The
Church of the Primacy of Peter is a Franciscan chapel that incorporates part of
a 4th-century church. It is located at Tabgha on the northwest shore of the Sea
of Galilee and commemorates Jesus' reinstatement of Peter after a fish
breakfast on the shore. (John 21)
The
chapel is small and made of grey stone, with a modest tower in one corner. At the base of the chapel's walls on the west
end, the walls of the late 4th-century church are clearly visible on three
sides.
On
the lake side of the church are the rock-cut steps mentioned by Egeria as the
place "where the Lord stood." (John 21:4).
It is not known when they were
carved, but it may have been in the 2nd or 3rd century when this area was quarried for
limestone.
Just
beside the church is a small Crusader building. Also nearby are Byzantine water
towers that were designed to raise the water level of the powerful springs so
that they flowed into a series of irrigation canals and mill-streams.
History
Around
381 AD, the Spanish pilgrim Egeria visited the area and reported that next to
the Church of the Loaves and Fishes "are some stone steps where the Lord
stood" (John 21:4). Egeria does not
mention a church here, but one was built on the site by the end of the 4th
century. It was roughly the same size and shape as the original Church of the Multiplication
of the Loaves and Fishes and its east end enclosed a flat rock identified as
the table on which Jesus offered breakfast to the disciples (John 21:9).
In
the 9th century, the church is referred to as the Place of the Coals. This name refers to the incident of Jesus'
preparation of meal for the apostles, building a charcoal fire on which to cook
the fish. (John21:9)
