Kursi National Park and the "Miracle of the Swine"

MONDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

On the east bank of the Sea of Galilee is Kursi National Park.

Kursi National Park, Israel

The highway to get there is interesting in itself, if you know why there are so many tall trees planted along it's edges - to protect vehicles from view of the Golan Heights! 

Looking over the protective trees along the highway at the Golan Heights

Our guide, Hillel, said that as a boy he would come with his family to this area to vacation.  Spending time in bomb shelters was part of life in this area since it directly beneath the Golan Heights.   Unimaginable to my American mind!

We began our tour of the area with a Bible reading by Fr. T.  This was always such a wonderful way to start any visit to a site in Israel, it helped me so much to try to understand where I was and what had happened in this place.

Gospel mk 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”
(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”
He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.”
And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

As we stood and listened to Father read, it dawned on us all where we were, and we all turned and looked up at the hill above the ruins.  It only took a few more minutes for us to realize that there was some sort of structure and a path to the top of the hill where the miracle took place!

Path to the "Miracle of the Swine" site in the foothills of the Golan Heights

About 1/2 our group took off up the hill to see the site.  I would not suggest this hike to everyone, I would call it a moderate climb.  Although the path is well-marked and starts out wide, it does get slimmer and more rocky towards the top. I thought it was a steep climb.  One website said the elevation was 900 feet but after lots and lots of searching, I can't find anything at all giving any information regarding this little hike.

"Miracle of the Swine" Hill

I made it to the top!

Byzantine Ruins on top the "Miracle of the Swine" Hill, Kursi National Park, Israel

Up on the hill of the "Miracle of the Swine" are the ruins of a chapel which has 3 layers of mosaics uncovered. This area was originally in a cave, but they excavated it - for the tourists?  Or maybe the monks did it centuries ago?  I don't know. 

Closeup of the Byzantine ruins

There are other ruins here also, including a stone bench for looking out over the Sea of Galilee.  

Looking out over the sea and knowing what happened here is amazing.  The weather was warm and so the climb had heated me up, but the breeze off the lake was refreshing.  Thinking about what it must have been like to see the entire herd of swine all of a sudden stampede down into the lake and drown must have been quite a sight!

This incident is mentioned in three Gospels:  Matthew 8:28-34,  Mark 5:1-14, and Luke 8:26-37.

We didn't have much time as this was an unscheduled stop on our tour, so we headed back down after a short reflection and visited the Byzantine Monastery which is built at the bottom of the hill.

Archaeological investigators identify this site as ancient "Kurshi", a center of idol worship in ancient times.  The ruins are of the Byzantine Monastery build in here in the fifth century AD to honor the miracle that happened at this site.

Prayer Hall of the Church in the Byzantine Monastery at Kursi

The ruins were only accidentally discovered in 1970 when they were doing road construction after the Six Day War!  Kursi only opened to the public in 1982.  It's hard to believe this marvelous site was hidden from pilgrims for all those years!

The floors used to contain beautiful mosaics of birds, fish and fruit, but previous visitors (hundreds of years ago, not modern tourists) have pulled them up.  Now you can see the plain tile outlining the holes in the floor where the pictures used to be.

Vandalized mosaic floors at Kursi

These remains are significant in that this is the largest known Byzantine Monastery in the Holy Land. 

The ruins include the anterior courtyard of the church, which originally had a 2-story tower in it.

The church has a Prayer Hall with an Apse at the front and long skinny auxiliary rooms running on either side.

One side had a Chapel with a Baptistery in it.  I had to borrow a picture of it from BibleWalks.com as neither Mom nor I got a picture of this.  I wanted to include it as they found a crypt below this floor with 30 skeletons of the monks inside!

BibleWalks.com photo of the Chapel at Kursi

The other side had an oil press in it, and another room behind which had shelves set up for candles.

Lastly, the entrance walk has a very cool old wall which fascinated me.

There are lots of benches and picnic tables under shady trees scattered throughout this site, I guess because it is a National Park?  It is definitely a great place to stop and take a rest or even have a picnic if you have snacks/food with you!

(***if you should journey to the top of the hill, be sure to read my post about the vine of thorns growing from the rock above the site)

2012 Pilgrimage to Israel - Day 5