Traveling with Sarah - Church of St. Lazarus

Winter is slowly coming to an end. I leave my room, it's a beautiful day outside, the sun has driven away the gloomy clouds. Warmer days are coming. You can go out normally, no more frozen toes. It's time to go somewhere, but I don't know where. I need to see what Google will tell me. He leads me to a small church nearby.

The church is located in a small village near Smederevo. There are not many people there, the church is what adorns that settlement.

There is not much on the Internet about the history of this church. It seems interesting, but not so old, maybe about 100 years. It feels cheerful and welcoming.

Saint Lazarus lived a normal life in Bethany for four days with his sisters Mary and Martha, when he suddenly fell ill and died.

Hearing the cries of the sisters, Jesus, who was on his way to Jerusalem, came to Bethany, where Lazarus had been buried for four days. According to Christian belief, Jesus came to the tomb, ordered the tombstone to be removed and invited Lazarus to come out, which he did, all wrapped in burial shrouds. The whole event was described in detail by St. John in his Gospel.

This event is considered in Christianity the victory of life over death and a hint of Christ's suffering and resurrection, in which is the basis of the New Testament faith. That last miracle of Christ, because soon after his arrival in Jerusalem, he was arrested and crucified after Golgotha.

After the revival, according to tradition, Lazarus lived for another thirty years as a bishop in Cyprus. They say he never laughed again, forever mourning the crucified Jesus. Even today, people say that on this holiday, everyone should be serious and avoid jokes and laughter, so as not to offend the saint and his eternal sorrow.

The memory of Saint Lazarus the Four-Day is celebrated from the first days of Christianity. His name also has a strong symbolism - in the Hebrew language "El-Azar" means "God helped", and these words are often said on today's holiday in a conversation in memory of Lazarus' resurrection and for the health and happiness of today's believers.

The main celebration of Saint Lazarus is the Four Days of Fall on Lazarus' Sabbath, which is the day when, according to tradition, Jesus raised him from the dead. On this day, the church marks the transfer of his relics from Cyprus to Constantinople.

When, after almost 1000 years, Lazarus' tomb was excavated in the city of Kitiya in Cyprus, a marble plaque was discovered on which was simply written: "Lazarus the Four-Day-Old, Friend of Christ".

Source of the text, translated from Serbian into English

Right next to the church there are two monuments to fallen fighters.

The church has a very interesting fence. It is unusually decorated, it is a bit exaggerated to my taste, I don't like kitsch, but it is interesting and has some essence of its own. It goes with the design of the church, it gives serenity to it, somehow spring comes earlier.