(ABOUT A.D. 870.)
[Inserted in the Roman Martyrology by Baronius. Venerated by the
Greeks on November 17th, and his translation on October 17th.
Authorities:--Cedrenus and Zonaras.]
S. Lazarus was priest, monk, and painter. During the persecution by
the emperor Theophilus against sacred images and monks, Lazarus, as a
painter of pictures for churches, was imprisoned, and his right hand
was fearfully burnt by the application of red-hot iron plates. On the
death of the emperor he recovered his liberty, and painted two
celebrated pictures, one at Constantinople, of S. John the Baptist,
the other at Chalcis, of the Saviour, on a wall, where there had been
a similar picture, which had been scraped off by the Iconoclasts. He
was sent to Rome by the Emperor Michael the Stammerer, with some
magnificent corporals and altar vestments, minutely described by
Anastasius the Librarian. On a second expedition to Rome he died.