A few hundred metres to the east, a shady, fragrant garden leads down to the water’s edge and this Franciscan chapel – lit by the vivid colours of abstract stained glass – built in 1933. The flat rock in front of the altar was known to Byzantine pilgrims as Mensa Christi (Christ’s Table) because it was believed that Jesus and his disciples breakfasted on fish here (John 21:9).
On the side of the church facing the lake, a few steps cut out of the rock are said by some to be where Jesus stood when his disciples saw him, in the biblical account. (On the other hand, the steps may have been cut in the 2nd or 3rd century, when the area was quarried for limestone.) Just west of the church, a path leads to three serene outdoor chapels surrounded by the reeds and trees that grow along the lakeshore.
