Misplaced Pages

#391608

72-590: Bethsaida Valley is named after the town of Bethsaida , best known from the New Testament . In Hebrew beit means house, and tzed means both hunting and fishing. The resulting name means either "house of the fisherman" or "house of the hunter". The Hebrew Beit-tzaida , adapted to Greek phonetics (the New Testament was written in Greek) and transliterated to Latin, yields Bethsaida. The Arabic name of

144-457: A huge number of fish. Immediately after this, they follow Him. The Gospel of John gives a comparable account of "The First Disciples". In John, the readers are told that it was two disciples of John the Baptist (Andrew and an unnamed disciple) who heard John the Baptist announce Jesus as the " Lamb of God " and then followed Jesus. Andrew then went to his brother Simon, saying, "We have found

216-498: A layer below the Byzantine layer, with an intervening layer of mud and clay that indicated a break in occupation between 250 and 350 CE. They also found what might be the remains of a Byzantine church building , matching the description of a traveller in 750 CE. On account of these discoveries, the archaeologists believe that el-Araj is now the most likely candidate for the location of Bethsaida. In 2019, what some describe as

288-746: A party of "Cephas". First Corinthians suggests that perhaps Peter visited the city of Corinth, located in Greece, during their missions. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth , in his Epistle to the Roman Church under Pope Soter (A.D. 165–174), declares that Peter and Paul founded the Church of Rome and the Church of Corinth, and they have lived in Corinth for some time, and finally in Italy where they found death: You have thus by such an admonition bound together

360-562: A reminiscent scene in John's epilogue, Peter affirms three times that he loves Jesus. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians contains a list of resurrection appearances of Jesus , the first of which is an appearance to Peter. Here, Paul apparently follows an early tradition that Peter was the first to see the risen Christ, which, however, did not seem to have survived to the time when the gospels were written. In John's gospel, Peter

432-707: A trip by Paul the Apostle to Jerusalem where he meets Peter. Peter features again in Galatians, fourteen years later, when Paul (now with Barnabas and Titus ) returned to Jerusalem. When Peter came to Antioch , Paul opposed Peter to his face "because he [Peter] was in the wrong". Acts 12 narrates how Peter, who was in Jerusalem, was put into prison by Agrippa I (AD 42–44) but was rescued by an angel . After his liberation Peter left Jerusalem to go to "another place". Concerning Peter's subsequent activity there

504-467: Is a much better candidate for Bethsaida than e-Tell. In 2022, the archaeological team uncovered a large mosaic that is over 1500 years old containing an inscription. This invokes St. Peter as "the chief and commander of the heavenly apostles". and mentions a donor named "Constantine, a servant of Christ". These terminologies are consistent with Byzantine usage. Because of this, Notley said that this "strengthen[s] our argument that [it] should be considered

576-903: Is always listed first among the Twelve Apostles in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts . Along with James the Elder and John he formed an informal triumvirate within the Twelve Apostles. Jesus allowed them to be the only apostles present at three particular occasions during his public ministry, the Raising of Jairus' daughter , Transfiguration of Jesus and Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane . Peter often confesses his faith in Jesus as

648-435: Is disputed, some saying that its usual meaning is "rock" or "crag", others saying that it means rather "stone" and, particularly in its application by Jesus to Simon, like a "jewel", but most scholars agree that as a proper name, it denotes a rough or tough character... Both meanings, "stone" (jewel or hewn stone) and "rock", are indicated in dictionaries of Aramaic and Syriac . Catholic theologian Rudolf Pesch argues that

720-637: Is found 19 times. He is the brother of Saint Andrew , and they both were fishermen . The Gospel of Mark in particular was traditionally thought to show the influence of Peter's preaching and eyewitness memories. He is also mentioned, under either the name Peter or Cephas, in Paul 's First Letter to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Galatians . The New Testament also includes two general epistles , First Peter and Second Peter , that are traditionally attributed to him, but modern scholarship generally rejects

