Bethany (Biblical village)

Bethany lay approximately fifteen stadia from Jerusalem according to John 11:18, corresponding to roughly two miles. Its position beyond the Mount of Olives placed it conveniently near Jerusalem while outside the crowded city itself.

Christian memory associated the village with Lazarus from an early period. By the fourth century, pilgrims were being shown a tomb identified as that of Lazarus, and churches were subsequently constructed nearby.

The traditional tomb is a rock-cut burial chamber that has undergone alterations over many centuries. Its long-standing association with Lazarus is historically important, although tradition alone cannot establish that the particular surviving chamber is unquestionably the tomb described in John 11.

Biblical Bethany is securely identified in general with modern al-Eizariya on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, southeast of Jerusalem. The location agrees well with the distance from Jerusalem given in John 11:18.

The Arabic name al-Eizariya developed from the long association of the village with Lazarus. The traditional Tomb of Lazarus and several historic and modern religious structures preserve that memory.

While the identification of the village itself is strong, the identification of the particular chamber shown today as Lazarus' actual tomb is traditional rather than archaeologically demonstrable with certainty.