half of the cellar, but who built and how old it remained a mystery. i began to look through pilgrimage accounts to see if there was any evidence for this large building and whether any of them told us what this church was dedicated to. the most authoritative description of early nazareth is called the de locis sanctis, the sacred locations. in addition to the biblical account, we actually only have a seventh-century pilgrim s account, and he says that there stood two churches, one church which was said to have been built over the childhood home of jesus, and the other big church in the center of nazareth, the
church of the annunciation. today, the church of the annunciation still stands in the center of nazareth attracting tens of thousands of visitors a year. this is the traditional spot where the angel gabriel was believed to have announced to mary she was about to give birth to the messiah. as the mother of jesus, mary has always occupied a special place in the hearts of many christians. mary is really the closest to god. she is known as the queen of heaven and is foremost among all of the saints. mary s an incredibly important figure for the early church because she s a symbol for women. there s this idea of a loving individual who is seen as the special protector of the weak, of someone who protects women, who protects children, who protects elderly.
for canon john peterson, it s confirmation of an ancient christian tradition. it s not only exciting and special, but it is mystical because one enters into dealing with the questions of, where did the holy family live? isn t this exciting though, to be able to think that we are looking at such an important part of human history at this point? yes. it s possible that this house is the real deal because we have to remember that mary was alive during much of the period of the early church and would have passed down the memory of where these places were to the disciples who would then have venerated them and passed them down further. the gospel of mark, the oldest of the gospels, starts its account of jesus life when