792-593: Is instead spelled " Simeon " ( Συμεών in Greek). The variation possibly reflects "the well-known custom among Jews at the time of giving the name of a famous patriarch or personage of the Old Testament to a male child [i.e., Simeon ] along with a similar sounding Greek/Roman name [in this case, Simon]". He was later given by Jesus the name Cephas ( / ˈ s iː f ə s / ), from the Aramaic כֵּיפָא , Kepha , 'rock/stone'. In translations of

SECTION 10

#1732772490392

864-418: Is no further connected information from the extant sources, although there are short notices of certain individual episodes of his later life. The synoptic gospels mention that Peter had a mother-in-law at the time he joined Jesus, and that Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law. However, the gospels give no information about his wife. Clement of Alexandria claimed that Peter's wife was executed for her faith by

936-509: Is often repeated in the service of worship on Maundy Thursday by some Christian denominations . The three synoptic gospels all mention that, when Jesus was arrested, one of his companions cut off the ear of a servant of the High Priest of Israel . The Gospel of John also includes this event and names Peter as the swordsman and Malchus as the victim. Luke adds that Jesus touched the ear and miraculously healed it. This healing of

1008-772: Is once referred to as "prominent" or "head" among the Apostles, a title shared with Paul in the text ( The Fraction of Fast and Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria ). Some, including the Orthodox Churches, believe this is not the same as saying that the other Apostles were under Peter's orders. According to the Epistle to the Galatians ( 2:11 ), Peter went to Antioch where Paul rebuked him for following

1080-409: Is provided by Jesuit Father Daniel J. Harrington , who suggests that Peter was an unlikely symbol of stability. While he was one of the first disciples called and was the spokesman for the group, Peter is also the exemplar of "little faith". In Matthew 14 , Peter will soon have Jesus say to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?", and he will eventually deny Jesus three times. Thus, in light of

1152-574: Is regarded as the first leader of the early Church, though he was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the brother of the Lord" . Because Peter was the first to whom Jesus appeared, the leadership of Peter forms the basis of the Apostolic succession and the institutional power of orthodoxy, as the heirs of Peter, and he is described as "the rock" on which the church will be built. Peter

1224-677: Is that Peter had a group of 12 to 16 followers, whom the Clementine writings name. Another is that it provides an itinerary of Peter's route from Caesarea Maritima to Antioch, where he debated his adversary Simon Magus ; during this journey he ordained Zacchaeus as the first bishop of Caesarea and Maro as the first bishop of Tripolis . Historian Fred Lapham suggests the route recorded in the Clementine writings may have been taken from an earlier document mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion called "The Itinerary of Peter". Peter may have visited Corinth , and maybe there existed

1296-400: Is the first person to enter the empty tomb , although the women and the beloved disciple see it before him. In Luke's account, the women's report of the empty tomb is dismissed by the apostles, and Peter is the only one who goes to check for himself, running to the tomb. After seeing the graveclothes, he goes home, apparently without informing the other disciples. In the final chapter of

1368-537: Is the location to which Jesus retired by boat with his disciples to rest a while (see Mark 6:31 and Luke 9:10 ). The multitude following on foot along the northern shore of the lake would cross the Jordan by the ford at its mouth, which is used by foot travelers to this day. The "desert" of the narrative is just the barrīyeh of the Arabs, where the animals are driven out for pasture. The "green grass" of Mark 6:39 , and

1440-429: Is there, in the area of Caesarea Philippi , that he receives from Jesus the name Cephas (Aramaic Kepha ), or Peter (Greek Petros ). In Luke , Simon Peter owns the boat that Jesus uses to preach to the multitudes who were pressing on him at the shore of Lake Gennesaret . Jesus then amazes Simon and his companions James and John (Andrew is not mentioned) by telling them to lower their nets, whereupon they catch

1512-642: The Gentiles . Simon Peter applied the message of the vision on clean animals to the gentiles and follows his meeting with Cornelius the Centurion by claiming that "God shows no partiality". According to the Acts of the Apostles , Peter and John were sent from Jerusalem to Samaria . Peter/Cephas is mentioned briefly in the opening chapter of one of the Pauline epistles , Epistle to the Galatians , which mentions

