Lazar’s martyrdom was reframed as a national crucifixion requiring purgation
Evidence
During the nineteenth century, Serbian nationalist writers transformed Lazar into an explicit Christ figure, surrounded by a group of disciples, partaking of a Last Supper, and betrayed by a Judas. Lazar’s death represents the death of the Serb nation, which will not be resurrected until Lazar is raised from the dead and the descendants of Lazar’s killers are purged from the Serbian people. — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 122
Categorization
- XREF: The resurrection-requires-purgation logic parallels sacrificial purification structures discussed in the reader’s own piece on ritual sacrifice as a stabilizer of stratified societies.