15904 - CAPERNAUM - House of St. Peter Domus Ecclesiae

Josephus Flavius mentioned that Capernaum hadn't participated in the Jewish War, but accepted him after he was wounded in the battle near the Jordan River (Life, 403). By mistake, he also related to the springs of Heptapegon as the springs of Capernaum (War III, 520). The city was mentioned in all four gospels (Matthew 4:13, 8:5, 11:23, 17:24, Mark 1:21, 2:1, 9:33, Luke 4:23, 31,7:1, 10:15, John 2:12, 4:46, 6:17, 24, 59). It was described there as the homeland of the tax collector Matthew, apostles Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. Jesus preached there in the synagogue and healed a man with an evil spirit (Luke 4:31–36; Mark 1:21–28). He healed also Simon Peter's mother-in-law (Luke 4:38–39), the servant of a Roman centurion (Luke 7:1–10; Matthew 8:5) and the paralytic lowered through the dismantled roof of the house (Mark 2:1–12; Luke 5:17–26). The mentioning of the Kfar Nahum (כְּפַר נַחוּם) was recorded in midrash Qohelet Rabbah (Eccl. R 1:8, 4 (p. 4b), dated to the 8th-9th centuries CE. The title of this site was connected with the Prophet Nahum, who was buried here (according to the tradition). So, one of the possible interpretations of the site name is "village of Nahum". But in the commentaries of Origen on gospel from John (Orig. In Ioan. comm. // Origenis Opera omnia / Ed. C. V. de La Rue, C. H. E. Lommatzsch. B., 1831. Bd. 1. S. 288) the other interpretation was proposed: ἀγρὸς παρακλήσεως - «field (village) of solace». Hieronimus repeats this meaning (ager vel villa consolationis (Latin); Hieron. De nom. hebr. // PL. 23. Col. 843-844 (Lucae)). Both based their interpretations on the Hebrew verb נחם (trans from Hebrew: "to solace"). The latter Jewish tradition identified the Tel Hum with the place, where not only Prophet Nahum, but also rabbi Tanhum were buried (Itinéraires de la Terre-Sainte des XIII-XVII siècles / Trad. de l'hébreu E. Carmoly. Brux., 1847. P. 385, 448). The earliest mention of the Holy Compound, venerated as the House of St. Peter, was featured by Egeria (visited Holy Land between 361-4 CE). Egeria described the "Sacred Compound" and the synagogue both: “… in Capernaum the house of the prince of the apostles has been made into a church, with its original walls still standing. It is where the Lord healed the paralytic. There also is the synagogue where the Lord cured a man possessed by the devil. The way in is up many stairs, and it is made of dressed stones”.40» (Petr. Diac. De loc. sanct. 194). The anonymous pilgrim from Piacenza (visited the Holy Land in the 6th century CE) mentioned only the church: “Also we came to Capernaum, and went into the house of Blessed Peter, which is now a basilica” (The Piacenza Pilgrim, Itinerarium 7 (v.163); trans. Wilkinson 1977: 81; cit. after Talgam, Arubas 2014: 245, 271). This pilgrim erroneously called the octagonal church "basilica" (probably, he could mean the original sense of the word -- "House of the King", not the architectural meaning). Later the pilgrim Arculf (visited the Holy Land ca. 670 or 685 CE) described Capernaum as the village without the defensive walls (Adamn. De locis sanctis. II 23). According to Epiphanius of Salamis, the Capernaum till the end of the 4th century CE was inhabited only with the Jews, which were intolerant to the Samaritans, Pagans and Christians (Epiph. Adv. haer. [Panarion]. XXX 11. 10). But in Qohelet Rabba there is a mention of the certain group of minim in connection to the case with Hanina (probably, minim were Christians, or Jewish-Christians, but they were described as magicians), which appeared in the city in the 2nd century already (Eccl. R 1:8, 4 (p. 4b). Rabbi Issi from Caesarea (end of the 3rd century CE) cursed the dwellers of Capernaum, probably, because they were Jews, converted to the Christianity (they were called "apostates; Eccl. R 7: 26).