SECTION 20

#1732772490392

1584-715: The Gerasenes on the other side of the sea from Galilee ( Luke 8 :26) – antipéra tês Galilaías ("over against Galilee"). In support of the single-city theory it is further argued that But: During the Fifth Crusade , the well-mounted crusader army led by King Andrew II of Hungary defeated Sultan Al-Adil I at Bethsaida on the Jordan River on 10 November 1217. Muslim forces retreated to their fortresses and towns. Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah ; died AD 64–68), also known as Peter

1656-707: The Messiah ", and then brought Simon to Jesus, who immediately named him as "Cephas". Three of the four gospels—Matthew, Mark and John—recount the story of Jesus walking on water . Matthew additionally describes Peter walking on water for a moment but beginning to sink when his faith wavers. At the beginning of the Last Supper , Jesus washed His disciples' feet. Peter initially refused to let Jesus wash his feet, but when Jesus told him: "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me", Peter replied: "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head". The washing of feet

1728-579: The University of Nebraska of Omaha, Nebraska . According to Arav, the ruin of et-Tell is said to be Bethsaida, a ruined site on the east side of the Jordan on rising ground, 2 km (1.2 mi) from the sea. This distance poses a problem, however, insofar that if it were a fishing village , it is situated far from the shore of the Sea of Galilee. In an attempt to rectify the problem, the following hypotheses have been devised: Excavations indicate that

1800-466: The "much grass" of John 6 :10, point to some place in the plain of el-Baṭeiḥah , on the rich soil of which the grass is green and plentiful, compared to the scanty herbage on the higher slopes. In 2017, archaeologists announced the discovery of a Roman bathhouse at el-Araj, which is taken as proof that the site was a polis in the Roman Empire period. The bathhouse was located in

1872-608: The 10th-century BCE, that is: Geshurite, city gate as well. The et-Tell site would have been easily the largest and strongest city to the east of the Jordan Valley during the Iron Age II era. In July 2018, a group of twenty archaeologists led by Rami Arav discovered a structure identified as a city gate. They tentatively identified the city with biblical Zer, a name used during the First Temple period . Et-Tell

1944-468: The Apostle , Simon Peter , Simeon , Simon , or Cephas , was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church . He appears repeatedly and prominently in all four New Testament gospels as well as the Acts of the Apostles . Catholic tradition accredits Peter as the first bishop of Rome ‍—‌or pope ‍—‌and also as the first bishop of Antioch . According to Christian tradition , Peter

2016-699: The Apostle Peter, his See , and his successors in book III of Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies ). In the book, Irenaeus wrote that Peter and Paul founded and organised the Church in Rome. Sources suggest that at first, the terms episcopos and presbyteros were used interchangeably, with the consensus among scholars being that by the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters, whose duties of office overlapped or were indistinguishable from one another. Protestant and secular historians generally agree that there

2088-722: The Apostles portrays Peter as the central figure within the early Christian community. All four canonical gospels recount that, during the Last Supper , Jesus foretold that Peter would deny him three times before the following cockcrow ("before the cock crows twice" in Mark's account). The three Synoptics and John describe the three denials as follows: In the Gospel of Luke is a record of Christ telling Peter: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." In

2160-466: The Apostles. The word used for "rock" ( petra ) grammatically refers to "a small detachment of the massive ledge", not to a massive boulder. Thus, Orthodox Sacred Tradition understands Jesus' words as referring to the apostolic faith. Petros had not previously been used as a name, but in the Greek-speaking world it became a popular Christian name, after the tradition of Peter's prominence in

2232-454: The Aramaic word would mean "precious stone" to designate a distinguishing person. This cannot be sufficiently proven from Aramaic, however, since the use of the Aramaic root kp as a personal name has not been proven and there are hardly any known examples of the word being used to mean "precious stone". The combined name Σίμων Πέτρος ( Símon Pétros , Simon Peter) appears 19 times in

