Sunday, July 29, 2018

Apostolic reliquary found in Bethsaida?

ARTIFACT: Archaeological Discovery: Huge Block Once Containing the Remains of Peter, Philip and Andrew Found? (Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post).
A reliquary that once could have held the remains of the apostles Philip, Andrew and Peter, has been discovered in the ruins of what may be the ancient Israeli city of Bethsaida, a top archaeologist has said.

Professor Mordechai Aviam of the Kinneret Academic College revealed that a 661-pound basalt block, with three smooth compartments on top, was found in the biblical town, also known as el-Araj, according to Haaretz.

"We suggest, cautiously, that this could be the reliquary of Peter, Philip and Andrew. This could have been the reliquary of the Church of the Apostle," he said.

[...]
Maybe, although it requires a chain of inferences to get us from the stone box, which is a real thing, to its use to hold remains of apostles. For starters, the identification of el-Araj as Bethsaida is debated. The alternative site is et-Tell. More on that debate here and links.

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