Lazarus Saturday is the day we celebrate Christ raising His friend Lazarus from the dead. It falls on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, right at the end of Great Lent.
This isn’t just another Bible story we remember. It’s the only day in the entire Church year when we celebrate a Sunday resurrectional service on a different day. That tells you how important it is. We’re celebrating resurrection before we’ve even gotten to Holy Week.
The story comes from John 11. Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, has died. He’s been in the tomb four days by the time Jesus arrives in Bethany. Martha meets Jesus on the road and says if He’d been there, her brother wouldn’t have died. Jesus tells her, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Then He goes to the tomb and weeps. That’s the shortest verse in the Bible, and it matters because it shows us Jesus fully human, grieving His friend. But then He commands, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man walks out, still wrapped in his burial cloths.
The Church sees this miracle as a preview. Christ demonstrates His power over death just days before His own death. He’s showing the disciples what’s coming. Death doesn’t get the last word.
There’s something else happening here too. The raising of Lazarus is what pushes the Jewish authorities over the edge. They’d been watching Jesus, getting more and more nervous about His popularity. But when He raises a man who’s been dead four days, they decide He has to die. John’s Gospel makes this clear. The miracle that proves Christ is the Resurrection and the Life is the same miracle that seals His fate. That’s the kind of irony God works with.
How We Celebrate It
Lazarus Saturday marks the end of Great Lent’s forty days. The strict fasting is over. We’re transitioning into Holy Week, which has its own character. Some parishes in Southeast Texas will have a Divine Liturgy Saturday morning. You’ll hear hymns about Lazarus throughout the service, and the Gospel reading is that whole account from John 11.
The hymns are beautiful. One of them calls this the “holiday of friendship” because Jesus rushed to Bethany despite the danger. Another says Christ has become “the image of our resurrection, granting divine forgiveness to all.” We’re not just remembering what happened to Lazarus. We’re celebrating what will happen to us.
In Greek tradition, people bake sweet breads called lazarakia, shaped like a person wrapped in burial cloths. I don’t know if anyone at St. Michael’s does this, but it’s a lovely custom. Food and feast after the long Lenten discipline.
The day sits between Great Lent and Holy Week, between fasting and Passion. It’s a hinge. We’ve been preparing for forty days, and now we’re about to walk with Christ through His final week. But first, He shows us the end of the story. Death loses. That’s what we need to remember before we stand at the Cross on Good Friday.
Some people coming from Protestant backgrounds find this emphasis on Lazarus Saturday strange. We didn’t grow up with it. But once you see how the Church calendar works, it makes sense. Everything points to Pascha. Everything proclaims resurrection. Even before we get to Holy Week, we’re celebrating the defeat of death. Christ raises Lazarus, and the tomb can’t hold him. A week later, Christ rises, and the tomb can’t hold Him either. And at the end of all things, we’ll rise too.
If you’re new to Orthodoxy and this is your first Lazarus Saturday, pay attention to the services. Listen to the hymns. Let yourself feel the shift from Lent into Holy Week. This is where the story accelerates. From here, we move into Palm Sunday, then the betrayal, the trial, the crucifixion. But we move into all of that having just heard Jesus say, “I am the resurrection and the life.” We know how it ends.
