou Square in the historic center of Larnaca, roughly 300 meters west of the southern end of the Phoinikoudes seafront promenade and Larnaca Medieval Castle (a 4- to 5-minute walk). From Larnaca International Airport (LCA, located 6 kilometers south of the city center), public bus routes 425, 417, 418, and 419 operated by Cyprus By Bus stop at the Phoinikoudes promenade within easy walking distance of the church square, or a taxi ride takes approximately 12 minutes.
- Coordinates
- 34.9112, 33.6353
Because the Church of Saint Lazarus is an active and deeply revered Greek Orthodox sanctuary, strict modesty of dress is required before entering either the nave or the underground crypt (both shoulders and knees must be covered for men and women alike; complimentary wrap skirts and shawls are provided at the southern entrance porch). Admission to the church and the subterranean tomb crypt is completely free of charge every day of the week (generally open from 08:00 to 18:30 from April to August and 08:00 to 17:30 from September to March; the adjacent Byzantine Museum charges a nominal fee and closes on Sunday afternoons). Visitors descending the narrow stone steps into the crypt beneath the altar should watch their heads at the low stone lintel and maintain complete silence inside the tomb chamber.
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?Quick Questions
Why does Saint Lazarus of Bethany in the Gospel have his tomb and cathedral in Larnaca, Cyprus?
According to ancient Eastern Orthodox tradition, after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after four days in the tomb at Bethany (John 11:1 to 45), the chief priests in Jerusalem plotted to kill Lazarus as well (John 12:10). Around 33 CE, during the persecution that followed the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, Lazarus fled Judea by boat and landed at the port city of Kition (modern Larnaca) on the southern coast of Cyprus. Around 45 CE, the Apostles Paul and Barnabas ordained him as the first Bishop of Kition, where he served for thirty years until his second death around 63 CE and was buried in the crypt beneath the present church.
Who built the extant stone Church of Saint Lazarus in Larnaca and when was it constructed?
The surviving golden limestone basilica was erected at the end of the ninth century CE (circa 890 to 900 CE) by imperial decree and funding of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (reigned 886 to 912). After the marble sarcophagus of Saint Lazarus bearing the Greek inscription 'Lazarus, four days dead and friend of Christ' was unearthed in Larnaca in 890 CE, Emperor Leo VI translated a major portion of the relics to Constantinople and built this monumental three-domed stone church over the burial crypt in gratitude to the people of Kition.
Are any authentic relics of Saint Lazarus still preserved inside the church in Larnaca today?
Yes. Although part of the relics was sent to Constantinople in 898 CE, on November 23, 1972, during structural repairs to the sanctuary following a 1970 fire, archaeologists and clergy discovered a marble sarcophagus directly beneath the eastern foundation wall of the main altar containing skeletal remains of Saint Lazarus that the ninth-century bishops of Kition had secretly kept behind. Today, these relics are enshrined in a gilded silver reliquary displayed for veneration in the nave, while the ancient stone sarcophagi remain in the subterranean crypt below the altar.
Why does the interior of the church have four pairs of massive double piers while the exterior no longer has three Byzantine domes?
Originally in the late ninth century, the Church of Saint Lazarus was crowned by three hemispherical stone domes arranged in a row down the central nave, supported by the four pairs of massive composite double piers. In the sixteenth century (after Ottoman forces captured Larnaca in 1570 and before the Orthodox Church purchased the building back in 1589), the upper shells of the three domes and the original belfry collapsed or were taken down, leaving the circular dome bases and twelve stone pendentives visible inside the nave beneath a protective timber roof.
What makes the gilded wooden iconostasis inside the Church of Saint Lazarus so famous?
The iconostasis of the Church of Saint Lazarus is considered the supreme masterpiece of eighteenth-century Baroque-Byzantine woodcarving in Cyprus. Carved by hand between 1773 and 1782 by master sculptor Chatzisavvas Talliaros of Kyperounta and covered in gold leaf between 1793 and 1797 by Hadji-Herakleidios, the intricately pierced screen holds 120 icons dating from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Miraculously, the main sections of the iconostasis survived the interior fire of February 9, 1970 and were meticulously restored.
When is the best time of year to witness the main religious festival at the Church of Saint Lazarus?
The most solemn and celebrated festival of the year takes place on Lazarus Saturday (Savvato tou Lazarou), the Saturday immediately preceding Palm Sunday (eight days before Orthodox Easter, usually falling in April). On that day, following the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in the morning, the entire city of Larnaca gathers in the evening for a grand candlelight procession carrying the silver reliquary and great icon of Saint Lazarus through the streets and along the seafront promenade.