♪ (music) ♪ (thunder and rain) (Rhoda) <i>To all reverend
and most beloved in Christ,</i> <i>I, unworthy child of the Saxon race,</i> <i>who am in comparison
with those my countrymen</i> <i>not only in years but in virtue also</i> <i>only a poor little creature,</i> <i>I have made up my mind to address you
religious and catholic men</i> <i>a few words on the beginning
of the early life</i> <i>of the venerable man Willibald.</i> In the year 725 A.D., a young Bavarian bishop named Willibald makes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Over here. <i>During this pilgrimage,
he visits most if not all of the sites</i> <i>that have to do
with Jesus and the Gospels.</i> <i>Now, think about it.</i> If only he took the time
to write down what he saw, keep kind of a travel journal, and if we had that journal today, we would be able to read
about sites that no longer exist, that have been destroyed
long since the 8th century. Unfortunately,
he did not keep such a record. But, luckily for us, right before he died, someone interviewed him
and wrote down what he saw. (Rhoda) <i>If I may say so, it seemed to me
to be shameful that a human tongue</i> <i>should keep all these things
in the obstinacy of a dumb silence</i> <i>with sealed lips.</i> <i>So we listened</i> <i>and determined to write
from the dictation of his own mouth</i> <i>two deacons being present
and listening with me</i> <i>on the 9th day before the kalends of July,</i> <i>the day before the solstice.</i> This is the work of a young English nun
named Roswida, who took the initiative to write down
the itinerary of Willibald's pilgrimage in the 8th century. And here's where it gets
really interesting. According to this document,
Willibald travels to the lake of Galilee and visits the regular touristic places, like Tiberias, Magdala, Capernaum, and then comes to Bethsaida. And in Bethsaida he visits a church that he says was built on top
of the house of apostles Peter and Andrew. And this is what we call today
the Church of the Apostles. And here's the big problem: Willibald's account is
the only known written record where this church
had been explicitly mentioned. Perhaps, shortly after his visit,
it was destroyed. Sunk in the Galilean Sea. Or some have even suggested
that this church never existed. Maybe Willibald was confused, maybe the nun who wrote it down
made a mistake. Whatever the reason is, we know that the Church of the Apostles
has vanished. It was lost for generations, until today. ♪ (music) ♪ ♪ (music continues) ♪ (Sergio) Alright. (Rhoda) Look at that,
I think they are having a break. (Sergio) Let's go. ♪ (music) ♪ (Sergio) That's incredible!
Look how much they excavated! Wow! ♪ (music) ♪ ♪ (music continues) ♪ (indistinct chatter) Hey! Good to see you. - Hey! Hi! How are you?
- Nice to see you again. (Rhoda) This is incredible. It is awesome. Since last time we were here, the amount of digging they've done
and how deep they went down to the layers and the years. It is remarkable. I believe this is gonna be a big site. Good to see you. I would do
the Middle Eastern kiss, but it's... (they laugh) ♪ (music) ♪ Gold. ♪ (music) ♪ So [Motey] and I are in dispute, because he thinks this might be
the screen of the gallery of the church. We've actually been
to this place before, one year ago, and we filmed an episode
about this place being the real Bethsaida. <i>In comparison to the previously thought
location to be Bethsaida,</i> <i>which is like 82 km away from this one,
away from the shore,</i> <i>and back then that was
one of the main reasons</i> <i>why this place would be a much better
candidate for being Bethsaida.</i> <i>Bethsaida was a fishing village,</i> <i>this one is closer to the shore,</i> <i>this must've been it.</i> <i>But since we filmed one year ago,</i> <i>the archaeological team
dug out a ton of new evidence</i> <i>supporting this to be
the real location of Bethsaida.</i> (Sergio) They think they found
something huge in there. You could feel the vibration
from the handle that there's some big metal piece
in there. <i>And you can watch
our previous Bethsaida episode</i> <i>to learn more about it.</i> So why are we filming
another episode here? Well, because on top of confirming
that this is the real Bethsaida, they found here
the lost Church of the Apostles. This is the very church that Willibald
traveled to in the 8th century. (man) We think that this is
inside of the church. There is a traditional church built
on the house of Peter and Andrew. (Sergio) Aha. (man) Most people thought
the church didn't exist. We talked to various scholars,
they said, "oh, no, they were mistaken." The church that they are talking about
was over in Capernaum. But it says Bethsaida's.
Ah, they were mistaken. Now, we know who was mistaken. Many people have claimed
that this church did not exist. And yet, here we are, standing here today,
looking at its mosaic floor, touching the artifacts
that are found from this church. Once again, the written record
of the ancient past has been proven right. (man) This is a really nice piece here. (Rhoda) Marble? (man) Yes, this is
from the chancel screen, and separated the congregation
from the area of the altar. - Ah, it's...
