Burial Sites of Mary & The Five Disciples from Capernaum

Mary was born in the town of Zippori in Galilee to Joachim and Hanna. Joachim was a Cohen (Jewish priest) from the tribe of Levi. Joachim and Hanna chose to live in Zippori since it was the summer seat of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the religious governing body of the Jewish people, and be among orthodox observant Jews.

Mary grew up in an environment that relied heavily on Jewish laws and the teaching of the Torah. Therefore, she was well aware of every Jewish law and its consequences.

Once she married Joseph, she became pregnant with a child, just as Augustus Caesar called the national census. The reason Augustus Caesar called for the census and not king Herod is due to the fact that the Jewish people are forbidden to be counted.

The last Jewish king to do so was king David. However, the census that king David initiated was rejected by God and caused a plague on Israel that took the life of seventy thousand people. King Herod knew that fact and asked Augustus Caesar to call for the census instead of him so he would not be blamed.

Joseph and Mary travel to Jerusalem for the census when Mary is in her late nine months of pregnancy. Arriving in Jerusalem, they were told to proceed to Bethlehem, for that was the capital city of the tribe of Judah.

However, on the outskirt of Bethlehem, Mary’s water broke, and Joseph was forced to stop and look for a place to put her down. He found a sheep pen where he gathered hay and placed Mary on a blanket while calling for the woman who owned the sheep pen to help deliver the child.

A baby boy was born to Mary, and they named him Jesus in his circumcision ceremony in one of the synagogues in Bethlehem. What took place thereafter is described in the New Testament.

When Jesus died in Jerusalem, his brothers and Mary took the body to Nazareth to be buried near Mary’s house, some 613 feet northwest of hers.

When Mary died, Jesus was famous and controversial, and she could not be buried next to her husband Joseph in the same tomb as Jesus. Therefore, she was buried in the town of Zippori, near the grave site of Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Nasi, which was in his days the president of the Sanhedrin.

As to the burial site of Jesus’ five disciples from Capernaum, the local priests found five majestical graves in 1990-91 just 613 feet outside the village walls. The site had two chambers, one for Peter and his brother Andrew and the other for James and his brother John together with Mathew.

All five graves were chiseled from solid rock and meant for five adults. The carving of these graves was fit for kings, having crowned corners on each of them. No known important people came out of Capernaum other than the five disciples of Jesus. However, the question as to the body of Peter being buried in Rome is easily settled.

The Jewish people will not leave any of their relatives buried at any distance other than where they lived and next to family members in accordance with Jewish customs. Peter’s bones were removed from Rome and transferred to this grave site in Capernaum. He was buried with the other four disciples of Jesus in accordance with Jewish customs, as we see with the ten disciples of rabbi Yehuda Ha-Nasi’s burial site in Zippori.

It is a custom of the Jews to bury disciples with their master. However, since Jesus’ burial site was kept secret, the people buried all five disciples of Jesus in the same tomb in Capernaum.