Brought to the House of the High Priest, Caiaphas, Jesus stood before members of the Jewish high court. Here Mark 14:61-62 records, “Again the high priest asked him, …Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power, and coming in clouds of heaven”. It was enough for them to cry blasphemy and imprison Him overnight. As this occurred Peter was identified, but three times he denied being one of Jesus’ followers.
The present church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (cock-crow) was raised in an area full of remains of early Jerusalem. Some hold it to be the site of the earliest church by this name that stood over the palace of Caiaphas. However, as the Franciscan scholar, F. E. Hoade points out, “this thesis has not yet gained the vote of archaeologists”. Many of them see this as the side of a Byzantine church raised over the grotto where Peter wept in grief, called from the 12th century St. Peter in Gallicantu.
In either case the modern building recalls Peter’s denial in mosaics on both the inside and outside of the church – and excavations carried out beneath uncovered a series of chambers, and weights and measures used to check the merchants of the Temple, adding further insight into life at that time.
Close to the Zion Gate is the Armenian Church of Caiaphas. Here, archaeologists found dwellings from the Second Temple period, and remains of a Byzantine church and Crusader where the Armenian patriarchs are buried.
And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thy shalt deny me thrice, And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. Luke 22:60-62
This page is part of the book The Holy Land of Jesus
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