Bethsaida Valley - Misplaced Pages Continue

2304-526: The Bedouin village of Messadiye ; the small, deserted settlement of El-Araj (Beit HaBek, "House of the Bey"); and the archaeological site ( tel ) of Et-Tell . Over time, the latter two locations have come to appear more likely. While Messadiye and El-Araj are closer to the Sea of Galilee, Et-Tell shows significant archaeological remains including fragments of fishing equipment. Archaeologists tend to agree that

2376-582: The Bible from the original Greek , his name is maintained as Cephas in nine occurrences in the New Testament , whereas in the vast majority of mentions (156 occurrences in the New Testament) he is called Πέτρος , Petros , from the Greek and Latin word for a rock or stone ( petra ) to which the masculine ending was added, rendered into English as Peter . The precise meaning of the Aramaic word

2448-511: The Christian church. Peter was considered along with James the Just and John the Apostle as the three Pillars of the Church . Legitimised by Jesus' appearance, Peter assumed leadership of the group of early followers, forming the Jerusalem ekklēsia mentioned by Paul. He was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord." According to Lüdemann, this

2520-492: The Church of Apostles was unearthed by the El-Araj excavations team during the fourth season at the site of Bethsaida-Julias / Beithabbak (El-Araj), on the north shore of Sea of Galilee near where the Jordan river enters the lake. The excavation was carried out by Prof. Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College and Prof. R. Steven Notley of Nyack College . This Byzantine period church is believed by some to have been built over

2592-600: The Easter event, Peter became an exemplar of the forgiven sinner. Outside the Catholic Church, opinions vary as to the interpretation of this passage with respect to what authority and responsibility, if any, Jesus was giving to Peter. In the Eastern Orthodox Church this passage is interpreted as not implying a special prominence to the person of Peter, but to Peter's position as representative of

2664-600: The Fisherman' or 'House of the Hunter';, from the Hebrew root צ-י-ד ; Arabic : بيت صيدا , romanized :  Bayt Ṣaydā ), also known as Julias or Julia (Ancient Greek: Ἰουλία , romanized:  Ioulía ), is a place mentioned in the New Testament . Julias lay in an administrative district known as Gaulonitis . Historians have suggested that the name is also referenced in rabbinic literature under

2736-540: The Gospel of John, Peter, in one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, three times affirmed his love for Jesus , balancing his threefold denial, and Jesus reconfirmed Peter's position. The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on the Sea of Galilee is seen as the traditional site where Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and, according to Catholic tradition, established Peter's supreme jurisdiction over

2808-654: The Greek city before his journey to Rome. Claims of direct blood lineage from Simon Peter among the old population of Antioch existed in the 1st century and continue to exist today, notably by certain Semaan families of modern-day Syria and Lebanon. Historians have furnished other evidence of Peter's sojourn in Antioch. The Clementine literature , a group of related works written in the fourth century but believed to contain materials from earlier centuries, relates information about Peter that may come from earlier traditions. One

2880-511: The Just was bishop of Jerusalem whilst Peter was bishop of Rome and that this position at times gave James privilege in some (but not all) situations. In a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples ( Matthew 16:13–19 ), Jesus asks, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" The disciples give various answers. When he asks, "Who do you say that I am?", Simon Peter answers, "You are the Messiah,

2952-410: The Messiah. Peter is often depicted in the gospels as spokesman of all the Apostles. John Vidmar , a Catholic scholar, writes: "Catholic scholars agree that Peter had an authority that superseded that of the other apostles. Peter is their spokesman at several events, he conducts the election of Matthias, his opinion in the debate over converting Gentiles was crucial, etc." The author of the Acts of

Bethsaida Valley - Misplaced Pages Continue

3024-519: The New Testament. In some Syriac documents he is called, in English translation, Simon Cephas. The sources used to reconstruct the life of Peter can be divided in three groups: In the New Testament, he is among the first of the disciples called during Jesus' ministry. Peter became the first listed apostle ordained by Jesus in the early Church. Peter was a Jewish fisherman in Bethsaida . He

