Stephen Pfann of the University of the Holy Land, Jerusalem has been blogging about the Jesus Family Tomb video, showing how much was staged in this supposed “investigative journalism.”In the third installment he references an online paper he has written about a first century ossuary found on the Mount of Olives in the early 1950’s which was inscribed “Simon Bar Jona”.In an article entitled “Has St. Peter Returned to Jerusalem? The Final Resting Place of Simon Peter and the Family of Barzillai”, Pfann uses his skill as an epigrapher to examine the claim that this could have been the ossuary of the apostle Peter, also known as Simon Bar Jona. Pfann concludes that Franciscan Father Bellarmino Bagatti misread certain letters in the inscription and that it should read, Simon Barzillai.
When it was first discovered, it was almost a matter of embarrassment to the Vatican, as it was Catholic archaeologists who both discovered and deciphered the ossuary inscription almost immediately after the Pope had been announcing the discovery of Peter’s sarcophagus in the Vatican, located under the high altar.Simcha Jacobivici’s reference to this Jerusalem discovery in the Jesus Family Tomb video brought the inscription back into the public sphere again.
Pfann’s material, while well documented, lacks one point to give it credibility.It appears to be self published on the web only and has not been subjected to peer review in a professional journal.
Notwithstanding, one factor appears to have escaped the minds of most associated with the death of Jesus or his apostles and others in the early church.There appears to be no early tradition of their burial sites.We know that Stephen was the first martyr of the church and within a few years, James the son of Zebedee was also killed by Herod Agrippa. Yet no tradition remains as to the burial sites of these men. One rare exception is that of James the brother of Jesus.Hegesippus,a writer from the second century, recordsthat James was buried where he was slain in the KidronValley.
