Page 2 of 2
Re: Peter's House
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 1:12 am
by Leucius Charinus
Claims made for a 5th century inscription making reference to (Saint) Peter.
The inscription starts with “Constantine, the servant of Christ.” This refers to the donor to the church, in keeping with Byzantine tradition of dedicatory mosaics. It isn’t a reference to Constantine, the first Holy Roman emperor to embrace Christianity, the archaeologists explain.
Then comes the exciting bit: The inscription goes on to petition the “chief and commander of the heavenly apostles” for intercession ....
///
Who is this chief and commander? Simon Peter was the first to declare that Jesus was the messiah (Matthew 16:16), and so was considered chief of the Apostles, according to tradition.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/202 ... 7f7f870000
Here is part of the inscription which AFAIK has yet to be published.
Can anyone offer a brief translation of what is visible?
There also seems to be an overbar over the P.
Re: Peter's House
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 2:00 pm
by StephenGoranson
I am informed that
Winter 2023 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (Volume 49, Number 4)
includes
“The House of Peter: Capernaum or Bethsaida?”
By R. Steven Notley
"Today, Christian pilgrims frequently visit Capernaum to see the House of Peter memorial church. Early pilgrimage accounts and recent excavations at nearby El-Araj (possibly biblical Bethsaida), however, suggest that the true home of the chief apostle was more likely commemorated by a newly uncovered basilical church rather than the octagonal church at Capernaum."
I have not read it, so I cannot comment about it,
but mention it in case some here might be interested.
Re: Peter's House
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2023 3:41 pm
by Leucius Charinus
Thanks SG. Here's the closing paragraphs from Winter 2023 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (Volume 49, Number 4). There is no mention of the details, or the publication of the details, for the key inscription that the author / archeologist wishes to associate with Peter. However further text of the inscription is provided in this article not available in other reports.
This is that the inscription refers to:
"“the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the key of heaven.”
Given Willibald’s report of the church built over the house of Peter and Andrew at Bethsaida, together with the recent discovery of the Byzantine basilica at El-Araj, I believe it is far more likely that the Piacenza Pilgrim’s account references the El-Araj basilica rather than the octagonal church at Capernaum.
Fortunately, our excavations at El-Araj have finally confirmed the basilica’s association with St. Peter. The large Greek medallion inscription discovered in the church’s diaconicon names a local benefactor with an entreaty for intercession on his behalf from “the chief of the apostles and the keeper of the key of heaven.”4 In Byzantine writings, the title “chief of the apostles” is invariably identified with St. Peter,5 while the inscription’s reference to Peter as “the keeper of the key” clearly echoes Jesus’s promise to his apostle, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19).
A request for the apostle’s intercession intimates his close identification with the church. Peter’s association with churches in Byzantine Palestine is rare, typically occurring only at places with a connection to his appearances in the Gospels. The discovery of a petition to St. Peter in the basilica at El-Araj should remove any doubt that the church recalls the testimony of John 1:44—that the home of Peter, Andrew, and Philip was in Bethsaida. The church we have been excavating at El-Araj would then be the same one visited by Byzantine pilgrims to commemorate the home of the chief of the apostles.
In the next archaeological season, we plan to finish removing the mosaics in the church’s eastern apse, where there seem to be earlier structures buried under the sixth-century church. If these ruins date to the Roman period, they may belong to the house that early Christian tradition associated with the house of Peter. We will surely keep BAR readers updated.
https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org ... bethsaida/