ARCHAEOLOGISTS think they have found the legendary Church of the Apostles, which Christian tradition states was built over the home of some of Jesus’ disciples.
The discovery was made in an area believed to be the ancient village of Bethsaida by the Sea of Galilee, where some people believe the disciples Peter and Andrew lived.
The archaeologists from the Kinneret Academic College and Nyack College of New York said that the ancient Jewish village of Bethsaida, which is mentioned in the Bible’s New Testament, was much larger than experts had previously thought.
Some people believe it could be the site referred to in the “Feeding of the 5,000” miracle, when Jesus is said to have fed a large crowd with five loaves of bread and two small fishes.
What is known for certain is that the recent excavation at the suspected site of the biblical village in modern day Beit Habek, also known as El-Araj, has uncovered the remains of a large Byzantine-era church.
Some of the most notable evidence includes mosaic titles which Professor R. Steven Notley from the private Christian college in New York told Haaretz “are for wall mosaics and only appear in churches.”
Other finds at the site include marble fragments, two aisles, roof tiles designed for a big building and a cross carved into stone.
Historical texts have referred to this area as being home to the church which was built on top of Peter and Andrew’s old house but no one has been able to find it before.
The ruins haven’t been scientifically dated yet but experts think it was built in the fifth century, 500 years after the apostles are said to have lived.
They also think it was later abandoned in either the seventh of eighth century because of the rise of the Umayyad caliphate and Islamic presence in the land.
The theory that el-Araj is the long-lost Bethsaida and once home to the disciples Peter, Andrew and Philip is supported by the archaeologists who have been excavating the church.
However, some people believe that the nearby site of e-Tell is actually Bethsaida.
More evidence, such as an inscription, is needed to say for sure whether this church is officially the Church of the Apostles.
Notley told Haaretz: “It would be normal to find an inscription in a church of the Byzantine period, describing in whose memory it was built, for instance.”
Here's what you need to know...
In other archaeology news, the mystery over a mysterious ‘medieval passageway’ buried under Scottish town finally solved.
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And, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of cannabis at a 1,000-year-old Viking settlement.
What do you think of this archaeological discovery? Let us know in the comments…
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