The church is situated on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee. It commemorates one of the important miracles when Jesus gave food to 5,000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. The story is within each of the four gospels. In Matthew and Markus, the number of persons who ate leaves and fish is 4000.

 (Mark 6:41-45) “Taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. The all are and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieced of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand”.

Main story Of the Church

The Church and its story has great meaning in the Christian world. It is about a mass miracle, not a personal one, which testifies to the universality of the Gospel and the increasing power of Jesus. Although it is about serving the crowd a true bread but it is also spiritual bread, the bread of life and the Christian religion. The disciples who serve the bread to the people are the apostles who transmit the Gospel of Jesus to humanity. Finally, 12 baskets were left loaded with food, a allusion to the twelve tribes of Israel and 7 fish which symbolize the nations of the world.

Inside the Church

The church is built in an area called "Tabgha" which is a pedestal that seems to be a distortion of the Greek word "Patpagon" which means seven, to denote the seven springs that originate in the church area. The ancient relics are from the 4th century a church of a converted Jew named Joseph Hakoms, then a church of the monk Martyrius in the 5th century.

A Byzantine icon (Ikon) has been found in which martyrs are seen holding a church. Thus, even though the churches were destroyed at the time of the Persian invasion in the seventh century, they managed to restore the church according to the icon. Inside the room beside the altar there are sections of a mosaic floor with motifs of the Nile and with two fish and four loaves of bread. The fifth loaf is missing from the mosaic, supposedly situated on a true altar at Mass and symbolizes the flesh of Jesus. It's a loaf of life.

Basic Information

Name of the church Church of the multiplication of bread and fish in Tabgha.

Address : Tabgha, near Capernaum

Map

Christianity order :Roman-Catholic, Benedictine

Construction date: 1982.

Arrival options

Accessibility and Logistic

The church can be reached by wheelchair.

Opening Hours

Monday - Friday 08:00-17:00

Saturday 08:00-15:00|

Sunday closed

Telephone No: 972-4-6678100.

Toilets are available at no cost. Unsuitable for wheelchairs.

Nearby Activities

The Sea of Galilee contains many places where Jesus visited and acted. Among the must-visit places you will find the nearby Capernaum, Mount Beatitudes church, Primacy of St. Peter church, Kursi and Yardenit on the Sea Of Galilee southern side.

My experience

The entrance of the church has a small Byzantine baptismal stone and a beautiful garden. The church itself is very impressive, the discovery of the mosaic with the precise history mentioned in the New Testament makes it a perfect match. From the church you can see a big and impressive bell where the monks sound through a pull on the string. The Benedictine monks live near the church, which is also home to a pilgrim hut. From the church there is a path to the shores of the Galilean Sea, where there is a shaded beach and the possibility of holding masses.