Source: Christian Affairs OSLJ
April 7, 2016
Every Lazarus Saturday, Christians from around the world gather together in Bethany on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, where Christ raised Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha, back to life after four days in his tomb, as told in the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John. The feast, celebrated in both Western and Eastern Christian traditions, serves as the end of Great Lent and the beginning of Holy Week, with an afternoon procession to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem to commemorate the entrance of Christ to the Holy City as celebrated on Palm Sunday.
This year in the Orthodox Church, Lazarus Saturday will be celebrated on April 23rd. It is a joyful time in the troubled community of Bethany, where the Christian population has dwindled to near non-existence due to the economic and political realities of modern-day impoverished and blighted East Jerusalem, but where a bright ray of hope extends from the Orthodox Girls School of Bethany, administered by the Resurrection of Christ Community, under the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. For nearly 80 years, the School has been one of the most significant centers for the education and care of young Christian girls in the Holy Land, producing generations of young women who have gone on to lead happy, productive lives across the region and world. While it has been reorganized as a private girls’ school for the local population of East Jerusalem for approximately half of its existence, the school maintains a boarding section for Christian girls from difficult economic and family circumstances.
Currently under the care of Sister Martha Wall who acts as both Principal of the school and leader of the small monastic community of the Resurrection of Christ, 14 girls and 3 boys from Arab/Palestinian, Russian and Ukrainian Christian families of the Holy Land are cared for, with education, meals and housing, healthcare and positive social and religious upbringing being provided.
In 2015, the Holy Land Jurisdiction of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus began efforts to sponsor the school as a long-term charitable project, marked by a visit of HRH Prince Sixte-Henry de Bourbon-Parme on the occasion of his Installation as the 50th Grand Master of the Order (Humilis Magister Domus Sancti Lazari in Ierusalem) in the Magistral Seat of Jerusalem in the month of October. Charitable activities and fundraising efforts are now continuously being planned and conducted by members of the Holy Land Jurisdiction, ranging from social outings for the boarders to fundraising efforts for infrastructure projects.
This Great Lent marks the second year of the Lazarus Saturday Appeal, sent to Christians throughout the world to raise direct funds. The fundraiser has two components: the production of olive wood Paschal (Easter) eggs painted by the boarders girls and volunteers of the School, which are then sold to pilgrims, and an international appeal to Christians donate funds through the Lenten season until Lazarus Saturday on the Orthodox Calendar.
Funds for this year’s collection are being earmarked towards the associated costs of a corrective surgery for one of the boarders. Donations will alleviate the strain of the limited funds of the school for the procedure, and allow other needed charitable activities being conducted to continue.
How you can help:
+ Orthodox parishes, institutions, associations can organize collections on Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, April 23rd through the Feast of the Ascension on June 9th.
+ Orthodox Christians may also donate as individuals. + Churches, parishes and Individuals from other Christian traditions are invited to pledge on Good Friday as well as through the month of April.
How to donate: Donations from the United States are being collected by the USA Commandery of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem. To send a check, please contact Dr. Glenn Davis, KLJ, Chancellor and Treasurer, Independent American Commandary, OSLJ at DRGMDavis@aol.com
International donations (as well as those from the United States can be collected through the Order of Saint Lazarus’s international Paypal account:
Bank: Credit Suisse
Address: 8070 Zurich, Switzerland
Account name (in euros): OSLJ International Account number: 0879-373188-32
IBAN: CH41 0483 5037 3188 3200 0
SWIFT/BIC: CRESCHZZ80A
Clearing: 4835
Donors who send $200 and more will receive a Paschal egg made of Holy Land olive wood, painted by the boarders and volunteers of the Bethany School. All donors who request letters as proof of donations will receive them, as well as a handwritten thank-you card from the Boarders of the Bethany School.
To view donations and activities that have been sponsored since January of 2015, visit http://christianaffairsoslj.tumblr.com/. Photo galleries of the school can also be found here: Orthodox School of Bethany.
For specific information about the school, please contact project coordinator Dan Koski at dan.koski@oslj.org.
Through the prayers of Holy Father Lazarus, who, being raised from the dead to lead a new life in Christ and do good works, may we be successful this spring for the “living stones” of the Holy Land.
