Lazarus Zographos

Lazarus Zographos is a 9th- century Byzantine Christian saint. He is also known as Lazarus the Painter and Lazarus the Iconographer. Born in Armenia on November 17, 810, he lived before and during the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm. Lazarus is the first saint to be canonized specifically as an iconographer. He was later followed by Saint Catherine of Bologna, Theodore the Studite and Saint Luke the Evangelist, all of whom were painters of Icons.

Lazarus became a monk at an early age and is thought to have studied the art of painting at the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople. Lazarus was noted to possess the following virtues: love for Christ, asceticism, prayer, and rejection of the vanities of the world. He was further recognized for his acts of self-control, discipline and alms-giving, then made a priest. In his lifetime he was highly regarded and well known for his frescos. He used faith and ritual as a means to transcribe his inner contemplation onto the images he painted. Thus, his ability to paint icons was seen as a gift given by God. During the reign of Theophilos (r. 829–842), an iconoclast emperor opposed to all holy images, Lazarus stubbornly continued his craft of painting icons and began restoring images defaced by heretics. Theophilus sought out Lazarus, who was then famous for his painting, and intended to make an example of him. After being asked several times to cease painting, Lazarus was brought before the emperor where he refused to destroy any of the images he painted. The emperor soon found that Lazarus was above flattery and bribery. He was then threatened with the death penalty, which at the time was not an uncommon outcome for those who favored icons (iconodules). However, Lazarus being a man of the cloth, could not be put to death and so he was instead thrown in prison. During his imprisonment he was subjected to such “severe torture that the ladders flesh melted away along with his blood.” He was left to die of his wounds but recovered. He then began to paint holy images on panels from his prison cell. Hearing of this, Theophilos gave orders to have “sheets of red hot iron to be applied to the palms of his hands where, as a result, he lost consciousness and lay half dead.” It is also said his hands were burned with red-hot horseshoes until his flesh melted to the bone.

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