Holy Land – Church of the Multiplication of fish and loaves.

The shores of Galilee play host to a number of events in the life of Jesus ministry. On these same shore stands the village of Tabgha. The town is on the north western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Tabgha is a corruption of the Greek name, Heptagon, which refers to the seven springs which flow into the Kinneret or Kinnereth (another name for Lake Galilee). The place is 200 meters below sea level and in summer is very hot and humid. Even winters are rarely cold even when it rains.

Whether Tabgha was actually the location of the miracle is not known for sure but tradition holds this place as the location for the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish described in the Gospel of Mark 6:30-44. The Gospel account of the loaves and fishes does not specify where it took place; only that it was in a “remote place” (6:32, 35) on the shores of Galilee.

courtyard of the Church

The Spanish pilgrim Egeria (the nun) visited this church in the 380 AD and wrote that people would break off pieces of the stone on which Jesus served the meal and they would use the stone as a talisman. She noted that there was a small chapel or shrine which was significantly enlarged around the year 480 AD.  The foundations of this chapel have only been partially uncovered. An inscription attributes its building to the patriarch Matryrios (478-86) which included the addition of the splendid floor mosaic

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