Perhaps the main attraction of Larnaca is not even one of the oldest metropolises in the world, Kition, but the Cathedral of St. Lazarus: a small but very significant church devoted to a man who, according to legend, rose from the dead on the fourth day.

The legend says that the ministers of the church where Lazarus had lived and died were very angry about his resurrection. They organized real persecution of the saint. So he was forced to flee from Judea in search of a safe haven. Larnaca was such a place.

For some years Lazarus lived in this city, trying not to draw attention to himself. But when the apostles, Paul and Barnabas, came to Cyprus, they gave Lazarus the rank of bishop and blessed him to preach Christianity in the city. This is what Lazarus was doing for almost 20 years.

After his death, a small temple was built over his burial site and the relics of the saint were placed under it in a sarcophagus. They were considered lost for a long time. But, according to legend, the sarcophagus was found in 890. There was an inscription on it that here lied Lazarus, a friend of Christ, who was dead for four days and then rose again. The Emperor of Byzantium gave orders to bring this relic to Constantinople. But further history does not give accurate data. Either the relics were divided: part of them was sent to Byzantium, and part was left in place. Or they were seized by the Crusaders, who sent their trophy to Marseilles. But where they went and whether they were real is still unknown.

However, there is a curious fact. The church, because of the frequent changes of power, passed from one ruler to another and was continually rebuilt, remodeled, and changed. It was owned by the Romans, the French, the Turks, the Cypriots. And all this time it was believed that the relics of St. Lazarus were irretrievably lost. And only during the most significant restoration of this ancient temple in the 1970s, ancient tombs under the altar were opened for restoration work. One of them, allegedly, contained part of the remains of the famous biblical saint.