Summary: Archaeologists have discovered a 1,000-year-old mosaic inscription at el-Araj, the contested site of biblical Bethsaida, that points to the Apostle Peter and his role as a leader of the early Church.
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” – Matthew 16:18 (ESV)
Contested Location of Bethsaida: el-Araj or et-Tell?
A large Greek mosaic inscription has been newly uncovered at the archeological site of el-Araj on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee during excavations at a Byzantine period basilica. This thrilling discovery presents the strongest case yet that this area is indeed the biblical city of Bethsaida. The basilica was discovered in 2019 and has been given the name “Church of the Apostles” because it is believed to have been built over the childhood home of Jesus’ disciples, Simon Peter and Andrew.
The exact location of Bethsaida is highly contested. There are two leading candidates; el-Araj where this new mosaic has been found and a site at et-Tell called Jordan Park, which for thirty years has been designated by Israel as the city of Bethsaida and draws tens of thousands of visitors every day.
Both sites are located near where the Jordan River empties into the Sea of Galilee. El-Araj is located right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, while et-Tell is located nearly two miles inland.
The Importance of Bethsaida in the Gospels
Bethsaida’s importance in the Gospels can be seen in that it is the third most referenced city after Jerusalem and Capernaum. According to the Gospels, besides being the hometown of Andrew, Peter and Philip (John 1:44), Bethsaida is near the area where Jesus healed a blind man (John 5:2-9), walked on water (Mark 6:45-52), and fed the five thousand.
And he [Jesus] took them [his disciples] and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida. When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing. Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” And they did so, and had them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces. – Luke 9:10-17
Peter’s “Church of the Apostles” Mosaic Inscription
The mosaic inscription newly discovered in the Church of the Apostles references a donor “Constantine, the servant of Christ,” (not to be mistaken with the Roman emperor of the same name) and continues with a petition for intercession by Peter, “chief and commander of the heavenly apostles.”
The words are circled by a medallion and form part of a larger mosaic on the church’s floor. The title “chief and commander of the heavenly apostles” was frequently used by Byzantine Christians to refer to the Apostle Peter and only to him, according to archaeologist Dr. Mordechai Aviam from Israel’s Kinneret College. Dr. Aviam has been leading the excavation at el-Araj on the northern shore of the sea for years.
“This discovery is our strongest indicator that Peter had a special association with the basilica, and it was likely dedicated to him. Since Byzantine Christian tradition routinely identified Peter’s home in Bethsaida, and not in Capernaum as is often thought today, it seems likely that the basilica commemorates his house,” said the dig’s academic director Prof. Steven Notley from New York’s Nyack College.
In 1921 a theory by Father Gaudence Orfali suggested Capernaum as Peter’s childhood home instead of Bethsaida. There is an octagonal-shaped church at Capernaum but it isn’t actually a basilica so it can’t be the Church of the Apostles, contend Notley and Aviam. The site in Capernaum may have been Peter’s mother-in-law’s home and Peter may have moved there later in life, perhaps after he was married.
“One of the goals of this dig was to check whether we have at the site a layer from the 1st century, which will allow us to suggest a better candidate for the identification of biblical Bethsaida. Not only did we find significant remains from this period, but we also found this important church and the monastery around it,” said Aviam.
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority is helping with the excavation. “The inscription sheds light on the identification of the site with Roman and Byzantine Bethsaida, a place cursed by Jesus because the locals didn’t accept his message,” said Dr. Dror Ben-Yosef, head of heritage in the authority’s northern district, adding that the new inscription will be of great interest to Christian tourism.
Finding the Church at Bethsaida
The archaeological site of el-Araj has long been suspected to be the biblical town of Bethsaida. Excavations began in 2016 and led to the discovery of Roman-era buildings, coins, pottery, and similar artifacts. Even in those early stages of the dig, the presence of fragmented mosaics led the team to believe the church was in the vicinity.
In 2021, it was reported that after five years of digging the excavators were convinced that they had found the long-lost Church of the Apostles, and now, this exciting new evidence of the mosaic inscription further supports that claim.
The archaeologists followed several historical documents to get to the site. The first record was from Josephus who wrote about a humble fishing village by the lake (Sea of Galilee) that existed until the third century.
“Josephus Flavius, the Jewish historian in the first century, tells us that King Phillip, the son of Herod the Great, who ruled from there to the Golan, toward Damascus – ruled this area – decided to upgrade the village of Bethsaida and to make it a polis [city], by the name of Julias, after the daughter of Emperor Augustus,” said Aviam.
The second record was from an eighth-century German bishop named Willibald, who documented in detail his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in AD 724 (The Hodoeporicon). He referred to a church he visited in Bethsaida that, tradition said, was built on the site of Peter and Andrew’s childhood home.
Willibald’s itinerary in the Holy Land says he walked from Capernaum to Chorazin (Kursi) via the Church of the Apostles in Bethsaida. “And [from Capernaum] they went to Bethsaida, from which came Peter and Andrew. There is now a church where previously was their house,” the Bishop Willibald wrote.
Willibald’s writings confirm that the church was still standing as of the 8th century; however, it is thought to have been destroyed by an earthquake a few decades later.
Conclusion
“The dedicatory inscription with the entreaty for prayer by Simon Peter is very important for identifying the Apostle’s association with the Byzantine basilica. It confirms the testimony of the eighth century Bishop Willibald, who visited the church, that Christianity in the Byzantine period commemorated the house of St. Peter at Bethsaida and not at Capernaum,” Notley says.
“In addition, the persistent remembrance of the location of Peter’s home, in light of the recent archaeological evidence for a surrounding earlier Roman period settlement of at least 40 or 50 dunams [12 acres], adds weight to our suggestion that the site of el-Araj/Beit HaBek should be considered the leading candidate for New Testament Bethsaida,” continued Notley.
Excavations at el-Araj will begin again in October. Archaeologists are hoping to find an inscription to Andrew, Peter’s brother, since he is also supposed to have lived in Bethsaida and the church would presumably have been dedicated to them both.
Keep Thinking!
TOP PHOTO: The inscription in the mosaic floor found in the remains of what archaeologists believe is the Byzantine Church of the Apostles built to stand over the home of St. Peter and his brother, Andrew. (credit: Achia Kohn-Tavor, Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