3096-585: The Petrine authorship of both . Nevertheless, Evangelicals and Catholics have always affirmed Peter's authorship, and recently, evangelical scholars have revived the claim of Petrine authorship of these epistles . Based on contemporary historical data, Peter's papacy is estimated to have spanned from AD 30 to his death, which would make him the longest-reigning pope , at anywhere from 34 to 38 years; however, this has never been verified. Saint Irenaeus ( c.  130  – c.  202 AD ) explains

3168-519: The Roman authorities but he did not specify any date or location. Another opinion states that Peter's wife was no longer alive at the time he met Jesus, so he was a widower. The Gospels and Acts portray Peter as the most prominent apostle, though he denied Jesus three times during the events of the crucifixion. According to the Christian tradition, Peter was the first disciple to whom Jesus appeared, balancing Peter's denial and restoring his position. Peter

3240-553: The Son of the living God." Jesus then declares: Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Cephas (Peter) ( Petros ), and on this rock ( petra ) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. A common view of Peter

3312-438: The ascension of our Saviour, as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but chose James the Just bishop of Jerusalem. Dunn proposes that Peter was a "bridge-man" between the opposing views of Paul and James the Just [italics original]: For Peter was probably in fact and effect the bridge-man (pontifex maximus!) who did more than any other to hold together the diversity of first-century Christianity . James

3384-514: The brother of Jesus and Paul, the two other most prominent leading figures in first-century Christianity, were too much identified with their respective "brands" of Christianity, at least in the eyes of Christians at the opposite ends of this particular spectrum. Paul affirms that Peter had the special charge of being apostle to the Jews, just as he, Paul, was apostle to the Gentiles. Some argue James

3456-502: The capital of the kingdom of Geshur was situated at et-Tell, a place also inhabited on a lesser scale during the first centuries BCE and CE and sometimes identified with the town of Bethsaida of New Testament fame. The first excavations of the site were conducted in 1987–1989, by the Golan Research Institute. In 2008–2010, and in 2014, archaeological excavations of the site were conducted by Rami Arav on behalf of

3528-537: The conservative line regarding the conversion of Gentiles, having meals separate from Gentiles. Subsequent tradition held that Peter had been the first Patriarch of Antioch . According to the writings of Origen and Eusebius in his Church History (III, 36) Peter had founded the church of Antioch. Later accounts expand on the brief biblical mention of his visit to Antioch . The Liber Pontificalis (9th century) mentions Peter as having served as bishop of Antioch for seven years, and having potentially left his family in

3600-625: The early Bronze Age . From the Second Temple period through the Byzantine period it was densely populated. 32°53′04″N 35°38′17″E  /  32.8845°N 35.6381°E  / 32.8845; 35.6381 Bethsaida Bethsaida ( / b ɛ θ ˈ s eɪ . ɪ d ə / beth- SAY -id-ə ; from Ancient Greek : Βηθσαϊδά , romanized :  Bēthsaïdá ; from Aramaic and Hebrew : בֵּית צַידָה , romanized :  Bēṯ Ṣaiḏā , lit.   ' House of

3672-533: The early Christian church had been established. The leadership of Peter forms the basis of the Apostolic succession and the institutional power of orthodoxy, as the heirs of Peter, and is described as "the rock" on which the church will be built. Catholics refer to him as chief of the Apostles, as do the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox . In Coptic Orthodox Church liturgy, he

SECTION 50

#1732772490392

3744-492: The eastern side of the Sea of Galilee . The historian Josephus says that the town of Bethsaida (at that time called Julia), was situated 120 stadia from the lake Semechonitis , not far from the Jordan River as it passes into the middle of the Sea of Galilee. De Situ Terrae Sanctae , a 6th-century account written by Theodosius the archdeacon describes Bethsaida's location in relation to Capernaum , saying that it

