Explore Israel St. Peter in Gallicantu with Malcolm Cartier

The Church of St Peter in Gallicantu (St Peter of the Cock Crowing), The House of Caiaphas, is snuggled into the hillside of Mount Zion. Overlooking the City of David that rises northwards to the Golden Dome sitting on the Temple Mount, below is the Western Wall and road to the Antonia Fortress. Beyond the Temple Pinnacle is the Mount of Olives which slopes down to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Kidron Valley.

Mark 14: 72: “And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou
shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept”.

The Church of St Peter in Gallicantu – Beneath the upper church is a chapel which incorporates stone from ancient grottos inside its walls. Down a hole in the center of the sanctuary one can see caves that may have been part of the Byzantine shrine. These walls are engraved with crosses left by fifth-century Christians. On an even lower level there is a succession of caves from the Second Temple period. Since tradition places the palace of Caiaphas on this site, many believe that Jesus may have been imprisoned in one of these underground crypts after his arrest.. On the north side of the church is an ancient staircase that leads down towards the Kidron Valley. This may have been a passage from the upper city to the lower city during the first temple period. Many Christians believe that Jesus followed this path down to Gethsemane the night of his arrest.

St. Peter In Gallicantu – In Gethsemane Judas Iscariot identified Jesus with a kiss, arrested and taken first to Annas, then to Caiaphas. In the House of Caiaphas, he was scourged and possibly imprisoned here overnight before taken to Calvary.