St. Peter’s Church in Capernaum8 min read

The St. Peter’s Church (also called the Pilgrimage Church of St. Peter) in Capernaum is a modern Catholic pilgrimage church found in the archaeological site of Capernaum, in northern Israel, as part of a Franciscan monastery. It is dedicated to St. Peter, which Catholics consider the first leader of the Church.

Archaeological excavations at the site revealed an octagonal church from the 5th century, built around an earlier building with a single room, which was discovered in 1968. This structure was established in the Christian tradition as the house of St. Peter, probably as early as the middle of the 1st century, and is considered the first “church house” in the world (Domus-ecclesia).

A new church was built over the site in 1990, protecting it. The church is located in the heart of an ancient residential district with several buildings from different periods, which have been nicknamed “Insula Sacra” (Holy Quarter”). The quarter is located between the remains of the old synagogue, which is about thirty meters north of the church, and the shores of the Sea of ​​Galilee to the south.

St. Peter’s House in Capernaum

Peter’s house is mentioned in the New Testament on several occasions:

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

Matthew 8:14-15

And immediately Jesus left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve him

Mark 1:29-31

From the combination of the two sources, it can be learned that along with St. Peter, his mother-in-law and his brother St. Andrew also lived. This, with the fact that it stood next to a large courtyard where all the residents of Capernaum could gather, indicates its large size. The New Testament mentions the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus prayed and a number of other houses, such as that of Matthew and the Roman cantor.

St. Peter’s House Until the 5th Century

At the end of the Hellenistic period, basalt houses were erected on the site, centered around two large courtyards connected by a passage. In the center of an open plaza in the eastern part of the site stood a brick stove, and next to it an unusually large square room. The length of the side of the room was 8.5 meters and it has unique characteristics compared to the other houses. The floor and walls of the house were covered with a layer of plaster, inscriptions with Christian characteristics, and paintings of geometric patterns and colorful flowers were discovered on the walls. Most of the inscriptions were written in Greek and the existence of inscriptions in Latin, Aramaic, and other languages may imply that the place was a pilgrimage site even back then.

No housewares were discovered at the site, so it seems that from the end of the 1st century the room served as a gathering place for the early Christian community in Capernaum. Opponents of this assertion claim that no evidence had been found that indicates that this extension of the house had a roof, so together with the existence of the adjoining stove conclude that the place was in fact the third courtyard.

In the 4th century, a thick wall was erected around the compound of the unique structure, which isolated it from the rest of the settlement’s houses. The wall gave it the shape of a trapezoid, 27 meters long on the west side and 30 meters on the east side. The height of the wall reached 2.3 meters on its northern side, with two openings in it – one on its southwestern side and the other on its northeastern side.

The unique room became the focal point of the compound – an arch erected in it in a north-south direction had divided it into two separate spaces, and indicate that it had a roof. The north wall of the room was rebuilt and a foyer was built on its northeast side. The length of the western room (far from the foyer) was 6.45 meters and its width reached 5.8 meters. Its floor was renewed and covered with colored plaster, and its walls were covered with white plaster.

It was argued that the new appearance of the building and the decoration of the inner room, the separation of the compound from the rest of the village houses by means of a wall, and the location of the foyer on its eastern side, were all intended to mimic the shape of the Temple in Jerusalem. The site remained until the middle of the 5th century when it was demolished, and a new church was erected in its place.

The Byzantine Church

The Byzantine church was established there in the 5th century, and it is mentioned in the writings of the Piacenza Pilgrim, a sixth-century Christian pilgrim from Piacenza in northern Italy who traveled to the Holy Land at the height of Byzantine rule in the 570s and wrote a narrative of his pilgrimage.

“Item venimus in Capharnaum in domo beati Petri, quae est modo basilica.”

“We came to Capernaum in the house of the blessed Peter, which is now a basilica.”

It was octagonal in shape and its roof was supported by eight pillars. An additional octagon was erected around it, a third semi-octagonal structure, and a foyer that led to the structure and to a number of adjacent structures on its eastern side. The foundations of the building were built of basalt and cement, and its walls of limestone. An apse was later erected with a baptismal pool on the east wall of the church, which blocked the passage to the nearby buildings, and was used instead to evacuate the excess water from the baptismal font.

The founders of the church placed the central octagon just above the unique house from the 1st century, and it is evident that they tried to preserve its location. However, all the original parts of the original structure were demolished along with a number of houses on its western side, and the floor was covered with mosaics. In the foyer were placed mosaics depicting geometric shapes of circles and crosses, in the outer octagon the mosaics depict plants and animals (quite similar to the mosaics in the Church of the Bread and Fish in Ein Sheva), and in the central octagon are flowers, fish and a large circle with a peacock in its center.

The Church Today

The present church was built in 1990. It is constructed of large prefabricated concrete units attached using internal and concealed steel cables, in a technique that is typical of the construction of bridges. It is shaped as an octagon, preserving the shape of the ancient Byzantine church, and it stands on concrete pillars above the archeological remains.

It was designed by the Italian architect Ildo Avetta who wanted to give it the look of a fishing boat. On the walls of the church are drawings of fish, waves, and fishing nets – and in its center is a large window through which you can see the archeological remains below it.

On the front of the altar, which is shaped like a semicircle, is a mosaic divided into three parts – in the center is Jesus in red and pink, and on either side in green are the masses eating the manna in the desert on the left, and the bread (from the miracle of bread and fish) on the right.

On the eight pillars that support the structure are fixed wooden panels depicting events, most of which relate to Jesus’ stay in Capernaum. On either side of the entrance to the building is engraved the blessing of Pope John Paul II, which visited St. Peter’s Church during his visit to Israel in 2000.

St. Peter’s Statue

At the entrance to the site, there is a statue of St. Peter holding the key to the kingdom of heaven and the shepherd’s stick given to him by Jesus. Next to Peter’s leg is a St. Peter Fish.