Oct 06, 2017: The Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish, (The Church of the Multiplication), is a Roman Catholic church located at Tabgha, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. The modern church rests on the site of two earlier churches
The present church is maintained and overseen by the Benedictine Order.
History:
4th-century church:
The earliest recording of a church commemorating Jesus' feeding of the five thousand is by the Spanish pilgrim Egeria circa AD 380.
"Not far away from there (Capernaum) are some stone steps where the Lord stood. And in the same place by the sea is a grassy field with plenty of hay and many palm trees. By them are seven springs, each flowing strongly. And this is the field where the Lord fed the people with the five loaves and two fishes. In fact the stone on which the Lord placed the bread has now been made into an altar. Past the walls of this church goes the public highway on which the Apostle Matthew had his place of custom. Near there on a mountain is a cave to which the Savior climbed and spoke the Beatitudes."
5th-century church:
The church was significantly enlarged around the year 480, with floor mosaics also added at this time. These renovations are attributed to the Patriarch Martyrius of Jerusalem. In AD 614 Persians destroyed the Byzantine church.
19th-20th-century rediscovery:
After the AD 614 destruction, the exact site of the shrine was lost for some 1,300 years. In 1888 the site was acquired by the German Catholic Society for Palestine (Palästina-Verein der Katholiken Deutschlands) which was associated with the Archdiocese of Cologne. An initial archaeological survey was conducted in 1892, with full excavations beginning in 1932. These excavations resulted in the discovery of mosaic floors from the 5th-century church, which was also found to be built on the foundations of a much smaller 4th-century chapel.
20th-century church:
Since 1939 the property has been administered by the Benedictine order as a daughter-house of the Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. The Germans have at first erected a provisional protective structure over the holy rock and the Byzantines mosaics. The current church, inaugurated in 1984, was built to the same floor plan as the 5th-century Byzantine church. The windows are fitted with alabaster panels.
Arson attack:
Photo showing the Church of the Multiplication after an arson attack on the adjacent library building.
A glimpse at the Church of the Multiplication through the burnt roof of an auxiliary building. While the adjacent office and storage building was burnt down to its walls, the church itself did not suffer damage.
On 17 June 2015, an auxiliary building next to the church was significantly damaged by an arson attack committed by Jewish extremists. Hebrew graffiti, with the words "false idols will be smashed", was sprayed on the walls of the adjacent dormitory. This incident follows a series of arson and graffiti attacks by Jewish extremists against Christian sites. Israeli officials have labeled the attack as "terrorism". “Whatever repairs are not covered by insurance must be paid for by the Israeli government,” said Wadie Abunassar, media spokesman for the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land. “We believe this attack was tantamount to a terror attack, and when there is a terror attack the state is responsible for paying for compensation and prosecutes the perpetrators.”
In late July 2015, four Israeli Jews age 18 to 24 and an unnamed minor were arrested by the Israel police and indicted for the arson. The suspects are reportedly associated with the Jewish extremist, ultra-nationalist "Hilltop Youth".
The media coverage at the time of the arson largely distorted the fact that the magnificent church building had been, in fact, unharmed. In February 2017, new media reports suggested that the church itself had been closed for nearly two years as a result for the arson attack, whereas the church was opened throughout the time.
