Tabgha, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Sea of Galilee

Tabgha I, the name of the location in which the Church of the Primacy of Peter is located, was first on the schedule today. 

It is on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

More information on this spot from Wikipedia:

The modern structure was built in 1933 and incorporates parts of an earlier 4th century church. At the base of its walls, opposite the main altar, foundations of the 4th century church are visible. In the 9th century, the church was referred to as the Place of the Coals. This name refers to the incident of Jesus' preparation of meal for the apostles, building a charcoal fire on which to cook the fish. Also first mentioned in the year 808 are the "Twelve Thrones", a series of heart shaped stones, which were placed along the shore to commemorate the Twelve Apostles. The church survived longer than any other in the area, finally being destroyed in 1263.^[1]

The present Franciscan chapel was built on the site in 1933. This church was included in the itineraries of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II during their visits to Israel in 1964 and March 2000 respectively. The church contains a projection of limestone rock in front of the present altar which is venerated as a "Mensa Christi", Latin for table of Christ. According to tradition this is the spot where Jesus is said to have laid out a breakfast of bread and fish for the Apostles, and told Peter to "Feed my sheep" after the miraculous catch, the third time he appeared to them after his resurrection. (John 21:1-24) It is disputed whether this table, or the one enshrined at the nearby Church of the Multiplication, is the one mentioned by the pilgrim Egeria in her narrative of the Holy Land circa 380. There is also another table of Christ enshrined at the Mensa Christi Church in Nazareth.



CAPERNAUM was up next and what an interesting place it is.  You can see from the ruins what the houses were really like.  Capernaum was the center of Jesus activities in the Galilee and his town during that time. Jesus taught in the local synagogue. It was also the home town of the apostles Peter, James, Andrew and John, and the tax collector Matthew.

Capernaum first started to be inhabited during the 3rd Millennium BC in the early Bronze period. It was a small village of several houses, which was in the area controlled by the Biblical city in  Tell Kinneret, located 3 KM to the west. It continued through the 2nd Millenium, as surfaced in the excavations, in the area around the center of the Roman village.  During the Israelite/Iron period (1200-587BC) there was a break in the population, which was restored in the 5th C BC (the period of the returns of the exiles to Zion).

   The village then expanded in the Hellenistic period (4th-3rd C BC), gradually replacing the focus from Tell Kinneret - as most of the Tells in Israel at that time.  It was designed according to that period's urban design of straight lines, which was built in parallel to the main Roman imperial highway, that crossed the village on the northern side.  Capernaum grew larger at the time of Jesus  (early Roman period, 1st C AD), and a synagogue was built in the center of the village. It reached its peak in the Byzantine period when the grand white-stone Synagogue  was built (end of the 4th C AD) over the earlier synagogue. An octagon church was built in  the 5th C AD at the location of St Peter's house, and serviced the Christian citizens. At that time the village covered about 60 Dunams (6 Hectares), with a population of about 1,500.  Note that the excavated area that is seen today is only 1/3 of the entire size of the village.

   The village prospered in the Roman and Byzantine periods, and its citizens were mainly fishermen (as most of Jesus apostles), farmers, and people that provided services to the Roman road and caravans, including tax collection (as was Matthew). Capernaum was partially destroyed in the Persian conquest in the 7th C AD. The synagogue and church were destroyed in the Arab period (7th- 12 C AD), but the village continued to function for some time.  It then was totally ruined.

   The area was purchased by the Franciscans in 1894; 2/3 of the entire area of ruins were purchased, while the other third was purchased by the Greek Orthodox.  The excavations were conducted in several seasons  (1905-1915, 1968-1984).

BETHSAIDA was up next.  More ruins!

Here dwelt Philip, Andrew, Peter (John 1:44; John 12:21), and perhaps also James and John. The house of Andrew and Peter seems to have been not far from the synagogue in Capernaum (Matthew 8:14; Mark 1:29, etc.) on the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee. Unless they had moved their residence from Bethsaida to Capernaum, of which there is no record, and which for fishermen was unlikely, Bethsaida must have lain close to Capernaum. It may have been the fishing town adjoining the larger city. As in the case of the other Bethsaida, no name has been recovered to guide us to the site. On the rocky promontory, however, east of Khān Minyeh we find Sheikh ‛Aly eṣ-Ṣaiyādīn, "Sheikh Aly of the Fishermen", as the name of a ruined weli, in which the second element in the name Bethsaida is represented. Nearby is the site at ‛Ain et-Ṭābigha, which many have identified with Bethsaida of Galilee. The warm water from copious springs runs into a little bay of the sea in which fish congregate in great numbers. This has therefore always been a favorite haunt of fishermen.

Bethsaida is described in Mark 8:22-26 as a town where Jesus met a blind man seeking healing. Jesus led the man outside the town before healing him and asked him not to return to the town, nor to inform the people of the town, after his sight was restored.

The afternoon was a relaxing boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

We end the day with a song by Terry: