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 he meets john the baptist. what happens during his childhood is a mystery. it s a matter of just speculation as to what the early years of jesus were like since
this is the traditional spot where the angel gabriel was believed to have announced to mary that she was about to give birth to the messiah. narrator: 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 is a symbol for women. there is 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. narrator: today the church of the annunciation is the largest in the middle east. the question is, if the seventh century description of nazareth is accurate, what happened to
An ancient christian tradition. it is 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 have then venerated them and passed them down further. narrator: the gospel of mark, the oldest of the gospels, starts its account of jesus s life when he meets john the baptist. what happens during his childhood is a mystery. it is a matter of just
Believed those. narrator: in 2006, british archeologist ken dark conducts a routine inspection of the convent s cellar and gets the surprise of his life. i went over to the sisters of na nazareth convent, and to my great surprise, instead of a small locker or two, there was a huge cellar full of archeological features including what was immediately apparent was an undiscovered cave church. i naturally was amazed to see archeological features of which mainstream archeology had been unaware. narrator: the remains of the church occupied a large section of one-half of the cellar, but who built it and how old it was 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. narrator: the most authoritative description of early nazareth is called the de locus sanctus, 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. narrator: today the church of the annunciation still stands in the center of nazareth, attracting tens of thousands of visitors a year.