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Home , Church of the Beatitudes, Mount of Beatitudes, Tabgha

Mount of in

Introduction Located on a small hill overlooking the Sea of near Tabgha, the is the traditional site of ' delivery of the on the Mount, probably the most famous sermon of all time. Pilgrims have been drawn to this scenic place since at least the 4th century. In the Bible "Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a

mountainside and sat down. His disciples came There is a nice church on the Mount of Beatitudes, to him, and he began to teach them, saying: but here it is all about the view. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the The church's peaceful gardens overlook the landscape in which Jesus conducted most of his Galilean ministry kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who

mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Mt 5:1‐5) Authenticity It is possible that this is the actual site of the , but it is not terribly likely. There is no specific evidence for identification of the site before the 4th century, but it is reasonable to place the Sermon here since Jesus was based in not far away. Murphy O'Connor attributes the selection of the site to pilgrims' own experiences in the area: It was perhaps inevitable that this well‐watered

area with its shade trees on the shore of the Sea View from the church's porch

of Galilee, where Byzantine pilgrims ate their picnics, should have been identified as the location of two episodes involving the consumption of food, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the conferral on Peter of

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the responsibility of leadership after a fish breakfast. Then it became convenient to localize the Sermon of the Mount on the small hill nearby. (Oxford Archaeological Guides: The , 277) Regardless of whether this is the very spot, the stands in the right general area and in a very similar setting to where Jesus would have stood as he delivered his famous sermon. As Murphy‐O'Connor puts it, from here "one can see virtually all the places in which Jesus lived and worked" (p.280). History Pilgrims are known to have commemorated the Sermon on the Mount near here since the 4th century. After describing the Church of the

Loaves and Fishes, the Spanish pilgrim A Franciscan friar reading (perhaps the Sermon on the Mount?) on the Mount of Beatitudes (c.381) wrote, "Near there on a mountain is the cave to which the Savior climbed and spoke the Beatitudes." Ruins of a small church dated to the late 4th century have been discovered downhill from the present church. It has a rock‐cut cistern beneath it and the remains of a little monastery to its south and southeast. Part of the mosaic floor was recovered and is now on display in Capernaum. The present church was built in 1938. What’s to See? Designed by the architect A. Barluzzi, the on the Mount of Beatitudes is

Byzantine in style. Its octagonal shape represents :10 displayed in the gardens

the eight beatitudes. It has a marble veneer casing the lower walls and gold mosaic in the dome.

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The Franciscan Church of the Beatitudes (1938)

Entrance to the Church of the Beatitudes

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The chief attraction here, though, is the setting. The cool and quiet gardens overlooking the and the landscape where Jesus conducted his ministry make an excellent place to contemplate some of the best‐known Christian teachings

Inside the Church of the Beatitudes

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