This location is well known of frequent visit by Jesus, in the vicinity of Tagha, Mt Beatitude in the northwest area of Sea of Galilee. Here is the best known House of Peter, a gathering place of house of worship, next door to a Synagogue with Roman half ruins. There is no other residential areas around, the area is peaceful rural, green surroundings. So I met my patron Saint at his House, a divine calling to this original house of worship. Giant Peters statue in fortitude with a shepherd staff stood outside with gesture looking like Moses departing the Red Sea. At this location, anyone visited the site could have stopped by a local restaurant to have lunch with Peter’s fish, a treat from the house, and the foods were getting better with color mixes of the locals.
HISTORY
Peter’s house, where Jesus healed his mother-in-law (Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:29-31), was built in the first century BC, and was a simple dwelling, like many others archaeologists have unearthed in this small fishing and farming village. In the coming generations the faithful left no less than 131 inscriptions on its walls. Jesus’ name appears frequently, as does Peter’s, along with crosses, pilgrims’ names and blessings. Eventually, in the mid-fourth century, a large church was built here, with Peter’s house as its centerpiece, and some years ago a modern church also went up. These walls, old and new, attest to continuing Christian reverence for the site of one of the best-loved healing stories of Jesus’ Galilee ministry
Beneath the foundations of this octagonal Byzantine martyrium church at Capernaum, archaeologists made one of the most exciting Biblical archaeology discoveries: a simple first-century A.D. home that may have been the house of Peter, the home of Jesus in Capernaum.
For much of his adult life, Jesus resided in the small fishing village of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. It was here during the infancy of early Christianity that he began his ministry in the town synagogue (Mark 1:21), recruited his first disciples (Mark 1:16–20) and became renowned for his power to heal the sick and infirm (Mark 3:1–5).
Early travelers to the site had long recognized the beautifully preserved remains of the ancient synagogue that many believe marked the site, if not the actual building, of Jesus’ earliest teaching. But an important detail of how Christianity began still remained: Where in the town had Jesus actually lived? Where was the house of Peter, which the Bible suggests was the home of Jesus in Capernaum (Matthew 8:14–16).
Italian excavators working in Capernaum may have actually uncovered the remnants of the humble house of Peter that Jesus called home while in Capernaum.
In the years immediately following Jesus’ death, the function of the house changed dramatically. The house had become a place for communal gatherings, possibly even the first christian gatherings, a key factor in how Christianity began. As with many Biblical archeology discoveries, often the small details most convincingly tie ancient material remains to Biblical events and characters.
One block of homes, called by the Franciscan excavators the sacra insula or "holy insula" ("insula" refers to a block of homes around a courtyard) was found to have a complex history. Located between the synagogue and the lakeshore, it was found near the front of a labyrinth of houses from many different periods. Three principal layers have been identified:
1. A group of private houses built around the 1st century BC which remained in use until the early 4th century.
2. The great transformation of one of the homes in the 4th century.
3. The octagonal church in the middle of the 5th century.
The excavators concluded that one house