3816-492: The epithet Ṣaidan (Hebrew: צַידָן ). According to John 1:44 , Bethsaida was the hometown of the apostles Peter , Andrew , and Philip . In the Gospel of Mark ( Mark 8:22–26 ), Jesus reportedly restored a blind man's sight at a place just outside the ancient village of Bethsaida. In Luke 9:10–11 , Jesus miraculously feeds five thousand near Bethsaida. Pliny the Elder , in his Natural History , places Bethsaida on

3888-502: The house of the apostle brothers, Peter and Andrew. Only the southern rooms of the church were excavated. A well-protected ornamental mosaic floor, gilded glass tesserae, and a marble chancel decorated with a wreath have been found in some of the excavated rooms. According to Professor Notley: We have a Roman village, in the village we have pottery, coins, also stone vessels , which are typical of first-century Jewish life, so now we strengthen our suggestion and identification that El-Araj

3960-543: The lake, including most of the level coastland on the east. Thus Gamala , on the eastern shore, was within the jurisdiction of Josephus , who commanded in Galilee. Judas of Gamala is also called Judas of Galilee . If Gamala, far up the slope towering over the eastern shore of the sea, were in Galilee, a fortiori Bethsaida, a town which lay on the very edge of the Jordan, may be described as in Galilee. Josephus makes it plain that Gamala, while added to his jurisdiction,

4032-479: The leading candidate for first century Bethsaida." El-Mesydiah, also spelled el-Mes‛adīyeh is a third, but generally considered least likely possibility. It is located on the present shoreline, but preliminary excavations, including the use of ground penetrating radar, initially revealed only a small number of ruins dating from before the Byzantine period . Some were inclined to favor el-Mes‛adīyeh which stands on an artificial mound about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) from

4104-484: The mouth of the River Jordan. However, the name is in origin radically different from Bethsaida. The substitution of sīn for ṣād is easy, but the insertion of the guttural ‛ain is impossible. Many scholars maintain that all the New Testament references to Bethsaida apply to one place, namely, Bethsaida Julias. The arguments for and against this view may be summarized as follows. Galilee ran right round

4176-477: The servant's ear is the last of the 37 miracles attributed to Jesus in the Bible. Simon Peter was twice arraigned , with John, before the Sanhedrin and directly defied them. Peter takes a missionary journey to Lydda , Joppa and Caesarea . At Joppa, Peter had a vision given him from God which allowed for the eating of previously unclean animals, leading the early believers to the decision to evangelise

4248-603: The settlement was founded in the 10th century BCE, in the biblical period. Et-Tell was inhabited during both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age . The fortified town there is associated by researchers with the biblical kingdom of Geshur . Imposing archaeological finds, mainly the Stratum V city gate, date to the post-Geshurite 8th century BCE, but there are indications, as of 2016, that the archaeologists are close to locating

4320-400: The sons of Zebedee , James and John . The Gospel of John also depicts Peter fishing, even after the resurrection of Jesus, in the story of the Catch of 153 fish . In Matthew and Mark, Jesus called Simon and his brother Andrew to be " fishers of men ". In the Confession of Peter he proclaims Jesus to be the Christ ( Jewish Messiah ), as described in the three synoptic gospels. It

4392-534: The time of Alexander Jannaeus , King of the Hasmonean dynasty (reigned c. 103–76 BCE), and one coin from the time of Philip the Tetrarch (a son of Herod the Great ), ruler of the Bashan (reigned 4 BCE – 34 CE), were discovered at the site. Philip the Tetrarch applied the name "Julias" ( Greek : Ἰουλιάδα ) to the site, which he named after Caesar's daughter. Location: 32°53′36″N 35°37′09″E  /  32.893322°N 35.619139°E  / 32.893322; 35.619139 According to Josephus , around

SECTION 60

#1732772490392

4464-452: The valley is Buq'at al-Butayhah , also spelled Bik'at Beteiha , or el-Batikha . The Jordan River and the streams coming down from the Central Golan create a landscape of swamps and open water surfaces, variously called deltas , estuaries or lagoons . The following five rivers or streams flow through the valley (west to east): Jordan , whose upper course ends here, at the northern edge; then Meshushim (Wadi el-Hawa in Arabic; collects

