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There is a church, Peter of Gallicantu - Peter of the Crowing of the Cock - that is just outside of the Old City walls of Jerusalem (2 miles by miles). One enters through Jaffa Gate (opening west towards Jaffa), also known as Bab elHalil = Gate of the Friend (opening south toward Hebron, the city of Abraham, the "friend of God") and passing right to the west of the City, one passes by the museum Citadel of David (where General Allenby received the surrender of Turkish forces in World War 1), the Kishle - the old Turkish police station (then British police station, then Israeli), through the narrow street of the Armenian quarter and tunnel with its cathedral and seminary, and just before reaching the Jewish quarter, passing out of the Zion Gate into the Mt. Zion of the Crusaders, down the hill, to the church. A walk 2,000 years ago would have taken you as you go westwards, through the ever increasingly populated residential section that King Herod built for the priestly families he imported from Italy to ensure loyalty to himself (Josephus).  

There is a church, Peter of Gallicantu - Peter of the Crowing of the Cock - that is just outside of the Old City walls of Jerusalem (2 miles by miles). One enters through Jaffa Gate (opening west towards Jaffa), also known as Bab elHalil = Gate of the Friend (opening south toward Hebron, the city of Abraham, the "friend of God") and passing right to the west of the City, one passes by the museum Citadel of David (where General Allenby received the surrender of Turkish forces in World War 1), the Kishle - the old Turkish police station (then British police station, then Israeli), through the narrow street of the Armenian quarter and tunnel with its cathedral and seminary, and just before reaching the Jewish quarter, passing out of the Zion Gate into the Mt. Zion of the Crusaders, down the hill, to the church. A walk 2,000 years ago would have taken you as you go westwards, through the ever increasingly populated residential section that King Herod built for the priestly families he imported from Italy to ensure loyalty to himself (Josephus).  

Entering the church, one is struck by the beauty of the dome and walls, and accustoming to the dim light both filtering through the stained glass and manificently and kalaidascopically shining through, one sees the theme - the betrayal by Peter of Jesus in the courtyard to the house of Caiaphas the High Priest Is the night descending or is the day dawning? Without realizing it, you have entered into the actual courtyard of the house, or to be more exact, the Roman Catholic church built on the actual site. Stairs leading off to the side lead you down into the middle section of the house (just as so many houses built today in modern Jerusalem are multistoried homes wrapped around a hill and thus are terraced stories) and you see that it is not only the Roman Catholics of the French order with their archaeologists who think this was the actual site. For you are now in the remnant church from the Byzantine period (4th cent.- 7th cent.) with its hewn out side "benches", altar in front, and right in the center of the sanctuary a strange holed area (now protected so you do not fall in). It was not known that this was a Byzantine church until the plaster put on after Byzantine times, making whatever was below non porous to act as a water reserve, was scraped off. And there on the neck of whatever was below, as you peer down, appear crosses incised on the wall of the neck - typical of the era Byzantine crosses. But what was it down there before it was a Byzantine viewing hole, and then a water reservoir, and then topped by a Roman Catholic Church?  

Entering the church, one is struck by the beauty of the dome and walls, and accustoming to the dim light both filtering through the stained glass and magnificently and kalaidascopically shining through, one sees the theme - the betrayal by Peter of Jesus in the courtyard to the house of Caiaphas the High Priest Is the night descending or is the day dawning? Without realizing it, you have entered into the actual courtyard of the house, or to be more exact, the Roman Catholic church built on the actual site. Stairs leading off to the side lead you down into the middle section of the house (just as so many houses built today in modern Jerusalem are multistoried homes wrapped around a hill and thus are terraced stories) and you see that it is not only the Roman Catholics of the French order with their archaeologists who think this was the actual site. For you are now in the remnant church from the Byzantine period (4th cent.- 7th cent.) with its hewn out side "benches", altar in front, and right in the center of the sanctuary a strange holed area (now protected so you do not fall in). It was not known that this was a Byzantine church until the plaster put on after Byzantine times, making whatever was below non porous to act as a water reserve, was scraped off. And there on the neck of whatever was below, as you peer down, appear crosses incised on the wall of the neck - typical of the era Byzantine crosses. But what was it down there before it was a Byzantine viewing hole, and then a water reservoir, and then topped by a Roman Catholic Church?  

Stairs leading off to the side lead you down to a lower level of the House, and entering it you wonder what this could ever be. It is a prison, just as the Talmud says was part of the house of the High Priest - a "holding" jail for prisoners who would be later brought before Pilate, the Roman Procurator, for trial. You see the carved out of the rock individual cells with their tell tale holes for lock enclosures and off to the side in slight elevated area is the guard post. But behind the quard post is a hole in the wall. Looking through the hole, one sees a deep carved out pit, at least the depth of two men, now lit up, but originally, dark, muddy, choking. This is the dungeon, and where the Lord would have been kept - until the next day and Pilate. Stairs leading off to the side lead you down to that dungeon bring you past the side walls and more incised Byzantine crosses and then the bottom, and on one wall, the one behind and to the right of the winding hewn out stairs, the tell tale carbonized sign on the wall of the swinging braizier used during the service. So this also was a church (or at least a chapel), in commemoration of Christ, his imprisonment and suffering, in the Byzantine period. Looking up, you can see the hole viewed previously from the Byzantine church above, and you can see the crosses.  

Stairs leading off to the side lead you down to a lower level of the House, and entering it you wonder what this could ever be. It is a prison, just as the Talmud says was part of the house of the High Priest - a "holding" jail for prisoners who would be later brought before Pilate, the Roman Procurator, for trial. You see the carved out of the rock individual cells with their tell tale holes for lock enclosures and off to the side in slight elevated area is the guard post. But behind the quard post is a hole in the wall. Looking through the hole, one sees a deep carved out pit, at least the depth of two men, now lit up, but originally, dark, muddy, choking. This is the dungeon, and where the Lord would have been kept - until the next day and Pilate. Stairs leading off to the side lead you down to that dungeon bring you past the side walls and more incised Byzantine crosses and then the bottom, and on one wall, the one behind and to the right of the winding hewn out stairs, the tell tale carbonized sign on the wall of the swinging braizier used during the service. So this also was a church (or at least a chapel), in commemoration of Christ, his imprisonment and suffering, in the Byzantine period. Looking up, you can see the hole viewed previously from the Byzantine church above, and you can see the crosses.