A breathtaking view of one of the places most loved by Jesus: the Sea of Galilee, on whose shores the apostles have witnessed various miracles. Like the prodigious multiplication of loaves and fish. A new memory, sculpted on a multicoloured mosaic still to be investigated, has come to light right here. Right among these evocative ruins of the ancient Hippos, a pagan city in the territory of the Decapolis at the time of Jesus, which saw new prosperity in the Byzantine era so that it became the episcopal seat. Until the earthquake that destroyed it in 749. Seven churches emerged from the excavations, which began in the middle of the last century: this summer there was the surprising discovery of a mosaic floor, perfectly preserved, where different varieties of fish and twelve baskets of bread are represented in the so-called "burnt church". MICHAEL EISENBERG Co-director of Hippos-Sussita excavations "All the roof of the Church was entirely burned, collapsed, and the ashes spread around, completely covering the mosaic and protecting it. It is the best-preserved one of the site. There are wonderful geometric decorations, birds, fruit, vegetables, fish and twelve baskets of bread...like those that the Gospel says to be advanced after the miracle of multiplication. It is obvious that the first question I asked myself is: is it a coincidence, something symbolic or intentional?" Michael Eisenberg, an archaeologist involved in various excavation campaigns in Hippos, does not speak of clues which might question the place of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish, which tradition indicates in Tabgha, a town on the other side of Lake Tiberias, near Capernaum. Br EUGENIO ALLIATA, ofm Archaeologist Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Jerusalem "The Gospel tells of two multiplications of loaves and fish that the Lord made, or rather two divisions of bread and fish to the multitude. One of these is traditionally placed on the galilaic bank, another on the opposite bank because one of these is followed by a crossing of the lake by the disciples and Jesus. Tradition places the first multiplication, the one on the Galilean shore, in Tabgha, near other memories: that of the miraculous fishing, the primacy of Peter...they are placed with very close to each other, so this place has a more continuous tradition. However, the exact places where this or that episode took place is a problem, it is hard to tell with certainty. Anyway, there is no particular reason to change the place of the first multiplication of loaves and fish. On the second, instead, one cannot express a particular judgment, because the tradition is not so strong." Read More