Coronavirus confines St. Lazarus to his church

What you see in the photograph is just some clerics taking a short walk around the church of St. Lazarus in Larnaca. That’s all for St. Lazarus this year.

Larnaca is believed by many Christians to be the saint’s second resting place. Each year, eight days before Orthodox Easter, a casket containing remains of Jesus’s friend is carried through the streets of the town.

That’s normally a major celebration attended by hundreds of worshippers. Not this year. Saturday’s mass marking Lazarus’s Biblical resurrection was low-key. The doors of the church were shut to the faithful.

A yearly procession across the seaside town of a small silver casket containing what the Church says are relics of Lazarus was cancelled. This year Lazarus’ remains are staying inside the church due to the coronavirus outbreak and a strict lockdown across the island.

Cyprus has reported 595 cases of the virus and 10 deaths. The Church of Cyprus has closed its doors to services during Easter week. Orthodox Easter falls on April 19.

The Greek Orthodox Church believes that after Jesus’s crucifixion Lazarus fled to Cyprus, where he lived for another 30 years and became a Christian Bishop, the first in Kitium.