A great day in the HolyLand

• Holyland's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Tiberias

Trip Start Jan 08, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Mar 18, 2008 Next
Entry

  Tiberias, Israel
Friday, March 7, 2008

Dear Friends and Family,
Breakfast here includes assorted salads, yogurt, cheeses, bread, eggs, fish, and pancakes.  The food is delicious and healthy.  After breakfast, we started the day at Tabgha, which is where Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes.  The Church of Heptapegon is built around a rock at the location of the miracle.  Some of the beautiful mosaics from the original Byzantine church were preserved there. 
The next stop was the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter.  This is where Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection and asked Peter, "Do you love me?" We stood on the stone beach near the church to read the passage, John 21, and we sang "Here I Am, Lord." It was beautiful.  Next to the church are stone steps, which would have been used by the fisherman, and which were there at the time of Jesus.  The water came up to them at that time but now has receded.  We walked down by the water; some of us waded, and many of us collected a few stones and shells.  The water was clear and sparkled in the sun.  It was my favorite spot so far.  I think I understand the exchange between the Lord and Peter far better now than I did before.
We drove along the Via Maris, an ancient road that connected Mesopotamia with the Mediterranean Sea, toward Ginosar.  At Ginosar, we boarded a boat and took a little cruise on the Sea of Galilee.  The crew raised our flag and played "The Star Spangled Banner."  It was very nice.  We headed north and could see the Golan Heights, where we toured yesterday.  Our guide told us what the fishing business was like on the lake in the days of Jesus.  It was fun to imagine it.  One of the men on the boat demonstrated casting a net as they did in those days.  The movement of the big round net was quite graceful, as he tossed it into the air and it unfolded to land on the water like a giant web.  We could see the Mount of Beatitudes, Mount Arbel and Tiberius from the boat.  We heard gospel readings interspersed with verses from a hymn called "Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore."  The service was put together by the folks from the McHenry church.  We also saw the place where Jews from Spain settled when they escaped the Inquisition.
Next we saw a 2000-year-old boat from the Sea of Galilee.  Preservation took ten years.  The boat was mainly made of cedar and oak.  It was amazing to see a boat that may have belonged to one of the disciples.
For lunch, we enjoyed St. Peter fish at the Ein Gev Kibbutz.  Of course, it's called St. Peter fish because it's the type of fish the disciples would have caught in the Sea.  It was a wonderful meal.
We saw the ruin of a Byzantine church in the region of the Gadarenes, at Kursi.  This is where Jesus cast demons out of two men.  The demons were allowed to enter pigs, which threw themselves off of a cliff.  The church was built of black basalt and contained Byzantine mosaics, which, we learned, do not include human figures.  Our guide said this was because it would offend the Jews, since the law precludes making human images.  The church had three arches to symbolize the Trinity, and was shaped like a cross to represent crucifixion.  Our guide explained that the people needed these symbols, as many of them in those days could neither read nor write.
We ended the day by visiting Capernaum, which in Hebrew is "Village of Nahum".  This is where Peter lived, and where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law.  An octagonal church was built over the site of Peter's house and a modern octagonal church was erected on raised beams over that.  The layers are cut away under the modern church to show the remains of the walls of ancient Capernaum.  We stood next to the modern church and looked under it to see the ruins.  There were ruins of ancient Capernaum all around the site, including a pillar with Hadrian's name on it.  Our guide pointed out that Hadrian is the Roman emperor who destroyed Jerusalem, so he is considered by the Jews to be the worst of them.  A Byzantine period synagogue also stands on the location of the original synagogue.  It is really large, with stone benches along the sides, and large Corinthian columns.  The Sea of Galilee was only a short walk away and would have been closer in those days when its level would have been higher.  It's easy to see why Capernaum was referred to as Capernaum by the Sea.  WOW!  What a great day we had today!    
In Christ,
The Holy land Travelers

Print this entry Share Tiberias hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry