Iconography and the Two Lazaruses

In popular imagery San Lazaro is instantly recognisable: an old, ragged, and infirm beggar, leaning on crutches and covered with sores that dogs lick, a picture drawn directly from the parable of the poor man at the rich man's gate. This should be distinguished carefully from Lazarus of Bethany, the brother of Martha and Mary whom the Gospel of John records that Jesus raised from the tomb after four days, a sign pointing toward the Resurrection.

Western tradition later identified Lazarus of Bethany with a first bishop of Marseille or of Kition (Larnaca) in Cyprus, and his relics were claimed at both places; the Orthodox keep his feast, and Lazarus Saturday before Palm Sunday commemorates the raising. Popular devotion has fused the beggar of the parable and the friend of Christ into a single beloved figure, but the Church distinguishes the raised friend of Jesus from the parable's poor man, whose imagery dominates the folk cult.