The Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter is a Franciscan church located in Ein Sheva (Tabgha) in the northwest of the Sea of Galilee, near the waterfront. According to tradition, in this place, Jesus was revealed to seven of the apostles after his resurrection from the dead, performed the second miracle of the fish, dined with them, and gave St. Peter the primacy.
Ein Sheva, also known as Tabgha, is a valley that extends northwest of the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum. Its Hebrew name – “Ein Sheva” – is given to it after the seven springs that originated in it in the past (today only five of them are still visible).
The “153 fish” Miracle
In chapter 21, which ends the Gospels of John, it is told that seven of the disciples – Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee (James and John), and two others – decided to go fishing one evening after the Resurrection of Jesus, but caught nothing that night. Early the next morning, Jesus (whom they had not recognized) called out to them from the shore: “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
When they reply in the negative, Jesus responds: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some”. After doing so, “they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish”.
Realizing the identity of their advisor, the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” at which Peter jumped into the water to meet him (an aspect of the story often illustrated in Christian art), while the remaining disciples followed in the boat, towing the net, which proved to be full of 153 large fish.
This is sometimes referred to as the “second fish miracle”, and sometimes the “fish multiplication miracle”.
The church contains a projection of limestone rock in front of the present altar which is venerated as a “Mensa Christi”, Latin for the table of Christ. According to tradition, this is the spot where Jesus is said to have laid out a breakfast of bread and fish for the Apostles and told Peter to “Feed my sheep” after the miraculous catch.
Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter
The present church was built of basalt stones by Italian Franciscan monks who settled on the site in 1934, based on the ruins of an earlier church from the 4th century. The church is made of a single space with an apse at the end (a niche, usually semi-circular, located in the eastern wall in classical churches).
The floor is made of simple stones and the church space is relatively empty so that most of the attention is directed to the unprocessed rock, on which, according to tradition, Jesus and the apostles ate their meal. In the 9th century, the church was called “the place of coals”, a name that refers to an event of preparing the meal of Jesus for the apostles and building the charcoal fire on which he roasted the fish.
In the apse, behind the rock, stands the altar and above it a colorful Greek cross. At the top of the stone arch that borders the apse is a small, round window with stained glass with a painting of a fish, and on both sides, two windows with additional glassworks.
On the southeast side of the church stands a small bell tower, and along the facade facing the Sea of Galilee is a staircase attributed to the Byzantine church that once stood on the site.
Between the church and the beach are six heart-shaped rocks fixed in the ground, which according to tradition simulate the footsteps of Jesus on the beach, next to a statue commemorating the giving of the primacy to Peter.
The church is located in the heart of a large and well-kept compound with two sheds for ceremonies. These sheds commemorate the visit of Pope Paul VI to Israel in 1964 and the visit of Pope John Paul II in 2000, who both visited the site.
Not far from the same place, in Ein Sheva, is the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish, where Jesus performed the “first fish miracle”.
