Lazarus

The raising of Lazarus in John (John 11:1–44) It also appears in a fragment of an extended version of the Gospel of Mark known as the Secret Gospel of Mark. A Lazarus is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in which both characters die, and the former begs for the latter to comfort him from his torments in hell or death.

He is identified as the brother of the sisters Mary and Martha. The sisters send word to Jesus that Lazarus is ill.

Scholars try to establish how John's narrative of the raising of Lazarus and the subsequent feet-anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany (John 11:1–12:11,17) was an attempt to explain some of the older text of the Synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke.

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 11:1 f.[68] This stay of Jesus in retirement, however, is terminated by the sickness of Lazarus (δέ).

Simplicity of the style of the narrative: But there was a certain one sick, (namely) Lazarus of Bethany, of the town, etc: ἀπὸ (John 7:42; Matthew 2:1; Matthew 27:57) and ἘΚ both denote the same relation (John 1:46 f.), that of derivation; hence it is the less allowable to regard the two sisters and the brother as Galileans, and Mary as the Magdalene (Hengstenberg).[69] That Lazarus lived also in Bethany, and was lying ill there, is plain from the course of the narrative. For change of preposition, without any change of relation, comp. John 1:45; Romans 3:30; 2 Corinthians 3:11; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 1:7; Philemon 1:5; Kühner, II. p. 219

Fled or exiled

Eastern Orthodox Churches have a tradition that Lazarus had to flee Judea because of plots on his life which had started even before the crucifixion.

First in Cyprus

After that he appears to arrive in Cyprus. There he was appointed by Barnabas and Paul the Apostle as the first bishop of Kition which is the present day Larnaka.

He lived there for at least thirty years according to some, but did die and was buried there for the second and last time.

Between 325–431 this bishopric was claimed by the church of Constantine through his bishops and by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II.

In 890 there was a tomb found at Larnaca bearing an inscription "Lazarus the friend of Christ". Since then Emperor Leo VI of Byzantium had the remains transferred to Constantinople and on 17 October each year the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorate Lazarus. The relics from that tomb have traveled as far as Moscow.

In some Orthodox Churches have the tradition that Mary of Bethany is seen as a separate individual from Mary Magdalene, yet, the same Orthodox Church counts Mary and Martha among the Myrrh-bearing Women to the tomb. It might seem odd to some that it is then the same Mary Magdalene who will be the first back to the tomb and the first to see Jesus and speak to him.

Beheaded at Marseille

The west also claims that Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were "put out to sea by the Jews hostile to Christianity in a vessel without sails, oars, or helm, and after a miraculous voyage landed in Provence at a place called today the Saintes-Maries."

Lazarus is said to have become the first Bishop of Marseille and was beheaded during the persecution of Domitian.

Numerous churches claim the relics of his body with his head still in Marseille.

The Golden Legend

The Golden Legend (Originally in Latin: Legenda aurea or Legenda sanctorum) has a different account. This published Legend is a collection of 153 writings by Jacobus de Voragine, and widely read in the west during the Late Middle Ages.

They clearly idealizes Lazarus in a series of hagiographies but may have been compiled around 1259–1266 based on sources that have not fully survived.

"Mary Magdalene had her surname of Magdalo, a castle, and was born of right noble lineage and parents, which were descended of the lineage of kings. And her father was named Cyrus, and her mother Eucharis. She with her brother Lazarus, and her sister Martha, possessed the castle of Magdalo, which is two miles from Nazareth, and Bethany, the castle which is nigh to Jerusalem, and also a great part of Jerusalem, which, all these things they departed among them. In such wise that Mary had the castle Magdalo, whereof she had her name Magdalene. And Lazarus had the part of the city of Jerusalem, and Martha had to her part Bethany. And when Mary gave herself to all delights of the body, and Lazarus entended all to knighthood, Martha, which was wise, governed nobly her brother's part and also her sister's, and also her own, and administered to knights, and her servants, and to poor men, such necessities as they needed. Nevertheless, after the ascension of our Lord, they sold all these things."

Mary Magdalene's name came from the name Magdala, meaning ‘the Tower’. The term "Magdalo, a castle" certainly may suggest the idea of a tower.

While there were a few towers, or Magdala, in existence it was not until the 5th or 6th centuries CE when there was an appearance of a town or place with that name. There was a village mentioned in rabbinic literature called Migdal Nuniya meaning ‘Tower of Fish’, and

the town Tarichaea (Greek: Ταριχέαι, Tarichéai, meaning the preservation of fish by salting or pickling), and later an Arab village of Al-Majdal  although  the evidence and location seem to contradict many assumptions.

In the early Roman period there was a place called Magadan in Matthew 15:39, and Dalmanoutha in Mark 8:10 which is only near the tower Magdala. It appears Magadan became Magdala during the Byzantine pilgrimages with later manuscripts of the New Testament conforming to the idea that there was a town of this name here, and Migdal Nuniya was neglected.

The name ‘Magdalene’ may have nothing to do with these towns but bears the meaning ‘the Tower-ess’.

There were many nickname given to followers of Christ especially if they had a common name like Mary or James.

The Hindu Connection

Brahma had a half-sister named Sarai-Svati, Princess of the Temple, or Princess of Tower, who he married, along with an Egyptian Princess named Ghaggar. He also wrote one of the revealed books of sacred Hindu scripture, the Atharva Veda.

Was Brahma the man we call Abram, and eventually Abraham and SaraiSvati actually Sarah ShenReishHey שָׂרָה‎ of the Old Testament.

Sarasvati (Sanskrit सरस्वती sarasvatī) has been said to mean "the one who flows" and is associated with the goddess of learning, knowledge, and the arts as the term comes down through history.

The name Mary is said to mean rebellion but that idea has come down because of the rebellion of Moses sister Miriam. The Hebrew letters for Miryam are MemReishYodMem מִרְיָם. While the letters MemReishYod מְרִי‎ mëriy are often connected with terms like rebellion, bitterness, and disobedience the word marowm<Ref name="marowm">[[04791}}</Ref‎> MemReishYodMem מָרוֹם means the highest place or thing.

The word “tower” in the above reference should be the subject of interest and controversy. “Tower” is translated from migdal, which would be the same as the word Magdala, as in Mary Magdalene in the New Testament.

Although it does mean “a tower”, it also has an elitist or elevated concept to its meaning and use. It can be used as we use the word “tree” in family tree.

Sviṣṭa (स्विष्ट).—a. Much desired or loved. Sarasvatī (सरस्वती) is the name of a river and was a boundary of Brahmāvarta, the home of the early Aryans, and was to them, in all likelihood, a sacred river as the Ganges has long been to their descendants. As a river, it is lauded for the fertilizing and purifying powers of her waters, and as the bestower of fertility, fatness and wealth.—Dowson: Hindu Mythology P. 284; also D. C. Sarkar, G.A.‘Medieval India’ (Kern) P. 40.