Bethany in the context of Mount of Olives

Lazarus of Bethany is a figure of the New Testament whose life is restored by Jesus four days after his death, as told in the Gospel of John. The resurrection is considered one of the miracles of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lazarus is venerated as Righteous Lazarus, the Four-Days Dead. The Eastern Orthodox and Catholic traditions offer varying accounts of the later events of his life.

In the context of the seven signs in the Gospel of John, the raising of Lazarus at Bethany – today the town of Al-Eizariya in the West Bank, Palestine, which translates to "the place of Lazarus" – is the climactic narrative: exemplifying the power of Jesus "over the last and most irresistible enemy of humanity: death. For this reason, it is given a prominent place in the gospel."

Lazarus Saturday in Eastern Christianity (consisting of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches) refers to the moveable feast before Palm Sunday to which it is liturgically linked. It celebrates the raising of Lazarus of Bethany. Bethany is recorded in the New Testament as a small village in Judaea, the home of the siblings Mary of Bethany, Martha, and Lazarus, as well as that of Simon the Leper.

John's gospel reports that "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead." Presumably, it is where he spent the Great Sabbath that occurs immediately before Passover, prior to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus is reported to have lodged there during Holy Week, and it is where his anointing by Lazarus' sister Mary took place a few days later on Holy Wednesday.

Martha (Aramaic: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem and witnessing Jesus resurrecting her brother, Lazarus.