- Yeah, yeah. (man) Here is a roof roller,
portion of a roof roller that was found there. These are for the resealing of the roofs. (Rhoda) Oh, yeah! (man) Yeah, they rolled them
and put mud on them and plaster. - (Rhoda) Just little pieces.
- (man) And little pieces. One was very interesting
'cause it had a... it was a piece that had
a very nice cross on it. (Sergio) What was it? Is it a...? (man) It's a Byzantine vessel, and it had a very nice
Byzantine cross inset into it. (Sergio) <i>Today is actually
the last day of the excavations</i> <i>this season.</i> All the artifacts they found
the past few months have been already taken away
for preservation, analysis, restoration. <i>What we see here today is just
what they found in the past few days</i> <i>and also in front of our eyes.</i> Yet all of this evidence is pointing
that this is the real site of Bethsaida and this is the Church of the Apostles. Everything we are finding is... everyday, the argument
gets stronger and stronger. You know, we are preparing,
we are coming to the point where you say there's no question now. The question mark is finished,
we're on the site of Bethsaida truly. (Sergio) <i>When we were here last time,
they only excavated a few squares.</i> <i>At that time, the size of the village
was not yet known.</i> <i>But today, they've extended the excavation
by a hundred meters.</i> (Sergio) It looks to me it's a huge site, I mean there's, it's all the way there,
this expanded so much. (man) That's the other part of it is that
we opened up what we call Area C, a hundred meters away, so to the North. And immediately
we are on the Roman level. (Sergio) <i>Last year when we were here,</i> <i>we thought it was just
a couple of buildings,</i> <i>a small ancient bathhouse.
That's about it.</i> But seeing how far
they've extended the dig today, it is mind-blowing. The coins, all the pottery,
everything coming out of here points to Roman period. More than that, this is where
they found the Herodian lamps that are distinctive
to made in Jerusalem pre-70, together with Jewish
soft limestone vessels, which is part of the developing concern
in the Second Temple period for ritual purity, so you have these stone vessels, those are distinctive markers
for a Jewish settlement. So what are stone vessels? They are food vessels made out of stone. Unlike clay and pottery that is used
all over the world at that time, the Jews used stone. Why? Because they figured
it can't get defiled, right? And then they don't have to break it
like with a clay. Right. It's actually a fascinating study, and we have an episode about it
with Dr. Adler, who excavated
the stone quarry in Nazareth. (Rhoda) So check it out. (Sergio) <i>So this site is located
inside a National Park</i> <i>at the shore of the Lake of Galilee</i> <i>at the mouth of the Jordan River.</i> <i>It is very exciting to think
about the future of this place.</i> <i>This can become
an incredible tourist site in Galilee.</i> (man) These are gilded in gold and that tells us
that it wasn't on the floor but it belonged to a magnificent mosaic, full mosaic on a wall. These only belong
to beautifully ornamented churches. So it's further evidence that we have
a church waiting for us under the ground. ♪ (music) ♪ The excavations here have only began, because at the end of the season <i>the team perform
electromagnetic ground scans.</i> <i>The scans show
that there are numerous structures</i> <i>under the surface in between the two areas
that they've already excavated.</i> That is 300 feet of still
unexplored streets, buildings and maybe some other surprises, all to be revealed in the future digs. (Rhoda) <i>Here I am but a woman,</i> <i>tainted with the frailty of my gender,</i> <i>with no pretensions to wisdom
or cleverness to support me</i> <i>but prompted solely
by the violence of my own will,</i> <i>like a little ignorant child
plucking a few flowers here and there </i> <i>from numerous branches
rich in foliage and in fruit.</i> <i>So I pluck twigs from the lowest branches</i> <i>with what small skill I possess,</i> <i>and offer these few things
to serve you as a memorial.</i> It is incredible to think
about the bravery of one man who took a dangerous journey and the will of one woman, who despite not being held
in high esteem by her peers, she considered it an honor
to write these things down, a loving offering to us
and a joyful praise to God. (Rhoda) <i>All these things on
the white surface of the fields of paper</i> <i>I have ploughed with my pen,</i> <i>and left furrowed tracks
written in black ink,</i> <i>which are now offered
to your loving knowledge.</i> <i>Against all the censures of the envious </i> <i>God's grace and yours will be
the shield of our protection,</i> <i>and yet we calmly commend them
to your acceptance,</i> <i>so that in all things
we may joyfully praise our Lord,</i> <i>our deliverer
and the giver of all good gifts.</i> ♪ (music) ♪ This is it for today! We hope you enjoyed
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