The el Araj archaeological site located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in Israel, believed to be ruins of a church built over the the home of Sts. Peter and Andrew / Steven Notley
Newsroom in Washington, DC, August 24, 2022, 13:14 (CNA).
This month, a group of archaeologists found data that could be the “smoking gun” establishing the site of the home of St. Peter.
The group found a large Greek mosaic that seems to support the idea that the church was erected over the residence of Ss. Peter and Andrew while excavating a Byzantine basilica from the fifth to the sixth century at the el Araj archaeological site in Israel, which lies near the Sea of Galilee.
Steven Notley, a professor of the New Testament and Christian Origins at Nyack University, is in charge of the excavation at what is being referred to as “The Church of the Apostles.” The mosaic in the basilica, he said in a phone interview with CNA, is the “most unmistakable archaeological link [we] have with [St.] Peter.”
St. Peter, who is referred to as “the head and commander of the heavenly apostles,” is petitioned for help in the mosaic’s engraved appeal.
The Apostle Peter was often referred to by this name in Byzantine Christian writings.
A circular medallion with two strands of black tesserae, or glass mosaic pieces, that are a component of a larger mosaic on the floor of the basilica’s sacristy frames the inscription, which also commemorates a donor called Constantine who is referred to as “a servant of Christ.”
Strong new evidence in the Bethsaida controversy
The mosaic, which is more than 1,500 years old, is what Dr. Notley refers to as “the final missing city of the Gospels,” and it provides convincing proof that the el Araj site is the location of the lost city of Bethsaida.
It’s what some people call the “smoking gun,” Notley added, referring to the mosaic’s location on top of Roman-era artifacts as a component of a church that is directly related to the apostle.
This supports our claim that it ought to be the front-runner for Bethsaida in the first century, Notley said.
Notley notes that he thinks flooding near the end of the Roman era in the third century is the reason the site has mostly gone undiscovered.
Notley’s team discovered various remnants from the Crusader and Byzantine eras while “digging through history,” but they also came across 15-20 inches of pure silt that was left behind when the Jordan River inundated the area at the end of the third century.
Notley said that the crew discovered mosaic pieces made of glass that had been plated in gold when they “suddenly” reached the Roman level.
Only a church would have had such elaborate pieces.
Notley compared the site of the church to the writings of Willibald, a bishop from Bavaria who lived in the eighth century. Willibald, who traveled to holy locations around the Sea of Galilee in 725, identified a basilica he slept at as the residence of St. Peter at Bethsaida, which is the location of the current el-Araj site.
Additionally, the site fits Josephus Flavius’ account of Bethsaida in chapter 30.
Dig provides volunteers with a wonderful spiritual experience
Both Notley and the archaeologist Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College are in charge of the dig, and they each season recruit a group of volunteers from all over the globe to help with the excavation. Christians, non-Christians, Jews, and Arabs are among the volunteers.
Visit the dig’s website if you’re interested in participating in future excavations, Notley advised CNA.
In October, the following excavation will take place. The crew will finish off the church’s cleaning in the hopes of finding further inscriptions.
Notley’s close friend Father Eamon Kelly, a priest who is vice director of the neighboring Magdala retreat facility, permits him to webcast daily devotions at the location.
In an email to CNA, Kelly said, “[Notley] always invites me to speak with his students and pilgrimage groups at Magdala, and it has truly been exciting to livestream my daily Sunrise Stroll and Chat at the el Araj dig for a number of years now and watch the wonderful progress of this archeological dig.”
Digging up the early Christian/Jewish linkages in Galilee during the last several years at Magdala and now at el Araj, he said, “enriches our understanding and inspires us on many levels.”
You may see the Sunrise Stroll and Chat devotionals that Fr. Kelly records at the archaeological site here.