4536-410: The waters of Zavitan, and the Yehudiya River, merge shortly before reaching the lake and form the Zaki estuary, while Daliyot River creates the Majrase or Majrassa estuary, also known as the Daliyot River estuary . The Majrase is the largest freshwater nature reserve controlled by Israel. Multiple archaeological sites, including dolmens , suggest that it was settled by farmers and fishermen since

4608-485: The waters of the Katzrin and Zavitan streams), Yehudiya (with Batra as a tributary), Daliyot , and Sfamnun /Sfamnon ( Hebrew : נחל שפמנון Nahal Sfamnon). The wetlands are protected as part of the Majrase – Betiha (Bethsaida Valley) Nature Reserve  [ he ] . The reserve covers 6.930 dunams, some of it agricultural land, and represents a sequence of habitats (river, marshland , lagoon, and lake habitat). The Meshushim River, which has already received

4680-423: The year 30/31 CE (or 32/33 CE) Philip raised the village of Bethsaida in Lower Gaulanitis to the rank of a polis and renamed it "Julias", in honor of Livia , also called Julia Augusta, the wife of Augustus . It lay near the place where the Jordan enters the Sea of Galilee . Julias/Bethsaida was a city east of the Jordan River , in a "desert place" (that is, uncultivated ground used for grazing ), if this

4752-407: Was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero . The ancient Christian churches all venerate Peter as a major saint and the founder of the Church of Antioch and the Church of Rome , but they differ in their attitudes regarding the authority of his successors . According to Catholic teaching , Jesus promised Peter a special position in the Church. In the New Testament , the name "Simon Peter"

4824-438: Was 6 mi (9.7 km) distant from Capernaum. The distance between Bethsaida and Paneas is said to have been 50 mi (80 km). Although Bethsaida is believed to be located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, within the Bethsaida Valley , there is disagreement among scholars as to precisely where. Since the nineteenth century, three places have been considered as the possible location of Biblical Betsaida:

4896-553: Was due to the discussions about the strictness of adherence to the Jewish Law, when the more conservative faction of James the Just took the overhand over the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence. According to Methodist historian James D. G. Dunn , this was not a "usurpation of power", but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities. The early Church historian Eusebius (c. AD 325) records Clement of Alexandria (c. AD 190) as saying: For they say that Peter and James (the Greater) and John after

4968-468: Was inhabited on a lesser scale during the first centuries BCE and CE than in the Bronze Age and Iron Ages. Archaeological excavations at site have revealed fishing gear , including lead weights used for fishing nets , as well as sewing needles for repairing fishing nets. The findings indicate that most of the city's economy was based on fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Two silver coins dating to 143 BCE, as well as Slavonic bronze coins, bronze coins from

5040-402: Was named Simon, the son of a man named Jonah or John. The three synoptic gospels recount how Peter's mother-in-law was healed by Jesus at their home in Capernaum ; these passages depict Peter as being married or widowed. 1 Corinthians 9:5 has also been taken to imply that he was married. In the synoptic gospels, Peter (then Simon) was a fisherman along with his brother, Andrew , and

5112-409: Was not in Galilee, but in Gaulanitis . Even if Judas were born in Gamala, and so might properly be called a Gaulanite, he may, like others, have come to be known as belonging to the province in which his active life was spent. "Jesus of Nazareth " for instance was born in Bethlehem in Judaea . Josephus also explicitly says that Bethsaida was in Lower Gaulanitis . Further, Luke places the country of

5184-607: Was probably "no single 'monarchical' bishop in Rome before the middle of the 2nd century...and likely later." Outside of the New Testament, several apocryphal books were later attributed to him, in particular the Acts of Peter , Gospel of Peter , Preaching of Peter , Apocalypse of Peter , and Judgment of Peter , although scholars believe these works to be pseudepigrapha . The New Testament presents Peter's original name as Simon ( / ˈ s aɪ m ə n / ; Σίμων , Simōn in Greek ). In only two passages, his name

#391608